WCHV Outreach Projects
This year we have been concentrating on the unfed in our community. The Club has been collecting plastic grocery bags and rolling them to be used in the market place at THRIVE. We have collected canned foods, pasta and peanut butter and jelly to assist with stocking the market.
The American Cancer Society has been supported by our 50/50 raffle donations during club meetings. With a number of members dealing with cancer, this is a program we want to support.
Operation Smile offers free surgeries and medical care to children all over the world who
are born with a cleft condition. We can help provide a complete surgery for a waiting child for a cost of $240.
Salvation Army of Hampton Roads provides food and material assistance to families. We do bologna and cheese sandwiches each month, provide Christmas stockings and give toward children's summer camp experience.
CNU Scholarship. For many years WCHV provided a $500 scholarship to a CNU student. Several years ago the scholarship was increased to $1000. We give one each year when the money is available.
Soundscapes is a nonprofit educational and intervention organization that instills transformative life skills in underserved children in our community by using intensive music study and frequent ensemble performances. In 2009 Soundscapes began developing its model programs at Carver Elementary in Newport News, a Title / school with a minority and poverty demographic of 82%. For several years, we have sponsored one student's program at a cost of $300.
Downtown Hampton Child Development Center (now the Mary Peake Development Center) is a nonprofit childcare center that provides a full-day year-round preschool program to more than 350 children, ages 6 weeks to 5 years. The program has a sliding scale payment.
Heifer International gives an animal (such as a cow, goat, flock of chicks, or honeybees) to a third-world person to create a small business, providing wool, milk, eggs and more. Family income gives increased access to medicine, school, food and a sustainable livelihood. Heifer is an Affiliate Organization of the General Federation of Women's Clubs.
VersAbility Resources offers a full spectrum of services for infants through adults of all ages, offering a person-centered approach to activities and new learning experiences for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Virginia Peninsula Foodbank has been the leading hunger relief organization across the greater Peninsula area, working with local food distribution points to provide food to many families who are struggling during this pandemic. During normal times, one in seven people in our area experience the daily struggle of hunger.
Mayor's Book Club. Each month volunteers in Newport News read to preschool classes in Newport News Public Schools' Early Childhood Centers. Each classroom and each of 1440 preschool students receives a copy of the featured book to take home from October to May. We also volunteer to read at each of the City's five early childhood education centers.
WCHV Garden includes new plants for the front gardens, a new tree to replace the dying dogwood and upgrading the lawn.
Newport News Green Foundation enhances the quality of life in Newport News by preserving, transforming, and promoting green spaces throughout the city. The Hilton Ravine Restoration is one of their projects.
"Hop on the Bus" is the GFWC Virginia State President's project. This project deals with military families and the YMCA in Virginia Beach. They need a bus to pick up and carry children to various classes.