East Sacramento Women’s Club JOINING TOGETHER TO HELP OTHERS
BY LISA SCHMIDT VOLUNTEER PROFILE
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ccording to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, volunteerism is on the decline across the nation, falling last year to its lowest rate since 2002. A group of East Sacramento women is working hard to change that statistic. Shannon Downs, an East Sac resident and mother of two elementary school students, had been active in a women’s volunteer organization when she lived out of state. “I met some of the most wonderful women and got involved in many incredible projects,” she recalls. “After we returned to California, I would often bring up to friends here how much I enjoyed my experiences with the women’s club.”
Last year, Downs and seven other women decided to start a club for local women interested in helping others. Last year, Downs and seven other women decided to start a club for local women interested in helping others. East Sacramento Women’s Club now has more than 50 members of all ages and from all walks of life.
East Sacramento Women's Club Members In tree: Maureen Dana and Diane Leeds. Bottom row: L to R: Jenn Sleppy, Erin Macko, Shannon Downs, Tamara Toby, Katherine Groppo and Shannon Ross.
Members recommend volunteer opportunities, and the club votes on which projects to adopt. Many are one-day commitments, such as weeding and harvesting flowers for Soil Born Farms or throwing a birthday party for children living at St. John’s Shelter Program for Women and Children. One morning a month, some members help serve breakfast and lunch at Wellspring Women’s Center in Oak Park. “We all have only so much time to give for volunteering,” says Diane
Leeds, the group’s treasurer. “Instead of being committed to only a couple of organizations, I like how ESWC allows me to choose to volunteer with several different programs.” Many of the club’s members joined for the opportunity to volunteer with friends. “Volunteering as a group makes it fun and gives me the motivation to follow through on my desire to serve,” says Maureen Dana. “While I could have done this work on my own a long time ago, being a member
of this group has finally provided that extra spark to move me from intention to action.” In the group’s first five months, its members donated more than 200 volunteer hours to more than a dozen organizations. They have a full schedule this spring: In addition to helping at St. John’s tea party fundraiser in May, they will participate in a diaper drive for St. John’s and a bra drive, called Supporting Our Sisters, to collect Continued on 19
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