18 • Thursday, October 31, 2019
SOCIAL
OVER THE MOUNTAIN JOURNAL
100 Years of Female Empowerment
Journal photos by Jordan Wald
S
upporters of the Linly Heflin Unit celebrated the organization’s centennial during its Scholarship Fashion Show on Oct. 16. The cocktail gala, the 61st annual event for the group, was hosted in The Club’s Gold Room and included a fall fashion show coordinated by Gus Mayer. The featured designer this year was Abbey Glass, an Atlanta-based designer who operates a full-service atelier and boutique-style showroom at The Shops in Buckhead, Atlanta. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Linly Heflin of Birmingham established a Red Cross surgical dressing unit as a way to support the war efforts at home. A group of neighbors would meet at her home to roll bandages, which involved creating various sizes of bandages out of gauze. Additional units began to pop up throughout the city, and Loveman’s Joseph Loeb eventually invited all of the local units to use the department store’s mezzanine as a work space. Once the war ended, the group disbanded, and Heflin succumbed to the flu during the epidemic shortly thereafter. In 1919, a group of women from Heflin’s unit established the Linly Heflin Unit as a philanthropic organization. Its first project was to assist the Christmas Doll Bazaar at Children’s Hospital. Members of the unit decided in the 1920s to focus their efforts on enhancing the education of women. Through the women’s suffrage movement, World War II and beyond, the club has maintained its Memorial Fund, which provides scholarships for Alabama girls seeking higher education. The organization was founded with 30 members. While it has grown, the group maintains a membership limited to 125 women. This year, the organization has awarded college scholarships and grants to 27 young women. The scholarships are granted to Alabama women seeking higher education at Alabama universities. The awards are for $6,000 per year for up to four years of undergraduate study. The annual luncheon and fashion show is the organization’s primary fundraiser, covering monetary needs outside of the Scholarship Trust Fund. ❖
Linly Heflin Unit Celebrates Centennial at Cocktail Gala, Fashion Show
Brittany Nichols, Julie Goyer, Abbey Glass, Tracy James and Nancy Bromberg.
Debbie Drummond, Cindy Hodges, Paige Scott and Kelly Holbert.
Dorothy Dot Tayloe, Mary Louise King, Elizabeth Poyner and Kathy Whatley.
Libba Williams, Julie Goyer, Margaret Wall and Murray Priester.
Paulette Pearson, Wendy McDowell and Bama Hager.
Sydney Holmgren, Perrin Bickert, Jenny Mizzell and Whitney Lucas.
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