Guest Speaker at the November luncheon Internationally renowned local artist Claudette Dean
Claudette Dean stand before one of her paintings.
Joan Darville, Claudette Dean, Ann Bain
The Grand Bahama American Women's Club, located in Freeport, Bahamas, celebrates its 45th year of service to the community this year. Although originally started in 1966 by sixteen American women, the Club's membership this year includes women from Britain, Canada, The Bahamas, as well as from The United States. Women of all nationalities are welcome to join this philanthropic and friendly group of women. The Club currently has almost seventy-eight members, fourteen of whom have been in the Club over twenty years.
Captain Cheryl from the Salvation Army visits with President Ann Bain during lunch.
New member Anne Halpern is welcomed to the Club by Jo Morasco.
Limited only by our members' imagination, the Club undertakes, organizes and promotes activities in education, literary, artistic, philanthropic, environmental, and sports fields. The Club is a non-political, non-sectarian, and non-profit organization. Although no exact amount has been tallied, estimates are that over the last forty-five years the Club has given over $200,000 in donations to worth-while community organizations and as scholarships to deserving high-school students. It is our hope that as you browse through this site and see the generous and beneficial activities of these women, you will be inspired to attend a monthly luncheon and join our ranks.
GBAWC is the only club in The Bahamas affiliated with the General Federation of Women's Clubs, which is the oldest and largest nondenominational, nonpartisan volunteer service organization of women in the world. Based in Washington D.C., the Federation brings together local women's clubs from around the United States and the World with its motto "Unity in Diversity." Women of all ages, interests and experiences belong to GFWC, but all are united by a dedication to community improvement through volunteer service.
Meeting once a month at the Ruby Swiss Restaurant, the GBAWC members have honed the skill of mixing business with pleasure. Between the laughter and chit-chat, serious projects are developed and executed that benefit the community we call home, Grand Bahama Island. Some of us have lived here for years, raising our children and grandchildren, and some of us are only passing through. However long we are blessed to live on this beautiful island, GBAWC provides an avenue to contribute our services to the well being of our community. We welcome all women to join us in our philanthropic fun. Please email moreinfo@gbawc.org or president@gbawc.org .
2010 Ladies of WANDS Click on the picture to find out more about WANDS
A Collect for Club Women
Mary Stewart, a Colorado school principal, wrote the words to the Collect in 1904 as a personal daily prayer. Mary titled her poem "A Collect for Club Women" when it was first published because she felt it might have special appeal to clubwomen. According to Mary, "The first women's organization to hear or use the Collect or to print it in its year books and biennial reports was the General Federation of Women's Clubs." Prior to her death in 1943, Mary Stewart's own account of the history of the Collect was recorded. During GFWC President Dorothy Houghton's administration (1950-1952), the American Home Department published Mary's history along with an interpretation of the text and suggestions for using it in GFWC programs.
Mary Stewart's Collect Keep us oh God, from pettiness; Let us be large in thought, in word, in deed. Let us be done with fault finding And leave off self-seeking.
May we put away all pretense And meet each other face to face, Without self-pity and without prejudice.
May we never be hasty in judgement And always be generous. Let us take time for all things; Make us grow calm, serene, gentle.
Teach us to put into action our better impulses Straightforward and unafraid.
Grant that we may realize it is The little things that create differences. That in the big things of life we are at one.
And may we strive to touch and to know The great, common heart of us all And, oh Lord God, let us forget not To be kind!
Mary Stewart April, 1904
"Our deepest need is for the joy that comes from knowing that we are of genuine use to others" Eknath Easwaran
