My Story as a GFWC Volunteer Begins

by rosemary on 02/08/09 at 9:27 pm

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My family moved to Spokane, WA in November 2003. We bought a 100 year old fixer-upper house in Historic Cannon’s Addition, in June, 2004, to use as our home and office. GFWC Woman’s Club of Spokane’s beautiful historic clubhouse is just around the corner and a bit from my home.

During the summer of 2006, my husband got a bug about the clubhouse. He challenged me several times with, “what is going on in there?” My persistent spouse finally figured out who to call about joining the club. “Reluctant me”, with zero knowledge about GFWC, joined the Woman’s Club in November, 2006, during a club event called Girlfriend Friday.

Two days after I joined the club I was diagnosed with melanoma. So, with delays for my surgery and recovery, I actually attended my first real GFWC club meeting in January 2007. All was doom and gloom about clubhouse costs and the future of the club itself. I thought, “uh-oh, late to the fire sale”. Among other issues of concern, the club president had been unable to find a volunteer for the previous two years for something called a house superintendent.

I went home and discussed the permutations of taking on the house superintendent position with my spouse. We decided that together we could handle this volunteer job [I promise I will tell you more about Phil’s part in this adventure later]. At the February, 2007, meeting, I think I shocked all the ladies by raising my hand and volunteering to be the house superintendent. Dear readers, I was a complete stranger to these ladies. Amazingly, as soon as the meeting adjourned, the club president trusted me enough to hand over the keys and the responsibility for this 10000 sq ft historic building! This is where my story as a GFWC volunteer begins.

February 10, 2009, is my second anniversary as house superintendent of the GFWC Woman’s Club of Spokane.