Our Purpose: To serve, to improve and to enhance
the community in which we live.
You can help! GFWC Battle Ground has several community projects that welcome your support:
• Battle Ground Education Foundation and the Family Resource Center
• North County Community Food Bank in Battle Ground
• Fisher House and other programs for veterans (including women)
• Scholarships for Battle Ground School District senior girls.
• Maintenance of Federation State Park, a donation from GFWC-Washington State to the state's park service decades ago.
Donation checks can be made out to GFWC Battle Ground
Send to P.O. Box 871, Battle Ground, WA 98604-0871.
Earmark your check for your favorite project or area of interest.
GFWC Battle Ground is a member of its parent organization at 4 levels:
• GFWC Columbia District. Our club joins other clubs in Southwest Washington.
• GFWC Washington State. To find out what is happening at GFWC clubs in Washington State go to: www.gfwcws.org
• GFWC Western States Region. Western States includes 11 western states.
• GFWC International. To find out what is happening at GFWC clubs across the country,
go to the GFWC International Headquarters website in Washington, DC: www.gfwc.org
What are three of many major national improvements made with the help of GFWC?
- Advocated for the white line down the middle of the road until it happened!
- Advocated for baked bread to be wrapped until it happened!
- Advocated for enactment of child labor laws until they happened!
What is GFWC currently advocating?
- Awareness and prevention of Domestic Violence including Child Abuse Awareness!
- Advocating for Equal Pay for equal work!
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Short history of GFWC
GFWC’s roots can be traced to 1868 when June Cunningham Croly, a professional New York journalist, attempted to attend a dinner at an all-male press club honoring Charles Dickens. Denied admittance based upon her gender, her response was to form a club only for women. In 1880, Croly extended an invitation to women’s clubs throughout the United States to attend a convention in New York City. Sixty-three clubs formed the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. What grew rapidly in the early 1890s has become an international organization of community-based volunteers. Learn more details at www.gfwc.org
Battle Ground’s first GFWC club
The first GFWC club in Battle Ground was Silver Star Junior Woman’s Club in 1964. That early club organized the first Ladybug Bazaar with 12 vendors in the basement of the former Odd Fellows Hall. Battle Ground’s second GFWC club was formed in 1972. Each club operated separately for a few years before merging. The Bazaar, which has had a continual run since 1967, transferred smoothly from the first club’s management to the merged one, a time of growth and seeking larger venues.
Battle Ground’s second GFWC club
In time for America’s 1976 bicentennial the club published the book, Battle Ground...In and Around. The sale of the books provided funds for several major history-related projects of the time, e.g., historical marker and an antique farm equipment shelter at the county’s fairgrounds. A technology milestone for the time, was the Clark County Museum’s first copy machine, a gift from the club! (For more information on the history book go to www.BattleGroundHistoryBook.com )
Long-standing projects have been the awarding of scholarships to college-bound senior girls, supporting the community library, and joining GFWC in its national focus on domestic violence awareness and prevention to which members have donated hundreds of personal items for shelters. The club purchased many of the bike racks seen in the city and when the wooden historical marker was deteriorating, a muralist was hired to paint its likeness on the Main Street “mural building.”
