Spotlight: The Woman’s Club of Smithfield

A column of mine prompted The Woman’s Club of Smithfield to invite me to speak last week. Although I didn’t ask, I figured a lunch meeting would draw 15 maybe 20 participants. After all, the website shows one of my favorite quotes from Margaret Mead.

Boy was I wrong!

After a pleasant drive, I found myself at the Smithfield Center. Upon entering, I saw a long line of women. Surely, I thought, there must be something else going on at the Center. Um, no. That long line of women was waiting to enter the room where the luncheon was to be held. Inside, the club was finishing up new member orientation.

Uh oh. My paltry 10 copies of my column weren’t going to make a dent in this crowd.

A very nice young woman, Becky, introduced herself and offered to help me find Elaine, who had invited me to speak. Once located – and the training session completed – Elaine introduced me to a number of the women streaming into the room. I asked about the size of the club – they have about 115 members, and between 70 and 80 show up for the monthly meetings.

As we ate our lunch – all of the food was provided by the members of the club – I perused the members’ guide. What I saw was nothing short of amazing.

After giving my speech about two pioneers in the suffrage movement, Lucy Burns and Alice Paul, I stayed for the rest of the meeting. I listened as committee reports were given – and that members’ guide just came to life. This isn’t a social club: these women walk the walk. They raise money – mainly from the sale of their calendars and cookbook – and contribute it to worthy causes. They collect things and donate them to other worthy causes. One of their special projects is providing items for a local National Guard unit stationed in Afghanistan.

And they volunteer – the website has a place for the women to report their volunteer hours in each of the areas that they track (here is Elaine’s committee, for example).

One of the new members, a former banker with whom I spoke after the meeting, had moved to Smithfield from Norfolk. I asked her if she had been involved with the Norfolk club before her move. She said no, that she had been too busy with work. Another member with whom I spoke had also moved to Smithfield from Norfolk about 25 years ago. She, too, had not gotten involved with the Norfolk club. (I have to wonder if the Norfolk club is about anything other than its building.)

Lest you think this club is comprised of blue-haired old ladies or bored suburban housewives, let me assure you it is not. There was a range of ages in the room. One of the new members introduced is a dentist.

At the end of the meeting, the members recited something they call “Collect for Club Women:”

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 judgment and always generous.

Let us take time for all things; make us to 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 in life that create differences, that in the big things in life we are one.

And may we strive to touch and to know the great, common human heart of us all,

And, oh Lord God, let us forget not to be kind!

I thought this so powerful that I read it later that evening at my second speaking engagement of the day, at the Chesapeake Democratic Committee.

It was an honor and a privilege to spend time with this dynamic group of women. I appreciate their invitation and wish them the very best in their endeavors.

Oh – and my offer to them still stands: if any of them want to come to Norfolk to cook one of those delicious recipes in their cookbook, I’m all for it 🙂