After gaining interest, gathering members and becoming an officially organized group in the first half of 2018, the Chattahoochee Valley Women’s Service League spent the second half serving the community.

Now at the beginning of 2019 and having started the affiliation process with the Association of Junior Leagues International, the league is in the process of recruiting new members to join its cause.

A new member orientation meeting will be held Thursday, Feb. 7 for all interested women. League President Kimberly Carter said ideal candidates are those who feel they can help improve where they live through community engagement.

“I really want this group to be a diverse group of women that is inclusive to anybody no matter their background,” Carter said. “Most of us are under 30 and have families so we are very concerned about building a future for our children to live in a clean and safe community.” 

The impetus that sparked Carter and her friends to create the group this past year were their discussions over dinner on the needs in the Greater Valley Area.

Those discussions led them to believe they could meet the needs of the community, and being women themselves, they decided that their take on civic engagement should come from a female perspective.

“We still wanted to fill a void personally by being able to give back,” Carter said. “There was not anything specifically for women in our community. There are of course Rotary (Club) and Kiwanis (Club) and those are fantastic, and there are other women’s groups too, but they are more exclusive.”

Placing inclusivity as the main pillar of their organization, the group held an interest meeting in February of 2018 for any woman over the age of 21.

After the meeting, 46 individuals decided to sign on and become the inaugural members of the league.

The group, then full of members with plans for community service, registered with the Alabama Secretary of State’s office in April and was officially recognized as a nonprofit organization.

Since then, the league put its focus on helping those the felt need it the  most.

“The poverty level for our community is pretty high compared to surrounding areas that neighbor us, and so we started brainstorming about how we could combat that,” Carter said. “I think that pulled on our heartstrings because we are mothers and so we have this need to help other children and other women.”

Projects completed in 2018 include the assembly of “wherever you go bags” containing essentials for children going through the Chambers County Department of Human Resources and hygiene packs for students in the Chambers County and Lanett City school systems.

The league also hosted several fundraising drives, partnering with local business Hood’s Christmas Shoppe and selling holiday wreaths to gather money for future projects.

The Junior League affiliation process started in November, placing the league on an 18-month timeline to continue its efforts before becoming an official junior league organization.

Carter said that she wants the women’s league to achieve this through continued service not only because it will help the community, but because the group will act as an inspiration to the next generation of women.

“With the poverty situation in our community, these kids, especially these little girls, need something to look forward to,” she said. “They need to know that they can be whoever they want to be no matter what their situation may be like. No matter where they are from, they can do better and here is a group of women who can help them achieve that.”

The league is finalizing plans for its service in 2019 and is looking for new members to help them accomplish its goals.

Before Feb. 7, women interested in joining can contact Carter at kcarter.cws@gmail.com or the organization’s website, www.cvwsl.org.