When a new community center eventually opens in Grand Junction, it will be the culmination of much hard work by many people. A special group of women, the Grand Junction Women’s Club, has already spent more than a year fundraising for the project, starting even while plans were little more than talk. The group has no intention of letting the fundraising become work. “Any excuse we can find to get together and play cards, and eat and talk, that’s what we’re looking for,” said Shirley Herrick, one of the younger members of the group.
“It’s a great purpose to get out of the house,” said the group’s secretary/treasurer Marie Moran.
The Grand Junction Women’s Club has run a rummage sale on the west end of the current community center for a year. The sale is open every Thursday, Friday and Saturday afternoon. It has already netted $3,200, all of it earmarked for appliances for the new building.
As the women explain, they first volunteered to cook lunch for the crew demolishing three dilapidated buildings on Main St during the summer of 2012. The crew was part of an Iowa Central Community College program that taught participants not only how to tear down buildings, but also how to salvage and use as much building material as possible. The men built their new Grand Junction friends a table from wood from one of the buildings; they signed their names and the women’s names on the bottom side of the table top. They also claimed and framed a piece of a mural Moran’s son, Robert Harper, had painted years ago on the wall of Clyde Winchell’s tavern. The painting is a special keepsake for Moran, as her son died last December. Both the table and the painting will be in the new community center, the women said.
When they heard talk of a new community center being built, the women again knew they wanted to help. They gathered some garage sale items of their own and asked others to donate, too. Their ongoing fundraiser was up and running.
The women gather at the old community center most weekdays. They spend whatever time is needed to sort and fold donated items. They check them carefully, taking home things that need to be laundered before they’re sold. Space is limited, so when new things are brought in, old things are taken and given away to needy families. The average time an item might be in “inventory” at the rummage sale is usually only about three weeks. They’ve sold furniture as it’s been donated. “The big things seem to find a home pretty fast,” Fritz said.
While the sale is a fundraiser, the women make sure needy families receive what they need. “If any of us sees a need that involves children, we’ll chip in,” Herrick said.
Rummage sales can be a lot of work, but a person wouldn’t know it by watching the Grand Junction Women’s Club. Playing canasta is as important to them as helping their community, and the banter and jokes fly fast. The women share food and snacks generously. There might be Herrick’s apple pie or Paxton’s specialty salad or Brown’s liver and onions. It’s all good. They chuckle heartily over the idea that some of them may occasional cheat at little with the cards. “It’s just that they stick together sometimes,” Herrick said.
They supplemented their rummage sale earnings with a chili and soup meal Halloween. Proceeds were more than $1,500.
As the women play canasta and work with the rummage sale, they attest to the need for a new building. “If people would come in and look around, they’d be easily convinced that we need a new community center,” Moran said. Herrick admitted that one reason they cook there often is to cover up the old moldy smell that permeates the building.
Members of the various Grand Junction clubs have been involved along the way: the American Legion auxiliary, the Horizons group, the El Carim Club, the 20th Century Club, the HH Club, and the Golden Age Club.
The fundraising goal for the proposed 6,000 square-foot community center is $350,000. Peoples Trust & Savings Bank has already given a $25,000 lead gift, and another $40,000 has been raised. The facility will include a large meeting room that will accommodate 250 persons; a smaller meeting room for 75 persons; a patio; restrooms; a small room with a kitchenette for coffee groups and other small gatherings; and the Grand Junction city office. It’s appliances for the kitchen serving the large meeting room that the Grand Junction Women’s Club is raising money for.
Organizers hope to see construction begin next fall. Contributions can be sent to Grand Junction Community Center, PO Box 383, Grand Junction, IA 50107. Persons who would like information can call 515-370-1675.
