Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Extension Club Celebrates 75 Years
The Viney Grove Homemakers Extension Club recently met to celebrate the club’s 75th birthday.
The club was organized April 11, 1944. Eight women met in homes until the Viney Grove school consolidated. Then, they moved to the old school house and have been meeting the second Tuesday of every month since then.
At the end of the first year, the Viney Grove club had 18 members. Now we have 11 members.
The ladies did a lot of quilting and local service. When a neighbor was sick, the ladies took in food and saw to the needs of the family. Later, they met for an all-day of sewing quilts. Then men came in for lunch. Several quilts that the women made hang on the walls of the Viney Grove Community Center.
The women have always been involved in the Washington County Fair, as it is part of the University of Arkansas Extension office. Club members entered home canning goods and many sewing projects. Today, the women serve the judges a baked potato lunch on the day before the fair opens. The women have the recipe for barbecue sandwiches that the club serves at the livestock auctions. This has been a big money-maker for the club.
Today, we serve local needs. We give to the local animal pound and the Angel project to make sure every child gets a hot lunch at school. We help with the Viney Grove Methodist Little Food Pantry, the VA Hospital, Ronald McDonald House and the Arkansas Children’s Hospital, plus several other local organizations.
Sondra Frank is club secretary and she is following in the footsteps of her mother who served as secretary in the 1950s. Sondra’s daughter, Decia Grigson, is a member of the club. Jane Gayer’s aunt was a member and Jane came to the club with her aunt. Now, Jane is a member. Virginia Vafakos, Jane’s mother-in-law, also is a member.
The club offers fellowship and rewarding service work to its members. Please come and join us. We enjoy eating out and touring local museums. We are always looking for local projects. PHYLLIS ULM IS PRESIDENT OF VINEY GROVE HOMEMAKERS EXTENSION CLUB.