Spotlight New Jersey: GPS Empowerment

Spotlight New Jersey: The Grapevine Mobile Bar 

Spotlight New Jersey: The Committee GNO and the S.M.A.R.T. Foundation

Spotlight New Jersey: Guided Collaboration Collective

Spotlight New Jersey: It Takes a Borough 

Spotlight New Jersey: Singer/songwriter/author Genevieve

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News 12 Staff

323spotlightnj2_2024-03-23-09-44-05

We are talking with two members of the Metuchen Edison Women's Club. Laurel Diallo is President Joanne Mangles is communications chairman. And we were talking about the purpose of this. The purpose of our club is to get back to the community. But with all the women, we have that shared goal and it leads to tremendous camaraderie and making great friends because we have shared goals, right? So one of the challenges that we face and it was during COVID because we were unable to meet in person, everything had shut down. So we tried to brainstorm, how do we address this challenge because we need to engage the women. We don't wanna lose them. We don't know at this point how long COVID is going to last. So we started uh we actually met on a walking path to kind of brainstorm how to do this. So the first thing was how do you teach women to do zoom? We can't go into, we love that technology, don't we a whole skill? So we can't go in and help those who aren't technology a, you know, in a, right? So we, we did do that and we had we started the whole meetings on Zoom and we had some creative ideas. We had a crazy hat day. We had a holiday party where we dressed festively and everyone told a joke. But then we needed to realize now we need to, how do we connect these women socially? So our members began to, they had different skills. Some were very good at crafting. Uh So they created face masks and those little headbands. if you remember where the ear saver, they would attach your masks to. And we made those and we donated them to Saint Peter. So we could reach out through our Zoom meetings and they donated to Saint Peter's in a variety of hospitals. Uh We decided, well, we have people who are isolated and we are, you know, groups, some of them are homebound more with because of COVID. It might be illnesses even kept them in more than going outside. So we would leave them little packets like thinking of you packets on their steps. It was, it was, it wasn't anything magnificent but the little things that matter. Yeah, drive around and deliver them. It was great. And then we needed to do part of our thing is social. So we, when we could, we started to meet outdoors, outdoors for walking outdoors, for coffee, outdoors, for a lunch. If we could in whatever groups sizes we could, we also found we called the um heritage. It's a uh in Edison. It's an assisted living facility. And we said, what, how can we help you? Your residents were at that point on lock down. So they said, well, you know what? We need puzzles, we need crossword puzzles. And we, so we engaged and we made tins of cookies. We donate. Our members were so generous. They were happy we would drop them off at Laurel's house and then she would make that delivery. So we found that to be a really significant way. This club takes special care of our military, men and women. We'll talk about that at noon.

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323spotlightnj3_2024-03-23-12-24-20

We are enjoying ourselves talking about the Metuchen Edison Women's Club. Laurel Diallo is President Joanne Mangles is communications chairman. You were talking about how active you all are in the community, but you also put a lot of attention on the military. Yes, we do. And what I was mention during the COVID thing, we, we uh we join in, we are part of the New Jersey State Federation of Women's Club, over 200 clubs and one of our pet projects I'll call it is we love to create holiday stockings for the military and then they get shipped overseas. So during that COVID period, how do we keep that going? So what we did, we set tables outside of Laurels high in my people dropped off their goods and we were able to assemble them and then one of us would take them over to the main shipping area where they were collected. And at that point, we were sending out as a collective probably over 1000 stockings and, and that, yeah, they go out to all of the uh people who are stationed overseas. So this is one of the many social activities you engage in. Right. So we do have social and then so it kind of speaks to what did we learn from COVID? Right. Yeah, I think that it was a huge learning that people needed to connect with each other uh in addition to giving back. And so we actually evolved our club to have many more social activities and as well as incorporating even social into the fundraising in the ways that we do things. right? So we did so what we did now it's we've come through COVID and we decided that our clubs, we found that women need not only to give back to the community, but they need social engagement. They need to connect and they had a desire to connect. They were coming out of isolation. So we form a variety of club based on input from our members. Uh So for example, we have a book club meets once a month, meets at a Panera's. So in a sense, it's a passive giving members go there. They have a good book time discussing a book, they might get something. So it helps the merchant tomorrow at 6 a.m. Laurel and Joanne share a touching story about their club giving back.

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324spotlightnj4CUTHTIS_subclip

The Metuchen Edison Women's Club is really active in their community. Laurel Diallo is president Joanne Mangles is communications chairman. And you all have a great story you wanna share with us. Yeah, it's a little bit of a story that uh came out because we, at one point, we had made three Afghans not a significant uh amount. And we decided we'll drop them off at the uh veterans Home. So we did that and we came in and they were so delighted to see us. We felt like celebrities dropping off these three Afghans. Well, anyway, we got a call from uh a woman and she said that her father had just gone into that, that facility and he re they gave him an Afghan to welcome him. Well, she went on to say that her mother was a, a, a major crochet. She loved it that crafted. So when her father received that, he felt that she had given him his approval to, to, to stay in. So as a result, she said, you know, it made such a difference for him to make that transition. And when she did, she went out and she ended up donating like four cases of yarns and different products to the club so that we could continue that. So the take, what I wanna say is you never know what small thing that we do touches a life in a long way. Yeah, for sure. Um The, the incorporation of all these social activities did not hurt our ability to fundraise and give back to the community. In fact, it enhanced it. Um We have now we have four major fundraisers a year. We have three mahjong tournaments. We're just telling you about mahjong. We have a Comedy night which last year you were so kind to mention on air and we'll probably ask you to do that again and a bunch of smaller fundraisers. Um So we're able to donate money which we uh donate to students in our towns. We give scholarships to seniors. We have a program. Well, the federation has a program called um Career Girls Career Institute or a junior from a high school. Gets to go to Douglas College for a long weekend and experience the college life and, and hear about different careers they can do. So we support that uh this year. Uh we're sending a young woman from JP Stevens High School in Edison. Um We support the military, as we mentioned before, as, as uh Joanne mentioned, uh we support domestic violence organizations. Um This last two years, we've focused very much on supporting families with Children with pediatric cancer and we've done that through um Emanuel Cancer Foundation and we've done it by donating to um Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Um One story that comes from that um we, one of the things that was suggested to us is we let our local schools know about the Emanuel Cancer Foundation. And so we did like 30 letters and sent them to the school nurses. And when the nurses received it, one of them called us and said, we just have a child who has cancer, pediatric cancer. And we're so excited that we can go and uh get support through the Emanuel Cancer Foundation. So that's been a big thing that we did. The club held their second Mahjong tournament Friday in Edison. It is a Chinese board game with four players, Jimmy at Fresco's and mccutchen provided the food for the event. Food insecurity is a big problem here in New Jersey, Laurel and Joanne discuss how the club is combating it at nine.

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324spotlightnj5_2024-03-24-09-33-55

We are talking with two members of the match and Edison Women's Club Laurel Diallo is president Joanne Mangles is communications chairman. You all know that food insecurity in our state is a big problem in New Jersey and you're trying to do something to help that. Yeah. Um we make food donations bi monthly. We collect food during our meetings and we deliver to food. We also uh make sandwiches for lunch bags for Elijah's Promise. Um and we work in the food pantries. We do sorting and storing and things like that. I love the way you're so hands on. Yes, I mean, that's the thing we can be hands on. We can be raising money, we can be social so everything um comes together and one more area is learning new things. So what we do at each of our meetings, we start them off uh with a program and those programs are open to the public always and it could be on a variety of topics. So we've had some fun topics like how to pose for a picture, which was great. We had a local photographer come in. Uh we've had some pious issues. We had a woman who um had a heart attack and she was telling us her journey because as, you know, we've all heard that when a women, women experience that health issue, it's not the same as a man. And how, you know, originally it was misdiagnosed and now she's on her quest because she was a survivor to share that story. And I'm glad she's doing that. I am too. So we've had other ones. Uh for example, Martin Luther King Day Day of Service throughout the country. We collected uh food and we made kits that were then passed on to a to domestic violence shelters. Uh We've done that. We've done again hearing from the Emanuel Cancer Foundation folks. Uh We actually just recently had a fellow come in and talk about declutter your home. You said a fellow came in, I love that fellow came and he was, he, he, he admitted to being needed to be decluttered. So, and then what we find is so many people find they, they enjoy the program that they actually stay for the meeting and, and we've gained a lot of members that way, but there our programs are always open to the public. You have a lot of shout outs and people you wanna thank I do. But one thing I do wanna mention about the programs, my favorite program was memory loss was on memory loss. Then we had a nurse come and she said, here's the memory things that you're all losing that you don't have to worry about. Here's when you have to worry. So, the great sigh of relief among all the members because we're all getting older and we're all forgetting things. But um I do, we do wanna give a special shout out to a few organizations that have just been so wonderful to us. The Metuchen American Legion that lets us meet for free in their hall. The Edison American Legion that lets us do fundraisers for free in their hall. We'd like to thank a few of the local restaurants. Uh, Fresco by Jimmy particularly has donated a lot of food. Um, Tony's in Edison has helped us a lot and, um, La Rosa, uh, we do a fundraiser with them every year and we, uh, do a 5050 out front and that's not all, a whole lot of businesses and organizations are helping this club. We'll talk more about all of them coming up at noon.

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324spotlightnjfinal_2024-03-24-12-29-41

We are learning a lot today about the Metuchen Edison Women's Club. Laurel Diallo is President Joanne Mangles is communications chairman and you have a lot of people who help you all in the community. Yes. Um Besides our members who obviously are so involved, um the um Edison PB A has donated money to help us be able to do the fundraisers. Um And uh even B J's and Costco have donated food or money or something that has helped us do these fundraisers. So it all comes together, you know, the, the learning at our meetings, the socializing and making great friends and giving back to the community and the variety of ways, right? So we do meet um we meet the second Wednesday of every month with the exception, as I've said of July and August, we meet uh at the American Legion in Metuchen. We do welcome everyone to join us and you can find us on uh Facebook, Metuchen Edison Women's Club or we do have a website Metuchen Edison wc.org, but we would love you to join you. We found that um by reaching out that women have now be they've become more friends they meet a new friend. It, it's right. You and I, I mean, yeah, we didn't know each other until we joined the club and we found that we work well together and bonded and that's, we found sort of universally through our, our club that we find people who just say, well, maybe I'll come out, I don't know what to do and they'll meet and they'll actually form friendships that last for lifetimes because the club's been around a while. So it's, it's a really interesting thing and we can't encourage you enough to reach out. Don't stay isolated in your hometown out and join us and we, everything we do, whether we ask for a donation or get your involvement is strictly voluntary. So if that's not something that suits your needs, that's fine. We'll, there'll be other projects and other activities that come along. Do the women have to live in Metuchen or Edison or do they come from all over? No. Um Because there's over almost 200 clubs across the state. People generally stay geographically local, but we have members from South Plainfield, from Dunnellon, from Woodbridge, from Edison and Metuchen. Um So those women have come to join together. I think one other thing. Um I joined the club when I officially retired from the corporate world because I'm sitting there thinking most of my friends were from work and all of a sudden I have this big boy and I, I remember sitting there going, what am I gonna do with myself? And I joined this club, they made me recording secretary like week five, which I hate. Um, but anyway, um, and eventually became president and it's, it's really been so beneficial for me both in terms of the friendships and in terms of having purpose and goals and giving back, I mean, I've, I've, I've had a great life and so I wanna give back to the community and it's a good way to do it.

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News 12’s Della Crews spoke to the president and the communications chairman to learn more about the club’s legacy.

Spotlight New Jersey: Metuchen Edison Women's Club

News 12’s Della Crews spoke to the president and the communications chairman to learn more about the club’s legacy.

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