Activities & Service Projects - Marion Women's Club and Home

Club Activities & Service Projects

Get in on the action!

Members volunteer to develop, plan, and implement a variety of Club events for the entire membership to enjoy throughout the year.

Programs have ranged from a "Ladies Luau Brunch," to "Women's Wellness Wednesday," "Students in the Spotlight," to "GALentine's Day" and "Handbags for Hope," as well as craft shows, art fairs, and, of course, our annual Celebrity Dance Gala!

Follow us on Facebook for our events and programs!

Upcoming 2026 Calendar of Events

Oct. 1 - Oct. 31: Ida Barlow Brilliance Award Application Period

October 20: Board Meeting @ 5-6:30pm in the Women's History Resource Center

November 3: Decorate Women's Club Historic Home & Auditorium

November 9: Creative Women Workshop, 6-8:00pm, Auditorium, TBA

November 17: Board Meeting @ 5-6:30pm in the Women's History Resource Center

Nov/Dec: Donor, Member, Volunteer Appreciation Reception, 6-7:30pm, TBD

November 30: Ida Barlow Award Winner Selected

December 9: Club MembHERship Holiday Gathering/Installation of Officers @ 5:00pm

December: No Board Meeting

Handbags are collected at the Club’s year-end celebration, this year on Dec. 9, 2026, with the goal of collecting 325 handbags – 25 more than the record set in 2025.

Reservations to join us at our celebration are required. Check our Facebook page, “The Marion Women’s Club & Home” to RSVP.

Handbags for Hope

It’s become an annual Marion Women’s Club tradition: collecting “Handbags for Hope” to donate to Turning Point, which serves domestic violence clients in Marion and six surrounding counties.

Caring Club women collect new and gently used purses, backpacks, totes, and shoulder
bags, then fill them with items requested by Turning Point: nail polish, cuticle care, loofahs, mascara, makeup sponges, tampons, sanitary pads, brush/comb, gas cards, slippers, warm gloves/scarf, deck of cards, Q-tips, purse-size mirror – and an uplifting “hope-filled” note – greatly appreciated by recipients.

The Period Project/EmpowHER

In 2024, Marion Women’s Club partnered with the new local nonprofit, EmpowHER/The Period Project, to collect feminine hygiene products for local girls and women in need.

Members heard from EmpowHER at the Club’s “Generations in Bloom” 2026 Mother’s Day Brunch, collecting over 300 packages of tampons and pads for local women and girls, with the project falling directly in line with the first two phrases of its mission: “empowering women” and “enriching the community.”

In September, Club women, friends and family gathered in the Auditorium to package over 300 period product bags to support a girl or woman through a full cycle, helping ensure she has what she needs with dignity and confidence – and reminding recipients that she is seen, supported and cared for.

The Club’s Board of Directors adopted to continue the service project with collections to continue throughout 2027.

Ida Barlow Brilliance Award

Since 2022, Marion Women’s Club has awarded a grant to a local woman business

owner or nonprofit leader whose new or existing program/project supports the Club’s

mission: Empowering women and enriching the community, while preserving the historic

home and promoting the Club’s legacy.

Previous Ida Barlow Brilliance Award recipients include: Angela Johnson, for Grace

Clinic’s Rapid EKG Screening Initiative; Barb Pine for the Jer-Zee’s “Storytime”

program; Jenni Hypes for “Empowerment Day” offered by Aspire Ministries; and Tara

Dyer, for the Paul Robeson Speech Academy of the Peace & Freedom Committee.

The award honors the life and work of Ida Barlow, one of Marion’s earliest Clubwomen,

a visionary and activist, who with her husband, Shauck, donated their historic home to

the Club in 1945.

Click on the link HERE for details.

Each year, the Club works to identify opportunities for members to assist the Barlow

award winner with a one-time or ongoing service project.