Dallas' newest member, Gillian Allen, was already thinking and formulated a fabulous service project on her own. With the seed money from the International, Gillian is leading the Dallas Club and all District Nine Clubs in a two-year project that will make an enormous impact. Here are Gillian's thoughts about the vision for the project.
"Two days before my first conference, a deadly explosion ripped through the town of West, Texas. I have been to that town to work. I know some of the people there. As I sat through various seminars and gatherings at Conference, my mind frequently returned to thoughts of the area. But what could I do? I am one person. I am not wealthy. Yet the one gift that I myself received early in life was the joy of reading. I can remember visiting my local libraries, both at school and in my community, and the joy, the peace, the contentment I found in books. To this day I am a bookworm. I make no apology for it. So on my way home from conference I decided I had to do something. I had listened to many speakers talk about service projects and the idea that had sparked them, and thought to myself “How do I do this?” I called Beth and asked the question. I told her I knew there had been significant damage to the schools, and I wanted to find some way to help. Over the next few days and then weeks, we learned that two schools would require complete demolition, and a substantial portion of a third would need to be razed to the ground and then rebuilt.
My vision for this project is, first and foremost, to give books to the library of the Intermediate school. I want the children to know that people in their wider community are still thinking of them, and to give them a refuge in books. We can give them that escape into books that I cherish to this day.
I intend to utilize every resource and personal contact we can to obtain corporate matching of our funds. I believe that success in our group fund-raising efforts will fuel further success and help us give more to the school.
I am also very cognizant of the
fact that our clubs need members. To encourage people to look at our
organization as an endeavor worthy of their time, talents and potential
monetary contributions, we have to let them know we exist. By going into our
communities and talking about how we intend to help our neighbors, we
demonstrate by our actions what we are: who we are.
I also think that one of our
greatest strengths is our network of clubs. Alone, I can do very little;
together we can do mighty works. I love that other clubs have heard of our
project and asked to share in it. We are united in our intent to help our neighbors,
and it unites us as clubs, as districts, as a national organization too.
Gillian is a visionary. It's our hope that you will catch the vision, too. To help, email Governor Beth Blair (bethelene@tx.rr.com).
