Altrusa, What's That?

Well let me just say it is a wonderful community organization that focuses on literacy! I've been an Altrusa member for about one and a half years and have loved every minute of it. I have found the organization to be incredibly welcoming and an excellent way for me to give back to my community. So here are couple of the things that my local chapter does that I get really excited about:

Festival of Follies: This is a craft fair that raises quite a bit of funds which our club then contributes to buying books for elementary students located in low income neighborhoods . Our club calls this the "Book of My Own" project.

Our group also funds a teacher's yearly salary for a school in Namibia, Africa. We also send annual book and classroom supplies. One of our members personally delivers the supplies! I can't tell you how rewarding it was when we got a picture back of the entire class holding up the books that we sent them! It was amazing.

If you are interested in becoming a member of Altrusa and supporting your local community then visit the international website to see what is going on in your area:

http://www.altrusa.com/

Here are the local Altrusa Club listings:
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.altrusa.com/Clubs/Directory.asp&sa=X&oi=smap&resnum=1&ct=result&cd=1&usg=AFQjCNERtlwcYVoAcZZPCGigw6OlB0Ayaw

Let me also say that if you are short on time, as so many of us are, then this may be the perfect organization for you! My local chapter meets once a month for about 1.5 hours and then I committe as much or as little time as I can from there. I must say that I have gained far more from volunteering than I ever could have imagined. I'd love to hear about your volunteering activities or volunteer group. Share and share alike!