Special Projects

Honor Them With a Flag

The Northford-North Branford Women’s Club, GFWC is sponsoring Honor Them with a Flag, a salute to our country’s military personnel and veterans. The public is invited to participate by purchasing a U.S. flag dedicated to a member of our military or anyone else close to your heart. The flags are on display on the front lawn at the North Branford Town Hall from Flag Day, June 14th to July 4th. Each flag, 12” x 18”, will have a white ribbon attached to it inscribed with the name and rank of the soldier or loved one.

Flags will be available for collection for one week after July 4th from the lawn of the North Branford Town Hall. Proceeds will benefit local veterans’ projects.

Please fill out this form: Flags 2025 . Mail completed form to the Northford Women’s Club, O box 2644, Northford, CT 06472. There is no limit on purchases, but all forms must be received by June 13, 2025. For more information, contact Mary Ellen at 203-484-9079.

IRIS Run for Refugees

We have a team for the IRIS Walk on Feb 9th. Please be generous with donation. If anyone wants to join in on the walk, please contact us.
Here’s the team link: https://runsignup.com/nfdwc

 

IRIS helps close to 2,000 refugees and immigrants each year.  During the pandemic, IRIS helped more than 120 refugees and immigrants find work, provided $200,000 in rental assistance, taught students English, art, and music, helped adults with immigration legal needs, and fed 300+ families per week with essential groceries from our food pantry.

The mission of IRIS is to enable refugees, immigrants, and other displaced people to establish new lives, regain hope, and contribute to the vitality of Connecticut’s communities. Refugees are men, women and children who fled their countries of origin due to persecution on the basis of their race, nationality, religious belief, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. 

Currently, IRIS’s clients come from Syria, Afghanistan, Congo, Cuba, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Honduras, Mexico, Iran, Iraq, Sudan and other countries. IRIS provides families with housing, food, clothing, and services such as education, English training, job preparation and placement, health care, and immigration legal aid.

Pop Tabs Collected to Support RMH

In February, club member Lynne Neilsen and her husband Rob delivered 12.8 lbs. of pop tabs that club members and friends collected to the Ronald McDonald House (RMH) in New Haven. It’s fun, easy, and a great way to involve family and friends in supporting RMH without a lot of effort.

Every month, RMH employees take a truck load of pop tabs to a local recycling center. The tabs are weighed, and the funds raised from their recycling go right back to their programs and services, supporting families and their children in need of life-saving medical care.

Walk on Lake Gaillard

On Sunday, October 1, the Northford-North Branford Women’s Club in conjunction with the Regional Water Authority held it’s 23nd Annual Lake Gaillard Walk in North Branford. Normally closed to the public, the hike around the lake is seven miles long. Walkers could choose to do all or part of it.

What a beautiful day for a walk! Thank you to everyone who helped with donating their time, water, apples, or a monetary donation to the walk. There were numerous paid walkers, and there were a lot of walk ins on the day of the event, but everything went very smoothly. The money raised will support the North Branford Scholarship Association, the Watershed Fund, and the clubs many other charity endeavors.

Little Free Library

Members Mary Ellen Collett, Patty Meglio and husband Ed Collett designed and built a Little Free Library. The library holds lots of children’s books as well as adult novels. Ed and Mary Ellen Collett designed the structure and installed it in their driveway. Patty Meglio painted a sunflower design on the outside. Sunflowers are the official town flower and has been a theme that supports the pollinator pathway campaign in North Branford.

Trees of Hope

The Trees of Hope committee put together a wreath with the theme of Celebration to support Ronald McDonald House. The colors were gold and silver.

In 2024, the wreath raised $1,287 dollars in ticket purchases.

RMHC provides essential services that remove barriers, strengthen families and promote healing when children need healthcare.

Each year, RMHC provides at least 2.7 million overnight stays, helping families save $736 million in lodging and meal expenses in 2023 alone.

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