Educate Yourself

• Meet with civic leaders and those who provide services to the community to assess and quantify specific needs of local citizens. Research problems in your community that are largely unaddressed, and identify the underserved in your area.
  
• Request information from GFWC Partners and resources, and make use of the information and assistance they provide.
  
• Learn about nonprofit organizations with whom your club might work or to whom your club may donate funds by visiting www.GuideStar.org.
  
• Visit Canine Companions’ website www.CCI.org and request printed materials or the new Canine Companions video “Making Miracles Happen.”
  
• Contact the Habitat Help Line at 800-422-4828 for the name and location of the Habitat for Humanity affiliate nearest you. Visit www.Habitat.org/WB to learn more about Women’s Build Week.
  
• Investigate your community’s adherence to the Americans with Disabilities Act and accessibility for persons with disabilities.
  
• Visit www.WebMD.com, www.MayoClinic.com, www.InteliHealth.com, www.APTA.org, and http:MedlinePlus.gov for general wellness information.
  
• Visit www.ACOG.org for information regarding women’s health. The Find-A-Physician tool lets visitors search from a database of 40,000 OB-GYNs by city and offers women’s health pamphlets.
  
• Learn basic facts about breast cancer risk factors, discover why breast cancer awareness is important, and find screening options.
  
• Order the free Spotlight on Shingles kit developed by Merck, in conjunction with the American Pain Foundation. Visit www.SpotlightOnShingles.com to order.
  
• Learn about symptoms of stroke that are particular to women, symptoms that may be different than those for men.
  
• Contact the local American Heart Association for materials and speakers.
  
• Investigate www.WomensHeartFoundation.org, www.WomenHeart.org, and www.AmericanHeart.org to learn more about heart disease, the number one killer of women.
  
• Investigate self-worth, the characteristics of both the healthy and the unhealthy variety at www.ToolsForLivingLife.com/Self_Esteem.htm and www.Self-Esteem-NASE.org.
  
• Visit websites for weight loss assistance, including: www.WeightWatchers.com and www.Prevention.com.
  
• Visit www.PandemicFlu.gov to find information, tools, and support that will assist your club, community, and family in preparing.
  
• Visit www.WiserWomen.org to download information about the important issues surrounding women’s retirement income.
  
• Visit www.SocialSecurity.gov to obtain information on retirement planning and calculation of benefits; assistance for widows, widowers, and other survivors; and instructions regarding name changes due to marriage, divorce, and other life-changing events.
  
• Learn about the crime of identity theft by visiting www.FTC.gov/BCP/Edu/Microsites/IDTheft or www.IDTheftCenter.org.
  
  

Inform Others

• Share information obtained from GFWC Partners and resources with members and the community.
  
• Provide local working mothers and/or single parents an opportunity to network and share resources.
  
• Organize or participate in health fairs and forums. Use club members who are health care professionals and fitness experts as presenters.
  
• Create a resource list of local clinics and health centers for underserved women. Distribute the list at shelters, places of worship, and other appropriate public places.
  
• Educate members and the community about the availability of shingles vaccine.
  
• Research and discuss the impact that healthy self-worth has on club meetings and activities.
  
• Invite an identity theft expert to speak at a club meeting. Contact the Identification Theft Resource Center (www.IdTheftCenter.org) or Center’s Speakers Bureau to see if there is a speaker in your area.
  
• Organize financial workshops for groups such as retirees, single parents or college students.
  
  

Create Change

• Work with local food banks and homeless shelters to provide needed donations, stock shelves, and other volunteer services.
  
• Partner with a local nursing home or mental health facility to enhance the quality of life for the elderly and disabled.
  
• Partner with local hospital to present stroke outreach programs.
  
• Host a stroke survivor or a health professional at a club meeting to talk about the signs and symptoms of stroke and the need to seek immediate treatment.
  
• Download the free “The Heart Truth: A Speaker’s Kit” and hold your own Red Dress event to raise awareness of heart health from www.NHLBI.NIH.gov/Educational/HeartTruth/Materials.
  
• Start an exercise group in your club, then initiate a weight loss challenge in your club and keep track of pounds lost.
  
• Participate in the annual Accessible America competition to recognize local communities for their efforts to include people with disabilities.