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The Progress Club of Las Cruces made $47,152 in direct donations to about two dozen programs benefitting children and education, veterans and people affected by domestic violence, as well as health and wellness, the environment and arts and culture.
The Progress Club also made in-kind donations during the fiscal year valued at $111,146, and contributed more than 40,000 volunteer hours, the club said in a report issued during a June donors reception at Picacho Hills Country Club.
Local beneficiaries of direct and in-kind donations during the year included the Children’s Reading Alliance, Asombro Institute of Education, La Piñon Sexual Assault Recovery Service, Families and Youth, Inc.’s My Friends Place emergency youth shelter, 4 Paws and a Wake Up, Christ Child Society Layette Shower providing clothing and supplies for new mothers, the Doña Ana Arts Council’s Missoula Children’s Theatre, La Casa Domestic Violence Program, Thomas Branigan Memorial Library, New Mexico State University and Doña Ana Community College.
The club also donated gift cards for veterans and supported veterans’ honor flights, volunteered at local schools and at the Asombro Institute, purchased books for school libraries and volunteered at DACC’s Renaissance Arts Faire.
Club history
The club celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2015 but got its start when the Women’s Improvement Association was formed in 1894 by five Las Cruces women who wanted to help provide services to the community the city was not providing, according to club records. At the time, the women were riding behind a coal wagon taking the body of a friend of theirs to a local cemetery. Their first goal was to buy a hearse for the community. That commitment to serve evolved into the Progress Club of Las Cruces’ mission of “living the volunteer spirit.”
Coming up
The Progress Club’s annual fundraising golf tournament will be Oct. 7 in Las Cruces.
Join the club
Membership is open to all women. Dues are $40 a year. To become a club member and/or to make a donation to the club, contact Belen Valenzuela at 575-496-4292 and belen8@yahoo.com.
Visit www.facebook.com/ProgressClubofLasCruces.
