The Wednesday Club of Eureka recently celebrated its 70th year as a community organization, quietly, of course, and with little fanfare. That’s been the group’s method of operation for many years: low-key, no-fuss, under-the-radar things to help make Eureka a better place.
“We don’t really advertise what we do,” current president Danielle Corley said. “That’s part of what I love about it, that it’s kind of behind the scenes.”
The club celebrated its anniversary on Sept. 21 with past and current members. The group also made a donation to the Healing Grace Clinic of Eureka, according to the Wednesday Club’s Facebook page.
Corley, 51, is a recent retiree who said she found out about the group from her mother-in-law.
“She was in it, and I never really knew what they did; I thought they just planted flowers and that sort of thing,” she said. “Then I found out what it was really all about and I thought, ‘Hey, this is pretty fantastic.’”
The nonprofit group was founded in 1955, its mission statement to “improve the Eureka community through service and scholarship.”
It’s a fairly small group – intentionally so – that meets monthly in members’ homes.
“We typically have about 25 people average at any given meeting,” Corley said. “We have spots for 30 active members. We have five senior members and about five sustaining members. They are less active, for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they return to active status, sometimes not. We also have two honorary members.”
Members might be local business owners, work in a variety of what Corley called “regular jobs” or work as stay-at-home mothers. Many also volunteer at schools and other areas.
“It’s definitely a commitment,” Corley said. “It’s a lot of service hours, and with such a small pool of members, it’s expected that you are going to be active. This isn’t a group where you just join and never do anything.”
A busy gang
Over the years, the Wednesday Club of Eureka has been responsible for an impressive list of volunteer service projects, family activities, beautification projects and fundraisers. Some of those include:
■ The group was one of a number of organizations working with Missouri State Parks to help rehabilitate the historic bridge spanning the Meramec River at Route 66 State Park near Eureka.
■ Each year, Eureka High School seniors are invited to apply for the club-funded $3,000 Dorothea Brundage Scholarship. “That’s probably what we’re most known for,” Corley said.
■ The group supports A Safe Place, a domestic violence shelter run by Compass Health.
■ The club partners with Marymount Manor, a skilled nursing facility for seniors. “We water the plants; we decorate the doors,” Corley said. “We do what we can to help senior citizens.”
■ The club also works closely to support Healing Grace, a nonprofit, free medical clinic in Eureka that provides health care services to the uninsured and those in poverty.
■ The club’s “Pennies for the Pantry” donation jars set out at various Eureka locations bring in funds to buy food and personal hygiene supplies to be distributed. The group also sponsors food item collections at Schnucks grocery stores for the pantry.
■ Club members were instrumental in getting the Safe Haven Baby Box installed at the Eureka Fire Protection District’s House 2 in March.
■ Past projects include sponsoring the Eureka Scarecrow Festival, working a station for the Run St. Louis benefit race and placing a welcome sign at the city limits. The group helped purchase a “Jaws of Life” apparatus for the Eureka Fire Protection District.
They put the fun in fundraising
Of course, in order to do projects of this scope, the group needs cash as well as volunteers. It schedules fundraisers throughout the year, such as the “Flag a Yard” program, where individuals, businesses and organizations can pay to have American flags displayed for Veterans Day.
“We try to come up with a new one every few years,” Corley said. “The last couple of years it’s been our Music Bingo. That’s a lot of fun.”
In the past, the group also held a Painting for a Purpose event, sold Christmas bows at the Eureka High craft fair and held Share Night events at Culver’s Restaurant.
There are fun events, too. The group always marches or has a float in the annual Eureka Days Parade, and meetings often include an educational speaker or program.
Corley said heading up the group is a fairly high-pressure job, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Some days, it’s like drinking from a fire hose,” she said with a laugh. “But it’s been so fun.”
While the group celebrates its milestone anniversary in typical low-key fashion, Corley said members discuss being more visible in the community.
“But we just want to make sure we meet the needs of Eureka,” she said. “We enjoy partnering with agencies that are already doing the work. We never want to come in and take over, but if we can come in and work alongside, that’s ideal.
“Because we’re 30 people, we can’t do everything. But we’ve got a lot of great organizations that do similar work, and I see us all as kind of linking arms and doing our thing. We just want to be involved with making the community a better place.”