Child Welfare Club holds annual fundraiser

By Mark Shaffer

The Ironton Tribune

On Thursday, some 100 members of the Child Welfare Club and their guests attended the group’s annual Talent Show fundraiser in the gymnasium of the Ironton Church of the Nazarene.

Club president Ann Wise explained that every member of the club is responsible for bringing in an item for them to auction off.

Many of the items are seasonal items like ceramic Christmas tree cookie jar or wooden reindeer. Some are Ironton Fighting Tiger related. Many were homemade baked goods that sold quite well, like bread that went for $25 a loaf.

“This is our biggest fundraiser,” Wise said. “And the money goes towards scholarships to Ohio University Southern or Collins Career Technical Center. It also goes towards other miscellaneous educational needs for schools in Lawrence County.

The attendance was good with 100 people attending.

The club’s other big fundraiser is a salad luncheon that is held in April.

It was mentioned that the club had its first talent show auction in November 1974, which raised $8.

The Ironton Welfare Club began in 1919 and times were tough in Ironton and the group had a mission to make sure the children in town had milk on a regular basis.

This is the 104th year of the Child Welfare Club. 

It began in 1919 and times were tough in Ironton and the group had a mission to make sure the children in town had milk on a regular basis. After the federal government passed a law in 1974 ensuring that children had access to milk, the club continued to find other avenues to help children.

In the past century, the Child Welfare Club has had over 56 different betterment projects, many that carried from year to year, including story hour at the courthouse, building the first public park in Ironton, helping the Briggs Library set up a children’s section, paying a nurse to give children medical care and setting up the city’s first kindergarten school.

The club established the Eddy Test scholarship in 1960 and that continues to this day.