After almost 60 years of serving the local community, the Hempfield Woman's Club has disbanded after making one last donation to the Hempfield Foundation on Aug. 19. The Hempfield Foundation will use the donation, which contains the remaining $8,183 of the club's reserves, to create a fund to support grants for teachers throughout the Hempfield School District.

The Hempfield Woman's Club was founded in 1965 to provide women in the community with an opportunity to connect with each other while engaging in various community outreach projects. At first, the organization primarily focused on holding regular meetings and holding bake sales to raise money for local schools and nonprofits. "Margaret Keen was the first president of the club. She lived two doors down from me and went door-to-door to invite women to join," said Wilma Beard, one of the club's charter members. "I thought it would be a good thing for the community, so I joined right away."

In 1976, the Hempfield Woman's Club established yearly flea markets on Memorial Day and Labor Day as an additional method of raising funds to support the community. Members of the club continued to operate the flea markets alone until 2011, when they partnered with the Hempfield recCenter to meet the events' growing staffing needs. The Hempfield recCenter took over the operation of the flea markets entirely in 2019 and continues to host them every year.

Over the many decades it was active, the Hempfield Woman's Club continued to expand its reach in the community. The organization created scholarships for seniors at Hempfield High School and frequently supported Girls on the Run Lancaster, the Occupational Development Center and the Power Packs Project. The Hempfield Woman's Club also created several initiatives to strengthen specific parts of the community, including the Hempfield Cares program. Through Hempfield Cares, the club distributed grocery gift cards on a monthly basis to families in need. From 2006 to 2020, the Hempfield Woman's Club donated over $193,000 to Hempfield families.

Members of the club were instrumental in the foundation of Hempfield's Meals on Wheels program in 1976, as well as a program that offered training courses for students to become certified babysitters. Once a year, members of the club purchased clothing and toys for families to give as Christmas gifts to their children.

The Hempfield Foundation will use the donation from the Hempfield Woman's Club to create the Hempfield Woman's Club Legacy Fund. The fund will be used in combination with the foundation's teacher grant program to sustain enrichment opportunities for students and new programs that fall outside of the district's budget.

For more information, visit http://www.hempfieldfoundation.org.