The Queensland Country Women’s Association (QCWA) must be one of the most underrated organisations in our state, and I am amazed by the incredible amount of work its members are able to achieve and the breadth of their operations.
During the recent Annual General Meeting of the QCWA Coomera Branch, which I attended, president Linda Miles outlined an astounding list of achievements for the past year.
I was amazed to learn that these dedicated women, many of whom have been QCWA members for several decades or longer, churned out an incredible 12,020 volunteer hours of work during the last financial year.
They created some 773 items to donate to different causes, including goods for Papua New Guinea and Tonga; items for the Gold Coast University Hospital; crocheted poppies to mark Anzac Day; and Defence Force Christmas parcels.
The branch also made donations to CWA state projects, including the Centenary Fund, the State Emergency Fund, and the Dame Alice Berry Fund. They also assisted victims of the local flood disaster earlier this year.
When they were not helping others, the Coomera CWA members were pitting their skills against Queensland’s best, in dressmaking, the agriculture and the environment, and public speaking competitions.
The ladies are also working hard on a number of projects to mark the QCWA centenary celebrations, including organising a bush dance and reprinting their children’s cookbook, while also creating a knee rug to celebrate the Queen’s platinum jubilee.
The list of their achievements over the last year is long and very impressive, but it saddens me to think that with the ever-increasing urban sprawl and societal changes that one day the QCWA may be consigned to the history pages.
I would love to see a new generation of dedicated women encouraged to take up the QCWA baton to ensure that the invaluable work that they do continues well into the future.
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