On the third Tuesday of every month, the Annandale Centennial Villla is bustling with activity. Women get together wearing silly hats, playing bunko or stamping cards. The active ladies are the Women of Today. They are members of the Heart of the Lakes Chapter where Marie Working serves as the group’s president. “The Annandale group is fairly large,” Working said. “We have done lots of different things.” The Women of Today have 11 program areas. Included in these areas are chaplain/family, ways and means, youth and community, and focus on women. Each division addresses a specific area within the community. “Our new focus for the next three years will be girl scouts. We are going to be there to help them with get-togethers and be assistants to them,” Working said. Some of the upcoming events the organization has planned include a coat drive, a community Halloween trick-or-treat night, collecting food for Thanksgiving, and a Christmas tour of homes. “There is a lot of personal benefit [in Women of Today], but you need to put out an effort to receive it.” Apparently, Working has put in this effort. She was currently recognized with a Presidential Medallion from the statewide organization. According to the group, only three chapter presidents were given this honor. In the state of Minnesota, there are 114 Women of Today chapters with 2,200 members. Working’s chapter filled out an application about her and the work that she has done for her chapter. From the other applications, she was chosen to be honored. “I think I was picked because I was so new at it and took on so much. I have set goals and filled out a plan of action [on what we would accomplish in our chapter].” Working was presented with the award during a President and State Delegate training held at Camp Friendship in Annandale. The state president, Jodie Meyer gave out the awards. “She said ‘I want to give you this award. You have done a lot for your group. We are proud to have you as a member.’” Involved from the start Working first joined the Heart of the Lakes Chapter last October. She attended the meeting and was appointed secretary. “I wanted to see the chapter grow and said ‘we should do something to increase leadership.’” Awhile later, the members convinced Working to step up into the president position. “Our chapter really took off with our go-getter members,” Working said. As the leader of the group, Working has delegated tasks and organized events at meetings. She said it is very important to keep the meetings short with fun activities afterwards. She said that she doesn’t want to bore members or take them away from other activities. “We just want to get women together to have fun,” Working said. The main purpose of the group is to bring women together to help the community. Their creed states the women of today “believe that through us great lessons can be learned, worthy deeds performed, and a hand of fellowship extended to millions of women everywhere. May we leave the world a better place because we lived and served within it.” The Heart of the Lakes Chapter, along with the state and national organization have raised funds for kidney disease, juvenile diabetes, the March of Dimes, and people with developmental challenges (Camp Friendship). They have also donated funds and material to the St. Cloud Women’s Shelter. The Women of Today is an organization for all women over 18. For more information or to join, contact Marie Working at (320) 236-3018 or Mary Ann at (320) 274-8455. “We are here so women can get out of the house and know they are somebody. They can get the praise and recognition they deserve [through our organization]. All women have talents and through the group, they have an outlet to use their talents. Everyone (members) looks to everyone for advice. It is just awesome.”
