The Younger Woman’s Club (YWC) of Louisville was founded on October 14, 1921, with its purpose “to promote among the younger women of Louisville, an active involvement and intelligent interest in culture and civic affairs in the community.” With 125 young ladies comprising the founding class, dues were two dollars and fifty cents until 1925, when they were raised to five dollars. Meetings were held bimonthly at 3p.m. with afternoon tea being served. The civic works of our early members formed a tradition, which has continued to grow for eighty years. Early years of service included many volunteer hours to the Red Cross City Hospital, the YMCA, and the Girl Scouts. The Depression Era did not hinder the commitment of the volunteer efforts. The first publication of the LOG was 1933. Also in that year, the YWC began its work with the Kentucky Children’s Home, continuing service there until 1969. For sixteen years, an on going fundraiser for the Club was the sale of tickets to the Cincinnati Symphony Concert Series. The age limits for membership was raised to thirty-five. In 1939, the YWC Play was opened to the public and raised $1,600.00 for charity.
World War II entered with the forties and brought with it dramatic changes. Throughout the duration of the war the Club formed a Defense Committee to help Louisville’s service organizations and to perform war-related community projects. In 1945, the Club began a formal orientation program for new members and total membership reached a record 175. Thirty-eight of these new members were on the Community Service Committee, volunteering at General Hospital (now known as University Hospital.) In 1946, the Club celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary.
In 1951 name-tags were instituted for members to wear at Club functions and the age limit was raised to 38. In 1952 the YWC became a non-profit, non-stock organization. The first Charity Ball was held in 1954 at the Kentucky Hotel and brought in $3,141.00. The Ball became an annual event five years later. There
was such a crowd at the Ball in 1960 that it was moved to Freedom Hall. Since then the Ball has been held at the Bluegrass Convention Center, Louisville Gardens, The Galt House, The Hyatt, The Seelbach Hotel, and most recently the New Convention Center. In 1957, The Younger Woman’s Club Charities Group was
formed for the purpose of administering the Ball proceeds. In 1959, the Charity Ball was voted the annual fun raising function of the Club. Additional changes and new involvement were brought about in the sixties and seventies for members of the YWC. During the sixties, the Club fielded a Community Chest team for the annual drive. In 1961, the Club awarded its first Citizen Laureate Award to Robert S. Whitney, Conductor of the Louisville Orchestra. Membership dues became twenty-five dollars in 1960. In 1983, the charity function of the YWC was divided into two separate parts now known as the Charity Ball and the Charity Campaign. In 1986, the first YWC Show house became reality with the help of Owsley B. Frazier, Bittners, and Dr. Bertolone. Local Charities received $33,342 from the proceeds of the first Showhouse in 1992, the graduation age was changed from 38 to 45. The “Fabulous Forties” group was formed for members between the ages of 40 to 45. The YWC Style Show became a fundraiser in 1993. In 1998,
Nancy and David Doctor provided their home “Monticello” to serve as the YWC show house and site of several other charity events including a celebrity chef dinner, wine tasting, and public tours. Other fundraisers in the late 90’s included the Tortoise and the Hare 5K run/walk held in St. Matthews and the advent of the YWC cookbook, Bon Appetit.
In 1999 - 2000 the YWC celebrated the new millennium under the able leadership of President Connie Spalding. The biggest change during this year was the length of time to become a YWC member, (changing from the standard two years to one). With the past ten years seeing a change in membership from 20% working wives and mothers to 70% working women, the club felt a need to simplify the process. As the YWC entered the 21st century the Long Range Planning committee kept an eye on the future. Long Range Planning became a board position. The club also addressed the changing needs of its members by trying to include working women with more night meetings and functions. The 2000 Charity
Ball was a Swing Ball celebrating the resurgence of 1940’s swing dancing. Major fund raising events were the Charity Ball and Auction, the Walk/Run, and the Monticello/Leaf Show house. The year 2000-2001 began with one of the largest member-elect classes in history, making President Trudy Wheeler’s main goal for the club a reality. Adding to the successful membership was one of the most exciting achievements for the Younger Women’s Club. On November 8th the YWC received the Outstanding Philanthropist Award, an award presented to an organization with a proven record of generosity and which has demonstrated civic and charitable responsibility. Also an exciting idea was to have the Walk/Run in conjunction with the Kentucky Derby Festival. The club’s fundraisers included the annual Tortoise and Hare Walk/Run, a lovely Fall cocktail and silent auction, which raised $6,000.00, and an elegant Charity Ball featuring “Le Cabaret and All That Jazz” as its 2001 theme. The Charity Campaign donated $80,000.00 to twenty charitable organizations.
The 80th year 2001-2002 “teed off’ with the first annual “Nine and Dine” golf scramble at the Polo Fields Golf and Country Club raising $ 1,100. We embraced our members, celebrated the 80th and blessed our country on September 15th at the Barnyard Bash. A crowning glory was the proclamation from the Mayor of Louisville, proclaiming October 14,2001 as “Younger Women’s Club Day”. We gathered that Sunday afternoon for the 80th Anniversary Celebration Tea at The Women’s Club. Scrapbooks, yearbooks, and YWC logs from the last 80 years were on hand displaying our history. The Charity Ball raised over $40,000.00 with a wild and wonderful Winter Safari theme chaired by incoming President Jeanine Triplett. The Charity Campaign donated $100,000.00 to twenty-seven charitable organizations this 80th anniversary year making President Trudy Wheeler a proud graduate. The total amount of all YWC Charity Campaigns to date is $3,000,000.00 with one hundred percent of all contributing aiding Community organizations. The Younger Woman’s Club began our 2002-2003 year with the focus on membership. Our membership campaign ended June 15th, 2003 with 30 enthusiastic members-elect. Led by our Second Vice-President Marla Spears, we were excited about the potential of our new members!! Other highlights during the 2002-2003 year included; our September business meeting in which “Elvis” made a personal appearance to help our announce the theme of our 2003 Ball, the “Rock N Roll Ball.” An art show in October by Judith Suorwiec, the presentation at our November luncheon by Dr. Louis Heuser which focused on the health and fitness of children, and our Charity Ball which continues to be the second largest fund-raiser for the YWC. Long-range planning continues to be a focus of our organization in order to make sure we are meeting the needs of our members. A survey was also sent to each member, in addition to two “fireside”
chats which were held to solicit feedback from our members regarding their YWC experience. Our committee meetings continue to be among the most popular YWC functions and our committee chairs did a great job coordinating the activities for the Fabulous 40s, the Book Club, Community Service, Lifestyles and Garden. As we wrapped up this great year, we had a successful Charity Campaign and donated $90,000.00 to Louisville area charities in April of 2003.
The Younger Woman’s Club again began our 2003-2004 year led by YWC President, Jeanine Triplett, with the focus on membership. Our membership campaign ended June 15th, 2003 with 32 enthusiastic members-elect. We kicked-off the year with the September Business Meeting on September 17th, 2003
at Hurstbourne Country Club. We invited the Waller Williams pre-school to join us for our first meeting of the year to share with our members the wonderful things they do with special needs students. All of our many committees did a tremendous job during the 2003-2004 year planning the many activities for the
club. Two of our most successful events this year was the Annual YWC Holiday Tea with over 90 in attendance and a new event, a Holiday Couples Cocktail Party; both events were held at the historic Frazier House. The beginning of 2004 turned our focus and attention to the 50th anniversary of the YWC Charity Ball. The theme of this year’s ball was the “Golden Jubilee.” Ball Chairman, Renetta Carrier, and her talented and dedicated ball committee put together one of the most memorable balls. The decorations, attention to detail and many hours of hard work all came together to produce one of our finest balls. With the 50th anniversary of the ball, our goal was to involve the Woman’s Club in this special evening and as a result, we were pleased and honored to have several of our former ball chairmen, campaign chairman, charities group chairman and YWC presidents in attendance at the ball. The 2004 ball raised $33,000 for the charity campaign due to very successful silent and live auctions. As we wrapped up a
successful 2003-2004 year for the YWC and we completed our fund-raising cycle this year, the members of the Younger Woman’s Club of Louisville announced the allocation $55,000.00 to the 18 agencies in April.
Our unending commitment to improving our community through volunteering and fundraising makes the YWC an invaluable asset to the Kentuckiana area. The time spent with each other through these charitable efforts and social occasions enriches the lives of each of our members. The “YES WE CARE” (YWC) slogan perfectly describes the attitudes of our organization. We take great pleasure and pride in being part of the Younger Woman’s Club.
