05/27/2026
It's WHRC Wednesday! Let's close out the Stroke Awareness Month of May with a look back at a Community Improvement Project focused squarely on assisting people living with the aftermath of a stroke: The Stroke Club of Fredericksburg, Virginia, co-sponsored by the Woman's Club of Fredericksburg and the Easter Seal Society.
As an area with a large number of retirees, Fredericksburg was in true need of additional services for older residents. The Woman's Club worked with other local organizations to provide resources, guidance, assistance, and socialization for stroke survivors and their families. The Stroke Club organized field trips, connected families to education and assistance, donated food, offered help getting handicapped car tags, loaned wheelchairs and other equipment, worked on community awareness, raised funds for all of this and more, and even helped start another such club in nearby Richmond. As the Woman's Club noted in their CIP contest summary, "it was obvious that this [level of comprehensive effort] would be a job for volunteers if it was to be accomplished."
The CIP contest entry includes letters, citations, project plans, thank-you notes, photographs, and some copies of the educational resources provided by the Easter Seals, American Heart Association, and more. They even wrote an update the following year, telling us how the prize money helped with their continued work--because, don't worry, GFWC Woman's Club of Fredericksburg won second place in the national Community Improvement Contest for this project.
📷From the CIP contest submission, we have two photos of a 1980 field trip to the White House, where Stroke Club members were warmly welcomed by President Jimmy Carter, along with an assortment of stroke awareness materials provided to club members. WHRC Community Improvement Project collection, CIP 1980-1982.01
