The Christian Women’s Fellowship (CWF) of Marple Christian Church, Broomall, PA, has a benevolent project every month except July, August, and September. In non-pandemic times, the monthly meetings can take place either in the Fellowship Hall of the church building or in the home of the hostess of the meeting. During the pandemic, we meet on Zoom from our homes at the same Zoom location as Sunday morning services. The meetings are usually every second Tuesday evening of the month September through June, at 6 PM. All women are invited. Please contact the church to confirm the date and place, and if you need to arrange transportation or get an address and/or directions.
(The following paragraph is for non-pandemic times; ignore this paragraph until 09-2021) Meetings in September and June begin with a "salad supper" at 6:30 p.m., on the second Wednesday of the month, with the program beginning at 7:30 p.m. Meetings from October through May are on the second Wednesday of the month, but usually in the mornings. Two definite exceptions are November and December, which begin at 6:00 or 6:30 p.m. on the second Wednesday evening of the month.
The Zoom meetings include reports and planning sessions. The business is followed by a 15 to 30 minute program (unless it is replaced by the project, provided we’re meeting together) and a 15 minute worship devotional (times are approximate, yet usually fairly accurate). Often, like in Feb and March, we work on a project instead of having a program. In November we fill "stockings" with Christmas presents for the elderly residents of Fair Acres. In December we fill baggies with goodies for the homeless of Delaware County and deliver them to The Life Center between Upper Darby and Philadelphia. In 2020 these 2 projects were completely changed at the request of the directors of each institution. Fair Acres wanted individual items loose in bags. The shelter wanted gift cards, so we gave each of the 30 residents a $15 gift card to Wawa, which totaled $450.00.
In February and March we stuff heart-shaped pillows to give to hospitals for their heart surgery recovery patients (to hold against their chest when coughing). We will still do this project in 2021, keeping appropriate distance and taking precautions, but the following info does not apply now.
Projects are listed in the Projects link below, and fuller information is provided. In normal times, the meeting is followed by lunch, but during the pandemic we are serving no food. For lunches we would usually bring our own sandwich. The beverages, chips, and either a salad or dessert are provided by the hostess. The exceptions to this are the evening meetings. For the Salad Suppers, we each bring a salad of our choice to share, while the hostess covers beverages, crackers and condiments, and a dessert. In November and December, the Johnsons usually provide the whole meal at their home.
When the day-time meetings are being held there will sometimes also be an evening group that will also meet. There is neither a business meeting nor meal at the evening meetings (therefore no hostess — although often someone brings a dessert), but there is a 10–15 minute devotional. This group usually has the same program or project as the morning group. They generally meet from 7:30 to 8:30 or 9:00 p.m., depending on how long the project takes, on an evening when those interested can gather.