Brevard AAUW Branch History
Maury Bandurraga, Branch Historian
Updated February 9, 2022
The Brevard Branch of AAUW was chartered on April 18, 1955 with 14 members. By fall 1955, there were 24 members. Brevard Branch hosted a Western NC workshop in 1963 with 80 members present. In 2001, there were 100 members. Currently membership is 126, the largest chapter in North Carolina.
Several Brevard Branch members have served at the AAUW NC board level- Arlene Hoover, Jeanette Rowan, Kay Elliott, Phyllis Stout and Karla Atkinson.
The 100th anniversary of AAUW was celebrated in 1981. In 1989, the Brevard chapter received recognition in a book “Launching our Second Century” for four projects, including the book sale (with 38 members, $5625 was raised for scholarships), and a 5 page “how to” manual, available to other chapters was written by Milda Ashbaugh, who chaired the sale for nine years until her death.
The first book sale was held in 1969 on one day with a card table on the sidewalk of Broad Street outside of O.P. Taylor’s (previously Morris Pharmacy, before that Long’s Pharmacy). The amount raised was $115, contributed to a National AAUW drive for graduate women scholarships to help them finish their degrees.
Starting in 1977-1999, the book sale was held at the current Brevard Elementary location, and funds were directed to local scholarships. In 1979, the 3-day sale raised $1750. The sale was moved to Brevard College, Boshamer Gym, in 2000. The sale was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19. In 2021, due to Covid-19, the sale was delayed until late July and lasted 5 days, with great results. In 2022, the 52nd sale is scheduled for the usual 6 days in mid-June (June 11-16, 2022), giving us 2 book sales in one fiscal year. In recent years, the sale of 30,000 books and media has raised ample money for multiple scholarships for local young girls and women from older elementary school through college. Yellow box locations are set out around town in February and collected for four months.
During the last 10 years, on-line book sales have started supplementing the physical book sale, currently at Ebay “manybookslittletime”. The physical location of sorting/pricing and storing books before sale was moved from Pisgah Storage (on 64) in 2019 to a room across from Blue Ridge College, to the current “Book Nook” location in College Plaza, starting Fall 2021.
Brevard Branch has established two fully endowed funds to provide scholarships for college women- one at Blue Ridge Community College (BRCC) and another at Brevard College. The initial BRCC Endowment started in 2003 with a gift of $2000, but gifts were given on behalf of Brevard AAUW as far back as 1996. A total of 656 gifts have been given to BRCC by Brevard AAUW since then. The initial gift in 2015 for Brevard College Endowment was $5000, but annual scholarship fund gifts to Brevard College started in 1985, and to date there have been a total of 110 gifts to both the endowment and annual scholarship funds since then.
In addition, we fund scholarships for older elementary students (Green River Preserve environmental camp), junior high students (for STEM camp- Clemson WISE program and currently the summer program of the NC School of Mathematics and Science in Morganton, NC) and high school students (Time4RealScience program). We support 2 local college women each year in attending a national leadership conference- NCCWSL and partner with Brevard College in the IWIL Leadership Development Program for young women.
For many years, the Branch prepared a March display for Women’s History month, and during the same month, continues to host a “Jeopardy-like” program for 5th grade Transylvania County students to learn about famous women in history.
In past years, Brevard AAUW started “Friends of Transylvania Library” and co-sponsored a candidate forum for city and county offices and the Board of Education. For over 20 years, we selected a “Woman Who Makes a Difference” and honored her at the May meeting. The most recent honoree was in 2019.
Generally, the Branch meets monthly from September to May on the second Tuesday of the month, with speakers most months, and social events in December and May. The meeting location was at the local Lutheran church for many years, and in 2018 moved to St. Timothy’s Methodist Church.
References:
North Carolina AAUW History 1947-2001, Clara B. Allen, The Chapel Hill Press (2001)
https://nchistoryroom.blogspot.com/2018/02/mid-century-downtown.html
Brevard Branch Directory 2022
Discussion with Betty Schenfield and College Endowment Fund Contacts:
1) BRCC- Jenny Hamson (828-694-1710) on Feb 2, 2022. First gifts to BRCC started in 1996. Endowment Agreement established 9/16/2003 with a gift of $2000. To date there have been 656 gifts to the endowment.
2) Brevard College- Dorothy Knowles (828-641-0649) on Feb 3, 2022. First gifts to Brevard College started in 1985; Endowment Agreement signed 9/29/2015. 50 non-endowment contributions and 65 endowment contributions to date.