The Altrusa Club of Columbus, Georgia, Inc. was organized on October 4, 1951 with a dinner meeting at the Ralston Hotel. Altrusa began in Columbus with fifteen members. At the Charter Night ceremonies, March 14, 1953, there were 29 members.

Over the last fifty years, our club, now known as Altrusa International, Inc. of Columbus, Georgia, has evolved with the times including inviting men to be members but one thing has remained the same - our commitment to community service. Significant milestones in our community service can by found in our club history.

Developing a major fundraiser, an annual Used Book Sale, allowed our club to pledge $10,000 toward building the Ronald McDonald House (commitment met in 1995) and pledge another $10,000 toward the endowment fund of the new Muscogee County Library facility.

In 2001, Altrusa supported the effort to build a new Public Library in Columbus by donating $2,000 and pledging a $10,000 donation. The Club also began planning for publication of a cookbook with all proceeds going to the new library.

In 2002, the club, working with Keep Columbus Beautiful, designed and distributed an environmental coloring book, “Wally The Water Drop”, to to all third grade students in Muscogee County.

In 2003, Altrusa produced a cookbook "Strawberries, Scones, and Stone Soup", a collection of recipes with humorous anecdotes, with all proceeds donated to the Muscogee County main library's endowment fund.

In 2004, Altrusa became a Partner in Education (PIE) with the Rose Hill Center including the high school located at Rose Hill and the middle and night schools located at Daniel.

In 2005, the club added an Environmental Studies scholarship to our list of awards and took on another hands-on, on-going project with the Little Blessings Nurturing Center.

Our current service projects include the Eva Daniel Ulrich Vocational Grant, the Rex and Kathleen Lavender Music Scholarship, the Eva and Dick Ulrich Environmental Award, the Drama Award, contributions toward our $10,000 pledge to the new library, hands-on project with Little Blessings Nurturing Center, and financial support for the Ronald McDonald House, Girl Scouts, and local environmental and literacy projects.

Book Sale

Calendar

Club History

Altrusa International Official Website


Last modified: June 20, 2006