​On May 10, 1940 fifty young Cheyenne women met in the tearoom of the Little Shop to organize a Junior Woman’s Club, under the sponsorship of the Cheyenne Woman’s Club.  Mrs. H.M. Davey was the first elected president, soon succeeded for a brief period by Mrs. Edward Speir, vice president.  But it was Mrs. James O. Wilson who assumed the office of the first regular club meeting in September and who guided the club through the first hard year of organization.  It is not surprising, since the members were young mothers, that the first community project undertaken was directed toward underprivileged children.  The members sponsored a nursery school, provided the children with milk each, day, and gave them a party at Christmas.  Three study groups were formed-Home, Art and Literature, and Forum-and the Home Group has been an integral part of the club for thirty years.

After only a year, World War II evoked new demands, hence the activities became war service centered.  The members worked in the U.S.O. and its youth canteens, rolled bandages, provided a loan service of “temporarily unused cribs” to be used by service personnel, and explained the point rationing system to the public.  With wives following their husbands in service membership fluctuated, but in May, 1943, the club was increased to 100 members and dues were raised from $1.50 to $2.00 a year.  Meetings were informal, with full membership participation.

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1990-1991 - During the Club year, the Presidents took on the task of working with the botanical garden director and before year end the first gazebo was planned and built at the botanical gardens. The club also purchased two wooden benches placed throughout the gardens. $1,500 was raised and teddy bears were purchased and given to the DePaul hospital for children in need of care.

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1991-1992 - The main project was to raise money for an organ transplant for an infant. The club raised $1000 for the transplant, but she subsequently died 8 weeks later. The club members also held an event where the Club members portrayed Wyoming’s First Ladies and had the event at the Historic Governor’s Mansion.

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1992-1993 - This year the club members did various community projects. They made a new blue banner for the club, they read to children after school each Tuesday, they donated money to a music teacher to help provide instruments for the children, they purchased infant books and provided the books to the parents of newborn children. The club fundraiser was a doll house contest, and the doll houses were sold to raise money to help with their community projects.

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1993-1994 - A lot of time and energy was put into fundraisers to provide the fire department with 5 defibrillators. Members also supported “Home Away from Home” providing rooms and personal items for families who had a family member in the hospital. The club donated a display case to the Depot Museum to display history items. Two $500 dollar scholarships were provided to two selected women who had passing grades and needed support to continue college.

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1994-1995 - The main fundraisers were a Valentine brunch and cocktail party. The club partnered with the Zonta Women’s Club and supported “A Children’s Learning Center.” Another fundraiser was a “Crazy Style Show” with women wearing wild kinds of costumes. Another project they completed was in collaboration with the Library Foundation. They put together 125 packets stuffed with library information. The club also partnered with the Infants and Children Program and provided teenage mothers with an infant book for their babies.

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1996-1997 - The club did a canteen books fundraiser for VA patients and raised $180. The canteen books provided coupons that could be used to shop in the VA’s store. A "bakeless" cake sale was held and $938 was collected from members. When the actual bake sell was held, they raised $1,020.

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1997-1998 - A Gourmet Dinner began for members to join and share friendship once a month. A member made the entrée, another the side dishes, and a third person brought the dessert. They often held various foreign-country dinners. The club made a new banner that was made with heavy satin with gold and purple colors. Another style show of vintage clothes was held as the primary fundraiser. Over $5,000 was given to “Home Away from Home” during the two years.

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1998-1999 - The main project was “Adopt a Library Project” where X-JWC along with the Women’s club donated 248 books and raised $1,935. Of special interest, there were three women’s clubs operating in Cheyenne 1998.

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2001-2002 - The club members held a dinner to raise money for Operation Smile. They held other smaller fundraisers to continue their desire to purchase the defibrillators. Their biggest fundraisers were casino night and a card party.

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2002-2003 - During the club year, there were sufficient funds to purchase and present the fire department with the first defibrillator along with a training class for the fire fighters.

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2005-2006 - $250 was donated to the club and books were purchased and given to one of the local kindergartens.

In November 2006, the club put on an “Authentic Style Show.” The photos showed Club members in period costumes. A card party fundraiser was held and earned $1,000. The president was passionate about families not being able to afford Christmas. An adopted family was presented with multiple gifts for everyone in the family.

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2007-2008 - At this point in time, membership was reduced to an extremely low number. The President agreed to serve two years and was able to turn the club around by installing new members, new projects and determination. The club grew and began participating in new activities. 75 knitted infant hats were made and sent to infants in 3rd world countries.

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2008-2009 - The community project focused on raising money for Meals on Wheels. For every dollar the club raised, the federal program would pay an additional $4. Since $1,000 was raised, Meals on Wheels received $5,000. A new fundraiser “Bunco” was organized and held in January. It was a success and members agreed it would be continued.

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2009-2010 - The fundraisers for this year were a Card Party and Bunco. The money raised the prior year was presented to the Community Clinic Prescription Program. 70 fleece blankets were made and given to children in a bag that included a teddy bear, book and one of the blankets. 50 gowns were made for Operation Smile and many personal items were collected for Safehouse. This was the year it was decided that the vintage clothing needed to be sold as they had begun to disintegrate. This was started by transporting all the items to the Old West Museum and a 2-day sale was held. The transport involved many members and some husbands!

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2010-2011 - The president took a special interest in the sale of the vintage clothing and worked very closely with an antique dealer. An auction was held at the Old West Museum. The remaining items were purchased by members. The club held their first garage sale fundraiser, and the final vintage items were sold at the garage sale.

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2011-2012 - The clubwomen donated 175 coats to the Salvation Army. The club also purchased storage bins for Triumph High School’s new daycare center that provides care for the children while the mothers attend classes. Money raised for the community projects went to K-9s for Mobility and items were given to foster children when they were removed from their homes.

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2012-2013 - The club completed its first International Affairs project with the gathering of flat twin sheets for a boarding school in Haiti. A total of 36 sheets were sent along with a monetary donation of $60. The Community Improvement Projects were Cheyenne Day of Giving, Cheyenne Health and Wellness Clinic, Friday Food Bag Program, Pride Inc, (autistic persons) and Scottish Rite Language Clinic. A total of $3,018 was distributed to these various projects.

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2013-2014 - Friday Food Bags was the Community Improvement project for the year. The program provides at-risk children with weekend meals, and the organization was given $2,529. The second project was COMEA Shelter which provides clothing, shelter, and care for the homeless. COMEA was given $2,529. During this year, the club members agreed to place $1,000 each year for five years in an endowment fund at the local college. The state will match the funds contributed to the endowment. The fundraisers for the year raised a total of $6,058 with 825 volunteer hours donated to support the fundraisers.

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2014-2015 - In May 2015, X-JWC celebrated its 75th Anniversary at the Holiday Inn with 84 members, friends, relatives, the Cheyenne Mayor, and GFWC Women’s Civic League of Cheyenne members attending. During the celebration, the seven members over the age of 90 were honored. The celebration made X-JWCers proud to be a member of the club. The Community Improvement Project supported four nonprofit organizations this year. Each project received a check for $1,323. The Friends of Foster Families provides supplies for children taken from families, ARC provides special events for developmentally disabled adults, Magic City provides daily activities for developmentally disabled adults, and K9s for Mobility trains dogs to serve as companions and assistants for the disabled. The conservation project partnered with the State Forestry and a white fir tree was planted on the Capitol Complex. The club pledged to the community college $1,000 a year for five years and the college would match that amount with state funds they were given. Five fundraisers were held this year raising a total of $6,030.

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2015-2016 - The Public Issues Committee partnered with the Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce on November 12th to help sort and pack care packages for the troops overseas. Many thanks to the group of volunteers who gave their time and efforts to make this project happen! The Club also partnered with Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless in collecting and donating warm winter coats in all sizes.

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2016-2017 - The club enrolled in the King Soopers Rewards Program to use the funds for club programs and projects! The club received 5% of funds loaded on the cards of our participating members after we reached $5000 (doesn’t have to be items purchased, just loaded on their cards). Friends, spouses, neighbors, relatives also supported our project with an X-JWC Neighborhood Rewards card. We matched funds for the Cahill Park accessible playground. Our $5,000 made a $10,000 impact to the park.

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2017-2018 - Eleven X-JWC members volunteered in local school classrooms to help students with their reading skills, improving 160 lives through this program. In a joint effort with the Craft Committee, bookmarks were made for all the children. Box tops were also collected to donate to the schools. We donated 24 blankets to the Wyoming Highway Patrol to carry in their cars during the winter months to give to victims of vehicle accidents. We donated $8,400 to the emerging Children’s Museum of Cheyenne.

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2018-2019 - GFWC X-JWC partnered with the Unaccompanied Students Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to providing stable housing for homeless youths ages 16-20 trying to graduate from high school. We supported it in several ways such as we purchased bicycles that were raffled off at Cheyenne Superday. Next a Club member created and donated a quilt which was raffled off at the Cheyenne Greek Festival. We donated money, furniture and Christmas gifts for the USI home inhabitants. Several volunteers worked in our schools. Activities included reading, writing and math practice. They also prepared packets for the students and chaperoned field trips. The principal of one of the elementary schools, a Title 1 School, spoke at a GFWC X-JWC luncheon about encouraging and teaching volunteerism to her students. In 2019, the club received the GFWC Literacy Grant and matched funds for a total of $400. We distributed that money among four of the schools. The teacher and the librarian from this Title 1 school used the money to purchase books from a local author and newspaper reporter, who came to speak to the class about her work. This inspired one of the students to apply for a position with Scholastic News. He successfully earned the position, becoming the first person from Wyoming to do so. Scholastic News is read by more than 6 million students every week, so our work had tremendous impact. We donated Dr. Seuss books to the Wind River Reservation, donated shoes to Soles4Soles, cut out shoes for Soul Hope working in Uganda, and made fidget blankets for those in memory care facilities. We gave out $1,000 in scholarships.

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2019-2020 – XJWC participated in the Martin Luther King march on January 21st. There were 12 members who participated by bringing cookies, serving them and joining the march from the Cheyenne Depot to the Supreme Court Building. We participated in a rally against domestic violence and in the 150th Anniversary Celebration of Wyoming Women’s Suffrage. We provided homemade dog treats to the Cheyenne Animal Shelter. We donated $200 to Friends of Foster Families, $100 to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s Empty Stocking Fund, and $450 to CASA. We gave out $1,200 in scholarships and matched funds for a $5,000 grant to increase our scholarship at Laramie County Community College by $10,000. We made fleece blankets for Safehouse, planted pinwheels during Prevent Child Abuse week and provided snacks for Rooted in Cheyenne volunteers. From our fundraisers, we donated $3,975 to the Unaccompanied Students Initiative and $3,975 to the Cheyenne Animal Shelter.

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2020-2021 - This was the year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Club discovered some important priorities. We tried to keep our members healthy by providing information and staying in touch with each other. Our one major theme throughout this time was to emphasize the need for us to take care of ourselves, our families, our friends, and our communities. We honored two of our members with an “Everyday Hero” plaque for going above and beyond to keep some of our members safe and healthy. We made 165 COVID-19 face masks for local businesses and organizations. Information was provided on: where to wear a mask, when it was safe to take a mask off, and other pertinent information. We provided support for Veterans’ Rock, a new organization in Cheyenne that works with homeless veterans, veterans in need and their families, providing substance and nourishment. A sock drive was held with our membership and 75 pairs of socks, and 10 warm scarves were donated to Veterans’ Rock.

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2021-2022 – XJWC members sent treats to elementary school teachers with thank you notes to the teachers for a job well done along with a brochure about X-JWC. The junior and senior high schools were subsequently included. The effort was well received! We “adopted” three families that were receiving services from Family Promise, a program that houses homeless families so our Club in partnership with the Cheyenne Optimist Club could play Santa. The total amount spent on gift giving for the three families was almost $400. Members donated books, a Dairy Queen gift card, jewelry, and other items. We collected ornaments for a tree to be set up at Natalie House where two of the families were housed. We sang Christmas carols, ate homemade cookies made by our Club members and watched the children open their gifts. It was a special Christmas for all!

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2022-2023 – XJWC provided scholarships for two students planning to attend a Wyoming secondary school. We donated needed items to Habitat for Humanity, blankets to Laramie County kids, clothing to the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless, school supplies to elementary school students and placed 50 homemade scarves around Laramie County for use by the homeless. We held a food drive for Veterans’ Rock and signed Christmas cards for residents of Life Care and the VA. Our Community Improvement Project was K-9s for Mobility, and we donated $6,675 from our Bunco and Texas Roadhouse fundraisers. Rooted in Cheyenne also received a donation from the President’s Fund.

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