The Missouri Association for Social Welfare will held its first chapter meeting on Monday, October 27 at the United Way.
The citizen membership association was created in 1901 and advocates for social justice. It is a statewide organization based in Jefferson City and has seven chapters throughout Missouri.
An informational meeting was held last Augustduring which a board of directors was elected. Monday’s meeting will start at 6 p.m. and introduce this new board and its members.
Cheryl Garrett is the chair of the Cape Girardeau area MASW chapter. She joined the organization a couple of years ago before there was a chapter in the area while she was still a student at Southeast Missouri State University. She graduated last spring with a bachelor degree in Social Work and now leads the board of directors of the chapter and helps bring in new members who are concerned about social welfare.
“Anyone who has a strong need in helping their fellow men improve their quality of life,” Garrett said.
The board currently has four members, including Tony Thompson, board vice-president and owner of Arcpoint Labs in Jackson and Sikeston.
In addition to introducing its board, the chapter meeting will also host Jeanette Mott-Oxford, executive director of MASW, as guest-speaker.
“Monday’s meeting is basically an introduction to those who are new and who are just coming to find out what we are all about. We are going to be giving a little bit of history on how MASW got started,” Garrett said.
She explained that one of the first issues the chapter wants to tackle is economic justice.
“We are going to look at the problems, trying to get people employed in the entry-level jobs and how they can stay employed to move up to the mid-level and the higher-level job,” Garrett said.
She added the chapter is just starting its work in the area and there are a lot of problems they are looking at besides unemployment. Starting at the beginning of next year, chapter meetings should be held once a month.
Cape Girardeau’s chapter is the first one in Southeast Missouri but two others are supposed to open in the future -- one in the Poplar Bluff area and one in New Madrid county.
