APOLLO BEACH, Fla. \u2014\u00a0For nearly seven decades, the Apollo Beach Woman\u2019s Club has been a staple in south Hillsborough County, giving back through community service and scholarships for local students.<\/p>\n
Wednesday marked the end of an era for the club, as members say a lack of new leadership and declining participation has forced them to close their doors.<\/p>\n
What started as a small social club became the woman’s club in 1959. At its peak, the club had about 150 members, but that number has dropped to around 70.<\/p>\n
Club President Claudia Gassett says that interest has slowly declined over the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just a generational thing, there\u2019s so many clubs now,” she said. “Everywhere you go, there\u2019s a club, and it used to not be that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gasset says the decline in membership and a lack of women willing to step into leadership roles led to the decision to disband.<\/p>\n
Wednesday was the last meeting.<\/p>\n
Janet Pizzechetti is the club\u2019s oldest member. She watched it grow and change through the years and says she\u2019s grateful to have been a part of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been from a small, very private group to expanding,” she said.<\/p>\n
For members like Ann Mastroianni, the club was valuable in numerous ways.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoing a service for the community, number one, friendships, number two, and it\u2019s been a wonderful thing,” she said.<\/p>\n
From collecting school supplies for local schools to providing holiday help for families at Thanksgiving and Christmas, members say community service has been the heart of the club.<\/p>\n
One of its biggest missions has been providing scholarships for local high school seniors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over the past nine years, the club has awarded more than $130,000 in scholarships.<\/p>\n
Wednesday also marked the final round of scholarship awards. Among the recipients were twin brothers Nathan and Noah Jorden.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know how much the woman\u2019s club has done for others, and I\u2019m just thankful that they gave me the opportunity too, and though it is their last year, I just want them to know that we appreciate them,” Nathan said. “Earning this first scholarship gave me the confidence to apply for more.”<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an affect Gassett\u00a0believes will continue long after the club is gone.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great group of women,” she said. “I\u2019ve never met such generous, lovable woman, and they give everything they can to the woman\u2019s club.\u201d<\/p>\n
An end to decades of service, but a legacy these women hope will continue to inspire future generations for years to come.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The club president says the Southshore Chamber of Commerce will keep the club\u2019s records in case someone decides to revive the organization in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"APOLLO BEACH, Fla. \u2014\u00a0For nearly seven decades, the Apollo Beach Woman\u2019s Club has been a staple in south…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[274,276,6076,115,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,278,835],"class_list":["post-270370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-app-top-stories","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-lizbeth-gutierrez","tag-news","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}