Quota International over, but local chapters merge
Recently, the re-organized Quota of Wayne County participated in the Wayne County Music and Rib Fest at the fairgrounds — hosted by Friends of the Wayne County Fair — and held a raffle for $10,000.
While Quota International ceased to exist in 2019, three local chapters have banded together to continue to provide services to the deaf and hard-of-hearing, assist those with speech problems, and aid disadvantaged women and children.
In the wake of the dissolution of the international entity, the former Quota Clubs of Orrville, West Salem and Wooster decided to unite and become Quota of Wayne County.
According to President Erin Foster, the move will allow the newly formed organization to offer its services throughout the county more effectively.
“The international structure was no longer working,” Foster said. “It cost too much money to be a worldwide organization. By removing that costly structure, we have been able to reduce our membership dues and keep more of our funds local rather than support the administrative costs of an international organization.”
Soon after Quota ceased international operations, the world faced a global pandemic, and the local club’s effectiveness to aid the community was significantly decreased. But things slowly came together.
“In October of 2020, we approached Orrville and West Salem, and we all decided to drop our designations, pool our membership and re-establish ourselves as Quota of Wayne County,” Foster said.
The determined group quickly embraced technology and began holding regular video meetings and getting together in socially distanced groups outdoors when they could.
“It was tough, but we were able to keep the membership informed by newsletters,” Foster said. “And we were able to keep the membership intact.”
Foster said some clubs combined with other service organizations like the Kiwanis or Rotary while others decided to fold altogether.
“The copyrights to the name and the logo were transferred to each of the clubs to use,” Foster said. “We chose to align with the mission statement that we had previously.”
Foster said the synergy created by combining the three groups would allow the organization to view the county’s needs through a broader lens, putting the club in a better position to react to them while maintaining the schedule of events each club previously sponsored.
“We have been able to identify where we can spend our funds to help the most people,” she said. “Our members live and work all over the county, and they are very good at identifying where the biggest needs are.”
With the softened pandemic guidelines, the club plans to have a presence at every festival in the county throughout the upcoming year.
“COVID put a damper on things last year,” Foster said. “Quota isn’t one of the most well-known service organizations. We are very aware of that, and we are going to work hard to fix it. We do good things, and we want people to know about the services we can provide.”
Foster also pointed out one of the misconceptions people have about Quota. “It isn’t a female-only club,” she said. “Although it has historically had more female members, we do have male members as well. We welcome anyone interested in doing their share — or Quota — to help the community.”
Foster encourages anyone interested in becoming a member to attend a monthly meeting held on the first Tuesday of each month at Buehler’s Milltown community room from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. or visit the club’s active Facebook page at www.facebook.com/WayneCountyQuota.