WINC brings together different cultures

The Women’s International Niwot Club (WINC) is heading into its second year after having a very successful first year.

“WINC is a non-profit social club focused on celebrating the international and diverse heritage of its members, while raising money for the community,” local realtor Deborah Read Fowler said.

Fowler is the president of WINC and created the club after she had started and chaired the Niwot chapter of the Daughter’s of the British Empire (DBE). Fowler is originally from England and wanted a chapter in Niwot where women of different heritages could connect.

“We were formery the DBE, so it’s a spinoff from that club,” Fowler said of WINC. “We were slightly restricted there with what we could do. We really started this from scratch and have more nationalities involved. The main thing is that we decide where all the money goes.”

With DBE, Fowler said 80 percent of the club’s money had to go to an organization in California. Fowler said she wanted to give more money back to Niwot, which is one of the main reasons she decided to start WINC.

Fowler started DBE six years ago and was president for five years. She said the two clubs are very similar, but “the big differences are we decide where the money goes to, and we have a lot more flexibility on who we can have as members.”

There are 12 different nationalities represented in WINC including American, British, French, Spanish, Canadian, Brazilian, Iranian, Ecuadorian, Argentine, Swiss, Singaporean and German.

“There are a lot of British people and Europeans in Niwot,” Fowler said, “because it has a very European village feel, or British village feel. It has the pub, the post office, shops; so that’s why I think it attracts a lot of Europeans.”

WINC now has 50 members, many from DBE, and a board of eight members. In addition to Fowler as president, Diana Grover (homemaker) is vice president, Human Resource Consultant Dawn Thompson is the club’s secretary and Jan Miles (homemaker) is treasurer. Claire Walker (homemaker) holds the membership position, and Marketing Consultant Catherine McHale, Chris Ross (retired school counselor) and divorce coach and mediator Mandy Walker hold at large positions.

The board meets monthly and the club holds several events each month. Events vary from family events, women only events, couples events, and daytime and evening events. Recently, WINC held a cheese-making class, a coffee get together, a visit to an art gallery with lunch, a movie night and a wine dinner.

“It brings a lot of people together,” Fowler said of the club. “It’s nice if someone just moves here if they’re from another state, they don’t have to be from another country, and they don’t know anybody, this is an instant social network.”

WINC also holds two main fundraisers each year, Trivia Night in the fall and the Niwot Christmas Fair in December. Both events rolled over from DBE and are in their sixth year. Annual membership dues are $30.

Fowler said the club votes on local organizations to donate money to each year, with the top three last year being the Niwot Children’s Park, Children First of the Rockies and Access Opportunities, which all received $1,000. The rest of the club’s money was split up between other local organizations.

“When possible, we really try to use core businesses and support local business,” Fowler said.

“I think it’s been great,” Fowler said of WINC’s first year. “It’s achieved everything that we set out to do. We wanted to give more money back to Niwot, we wanted to be more inclusive and it achieved those two things.”

Board members are voted on by the club after members are nominated. Although it’s not all fun and games, Fowler said the club is “a social fun club, with a little bit of fundraising.”

Looking forward to the rest of the club’s second year, she hopes they can raise more money to give back to Niwot and bring in more members of different nationalities.

“We want to make more money, and hopefully bring in $5,000 by the end of the year,” Fowler explained. “We want to have more nationalities represented.”

To learn more about WINC, visit winc.club.