Wake County Extension is a homemaker's haven
Members want young women to know the joy of learning 'heritage skills'
Published: Thu, Mar. 15, 2007 12:00AM
Modified Thu, Mar. 15, 2007 05:48AM
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closeMary Laymon was shocked when a friend told her she didn't know how to sew on a pants button.
"Young people are just not learning," said Laymon, a 20-year member of the Knightdale club of the Wake County Extension and Community Association. "They don't know how to sew."
Laymon, and the nearly 200 other members of Wake County's 12 ECA clubs, want to change that.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: The Wake County Council of the N.C. Extension and Community Association
WHEN: 10 a.m. April 26
WHERE: Historic Oak View County Park, 4028 Carya Drive, Raleigh
COST: A year's membership with the ECA is $10, but potential members can come to three meetings before paying.
Questions? Contact Sue Myatt at 772-0148 or send her an e-mail message at sue_myatt7@yahoo.com. She will put you in contact with the closest club.
For more information about N.C. Cooperative Extension, including links to other county groups, go to www.ces.ncsu.edu.
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The group, formed in the 1920s as a social network for women, wants to reach out to younger women looking to learn how to can fruit and vegetables, sew, quilt and do other handicrafts that once were commonplace in Wake County households.
Members of the ECA take on volunteer projects, such as making teddy bears for firefighters to give to children and stitching together bags that rest home residents can used on their walkers, said Sue Myatt, who heads the county organization, which is affiliated with N.C. State University.
The women, and a handful of men, who make up all the Wake County clubs meet four times a year, Myatt said. Individual clubs also hold monthly meetings. The next county council meeting is April 26 at Historic Oak View County Park on the east side of Raleigh. Members will listen to a presentation about diabetes, Myatt said.
Although the current membership tends toward the retired set, ECA members hope that young stay-at-home moms will join them to pick up skills that are on their way to being forgotten.
"We just think it'd be nice to pass down some of these heritage skills," Myatt said.
The ECA used to be an integral part of the social fabric of Wake County and North Carolina, Laymon said. Statewide membership was nearly 17,000 in the 1960s; it now stands at 5,000.
"People aren't joining," Laymon said. "Lifestyles are so busy."
The groups are also looking for some young blood to liven up their meetings.
Some have joined ECA after moving to North Carolina from places up north. They're shocked to find out that there's little bickering amongst the longtime ECA members, Myatt said.
"I do not know of anyone who has any enemies in the ECA," she said.
Instead, she knows of many friendships that have developed over the various volunteer projects the women take on.
Staff writer Sarah Ovaska can be reached at 829-4622 or sovaska@newsobserver.com.
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