Portales Women's Club rich in history

Editor’s note: The “Meet the” series profiles the people behind groups, organizations and businesses in the community.

Staff writer

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Sheryl Borden said she loves being part of a historic and influential club that has been around for 111 years. This club is the Portales Women’s Club.

Borden has been a member for 44 years, occupying almost every position in the club including being president four separate times.

“The club is so rich in history and it has done so many things for Portales since its beginning,” Borden said.

Borden said the club brought the first library to Portales and used to run the Portales Cemetery, which is now maintained by the city. Borden said the club still does many activities during the year.

“My favorite is working the Peanut Valley Festival. We are the only organization that is allowed to sell local peanuts there and it is our biggest fundraiser,” Borden said.

The festival is also a way the club recruits new members, which Borden said she believes the club needs right now.

Borden said the club has no requirements to join and any woman interested in the club can come to a meeting.

“We would love younger and new women of the community to join because we want women who are interested in serving our community,” Borden said.

Julie Nickles said she joined the club six years ago so she could make a difference in her community.

One of the projects she said she hoped help the community, which happen to be one of her favorites this year, was the donation of emergency pants and underwear for Brown Early Childhood Center students.

“Some of the kids have accidents at school and their parents have to go to the school and take them home to change. Some of the students don’t go back to school and at their age, it is important that they regularly attend class,” Nickles said.

The club donated two years worth of supplies which also included brushes and combs for the girls, if they need their hair combed.

Nickles said the club bakes cookies and serves food for Santa Cop, donates supplies to students at James Elementary and conducts many other community service projects.

Nickles said the group is not opposed to change or tackling new things.

“We brought the circus here this year. I was on the committee for it and it was a challenge, but it shows we are not afraid to do new things,” Nickles said.

Nickles said the circus was a success and it brought the community together. Many people told her they had never been to a circus.

“We even had people travel from Texas to come to the show. It was really great,” Nickles said.