Citizen Spotlight: Lady's Choice Bookclub

The COVID-19 Pandemic changed a lot of things in our society, some for the worse, but for one group of local women life became a whole lot better. Lady’s Choice Book Club grew and even flourished during a time of intense isolation. Patty Loveall and LaVerne Wollston-Peek had each been looking for a local book club to join but neither had found much success. Patty says she got tired of joining other groups where people would say they would be there and then just never show up. She had met LaVerne at another failing club and they struck up a friendship. After talking for a while Patty said she and LaVerne decided to start their own club.

Lady's Choice Bookclub book — *The book of the month for April was chosen because one of the group member’s mothers was a GI bride after World War II (photo Courtney Cole).*

Now, nearly nine months later Lady’s Choice Book Club of Excelsior Springs has a dedicated group of 16 members who meet at least once per month. “We started out in June and by August we were growing pretty fast and by the time October got here, I knew I couldn’t live without this group. This [group] is family,” said Patty. Patty and LaVerne said they’ve had at least 12 members at every meeting since October and they’ve all become fast friends, bonding over their love of reading. The group’s constant participation and growing membership is remarkable considering how many clubs and organizations are struggling to maintain memberships.

book donation — *The group donated books and toys to children at the Early Childhood Center in Excelsior Springs (photo Dawn Brimer).*

The group chooses a member to pick one book per month and that member also gets to pick the place where they’re going to meet. Sometimes they host the group at their home or choose a local establishment. Patty said that the group has also started meeting on the first Thursday of each month for lunch at a local restaurant. “We’ve been trying to hit local businesses so that we can kind of pump them up,” said Patty. The group is also trying to give to a charity at least every other month. So far they’ve participated in a book donation for prisoners, collected toys and books for children, and put together health and hygiene kits for Ukrainians.

With Summertime on the way, the group says they’re looking at taking some trips together “There could be a walkathon, there could be a music festival, they’ve got so many ideas,” said Patty. For now, the group has decided to hold off on adding any more members but they said they’d be happy to help others start another group. The tight-knit group is excited about what the future holds. “We’re not just friends, we want to participate and help the community because we really like it here and we want it to be a good place to live,” Patty said.