Category: Meetings

Willow Drinkwater, founder of the hunger-relief organization Feed My Sheep, will be guest speaker at the February meeting of the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club.

The club raised $315 and a large collection of non-perishable food to donate to Feed My Sheep at its holiday luncheon in December.

The program will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 8 in Classroom 2 of the Lake of the Woods Community Center. A social period will begin 30 minutes prior to the meeting.

A resident of Gordonsville, Ms. Drinkwater has been active in Democratic politics since the John F. Kennedy campaign for president while she was a student at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.

She was involved in establishing the first health department in St. Lawrence County, New York, while she was vice president of the League of Women Voters in Potsdam, New York, in the 1960s.

She worked at Attica Prison after the riots in 1972, bringing community college courses into the prison. During that time she learned that 80 percent of the inmates were abused or neglected as children.

She moved to Gordonsville and worked at WJMA radio station in Orange, producing the popular programs “The Swap Shop” and “Monday at One.”

She founded the Feed My Sheep program 16 years ago.

“My mother taught me that giving is more important than receiving,” Ms. Drinkwater said.

Donations of money or non-perishable food products will be collected at the meeting for the benefit of Feed My Sheep.

Teri Vickery, president of the Lake of the Woods Association, will be the guest speaker at the club’s first meeting of 2023 on Wednesday, Jan. 11.

She will be discussing the LOW Board’s goals and budget and will respond to members’ questions about issues facing the community.

Teri, who is a long-time member of the LOW Democratic Club, has been a member of the LOWA Board of Directors since September 2020, serving first as secretary, then as vice president and currently as president. Prior to joining the Board, she was a member of the association’s Planning, Fitness and Nominating Committees. She is also a director for Friends of Lake of the Woods (FLOW), the LOW Lions Club and LOWLINC.

 The meeting will be held in Classroom 2 of the Lake of the Woods Community Center. The doors open at 1 p.m.. The program will begin at 1:30 p.m.

The speaker for the October meeting of the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club is Rick Clore, a retired Baptist minister who has volunteered to work with the Youth Democratic Club at Orange County High School.

Rick also serves on the Executive Committee of the Orange County Democratic Committee.

He will lead a discussion on religion and politics, offering some insight on the recent surge of Christian nationalism.

The October Club meeting will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 12 in Classroom 2 at the LOW Community Center. The doors open at 1 p.m.. The program will begin at 1:30 p.m.

Stephen J. Farnsworth, professor of political science and international affairs and director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at the University of Mary Washington, will offer his assessment of the first year of the Biden presidency at the Lake of the Woods Community Center on Saturday, April 30.

The event is sponsored by the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club and the Orange County Democratic Committee, and is open to all without regard to political affiliation. The free program will begin at 3 p.m. in Marion Pronk Hall at the LOW Community Center. The lecture will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

Dr. Farnsworth is a recipient of the Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. He is one of the few political scientists who focus on Virginia politics.

His research has direct policy implications for both politicians and the news media. He handles hundreds of media contacts a year on local, state and international matters, and appears in or on such outlets as C-SPAN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, National Public Radio and PBS News Hour. He holds a Ph.D. degree and a master’s degree from Georgetown University and bachelor’s degrees from both the University of Missouri and Dartmouth College.

Farnsworth is the author or co-author of seven books on the presidency, the mass media and public opinion. His most recent book, written with S. Robert Lichter, is  “Late Night with Trump: Political Humor and the American Presidency,” published by Routledge Press.