This Isn’t Your Mother’s Fha Anymore

Future Homemakers of America is a club for baking and sewing, right?

Wrong.

What began as an all-woman’s group learning how to become good little housewives is gone. In its place is an organization that promotes community service and teen leadership. Which is why more than 5,000 people attended the 1997 National Leadership Meeting, held in July in San Diego. Those who went learned how to work together, how to teach others about the national programs and how to encourage participation among the 240,000 FHA members nationwide, many of whom are active male members.

Nic Evans, a senior from Cheney, was elected Spokane-area regional officer for this academic year. He attended workshops on how to increase membership throughout the region. He also competed in one of the many Students Taking Action with Recognition (STAR) events, earning a gold medal. To score so high at the national level is one of the greatest honors in FHA.

I am the Spokane region state officer. I was elected to be secretary of the state team and am also on the Families First state team. Families First is a new program in FHA dedicated to keeping family at the center of our lives.

As officers, we are trying to incorporate FHA programs in our schools and communities as well as get the word out about the purposes of FHA.

Too many people still believe it is a club for “homemakers” who want to know how to properly cook a lobster or what to use to get a stain out of the carpet. Although FHA promotes family and consumer sciences, many of the members join to benefit from the leadership skills, unique programs and to simply have fun. And that’s OK, because the club is just teaching us how to prepare for the future, and it is a way to explore the many different choices we have in our lives.

If you are interested in starting a club at your school, or want to find out more about FHA, contact your home economics teacher.

There will be a regional meeting next month that can help answer any questions you may have, and that will give an outlook on the year to come.

I hope to see more members next year, maybe even in New Orleans, where the 1998 national meeting will be held.