CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – Our latest Giving Grace features Altrusa International of Clarksville, a group of caring people who spend their time helping to make the community a better place to live through leadership, partnership and service.

Altrusa is a nonprofit that was formed over 100 years ago in Nashville and can be found in 11 countries with over a million volunteer hours annually and has been serving Clarksville-Montgomery County since 1963.

“Altrusa is a service organization for men and women who would like to serve our community. We focus on education and a lot of the service projects we do are directed toward children and helping with the needs in our community,” said Altrusa President Corinthia Elder.

Elder talked about the organization and their support for local programs like Project Transformation, a summer program which helps children develop their reading and social skills.

When it comes to Clarksville-Montgomery County schools, Altrusa participates in providing scholarships to students in need and they also recently assisted with the purchase of a laptop computer for a student in need in the school system.

Malia Wyatt, Treasurer for Altrusa, talked their annual Mum sale, a fundraiser for the group which allows them to carry out many of the events and community projects.  The Mum sale will be held in the parking lot of the Pinnacle Family Entertainment center on September 12.

Another fundraising activity involving plants is the sale of potted ferns that Altrusa does in the spring.

With the holidays coming up money will be generated through the sale of specially designed Christmas ornaments. For the 2020 season, Dunbar Cave will be the featured ornament which are $30 and will go on sale later this fall through the holidays.

For the upcoming Make a Difference Day on October 24, Altrusa will be providing books on Dyslexia to local elementary and middle schools.

Altrusa is on the move to grow and Wyatt said they are looking for civic minded volunteers with a heart to serve that would like to become members of the organization and bring some new ideas for working and serving the community.

The organization meets every third Monday at 6 p.m. at the Pinnacle Down Under, 430 Warfield Blvd.

For more on Altrusa go to the Clarksville Altrusa facebook page.  You can also call Corinthia Elder at 931-624-0898 or Malia Wyatt at 931-206-5178