History of Caring for America

The National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW) established the ‘Caring for America’ program in 1999

“to encourage state federations and clubs to actively participate in at least one community service program.”

Washington County Republican Women first became involved in early 2000, when dinosaur tracks were

discovered in St George, which became the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm. At that time

WCRW members felt it was important to preserve this site and the vote was unanimous. This was the club’s

first Caring for America beneficiary. 

Other Caring for America project beneficiaries have been the Dove Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Dixie Care

& Share, and the Embracing Our Heroes Scholarship, among many others.

Embracing Our Heroes began in 2007 when the club established a scholarship at then Dixie State College, to

honor the veterans of the Iraq War who served in Utah National Guard’s 222 nd Field Artillery Unit in St. George.

The scholarship was later also made available to local veterans of the Afghanistan War and was later extended

to include veteran’s spouses. The scholarship funds were given to the college and determined veteran

students’ eligibility based on defined criteria.

The scholarship was initially supported by various fund-raising means and donations. Later, funds for the

scholarship were raised in an annual raffle of a beautiful Patriotic Quilt made by member Wilma Courtney. She

made quilts for a number of years, and the Patriotic Quilt raffle raised a significant amount of money each

year for the scholarship.

Following Wilma’s retirement in 2017 due to health concerns, the scholarship continued to be funded by an

extra $5.00 charge at one meeting each year and more recently was also funded by raffle of handmade quilts

paid for and donated by member Jennifer Nelson.

When the 222 nd Field Artillery Unit was moved from St. George, the scholarship was awarded to a local veteran

or family member until applicants waned.

In 2020, our county law enforcement agencies were selected to be the annual Caring for America recipients

and continues to this day. Donations to this program are welcome.