March 28, 2024

The Westerville Otterbein Women’s Club is celebrating its 100-plus-1 anniversary this year.

The purpose of the club, founded in 1921, is to raise funds for Otterbein and its students, according to its website: otterbein.edu/thrift-shop.

Harriet Merriman, thrift store committee member, said the 100th-anniversary celebration was postponed last year due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

In the club’s early years, funds were generated through bake sales and rummage sales.

In 1952, the club operated the first thrift shop that was opened in the basement of Cowan Hall, Merriman said. It was moved to several locations before finally landing at its current home in the 1970s at 177 W. Park St.

The club has raised more than $1 million that has been awarded to more than 100 students through scholarships throughout the years, and the group is working toward $2 million, according to Merriman.