BATH — Cosmopolitan Club president Michele Ober was busy writing $115,000 in checks Monday morning to 23 local nonprofit organizations.
Each will receive $5,000 from the proceeds of the sale of the women’s club clubhouse in April.
“This is our final philanthropic act before the club dissolves,” Ober said. “These are organizations we’ve either worked with over the years or their mission is in line with the club’s mission of community service.”
Members of the club voted to include the following organizations in the Cosmopolitan Club’s gift:
ArtVan, Bath Food Bank, Bath Garden Club, Bath High School Alumni Association, Bath Historical Society, Bath YMCA, Chocolate Church Arts Center, Dirigo Girls State, Girl Scouts of Maine, Habitat for Humanity/7 Rivers Maine, Iris Network, Maine Federation of Women’s Clubs, Maine Youth Leadership, Mid Coast Hospital, Midcoast Community Alliance, New Hope for Women, New Ventures Maine, Operation Smile, Patten Free Library, Plant Memorial Home, Salvation Army, Tri-County Literacy, and Veterans Benefits – Togus.
In addition to sharing its assets, two Cosmopolitan Club traditions will be continued by other local organizations. HillHouse Assisted Living on Whiskeag Road is taking over the club’s Strawberry Shortcake Social, held annually during Bath Heritage Days.
Bath High School Alumni Association adopted the club’s annual Morse Senior Tea, which it held at Mae’s Cafe in Bath on May 10.
The Cosmopolitan Club had given the BHSAA its punch bowl and glasses, tablecloths and tea cups. Katie Winglass, Mae’s owner, donated the restaurant’s space, and members of the alumni association provided the service.
“We had no idea what to expect,” Holly Lowe, alumni association president, said, “But at ‘quarter of’ they were streaming across Centre Street. Attendance was great.”
The club held an estate sale March 24 and 25 which mostly emptied the contents of the clubhouse at 894 Washington Street.
It was sold to Tom Johnson on April 9, just two months after going on the market through Maine Preservation’s Protect and Sell Program and listed locally through Bisson Real Estate.
On April 21, members held a special goodbye dinner at Kennebec Tavern. It was just 10 days after the club’s 105th anniversary, and almost a year since they voted to sell the clubhouse.
The Cosmopolitan Club will formerly dissolve its status as a women’s club by the end of the month. May 31 is the end of its tax year, and Ober is hoping to send an “intent to dissolve” to the state in time to avoid rolling into fiscal year 2019.
“We have to get our account down to zero (before filing), so we may add other organizations in the next couple weeks,” after other small debts are taken care of, Ober said.
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