With our new first-person series, we set out to demystify the careers of those who live or work in Haddonfield. By inviting individuals to describe, in their own words, what they do, the projects they love most, and what first drew them to their field, we hope to offer a clearer understanding of their roles — and to help you better get to know people in our community.
Up first is Kim Otto. While she had always believed in giving back, it wasn’t until she became a mother — and was already established as a practicing pharmacist — that service became a way of life. Fifteen years ago, she and her daughter began speaking before lawmakers at the New Jersey State House, giving testimonies on the New Jersey Antibullying Bill of Rights and same-sex marriage.
Today, Otto is in her second term as chairman of the Haddon Fortnightly’s evening membership department, a volunteer role that reflects her long-standing commitment to community and change. Here, she shares what first led her to the Fortnightly and the projects that continue to inspire her.
Interestingly, I, like many of our members, was invited to come to a [Haddon Fortnightly evening membership department] meeting with a friend as a guest. Honestly, at the time, my kids were pretty small and it didn’t seem like I needed something else on my plate, but I came to that first meeting, and then I came to another meeting. Step by step, hearing about all of the different fundraisers and things that the club was doing for the community and meeting the members convinced me to join.
That was in 2011, so I’ve been a member of the evening membership department for a long time now, but not nearly as long as some of our members have been involved. We actually have a woman in the evening membership department who just celebrated her 67th year of membership.
The Fortnightly was organized in 1894. It makes me feel so insignificant, thinking of all the work that the women who came before did, and upon whose shoulders we stand. They have this amazing history of working to make the community better. The evening membership department was organized in 1936. At that point, they recognized that not all women who wanted to belong to a women’s club were available at one o’clock in the afternoon on a weekday. It was found to be very important that women who wanted to belong had a place to come.
So since then, the evening membership department meets on the second Tuesday of each month for our business meetings. The general club, the afternoon group, meets on the third Friday in the afternoon. And we both run our meetings very similarly.
Our original mission and vision is simple: “The objective of the Haddon Fortnightly shall be to establish in Haddonfield a center for the promotion of the educational, literary, and civic interests of the community.” I always like to tweak it and say “communities” because I don’t want people to think you have to live in Haddonfield. We have members from all over — Barrington, Glendora, West Deptford, Runnemede, and we even have a few members who live in Pennsylvania.
I know that passing by this building one can probably imagine the Fortnightly is a bunch of old ladies sitting here with teacups. I think that is the mental image, even of people in Haddonfield, but believe me, we are very active. We donate to many, many charities every year. Last year, our total contributions to community organizations were almost $72,000. Because we are a 501(c)(3), we cannot donate to any organization that is not a 501(c)(3).
We have so many committees, and it can be overwhelming to people who are just coming to a meeting for the first time. They hear everything that we’re doing and think “There’s no way I can possibly do all of that.” Well, we’re not asking you to, right? You can get as involved as you want or pick as few projects that you want to help with.
We have everything from an arts committee to a literature committee to social services where we collect items for clothing closets. Right now, we’ve been giving a lot to Little Hands Little Feet. That’s a ministry of St. Andrew’s, a Methodist church in Cherry Hill. We collect food for a food bank called Hope Pantry in Westmont. And then every month we make sandwiches for Cathedral Kitchen. We meet here once a month to drop off sandwiches and then a couple of people go into Camden to deliver them. So these are the little things that we have going on all the time. Of course we have huge fundraisers, like the Haddonfield Snowflake Run. We raised quite a bit of money and we’re very passionate that all of the proceeds go to mental health care.
We started the Snowflake Run the year before COVID hit. And coming out of COVID, we saw not just children and adolescents, but people in general were in a really dark place. There were a lot of people struggling with depression, anxiety, substance abuse, all of these things from not being allowed to spend time with other people. And it was at that point that we said, We need to make it one of our missions that we always allocate the funds from the Snowflake Run to some sort of mental health care. We’ve been growing the Run every year. This year, we were up to 617 registered runners, which is amazing, so we were able to do a good job for Jackson’s Wish, who we supported last year with the Run.
At the Snowflake Run, I like to go around and talk to people. There was one woman who said to me that earlier last year she had been seriously contemplating taking her life. Then she started to see ads for the Run and she knew where the proceeds were going. She said that just knowing that there are people out there that care made her decide not to go through with it. She wasn’t a runner, but she promised herself she would show up to support the cause. So, if we help one person, it’s worth it. We all get up in the morning. We put on our faces and we go out to face the day, but you don’t know what people are going through.
One of my favorite projects is something that we have been doing for a number of years now in conjunction with Haddonfield Memorial High School. They have a group called the 50/50 Club and it is a club that exists to promote gender equality and inclusiveness. They needed some way to spotlight the work that they do. So we met with them and they decided that because women are underrepresented in the fine arts, they wanted to do an art show. So every year in the spring they have an art show — this year it’s on March 7th — and it is specifically for artists who identify as women or non-binary. They bring their art, they set it up. A lot of the artists are students but there is no upper age limit. We have had community artists participate in the past.
To see these young women be able to run a project like that with very little input from us is gratifying. They have learned how to run a proper art show.
It’s always a great event for the community, and it’s great that the students bring their families. There’s no charge to attend, although we put a fishbowl out and ask for donations. The girls decided that they wanted the proceeds of that event to go to an organization called Girls Learn International. They make sure that women around the globe have access to education.
As you can see, our beautiful building — which happens to be on both the state and the national historical registers – is a very old building and it needs a lot of love. It’s a very, very expensive building to maintain, so over the past three or four years we’ve made a really significant shift in our donations. We are giving a lot of money toward the maintenance of the clubhouse.
We have Casino Night coming up on March 14th. It’s a fundraiser of the evening membership department that includes the opportunity to play classic casino games, enjoy spirits, and plenty of delicious food. The proceeds go to the Haddon Fortnightly Building Fund to help us preserve and maintain our clubhouse. It’s a lot of work, but it is a lot of fun.
We have great, topical speakers who come in for our business meetings. Last month we had Moms Demand Action [a group that advocates for public safety measures to protect people from gun violence]. There’s time for socializing in our business meetings, but there’s also a lot of business that gets conducted.
It’s very easy to join the Fortnightly. You fill out a membership and then there are yearly dues, which are $75 per person. And I should mention that if you join a federated club like we are, that gives you automatic membership in the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs. And also if you belong to your State Federation, you belong to the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, an international organization, which is headquartered in Washington D.C. There are women’s clubs in all different countries, so that’s kind of cool to see.
There are about 63 people in the evening membership department. Our total membership, including the afternoon group, is 120-something at this point. It used to be much, much larger, but like many organizations, it seems like people are not getting involved like they used to.
When I started working on some of these fundraisers that affect other communities, I realized that we may all be in the same ocean, but some of us are in yachts and some of us are in rowboats. You see the humanity, you see the desperation of people in need, and that was enough to shock me out of my very safe world and take some risks.
But I will say it’s the friendships with the women that keep people coming back: Serious, lasting friendships are formed here. Women travel together. They celebrate birthdays and family successes. One member hosts an open house every New Year’s Day and a barbecue on the Fourth of July. These women become family.
The bottom line is, If you make the commitment to step up and join a women’s club, you are a good person. Because you want to contribute to the community. You want to see good in the world.
