GFWC Oklahoma won a First Place Award in Category four at the GFWC International convention in June, 2026 for our state-wide environmental work.  GFWC Oklahoma has been involved in planting wildflowers across the state for several years.  Our President-Elect is the state chairman for an Oklahoma Native Plant Society Committee: Color Oklahoma that awards grants for wildflower plantings across the state in conjunction with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.  Many of our clubs participate in this program and Oklahoma GFWC Clubs have planted more than 30 miles of roadway across highways and interstates.

The 250^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026 provided an opportunity to work with the Oklahoma Native Plant Society to come up with a program that would promote America and Oklahoma.  Monica Bartling, GFWC President was the co-chairman of the planning committee with Lynn Michaels of the Oklahoma Native Plant Society.  The group came up with the concept of Celebrate America 250 with Wildflowers and planting two pounds of wildflower seeds in all 77 Oklahoma Counties.

The seeds were specifically selected to begin flowering in late spring through the end of the growing season in 2026. To make this program work, our GFWC clubs across the state partnered with FFA groups, Oklahoma State University Extension offices, Oklahoma Garden Clubs, Master Gardner organizations and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections women’s facilities and other non-profit organizations and municipalities.  The plantings were all completed by December of 2025. This project provided unique brand awareness as we traveled across the state and assisted with plantings.  All plantings were featured on the Color Oklahoma Facebook, Instagram and www.coloroklahoma.com, as well as the GFWC Oklahoma Facebook, Instagram and www.gfwc-ok.org sites.  We were also featured in Discover Oklahoma and on KSWO Channel 7 news with a live broadcast from one of our planting sites.

Of our 18 GFWC Oklahoma Clubs, 12 clubs participated with clubs in Anadarko, Antlers, Cheyenne, Duncan, Durant, Hugo, McAlester, McAlester Junior Club, Nowata, Tishomingo, Sulphur, and Waurika planting 2 pounds of seeds at public spaces across our communities.

We also had six clubs participating in the Color Oklahoma project where wildflower seeds were planted by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation along highways to beautify our communities and also to provide food for pollinators.

Oklahoma Clubs participated in recycling programs, environmental education, water cleanup programs and education and community clean-up campaigns to make our cities and towns better places to live for our current populations and to be good stewards of our land.

2025 Totals		Number of Projects	Volunteer Hours	Dollars Donated	In-Kind Donations
Environment		59	6,061	10,129	12,789