By Janet C. Wetzel
Enquirer contributor

Ceil Lemming volunteers over 30 hours per week at the Madeira Woman's Club Clothes Closet. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

When a friend asked Ceil Lemming to join the Madeira Woman's Club more than a decade ago, she knew the club was known more for community service work than socializing.

That suited Lemming just fine. From the start the Madeira resident was determined to be active, doing her share to help raise money for various causes.

She's done that and more, according to fellow members.

Instead of the required six hours volunteering each month for the Clothes Closet, a used clothing boutique that is the club's year-around fund-raising arm, the 72-year-old Lemming logs an average of 1,600 hours a year.

And she's not the least bit picky about the type of work she does.

"If there's a squeaky wheel, I try to take care of it," Lemming said. "I do whatever needs to be done. It's very time-consuming, but it's for such a good cause. And when you're busy doing something good, you enjoy it and forget you're working."

But it is work. From sorting, coding, pricing and selling clothing at the Closet, to scheduling workers, shoveling snow from sidewalks or the parking lot, cleaning bathrooms, doing telephone work, making sale decisions or counting proceeds in the evening, Lemming does it all.

"She does it willingly and with a smile," said Jean Sponsler, club second vice president.

"If she says she's going to do something, you can count on her doing that, and going above and beyond," Sponsler said. "She does it with good humor, patience and determination. She's the hardest-working woman in the club. She's very valuable to us and this entire community."

In May, Lemming, Closet co-chairwoman for two years, and another member, Bobbie Holiday, were named "Women of the Year" by the club.

The Madeira Woman's Club, with about 50 members, is all about community service. It raises money through the Closet and annual Art Fair for communitywide projects.

Those range from scholarships for high school seniors and women re-entering the work force, to buying a thermal-imaging camera for the local fire department and benches for the city's downtown beautification, to donations to Shriners Hospital, Operation Smile and local disaster relief.

The Clothes Closet is a consignment shop where people bring in their good, used clothing to be sold, splitting the profit with the shop.

Lemming had been looking forward to stepping down as Closet co-chairwoman this summer, but when the incoming chairwoman was stricken ill, Lemming and her co-chairwoman agreed to continue on.

"I couldn't let them down. Why?" she asked. "It's important and it needs to be done."

Lemming said while her husband, Charles, their three grown children and five grandchildren, are her top priorities, she enjoys helping others. She often helps at St. Gertrude Catholic Church, with Sunday Mass, the annual festival and the Treasure Mart sale.

She also helps care for elderly neighbors, running errands, taking them to the doctor or grocery.

"I really enjoy that," she said. "The woman's nature is to nurture. I'm very fortunate. I'm healthy and able to do these things. That's partly why I keep doing all this."

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Do you know a Hometown Hero - someone in your community dedicated to making it a better place to live and helping others? E-mail Janet Wetzel at jjwetzel@siscom.net, or fax to 755-4150.