AAUW Vero Beach Chapter to Host Comedy Night Funding Scholarships for Women and Girls

AAUW members watch as President Kennedy signs the Equal Pay Act, 1963. Courtesy of the JFK Presidential Library and Museum.

In 1881, seventeen college-educated women gathered in Boston to create what became the American Association of University Women. Their first project: justify their existence. At the time, Harvard-educated physicians insisted college would damage women's health and fertility. AAUW's 1885 research report proved them wrong, marking one of the first times women successfully dismantled pseudoscientific arguments for their exclusion.

AAUW became one of the most enduring forces for women's advancement in American history. The organization established one of the world's first fellowship programs in 1888, supporting scholars from Marie Curie to astronaut Judith Resnik. Member Virginia Gildersleeve was the only female U.S. delegate to the 1945 conference that created the United Nations. AAUW worked with Eleanor Roosevelt to establish the World Center for Women's Archives, quite literally writing women into the history books where they were previously ignored.

Today, AAUW awards over $5 million annually in fellowships and grants. The Vero Beach branch, founded in 1964, has built its own legacy: two national endowments totaling $165,000, STEM camps for middle school girls, scholarships for high school graduates and women pursuing bachelor's degrees, and living stipends for LPN students.

On March 7, that mission continues through an entertaining fundraiser: The Best Friends Variety Hour, a comedy show at the Emerson Center featuring comedians Kristin Finger and Alli Soowal.

The 4 p.m. performance, with wine and cheese served beforehand, costs $50, with proceeds benefiting scholarships for women and girls in Indian River County.

Tickets at AAUWverobeach.org.