The Wagga day branch of the Country Women's Association is experiencing something of a renaissance after being saved from closure.
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The 97-year-old branch was almost forced to shut earlier in the year as its membership numbers dwindled - until some of its veterans rallied for a membership drive.
Wagga's Saba Nabi is one of the branch's new members and says she is the only woman from a migrant background.
"I'm very new to CWA. I heard that they were looking for new executives and new members on the board. So I met a few people at the Marketplace where they were looking to recruit people," Ms Nabi said.
"I had heard about CWA from some friends and had heard that CWA was a good place."
Ms Nabi moved to Wagga from India in 2011 after her husband received an offer to undertake a doctorate at Charles Sturt University.
"When I first arrived here I was feeling very homesick ... sitting at home with my daughter," she said.
"It was very hard because we don't have any family members that live in Wagga. Most of my family live in America, but nobody in Australia."
Ms Nabi, who has taken on the role of publicity officer for the Wagga CWA day branch, knows firsthand the importance of connecting with community.
"I used to take my daughter to the market, the library, everywhere. So that was my first connection, with the library and the Civic Centre," she said.
The Wagga CWA day branch is now flourishing with almost 50 members and a full executive board, despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We had our first face to face meeting recently. We really went well," Ms Nabi said.
Ms Nabi said she would encourage other migrant women to consider joining the CWA.
"I thought when I went there, 'Oh, I'm the only ethnic person in the crowd', but everybody took me very seriously," she said.
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"I'm very new to CWA but I know there are a lot of [multicultural] organisations in Wagga. So maybe we could connect with them."
The branch's new president Cynthia Williams said the reformed group, which still has five stalwart members, recently had their first face-to-face meeting.
"And we're still getting inquiries about new members each week," Mrs Williams said.
"There are quite a few younger ladies, like mid-40s to 50s. A lot of new members are the younger generation.
"These older ladies don't live forever. We have to have some younger people coming up to take over."
Mrs Williams said the CWA encouraged anyone to join, regardless of their age or background.
"Everyone's encouraged to join. There's no discrimination. It doesn't make any difference at all," she said.