Visitors to the Howey Artisan Market this Saturday, August 30, will have the chance to support women’s education while shopping for handcrafted goods. From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., P.E.O. Chapter JD will host a tent at Mission Resort + Club, with 100 percent of proceeds from sales going directly to scholarships.

“Learn how we assist women in furthering their education through scholarships, grants, awards, and loans,” President Janet Franklin says. “You’ll be helping women to further their education by purchasing handcrafted items. 100% proceeds go toward the scholarship fund.”

P.E.O., which stands for Philanthropic Educational Organization, is a nonprofit Sisterhood that has been celebrating, educating, and motivating women since its founding in 1869 at Iowa Wesleyan College. Today, the organization has nearly 190,000 members across more than 5,500 chapters in the United States and Canada. Since its inception, P.E.O. has awarded more than $462 million in financial assistance to over 129,000 women through a variety of scholarships, grants, awards, and loans.

Lake County’s local chapter, Chapter JD, was established in 2016 by longtime member and Florida Past State President Kathy Feldman. The chapter awards scholarships to local graduating high school seniors, in addition to supporting P.E.O.’s seven international projects, which include the Educational Loan Fund, International Peace Scholarship Fund, Program for Continuing Education, Scholar Awards, STAR Scholarships, the P.E.O. Foundation, and Cottey College in Missouri.

Janet, who was elected Chapter JD President in March 2025, emphasized that the group’s fundraising directly determines how many scholarships can be awarded.

“Scholarships awarded are based on monies available in the balance of the chapter’s scholarship fund,” she says. “The more funds we have the more scholarships we can award.”

In addition to the Howey Artisan Market, the chapter’s fundraising calendar this year includes trivia nights, a 5K race in December, and other events.

Friendship remains central to the P.E.O. mission, but education is its guiding philanthropy. As the chapter explained, “P.E.O. exists to be a source of encouragement and support for women to realize their potential in whatever worthwhile endeavor they choose. True to the mission of promoting educational opportunities for women, education continues to be the primary philanthropy of the P.E.O. Sisterhood.”

For more information, contact Janet Franklin at janetofranklin@gmail.com.