Rye residents have a long history of supporting local charitable organizations as volunteers and donors. One of the earliest and most successful of these groups was the Twig Organization, which was started in 1911 by a small group of women in Rye, who sewed and rolled bandages for patients at The United Hospital in Port Chester.
The founder of the Rye sewing circle had been a member of a similar group of women in Rochester, New, York, who similarly supported the city’s hospital.
A history of that group notes that they called themselves a “twig,” because they were not large enough to be the branch of anything.
For more than 100 years, the Twig organization played a vital role in supporting the health care needs of Rye and surrounding communities through fundraising and volunteer activities.
By the 1960s, there were 37 Twig groups devoted to United Hospital with 650 members drawn from Rye, Harrison, Port Chester, and Mamaroneck.
Over time, Twig members expanded their activities beyond fundraising by volunteering within the hospital, where they gave countless hours of service, running both a gift shop and a coffee shop. They also ran an antiques shop in Rye, as well as thrift shops in Port Chester and Mamaroneck, which benefited both residents of those communities and the hospital.
In 1921, the organization held its first major event, which became an annual “Holiday Fair.” On several occasions, the many separate twigs combined to produce the “Follies” — musical revues that raised funds to purchase new ambulances.
Other “all-twig” events included fashion benefits, tennis tournaments, a symphony concert, and a big Tercentenary Ball to celebrate Rye’s 300th anniversary in 1960.
Beginning in 1954, two of the Twigs organized a pro-amateur golf tournament, and over the next eight years other Twigs joined in promoting this very successful event. When the tournament moved to the Westchester Country Club in 1963 to become a regular stop on what is now known as the PGA Tour, it became an “all-twig event.”
The Twig organization received $170,000 from the PGA Tour for its volunteer efforts at the 2007 Barclays Golf Classic.
Over the years, new Twigs were created to keep the overall Twig membership expanding. Older twigs were identified by the year they were formed, such as the 16th and the 26th, while younger ones chose names like the “Centennial” Twig, formed in 2011.
After United Hospital closed at the end of 2004, the Twig Organization reorganized and filed for 501(c) (3) status as The Twig of Westchester County, New York, Inc.
It then devoted its fundraising activities in support of the EMS units in Rye and Harrison.
These funds substantially covered the cost of EMS ambulance service, augmenting annual contributions from Rye, Rye Brook, Port Chester, Harrison, and other sources.
When the Twig finally ceased operations in 2016, this newspaper reported that since the organization’s inception, “more than 3,000 members have raised in excess of $10 million for community health care services and equipment.”