Hoping some of the North Americans on the flist might know

[redfiona99]

Is there a US equivalent of the Women's Institute (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_Institutes). In short, they're an association of village-based groups where ladies of a certain age (although they swear they're open to all ages) do voluntary work and keep themselves amused. I'm after something that would have been around in the 40s and 50s.