Bertha Pinder, Women's Civic League president

Five Things I Have To Have Now

October 14, 2007

Bertha Pinder, the Women's Civic League's 80-something president, wants everyone to know about the group's good deeds for the city. The league's main fundraiser is the Baltimore Apple Festival, held last week and co-sponsored by the city Department of Recreation and Parks. Proceeds help maintain the league's historic headquarters at 9 N. Front St. - once the home of Thorowgood Smith, Baltimore's second mayor. The Women's Civic League also gives awards to city transportation and sanitation workers and provides $1,000 college scholarships to city youth.

Pinder, who has been president of the group for seven years, joined the league in 1984, after retiring from the Social Security Administration. She is a widow who lives in Windsor Hills, is the mother of five children, and has six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

1. Beautiful condominium with lovely surroundings

"I would like to have something more updated [than her current home] with bright sun-shiny rooms. And, with a condominium, the upkeep would be less."

2. A car

"But I would need a chauffeur because I don't drive. A friend usually comes and picks me up or I get a cab or use public transportation."

3. A Mediterranean cruise

"I would like to take it with all of the people who have been so kind to me, my children, my sisters and all of my friends who have helped keep the Apple Festival going. And also [former Gov.] William Donald Schaefer, who has been so supportive."

4. A new hat and new clothes

"A lady should always wear a hat and be elegant."

5. A housekeeper

"That way I could do my work for the Civic League and other volunteer organizations and still my home would look the way I would like it."

[LIZ ATWOOD]