Monthly Archives: April 2023

Authors Luncheon THIS SATURDAY!

Authors Luncheon THIS SATURDAY! By Angela Scarlett

Reminder about the Authors Luncheon:

Date: Saturday, April 29, 2023, 11a.m.-2 p.m. THIS SATURDAY!!!

Location: North Ridge Country Club, 7600 Madison Ave., Fair Oaks

Menu:  Chicken Marsala with roasted potatoes and grilled vegetables or Pasta Primavera with marinara sauce and grilled vegetables. Choice of Limoncello Cake or Fruit Cup. Bread. Coffee, iced tea, hot tea and water.

Reservations: RESERVATIONS WERE DUE APRIL 19. Contact Charmen Goehring if you have any questions.

We will hear local author Christine Hunter talk about the women and stories she encountered when writing her recent book, “We Can Do This!: Sacramento’s Trailblazing Political Women and the Community They Shaped”.

May Program

May Program By Angela Scarlett

AAUW Sacramento will hold its May Meeting and Officer Installation at 11 a.m. May 20, 2023, at the Sacramento Dharma Center, 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento 95826.

We will install our new president and vice presidents of programming, hear from this year’s Speech Trek winner, and recognize our branch’s named gift honorees and new 50-year members.

We will also have a light lunch and enjoy the Dharma Center’s back garden again, as we have the center until 1 p.m.

We encourage everyone to bring a guest or fellow AAUW Sacramento member who hasn’t been able to attend an event in person. Please RSVP to Angela Scarlett at angela.scarlett@gmail.com or contact her on her cell phone (in our directory). If you would like to volunteer, don’t hesitate to contact her.

Interest Group Happenings

Interest Group Happenings By Vicki  Nicholson

  • Art & Architecture: Solarpunk Walking Tour, Sunday, May 21, 10 a.m., contact Deborah Dunn
  • Board Games:  May 26, 7 p.m., Ruth Werner’s home
  • Great Decisions I:  May 15, 7 p.m. on Zoom, topic–War Crimes, contact Cathy Locke
  • Great Decisions II:  May 11, 6-8 p.m. on Zoom, topic–China and the U.S., contact Lynn Wood
  • Great Decisions III:  May 15, 1 p.m., contact Kathy Schrumpf
  • Healthy Heart:  May 19, 11:30 a.m., Twin Lotus Thai, 8348 Folsom Blvd., contact Jane Cooley
  • Readers’ Theater:  May 9, 1 p.m., play is “Daddy’s Dyin’, Who’s Got The Will” by Del Shores, at Mary Williams’ home
  • Scrabble for Fun:  May 29, 1 p.m., Eskaton, 3939 Walnut in Carmichael, contact Vivian Counts
  • Singles Dining:  May 7, 6 p.m., contact Nancy McCabe

Living Our Mission of Equity Book Discussion

Living Our Mission of Equity By Charmen Goehring

We hope you will join us in a monthly equity conversation looking at our own biases, and what actions we can take to attract diversity to our branch and become better people in the process. Each month, we read a section of our selected book then meet to discuss what we have learned, along with exploring other issues related to race and equity. We generally meet the first Wednesday of each month from 7 to 8 p.m. on Zoom. This book group is a joint AAUW Sacramento and CHAR event and open to all.

The Zoom meeting code is 737 420 3780 or you can join using this link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7374203780.

We will be discussing the final chapters of our latest book (from chapter 9 to the end), The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein, at 7p.m. on May 3. If you have questions and to RSVP, please email Charmen at charminme@yahoo.com.

Books galore!

Books galore!  By Sharon Anderson, Book Groups Coordinator

For those of you who are or may be interested in the “books” page under “Activities” on our branch website (https://sacramento-ca.aauw.net/bookgroups/), the books page is now updated to the end of the year (in most cases).  So if you wish to see what others are reading, or get ideas for your book group or yourself, please find the books page and take a look.

Each book group has its own tab, by book group number.  (These book group numbers correlate with page 6 of the branch Membership Directory.)  On each list, the meeting days, times and coordinator are listed.  Feel free to call me if you have trouble locating it.

May Book Groups

Book Group 1:
Lucy by the Sea,
by Elizabeth Strout, on May 11; coordinator is Joy Clous

Book Group 2:
The Daughters of Yalta, by Catherine Grace Katz, on May 2;  coordinator is Carol Hayes

Book Group 3: 
Funny in Farsi, by Firoozeh Dumas, on May 24; coordinator is Carolyn Meeker

Book Group 4: 
Horse, by Geraldine Brooks, on May 10; coordinator is Pat Morehead

Book Group 6: 
Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus, on May 15; coordinator is Kim Rutledge

Book Group 8: 
The Exiles, by Christina Baker Kline, on May 22; coordinator is Diana Squire

Book Group 10: 
Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson, on May 18; coordinator is Sandi Schoenman

Book Group 12: 
The Henna Artist, by Alka Joshi, on May 4; coordinator is Linda Cook

Membership News

Membership News By  Donna Holmes & Marty McKnew

Ever wonder about the women supported by AAUW National?  Here is a great way to see our history and brighten your day:

Since 1881, AAUW members, fellows and awardees have made pioneering advances in virtually every field. Check out our “Faces of AAUW” online gallery of trailblazing women, which includes Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in 1903; Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress in 1969; current Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor; and so many more. It’s the perfect way to reflect and remember AAUW’s world-changing impact this Women’s History Month!

Annual Renewal

Renewal season is in full swing!

Things to note:  National dues increased by $5 to $72 per year, no change for State ($20) or our Branch ($20), new total is $112 of which $89 is tax deductible.

You may pay online with a credit card by clicking on this link: <Renew> and enter your email and password.

If you paid by check last year, you should have received, by the end of April, a renewal form, return envelope and green sheet showing what is tax deductible.  Please respond quickly and take this opportunity to provide needed updates your directory information.

If you want to print your own here it is: <click here>.

Celebrating May Birthdays! By Donna Holmes

Happy Birthday to All!

  • Ellen Nathan                                    5/1
  • Patricia Stillwell                               5/1
  • Patricia Morehead                          5/5
  • Stephenie Moczydkowski              5/7
  • Janis Appel                                       5/13
  • Margaret McCarthy                        5/16
  • Elizabeth Mark                                5/17
  • Rosemary Howard                         5/18
  • Pat McCarty                                     5/19
  • Deborah Dunn                                5/22
  • Maria Teresa Hoecker                   5/23
  • Cheryl Fuller                                    5/24
  • Merrie McLaughlin                         5/26
  • Tamara Olson                                 5/28
  • Patty Taylor                                     5/29
  • Margot Leidig                                  5/31

AAUW Sac Funds/Printable Articles

AAUW Sac Funds Update By Charmen Goehring

Many thanks to those of you who send in regular gifts to AAUW to help our beloved organization advance our mission of gender equity.

Making a regular monthly gift that is automatically withdrawn from your account is very easy to set up online. No more remembering to write the check! I love how easy it makes it to give on a regular basis and it also allows AAUW to plan for the contributions.

Those of you who attended the AAUW Annual Event — the Academy AAUWards on April 22– saw that Sacramento was the No. 6 branch statewide in overall contributions to the AAUW Fund!!

I would love to welcome more AAUW Sacramento members to the Legacy Circle.  Please reach out to me for more information!! Or go right to the AAUW website to enroll! It is easy, there are many options for leaving a gift, and you can feel satisfied that you are helping to ensure AAUW is around for years to come — continuing our fight for equity for women and girls.

Printable Newsletter Articles

Click here for Printable Newsletter Articles.

NCCWSL is Live Again!

NCCWSL is Live Again! By Gloria Yost

The Sacramento Branch is proud to sponsor three young women from Sac State to attend the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders (NCCWSL).  The conference will be held at the University of Maryland, College Park, May 31-June 3, 2023.  This year’s theme:

ENGAGE, LEARN AND LEAD: STEP INTO YOUR POWER!

Our attendees are:

  • Roshelle Czar – women’s studies major
  • Marissa Floyd – child development in social and community context major
  • Paola Mendez – political science journalism major

We hope they take full advantage of this experience.

Public Policy

Public Policy News By Liz Jordan

AAUW CA Promotes its Priorities with the Legislature, Prepares for a Vote on New Ones

By Ginny Hatfield, Amy Hom and Kathi Harper, AAUW CA Public Policy Committee       

If you participated in this year’s Lobby Days on March 21 and 22, you know it was a whirlwind of activity.  Over two jam-packed days, 120 AAUW CA members from 50 branches met with 46 Assembly offices and 23 Senate offices.  Most of the meetings took place via Zoom and the majority took place without a hitch.  For the first time, some of our members met in person in Sacramento.

While most meetings were conducted with legislative staff, we were able this year to schedule 10 meetings with the members themselves — six Assemblymembers and four Senators.  In addition, Kathi Harper, AAUW CA Public Policy Chair, and Kathy Van Osten, our AAUW CA Legislative Advocate, met with the Governor’s staff and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon’s office.

We were happy to learn that our organization was known to many of the legislative staff and legislators with whom our members met.  Some had spoken to branches in their districts; others were familiar with our public policy priorities and expressed alignment and support for them; and a handful were appreciative of the background we provided about our mission and programs. A sterling endorsement came from none other than Alf Brandt, policy consultant for Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, whose mother was an AAUW member in the 1940’s in Orange County.  He credits her involvement in AAUW “making me the man I am today.”

The reception of our “Top 3” bills — AB 1394, SB 287 and AB 549 – was generally favorable, especially the two social media bills.  Both staff and legislators could identify with the pervasive problem of having children who are or will be targeted by social media.  AB 549 needed a bit more explaining, as some were unfamiliar with CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.  You can find more information on these and all the bills we are supporting here: https://www.aauw-ca.org/documents/2023/03/bill-tracking.pdf/.

During our Lobby Days event, we were able to get our message across to those who make our laws and to highlight AAUW, our mission, accomplishments and the benefits we bring to our communities throughout CA.  It was an empowering exercise in advocacy and for those of you who participated, AAUW CA thanks you!

Adding this reminder: it’s time to vote on the updates to the Public Policy Priorities for 2023-25.   In response to input from 466 members, the state Public Policy Committee has recommended and the Board has approved 11 changes, which can be viewed here: https://www.aauw-ca.org/2023-proposed-public-policy-priorities/.  Highlighted additions include support for: civics education, access to diverse staff and curriculum, safe infrastructure and access to technology in our schools, gun violence prevention, and a fourth pillar to support women in leadership roles. Voting opens April 22. Make sure you make your voice heard!