Interest Group Happenings
By PJ Missman

September is when we get back to spending time with our AAUW friends, stretching our minds and learning new things, and getting active again! I am looking forward to meeting new friends in our expanded Sacramento AAUW Branch. Many CHAR members have transferred to our branch and have brought along a few new interest groups to add to our already busy schedules! If you are interested in participating in any of our Interest Groups, please contact the coordinators listed here.

I would like to take a moment to introduce myself and the new groups. I am PJ Missman, the new Interest Group coordinator. I’ve been a dual member of CHAR and Sacramento for several years. I am a 26-year member of AAUW. I already know many of you, and I hope to get to know many more this year. My contact information, as well as the contacts for each of the Interest Groups, is in your Membership Directory.

September is the time of year when Great Decisions leaders plan for the coming year and order discussion books. If you are thinking of joining a GD group, please contact the group coordinator now so that books can be ordered.

The new Interest Groups on our list have been active for many years and are hoping to have a few new members join them. One is a Great Decisions group that will be ordering books in October but does not actually meet until February. The group meets in members’ homes, twice per month, and starts off the meetings with the video provided by the Great Decisions’ Foreign Policy Association. World Country Study chooses a different country to study each year. The members choose topics to present and meet in members’ homes. Lunch Bunch is a get-together just to enjoy each other’s company, always finding a small nonchain, locally owned restaurant to support. Mahjong also meets twice per month and is open to all because they ask for $5 to play and it is a fundraiser for AAUW Funds.

Art and Architecture: This group meets the first Friday of the month starting in October. Contact: Deborah Dunn
Bridge: To continue the bridge group that CHAR offered, we need a volunteer for group leader. Then the leader and those interested can work out the details and logistics. Any volunteers? Please contact PJ Missman.
-Great Decisions I: Monday, Sept 29 at 7 p.m. on Zoom. The topic will be
“American Policy in the Middle East”. Contact: Cathy Locke
Great Decisions II: Thursday, Sept 11 at 6 p.m. on Zoom. The topic will be “AI and American National Security”. Contact: Lynn Blair Wood
-Great Decisions III: Monday, Sept 15, 1 p.m. Meets in a member’s home. Contact: Margaret McCarthy
-Great Decisions IV: Books are ordered in October, but meetings are 1st and 3rd Tuesdays beginning in February through May. Meets in a member’s home. Contact: Virginia Sturdevant
-Healthy Heart Lunch: Friday, Sept 19 Time and Place TBD Contact: Jane Cooley
-Lunch Bunch: Wednesday, Sept 10, Noon at Rudy’s Hideaway, Rancho
Cordova. Contact: PJ Missman
-Mahjong: Thursday Sept 11, 1-3 p.m. and Thursday Sept 25, 1-3 p.m. at Edgewood Community Center 5700 Spyglass Center, Citrus Heights. Cost is $5/meeting as this is a fundraiser for AAUW Funds. Contact: Darlene Houston
-Reader’s Theater: Meeting in October. Contact: Diane Petersen
-Scrabble Just For Fun: Monday, Sept 29, 1 p.m. Eskaton Village Carmichael game room. Contact: Vivian Counts
-Singles Dining Out: Sunday, Sept 28, 6 p.m., Fuji Sacramento, 1235 Broadway. There is parking on 13th Street and in a lot on 13th between Broadway and X Street. RSVP before Sunday. Contact: Nancy McCabe
-World Country Study: Wednesday Sept. 24, 1:30 p.m. Meets in
members’ homes. 2025: we are studying Greece. Contact: Fran Clarke