President’s Message By Nancy McCabe

Those of you who attended our Winter Luncheon in December may recall the big stack of books our members contributed to the Love Talk Read program. You can find a copy of the thank you letter from the program’s director Celeste Roseberry-Mckibbin, CSUS, <here>.  The grand total of books donated was … drum roll … 240 books! Proving once again that our members are so generous and awesome!

Also, there is a metric that AAUW branches use to measure how well we are doing, called the Five Star Program. Earning all 5 stars is awesome, and most branches do not achieve it. For 2024, our branch did reasonably well but there is room for improvement. Here is the notice we received from the AAUW Deputy Director of Advancement:

Dear Branch President,

It is with great pleasure that I share some exciting news—AAUW Sacramento Inc. (CA) Branch has achieved three stars in AAUW’s FY24 Five Star Program! Your branch attained the Advancement, Communications & External Relations and Programming stars. This recognition is a testament to the dedication, hard work, and commitment of your branch members to advancing AAUW’s mission of gender equity for women and girls.

The Five Star Program is designed to honor branches that align their work with AAUW’s strategic priorities in areas such as Advancement, Public Policy & Advocacy, Governance & Sustainability, Programming, and Communications & External Relations. Earning three stars is an incredible accomplishment, and we are thrilled to celebrate this success with you.

Congratulations again on this well-deserved recognition. Thank you for your continued leadership and dedication to creating a more equitable world.

And a reminder that we are still requesting help with next year’s programs and presidency. Partnering with a buddy is a good way to do it. Having a partner makes the position easier as you can share the tasks.

As the outgoing president, I can state that the position of president is not difficult. The members of the board are responsible and get their parts done. The monthly board meeting is on Zoom and typically lasts no longer than an hour. A position in the branch gives you opportunities to meet and plan with a really nice group of women! Do choose to get involved in our mission, now more than ever.

President’s Message By Nancy McCabe

The start of a new year generally feels like a clean slate for whatever goals one might have. Do you want to start an exercise program, a new way of eating, a new way of organizing your time/bills/social events or your volunteer time? I have no suggestions about the first five, but I do have a suggestion about the last one. You have heard us request help with next year’s programs and presidency. At the Winter Luncheon, a new member volunteered to cochair program, so she needs a partner to help plan and execute the programming. Having a partner makes this position easier as you can share the tasks. As the outgoing president, I can state positively that the position of president is not difficult. The members of the board are responsible and get their parts done. The monthly meeting is on Zoom and our technology coordinator sets it up on the Internet. Any position in the branch gives you opportunities to meet and plan with a really nice group of women! Do choose to get involved in our mission of advancing gender equity locally.

President’s Message By Nancy McCabe

As we head into the holiday season, we hope you are able to spend time with loved ones, with gratitude for all that we enjoy living in the Sacramento area.

Also reflect on what you might do to help keep our branch a vibrant community focused on equity for women as well as enjoying interest groups with other members of the AAUW Sacramento branch. When you get involved, you will get to know other active members who just could become your great friends. There are a number of areas we could use some help, such as the Branch Local Projects team, the Tech Trek team, Hospitality or Communications, to name a few.

That old saying is so true “many hands make light work.” It takes a lot of hands to accomplish our goals, and we would like to have your time and talents to help accomplish our goal of advancing gender equity for women and girls! Be in touch!

SEE YOU AT THE HOLIDAY PARTY!

President’s Message By Nancy McCabe

I have exciting news for our membership! CHAR, Citrus Heights-American River AAUW, is disbanding due to a drop in membership and would like to merge with the Sacramento branch! 

This has a lot of positive facets for our branch — more interest groups, more new members to meet, more experienced officers to share leadership, and more new ideas for programs, etc. Several of our members are already dual members with CHAR. 

A group has met once to talk about what a merger would mean and when we have an agreement, we will send it to our membership for a vote. If you have any specific concerns, contact Hedda Smithson, Barbara Smith, Susana Mullen or me. 

Everything is in preliminary stages at this point. When an agreement is reached we will share it with you and put it out for a vote. Stay tuned!

President’s Message By Nancy McCabe

What a great year this has been! Our programs have been excellent, new members have joined, we have a wonderful scholarship recipient, Speech Trek winner and great girls who will be attending Tech Trek next month!

I couldn’t be more proud of our branch and its members. Those of you who have contributed to these efforts should take a bow! Those of you who are reading our Capital Ideas know what all we have accomplished and many of the members who have contributed to our successes.

You might also know that it takes the time and talents of more than a few to accomplish our mission of advancing gender equity for women and girls through research, education and advocacy. This is where all of the membership comes in. We need every one who is able to share in the leadership of our organization. If you didn’t participate this year, how about the coming year? Look at the projects we embrace and contact the current chair or me to help with the year’s programs.

Didn’t your mother say, “Many hands make light work?” It still is true. New members, jump in and you will have all of the help and guidance you need to have a successful year. Members with seniority, you are always more than welcome to participate and get to know other members better. I await hearing from you so we can plan for the upcoming business year.

President’s Message By Nancy McCabe

My message this month recaps the April Branch meeting for all of you who missed Episode 8 of this year’s programs. Our Program Vice-Presidents, Hedda Smithson and Barbara Smith, coordinated with the Citrus Heights-American River AAUW Branch to deliver an outstanding event focused on the Right  to Read Anything You Want to Read. In keeping with our theme of Lights, Camera, Action, the program focused Light on the issue of book challenging and banning. We learned that many books are challenged, not as many are actually banned.

Our speakers were Justin Azevedo, the children and youth’s materials selector for the Sacramento Library System and Brenna Bellavance, chief book seller and selector at Underground Books in Oak Park.  Accompanying them was Christy Aguirree, Head of Acquisitions for the entire Sacramento Library system.

Justin explained that a challenged book is one that has received a request for removal from the library or that it be moved from the children’s section to the adult section. If the challenge is granted, the book is removed from the system. It is “banned.”  The number of requests has increased dramatically in recent years. He also explained that as a public employee, he has a different approach to a book than he does as a father of young children. As a public employee, he may not allow his personal opinion to interfere with other people’s right to decide what their children may read.  As a parent he can!

Brenna explained the unique role that Underground Books plays in the Oak Park community. The bookstore operates under the umbrella of St. Hope, a non-profit committed to revitalizing Oak Park through high quality education and economic development. As such, Underground Books serves as a bookstore, a replacement for the long-closed Oak Park public library, and a community gathering center. It stocks materials that are reflective of and relevant to the people of the area.  To encourage reading, free books are distributed at monthly children’s events funded primarily through donations. The goal of allowing children to see themselves depicted in books and their community, a Black Santa visits and distributes books to the multitude of children who come to have their annual “picture with Santa” taken.

Christy answered questions about library funding, staffing, dealing with the public, and the effort to deal with requests for banning books.

In short, we all learned how very fortunate we are to have such a dynamic, committed library staff and system in Sacramento. They provide untold service to the community every day.

Your Action response to this meeting should be to speak up in public whenever and where ever you encounter efforts to ban books, especially at local school board meetings where most such efforts begin. Do not allow the loudest, often lone, voice to intimidate. Also, choose to read books that focus on groups and lives dissimilar to your own. Do this in your book group or family. Start or join a banned book club (there are specialty Tee shirts just for that!). Click <here> to see the list of the 100 most banned and challenged books from 2010-2019.  You have probably read a lot of them!

I hope to see you on May 18 for Episode 9!