Karen and I have kept in close touch while I'm out of the country and she's kept me in the loop with all the TWC happenings.  I'm going to keep this short and sweet since this computer at my Mum's house is aging and the internet connection is spotty at best, but this will help keep you all abreast of the latest news.

Debra Silbar and TWC member Kirsten Bohman were key organizers in the Topanga Elementary School's fundraising efforts (their Give Back program) for Topanga Women's Circle.  Karen and I had a classroom presentation with the fourth graders and then there was an all school assembly where TWC was honored for all they do.  A couple of weeks later the proceeds of their non-perishable food and gift card drive were given to Karen.  The picture below shows some of their donations, as well as one of their hand-drawn posters and the gift cards.  What a terrific group of kids and parents and what a wonderful lesson for all the children, showing them just how much they can do to make a difference to those in need. Around $300 in gift cards were donated and this whole gift card donation is a great idea to us...if you have friends who would like to help, suggest a gift card to Target or one of the grocery stores or any other practical store.  The beauty of the card is it takes up zero space and we can use it as needed.  We'll meet with the fourth graders one more time before their summer break to collect the Cuties that they've made.  For those of you who haven't done a set-up, the Cuties are little stuffed critters that they make as well as a 'Welcome' note.  We make sure we put one on each child's bed when we do our set-ups.

Karen and Mary Morley are offering a sewing class to interested moms at the transitional living home in Venice and you'll see below a great pic of the ladies taking the class; Laura, Rochelle and Teresa.  The ladlies are so interested in learning how to sew, but between kids running wild, failing electricity and wonky sewing machines, it doesn't always go smoothly.  Kudos ro Karen and Mary for doing this.  If any of you would like to volunteer to help, please drop Karen an email at kfswood@gmail.com,  Also, have you got any ideas or talents you'd like to share with these very needy moms at Venice?

Lee Kelly at The Messenger has invited us to send her our meeting dates so soon we'll be posting this info in the paper!

And finally, our Mother's Day fundraising effort was a great success, earning TWC a little over $3,500.  The final accounting from Community Partners hasn't yet come in, but that's a close approximation.

Can't seem to move the pictures below to the right spot in this posting, but the first is of the ladies at their sewing class, the middle is of the donations from Topanga Elementary and the third is one of the Fourth Grade classes posters with the collected gift cards.  Please forgive typos and errors but this ancient machine is winning and I'm done!  See you all soon.  We'll try and organize a meeting for later in June.