Saturday, October 6, 2018

General Meeting: October 4, 2018``

I'm just dusting this old blog off for one last entry before we launch our new newsletter in the next week. It's been a good run, but TWC is moving forward with a better way to communicate with volunteers and those interested in our organization. We'll have more frequent postings for our volunteer base and perhaps a quarterly newsletter for friends of TWC.

We had a great meeting at Teresa's beautiful home on Thursday evening with a good turn-out. As always the food and company were unbeatable. Lorna Bank kindly took notes as our official note-taker, Nancy Hanson, is traveling just now.  For a quick recap of our meeting, see below.

1. Lorna set up our beautiful general greeting cards for sale ($5 to members!) and sales were brisk. Many thanks to Lorna, Nancy Hanson, Sue Forbes and Judith Haut for working so hard on this project and to our printing angel, Noelle Berman, who does all our printing on vellum at her office.

2.  Teresa thanked all of you who work so tirelessly for this little charity. You do make a difference and there are so many ways to help.

3.  Debra Silbar & Karla Morrison have worked on our 2018 Challenge Grant Campaign which will go live shortly. Details on this will be in our new newsletter but donations are coming in and we already have over $10,000 pledged. Bridge housing, as opposed to transitional housing, has increased our workload. Families no longer stay for two years, but are moved into permanent housing after three to six months. It's why we have to fundraise!

Bonnie Graves has done a fair amount of fundraising and has offered her help to the group. Bonnie and her family have raised $$'s for TWC in so many ways from popcorn and wine sales at movie nights to selling ice-cream sandwiches on the boulevard!

Teresa discussed multi-level marketing...i.e., send our your request for donations to everyone. TWC has special appeal to many because we have no overhead.  She stressed that you will not get anything if you do not ask. Just let people know what we do...no elevator pitches. Janaki did just that, last year, and a professional group she belongs to chose TWC as one of their donor charities and one of her sub-contractors, who had been homeless for a while when young, sent us a check for $1,000. So generous.

4.  We also discussed the difficulties of actually being awarded financial grants. Much work goes into writing these grants but the awards frequently go to larger charities. It was discussed that perhaps we might have more luck in securing actual donations of stuff. Wendy Skolfield is going to be our go-to gal for investigating possible corporate donations of the things TWC most needs on a regular basis and Bruce Royer is going to approach Walmart on our behalf.

4.  Leslie Carlson shared the news that Pine Tree Circle has now sold. If the new owners won't allow us to keep the Bin in that location, Leslie has offered another bin, free of charge, down at the Brewery. Many thanks to the Carlsons for all the good years we've been able to have a presence at Pine Tree Circle.

5.  On a positive note, communications between Westwood (via Nicholas) and Venice (via Rachel) are at an all-time high which really makes our work so much easier.

6.  We will again take care of the children at Venice this Christmas and I will approach Jill Palethorpe, with hopes that she will help us with our interactive gift giving list. I've sent an email to Rachel in Venice and she will get the list to me later this month. Also, it would be great if we could again give each family at the Bessie Pregerson Child Development Center a $25 Target gift card. Patty Colvig is going to approach Topanga Elementary regarding a non-perishable food drive. Linda Handler Kort always does this with her little kindergarten students and it would be great if we could get it going again with the fourth graders who used to have an active gives-back program.

7.  Adrian Wright offered to write any articles that we'd like for the Messenger and perhaps other Topanga websites.

8.  Randi Gottlieb, who heads up the perishable committee, noted that her small group of volunteers is rarely called upon any more to provide perishables. That's because our generous volunteers often jump in and say they'll get them...and that makes me happy because those perishable committee gals were doing a lot of shopping and were spending an awful lot of money (rarely asking for reimbursement). Teresa said she'd sent out a sample 'list' to volunteers of items that are good to include if they're doing a perishable shop.

9. Wendy Skolfield thanked Cynthia Scott for bringing fresh flowers to the set-ups. They make such a difference and it's so good of Cynthia to take time off work to deliver and arrange them!

10.  Teresa is making Patty Colvig's job of purchasing non-perishables much easier by doing an inventory at the bin every couple of weeks and then sending Patty info on shortfalls. Teresa also does this for all non-food items we need as well.

11.  Teresa formally thanked Karen Sherwood, on behalf of TWC, for all her invaluable work over the years from co-chairing with me for so long to then serving on our Advisory Board. Karen is stepping down from the Board but is still an active volunteer. Thank you, Karen xo.

12.  And finally...our work continues. We have a set-up this Monday and one in Venice on Friday. If you've not been to Venice yet and would like to help, drop me a line.

And keep your eyes open for our new newsletter! It's going to be light on words (bet you're happy about that!) and heavy on pictures!! If you have a story or idea that you would like included in the newsletter, let us know!

Friday, August 3, 2018

August 3, 2018 Set-up

I'm going to make this more about the pictures and not about me being all wordy! Today's set-up went really well thanks to our great volunteers Piper Norwood, Amy Farber (and her able daughter, Charlotte), Isabel Freeman & Bonnie Graves. Heather Tehrani met Isabel and me at the Bin first thing this morning with perishable groceries for this family and fabulous co-chair, Teresa Royer and Board member Wendy Skolfield pulled together everything we needed. Many thanks to Cynthia Scott for taking time of work at UCLA to bring fresh flowers for the move-in family.

Even though the living room furniture had not arrived yet, the apartment was clean and ready for us and we set to work, finishing in about an hour and a half. Miracle workers!!!

Here's one funny story that still has me laughing. The information that I'm sent regarding the upcoming move-in family always gives an apartment number (in addition to family size, apt. size, etc) and while this sometimes changes, it's usually pretty solid. So Bonnie Graves tripped on over to the apartment on the info sheet, knocked on the door and when a young teen answered, Bonnie said she was there to help. The teen invited her in (probably thinking, okayyy). Bonnie didn't see us anywhere and thought, well, they've moved everything in, but it's kind of a mess so...I'll do the dishes. Then she mentioned to the young girl, "Where are the other ladies?" The young girl looked at her, totally puzzled. Then she asked, "Is Lin around?" And the girl basically said "Who's Lin?" At this point, Bonnie realized this was not the new move-in and she quickly scooted down to the office where she was told the unit number had changed and where we were.

Anyway, once Bonnie found us, she was a great addition, as always (side note: Bonnie and her kids, Sophie & Sawyer are getting set to make their AMAZING ice cream sandwiches which they sell to benefit TWC!).

And here are a few shots from today.

The kitchen is empty. Isabel is changing that.
The fridge now has loads of fresh produce, milk, cheese,
juice, makings for dinner, etc.

Amy welcoming Bonnie (after her adventures!)

Bathroom #1

Teen boy's room

Dad's bathroom

Dad's bedroom

Charlotte, proud of the 'privacy' screen she made for the lower bunk.
A 12 y.o. girl and her grandmother will share this room.

Charlotte putting finishing touches on the top bunk.

Charlotte's arrangement for the young girl

Isabel, Bonnie, Piper, Lin & Charlotte


Flowers courtesy of Cynthia Scott and TWC welcome card.
Inside is a gift card to Target.

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Thank You to All Our Volunteers

There are so many ways that all of you, our volunteers, help keep this little charity ticking over as successfully as it does. Many of you are behind the scenes working your magic in a variety of ways. Here are just a few of them:

  • Our Shoppers keep our non-perishable containers filled (thank you Patty Colvig) and know just where to shop for the best deals. Teresa and Emma and many others make frequent treks down to the Valley to get the best deals on everything from mattress pads to cutlery trays. Our needs are never-ending.
  • All of you perishable shoppers who step up to the plate when we send out a request before each set-up make it so much easier for these weary families to settle in to their new home. Randi Gottlieb will send out notes to her committee when we don't have an offer to help, but that is becoming rarer and rarer because of the generosity of so many of you.
  • All of you who respond to our call for help at set-ups. You never fail to amaze me with your giving spirits.
  • Cynthia Scott taking time off work to brighten most set-ups with fresh flowers.
  • Our Bin Goddesses, open the able guidance of Nancy Hanson, make sure our Bin is open on Saturday mornings and besides keeping it organised and tidy, perform  a vital community outreach program simply by chatting to interested folks. Having a visable presence is a vital link to those who want to learn more about TWC and what we do.
  • Bonnie Graves always organizing little neighborhood events with her children, raising vital dollars and, again, community awareness for TWC.
  • The Carlson's for making our lives forever easier with our Pine Tree Circle storage bin.
  • All of your help with making our beautiful Mother's Day and all occasion cards (thank you Lorna Bank for handling so many aspects of our card sales and production). All the gorgeous images our volunteers donate which make these cards so special.
  • Those of you who help Teresa pull for so many of our set-ups (I'm looking at you Emma Murray and Wendy Skolfield!). It can get pretty cramped and uncomfortable in that Bin and you ladies do an amazing job. Each set-up is different and beautiful in its own way because of you.
  • Organizing our annual Challenge Grant...thank you Debra Silbar and Karla Morrison. Your vision and understanding that this charity doesn't run on air has helped keep our coffers in the black, thus enabling us to continue turning a bare-bones space into a home for so many families who have gone through so much hardship.
  • Wendy Skolfield for investigating all avenues for donations from luggage shops to newspaper articles that might potentially feature TWC to local shops. And check out the beautiful rose below...she brought one for every volunteer at the dinner.
  • To all of you volunteers who help us in any way you can...thank you.
And to all of you who wonder just how you can help, there are a myriad of ways (as you can see above). Your time is as important to us as any financial contribution and we love hearing your ideas so never hold back. Let us know your suggestions.

Here are just a few photos from our annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner at Rocco's. (Thanks for thinking to take a few pix, Teresa!). I wish more of you amazing ladies could have joined us, but June is a busy month.










Sunday, June 3, 2018

Springtime Happenings

It's been a busy couple of months for Topanga Women's Circle and that's the way we like it!  

Hopefully you can all join us for our annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner at Rocco's on Thursday, June 28. I'll be sending out an email on this in the next few days.

Mother's Day cards continue to be appreciated by our volunteers and their moms, friends of TWC and the community and there's no doubt that we've gotten pretty good at making them. This year Lorna and Nancy took over the lion's share of the work, including researching and finding some great new images which proved super popular. Teresa hosted the card-making party and, as usual, TWC folks created some beautiful cards. Hopefully by next year we'll figure out how folks can actually order cards online but for now, we're mostly old-school!  

Nancy and Lorna have also taken over the construction of the all-occasion cards we're now selling (still only $5 each...so get them while the price is low!) which include birthday, sympathy, congratulations, etc and are pretty stunning. These have proved super popular so if you're in the market for a card, feel free to contact Lorna at lornabrittanbank@gmail.com. We might be selling them at our open bin on Saturday mornings as well, but that's to be decided.

Our TWC members are always thinking about ways to help and yesterday I got a call from Bonnie Graves asking if she could borrow our sandwich board as she was hosting an outdoor movie night where she and Sophie & Sawyer (her kiddos) were making all the concessions...and donating all profits to TWC.  Well, she and the children just stopped by with their monies from last night's show...and the wine and snacks must have been flowing because they made just under $300 for TWC.  SO generous!

We had a small set-up last week...one that had been postponed multiple times due to a bad leak in the apartment which not only damaged the floors and cabinets, etc., but also the electricals. It was just a small set-up (a mom and her little girl) which Teresa and Emma pulled for, but it really looked sweet when we'd finished. Because of the unit's size, it is always critical to make it as attractive as possible without overloading with too much extraneous stuff and Emma and Teresa nailed it, as usual.

Wendy Skolfield stopped at a big estate sale in the Valley the other week and picked up a load of great stuffed animals, as well as a darling little wooden kitchen set...which was perfect for this new family's little 2 y.o.

Anyway, we were in and out of this tiny flat in no time, thanks to the expert help of Isabel Freeman and Marie Wexler. It was Marie's first set-up, but you'd never have known it. Once it was explained that there is NO wrong way to do anything, she was off and running!  Cynthia Scott stopped by with her usual beautiful flower donation which is always the icing on the cake (thanks, C!).

Here are a few photos from the day.


Isabel putting the Ikea lamp together (with more success than I had)

Marie Wexler was on kitchen duty. Workmen were still hard at work, so Marie
had to be creative with half the cabinets still unfinished.Thanks to my daughter, Jane, 
for her donation of their old (but still working) microwave.

The really sweet little kitchen that Wendy found at the estate sale.

Can't figure out how to rotate this, but we worked around the workmen
who were really impressed with our efforts and kept offering to help!

This was taken before Cynthia's far more beautiful flowers arrived.
Fresh fruit in the bowl, welcome card (with Target gift card inside)
and check out the new round table...worked far better in such a small space.

Painters putting finishing touches in the bathroom

New hall cabinet...sideways...can't rotate on blogger


Little girl and mom's beds...tight fit in this tiny room. Darling quilt made
by The Linus Project on the little one's bed.


Thursday, March 29, 2018

Mother's Day: May 13, 2018

It's almost time to order your 2018 Mother's Day Cards. This is Topanga Women's Circle most beloved fundraiser of the year and for only a $25 donation we will mail a beautiful, personalized card to ANY mother (mothers, sisters, aunts, cousins; friends) who you would like to honor or to a friend honoring the memory of her mom.

For timely mailing of cardsall orders must be placed with us by May 7th at the latest. We are happy to mail the card with your special message or you can place an order with us for cards that you would like to personalize and mail yourself.


We will also have a beautiful selection of cards available for sale at the following locations:

Friday, April 20
Food Truck Friday at the Community House
5-7 pm

Friday, April 27 and Friday May 4
Topanga Farmer's Market
9 AM - Closing

Friday, May 11 and Saturday, May 12
Gidget's Flower Power at Pine Tree Circle
9 AM - 1 PM

Two simple ways to order and pay: Either go to our website: topangawomenscircle.org and click on the 'How You Can Help" Contribute Button.  We take Amex, Mastercard, Visa or Paypal OR send your check for $25 for each card payable to Topanga Women's Circle  and mail to:

Topanga Women's Circle
c/o Lorna Bank
2677 Topanga Skyline Drive
Topanga, CA  90290


Any questions, or for further information, contact Lin at linilsley@gmail.com until April 20 and after that contact Lorna at lornabrittanbank@gmail.com

If we are mailing the card for you, please include your name as you would like it to appear on the card, your personal message and the name and address of each recipient. 

Some photo choices follow (lots of new choices) though there will be a much larger selection at the above locations.

We have some tried and true images below in addition to some lovely new ones.  Of special interest are the silkscreen images by TWC volunteer, Linda Bolhuis.


Linda Bolhuis Silkscreen 1

Linda Bolhuis Silkscreen 2

Linda Bolhuis Silkscreen 3


Rose of the Canyon

Day's End

Poppies


Hummingbirds at  Home in Topanga




Lupines, Old Canyon, Topanga



Topanga through Mustard


Irish Cows


Robin's Egg Blue

Giraffe Love

Happy Baby Hippo

Pony love

Nap Time/Lions

Foal with a sense of humor

Mother's Touch

Baby Love

Polar Bear Twins


Swan Love

Tigers



Polar Bears: Mom and Babe