HARMONY
HELPS! Who would like a FREE ticket/s to
what promises to be a fabulous evening at Royce Hall this coming Thursday,
March 3? Only expense is $12 for
parking. Please contact me or Karen (kfswood@gmail.com) for
ticket information. This benefits Westwood Transitional Village…a cause near
and dear to all of us. So, if you love listening to a great symphony playing
some fabulous show tunes and classics, an emerging young diva singing a couple
of arias, a fabulous young singer belting out the classics and Carol Lawrence,
Ed Asner and Fritz Coleman leading the way, let us know ASAP!
Tickets will be
waiting for you at will call at Royce Hall.
http://www.roycehall.org/calendar/event_detail.asp?id=780
Tuesday night at Teresa’s lovely Tuscali Mountain Inn was a beautiful evening and here are the pictures to prove it! Many
thanks to all of you who were able to join us and hopefully this posting will
update those of you who were unable to come. We chatted aout a lot, including our annual Mother's Day card drive (such an integral part of our annual fundraising), committee updates, Harmony Helps Fundraiser and, of course, Karen's big news.
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| Loads of wonderful donations! |
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| Delicious food, as always |
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| Fellow Tango(ers) Andrea and Lorna |
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| Karla and Debra |
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| Talk, talk, talk... |
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| Lots to talk about |
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| Wendy & Ruth! |
BIG THANK YOU'S to our JUNIOR VOLUNTEERS
A big thank you goes out to
the kindergartners at Topanga Elementary in TWC volunteer, Linda Handler’s
class, who collected 100 cans of food for their first 100 days of school. Linda has done this for a few years now and
it is always a success!
Thank you to Bonnie
Graves’ two little ones who joined in their annual neighborhood rummage sale by having a coffee/hot
chocolate/doughnuts sale where they raised over $70 for TWC. They are putting the monies towards
perishable foods for the set-ups. Love
this.
Thank you to little
Charlotte, a frequent presence with mom, Amy, at our set-ups. Not only does Charlotte help with creating
cozy homes for our move-ins, but she had a toy/stuffed animal drive with some
of her home-schooler friends in a special class they attend and she’s going to
do it again…this time asking specifically for art supplies and stuffed toys.
And thank you to Cynthia
Scott and her daughter Lizzie for joining Nancy’s Open Bin group. Teens love
sleeping in on Saturday mornings, so we super appreciate Lizzie's presence at the
Bin!
Special request: We have not had art boxes for incoming
families for some time now. If you have children who are in a group (Brownies,
Girl Scouts, Mother-Daughter groups or a service club at school) this is a
great way to contribute to TWC. Deborah
Ackrich had her Brownie troop make some great art boxes a couple of years ago
and I know Lizzie Scott made some, too, as well as Annie Gabbert’s
mother-daughter group. Art boxes are
simple and fun to make: grab a sturdy
shoe box, decorate it on the outside and fill it with arts and crafts supplies.
We love leaving one for each family who have gone through so much. What a
terrific way for these kids to express themselves.
TWC is always happy to
welcome new volunteers and last week Karen and I met with Holly & Sophie
Hanson of Harmony Financial Strategies who relocated from Santa Monica to offices
above Topanga Table…they’re also Canyon residents and would like to become
further involved with our group. They’d
hoped to join us on Tuesday but got caught up at another meeting. It was great
to see Ruth Lundi at the meeting, too, and I know her energy and enthusiasm
will be a great addition to the group. Debra
Silbar was also at her first meeting, fresh off a set-up where she generously
also provided the perishables for the move-in family. We have other new volunteers who have signed
up and hopefully they will join us for future meetings and endeavors.
TWC has enjoyed a wonderful
association with the Canyon Sages who have supported us in the past with
non-perishable food drives, but now they are doing something extra special to benefit the children we serve. Every other week a group of
dedicated gals meets at the Library for a sewing circle where they make
wonderful stuffed animals to include at
each set-up. They really are very
special and Karla brought a bag full of some teddies she has recently finished
and they are absolutely darling.
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| Lee Kelly & Rebecca Andrews in action |
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How great are these snakes!
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| Karla's Kids! Sages offerings!!! |
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MOTHER'S DAY!
And now onto Mother’s Day, always a big event for
TWC and becoming one that lots of folks in the Canyon recognize. Debra Skelton was unable to come
to the meeting, but has volunteered to write an article for the Messenger so we can
get the word out in a timely manner about this very important, annual fundraiser. Remember, if you or your friends would like
to use some of your photos on the cards (as Patty Colvig does every year), we
can provide the card stock with beautiful vellum insert and you can personalize
them even more. In a few weeks I’ll
create a new blog posting with images that we use for Mother’s Day cards and
include other photos you would like included. Please submit them to us pretty
soon for consideration and I’ll send you all a link to that blog posting with
many of the choices for MD cards. If you are selling cards to friends (and we
really encourage you to offer these cards for sale besides sending cards of
your own) this page will be available to everyone so they can choose their
order. Some folks have requested fewer flower pictures and more animals/nature/ocean/Canyon
shots so if you have some particularly super ones and are willing to share,
scoot them our way! These cards are frequently sent to friends and family
honoring them as a mom or to friends in memory of their mom. And for those
still lucky enough to have their mother, you know that most of them don’t want
any more stuff…so these cards are perfect! Cost is still $25.
Important Dates
for Mother’s Day (May 8)
Early April: Card stock and vellum inserts ready for folks who want to use their own photos.
Sat, April 16: Gather
to make cards/bring your own photos if you want to use them
Fridays, April 22 & 29 & May 6: Topanga
Farmer’s Mkt (volunteers?)
t
Cards will also be available
for sale at our open Bin on Saturday mornings, 9 to 10:30
About a month ago a good
friend of mine, Elaine Arama, lost her mother, Ruth Halloran, aged 101. I was lucky to have met Ruth when she was
around 98 and what a dynamic, intelligent, curious lady she was. She wanted to know more about TWC and already
knew a little about us because Elaine has sent her a TWC MD card for
years. I shared our website with her
while she sipped her cup of tea and she was just so impressed with what we do. I never saw her again, but was kept up to date with stories of her robust
good health and intellect via her daughter. There was a wonderful obituary
about Ruth in the Boston Globe…a big one…for she had a long and varied life,
filled with volunteerism, teaching and family.
At the end of the article, I was so surprised to read that donations in
Ruth’s memory could be made to two organizations dear to her heart: The Framingham Heart Study and Topanga
Women’s Circle. I was beyond touched and
honored by this and only wish I could thank her in person.
Committee Updates
Please contact me or Teresa (trosatiroyer@yahoo.com)
if you would like to be included on any of these committees.
Perishables
Andrea Palella gave a
run-down on how this committee is working and it has been decided it will be a
back-up committee. First option for providing perishables to a move-in family
will go to anyone who volunteers and if no one is available, the perishable
committee will provide them.
New committee members:
Debra Silbar & Ruth Lundi
Non-Perishables
Patty Colvig gave us an
update on perishables, including Visa cash cards for those times when
volunteers go out to replenish our dwindling stock. All receipts must be kept
for accounting purposes. Patty has seen
to the management of this committee for some time now and includes a
non-perishable drive at Christmas time in her Entrada neighborhood and is now
spearheading a drive each year at Topanga Elementary.
New volunteer:
Pat Rice
Bin Committee
Nancy has been pleased with
the volunteers stepping up to help and Karen keeps our Bin in great
organizational order.
New Volunteers:
Janaki Welch and Heather Tehrani
Shopping Comimttee
Teresa is happy that she has
a couple of new volunteers helping her on this one. Karen determines the shortfall and sends the
list to Teresa. Donations always welcome, but Linda will reimburse folks for
any expenses.
New Volunteers: Andrea Palella and Heather Tehrani
Fundraising Committee
Rather than being responsible
for actually organizing a fundraiser, this committee is for ideas people who
are willing to meet and just hash out ideas for potential fundraisers. Creative
folks, please consider joining up.
Volunteers:
Wendy Skolfield and Ruth Lundi
Mother’s Day Table at Topanga Farmer’s Market
Come on ladies…this is SO
MUCH FUN! You get to chatter to
potential new volunteers and community friends and sell our beautiful Mother’s
Day cards. We have the table and our
great sandwich board (made by Foster Sherwood!) and it really is fun.
Volunteers: Linda Bolhuis, Debra Silbar, Linda Ilsley
Grant Writing
I’m not surprised (because
who wants to write a grant proposal!!?) but no one signed up for this one. I have some templates for grants written in
the past and am happy to help on this one but we also need folks who are
willing to research grant opportunities for us.
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These two photos are special because we don't often get to see the folks for whom we create these welcoming homes but Margarita shared a couple of photos of new families (permission granted to post). |
And finally, Karen has decided to step down from her co-chairmanship of Topanga Women's Circle. Eight years of dedication on her part is not coming to an end though...she will still be on our Advisory Board and keeping a close watch on the Bin (!) but with a mom in failing health some distance away and other activities she would like to pursue, she has decided to step back. Teresa Rosati-Royer will be joining me at the help and I couldn't be more delighted that she decided to accept this role.
