June 2021 ⬧ Volume 30 Number 12 Dear AAUW Tahoe Nevada Members: As my term as President of AAUW Tahoe Nevada comes to GENERAL MEETING a close, I have been thinking about this past year and the two EVENTS goals I had: one for the organization and one personal. For the organization, the goal Friday, June 11 was to create the conditions Annual Business Meeting whereby members could remain engaged, despite the 11:15 a.m.—2 p.m. isolation forced upon us through pandemic-related The Chateau restrictions. We began the year in sync with the election cycle, focusing on non-partisan political activity. In August, we celebrated the 100th th anniversary of the passage of the 19 Amendment to June Events the U.S. Constitution. This was followed by a June 3: Bunco presentation about a ballot question that would June 6: Toccata Symphony impact public higher education by our own Carol Del June 11: Annual Business Meeting at Chateau Carlo, Regent of the Nevada System of Higher June 21: Book Club Education. Our election activity culminated in Every Monday: Hike AAUW Tahoe Nevada sponsoring a Candidate Every Wednesday: Kayak Forum for the three open IVGID Trustee positions. Every Thursday or Friday: Biking As the weather turned colder, we could no longer enjoy meeting in the beautiful gardens of several of Save the Dates: our AAUW members. Transitioning to meeting via July 3: Local Heroes Parade Zoom, our General Programs Meetings, although not July 25: Garden Party as well attended as in-person dinner meetings, Sept. 21: Aces Baseball Game allowed us to learn from a variety of speakers. We Nov. 5-7: LunaFest learned about trusts and wills, the Peace Corps, preparing and recovering from a disaster, defensible space, a WWII photographer of the Nuremburg Trials, and fitness. What a variety! As we moved indoors, President-Elect, Laura Durica, coordinated our highly successful LunaFest. Many of us independently watched a selection of short films by and for women. We then engaged in a stimulating discussion via Zoom about the films. Not only was it great fun, but we netted over $2,500 for our scholarship fund. This was followed by a push via Facebook for end-of-year donations, which amounted to over $1,000. (continued on page 2) 1 President’s Message — continued from page 1 Our activity groups remained as active as possible throughout the year. Under the superb leadership of Lynn Whetstone, Liz Paganelli, and Millie Clarke, Outdoor Enthusiasts made modifications to continue to take advantage of our beautiful location while complying with CDC and Governor Sisolak’s guidelines. Book Club and Great Decisions transitioned quite nicely to virtual formats. Suzie Parks and Lee Hall enabled the Book Club to continue reading and discussing fascinating books throughout the year. Cornelia Gould and Patty Proctor completed the Great Decisions series without missing a beat. They have started a new series of exploring complex issues facing the nation and the world. I think the prize for Most Noble Effort goes to Donna Daulton and the Bunco group. When Donna told us that she was going to try Bunco via Zoom, I thought, “hmmmmm, that will be interesting.” Although not a rigorous, random control research trial, I safely concluded that Bunco is much more fun played in-person than virtually. Fortunately, with so many of us being vaccinated and restrictions lifted, Bunco can resume in-person. But the Grand Prize goes to the Cooking Club. Like Bunco, they concluded that no matter how good the food is, eating in a virtual format isn’t much fun. But instead of taking a hiatus, they decided to use their talents for a Lasagna Fest fundraiser. What a Herculean task. Peggy Poindexter organized teams for everything. To prepare the lasagna, there were three teams: Saucers, Assembly, and Distribution. There was also a Silent Auction Team. For the entire event, there were Communications and Treasury Teams. Each team enlisted other members to get involved. I’m still in awe of the camaraderie and the “let’s get it done” attitude of all the women involved. It was a fabulous way to take us over the top in our fundraising goal. All of the fundraising efforts paid off. We were able to award $19,000 in scholarships to eight young women to pursue their education. This included five continuing scholarships and three new ones. Considering the challenges this past year, this is quite an accomplishment. As I reflect on this past year, the organizational goal was met and exceeded. But this happened only because of the dedication of your Board. At each stage, Board members stepped up and went beyond the call of duty. Next time you see them, please make sure to recognize their dedication to making AAUW Tahoe Nevada an important part of our community. To save space, I won’t list titles, just names: Laura Durica, Millie Szerman, Peggy Poindexter, Jane Dykstra, Dee Prince, Valerie Kuchulis, Joan Papazian, Kay Lehr, Renee Bouck, Julie Tice, Pam Sheldon, Robin Grean, Debbie Nicholas, Connie Skidmore, and Esther Levandowski. I thank each and every one of you. My personal goal was exceeded beyond my wildest dreams. Despite living in Incline for over 35 years, I did not have many friends in Incline because I worked in Reno and spent so much time traveling for my job. Indeed, I joined AAUW to meet more people. Being President this past year has allowed me to get to know so many of you. I cannot express how much I admire the women in this organization. If I started to delineate the characteristics I venerate in so many of you, this newsletter would go on for over 100 pages. Please know how much each of you means to me. Thank you for the honor of being the President of AAUW Tahoe Nevada. VOLUNTEER NEEDED AAUW Members!! We are in need of a WorkSmart workshop leader. Is anyone interested? You can go to https://www.aauw.org/resources/programs/salary/ to get resources to give a local webinar or in person workshop. We can target the college campus students. Please contact [email protected] 2 Please join us for our first post-pandemic In-Person Annual Business Meeting Friday, June 11, 11:15-2:00 at the Chateau (955 Fairway Blvd.). This is an important gathering to mix with friends we haven’t seen in over a year, recap this past year, meet our 2021-2022 scholarship recipients, elect a new Board, vote on a dues increase, and hear about upcoming plans by our activity leaders. The cost will be $40 for the lunch and venue. An invitation will be sent in early June to RSVP and make payment. Chateau rules related to masks and social distancing will be followed. Meeting Agenda: 1. Welcome and Recap of 2020-2021. 2. Meet our Scholarships Recipients. After working all year to raise funds for scholarships, now is your opportunity to meet our latest recipients of the AAUW Tahoe Nevada Scholarship: Millie Jenkins; Roxanne Reed; and Brianna Salas. Each young woman will tell us about themselves and their plans for college. 3. Vote on the Slate of Officers for the AAUW Tahoe Nevada Board: · President-Elect: Jane Dykstra · Co-Vice President, Membership: Edie Farrell · Co-Treasurer: Julie Tice · Secretary: Peggy Poindexter NOTE: The following officers will continue in their roles: · President: Laura Durica (assumes presidency after her 2020-2021 role as President-Elect) · Co-Vice President, Membership: Joan Papazian · Co-Vice President, Programs: Kay Lehr · Co-Vice President, Programs: Renee Bouck 4. Vote on Dues Increase to take effect in July, 2022. The vote will be to increase our dues from the current $100 to $110, beginning in July, 2022. To explain the increase, in 2021 (this current year), AAUW National increased the dues by $3 and will increase them in 2022 by $5. (FYI: We are absorbing the $3 increase this year to keep your dues the same as in the past, $100.) Next year (2022- 2023), we propose that the dues be increased to $110 to reflect the increase in national dues and an additional $2 for our branch to help offset expenses associated with transferring many of our activities and procedures to electronic formats (e.g., electronic registration and payments such as JotForm and PayPal, Zoom, etc.). The chart below explains how your dues have been, are, and will be allocated. Several years- 2020-2021 2021-2022 2022-2023 2020 National Dues $59 $59 $62 $67 State Dues $9 $9 $9 $9 Tahoe Nevada $15 $32 $29 $34 Total Dues $83 $100 $100 $110 5. 2021-2022 AAUW Activities: The leaders for the array of existing and new AAUW Tahoe Nevada activities will share their ideas for the upcoming year. 3 FUNDRAISING NEWS by Robin Grean And on we roll!!!! Well, our Lasagna Fest on May 13th was a GREAT success. Kudos to Peggy Poindexter and the Cooking Club for the lion’s share of the hard work. The Online Auction was a first for us, and went off without a hitch, thanks to Laura Durica and Jane Dykstra. And thanks to our many members who worked so hard to make it all possible. We are looking forward to more in-person gatherings as our COVID vaccines and less restrictions enable us to meet face-to-face. Our next event will be a festive Garden Party on Sunday, July 25 with art works to view, music, libations, comestibles and a raffle. More info will be upcoming soon. The Reno Aces baseball game will take place on Thursday, September 21 at 6:35 pm.