We zoomed, amassed a mountain of toiletries and have a new leader for the Nutrition Team!!!
The ZOOM Potluck Fundraiser was a wonderful event. We had 27 attendees including 5 board members, 10 advocates and 12 donors! So far we have raised about $3,500 from the potluck but checks are still coming in! Stay tuned for the next newsletter when we will have all the numbers in for August!
Board member Jill Ostrove organized the event including a bingo game with prizes. We designed a South SLO County Potluck Cookbook with some of our Womenaders’ favorite potluck recipes. This was sent to all attendees! I’ve had feedback that the meeting went very smoothly and there was a lot of information presented.
We started right on time. Jill introduced the customized Bingo Game she created and described the prizes provided by board member, Sue McCutcheon and garnered by board member Caity McCardell from the Timbre Winery. She also introduced our newest item for sale – Womenade Face Masks – available in a couple of weeks. Sold in a two pack for $20. We still have t-shirts and totes for sale.
Rosemary Cleaves made introductory remarks and welcomed all the guests. We welcomed our newest agency, Casa Solana - casasolanainc.org - to our stable of sponsored agencies.
Casa Solana Inc. is at 383 South 13th St. in Grover Beach. Renee Poirier, the new executive director, made a presentation of who they are. In a nutshell, it is a “nonprofit organization for public benefit, created to establish and operate a social model recovery home for alcohol/ drug addicted women in San Luis Obispo county. Casa Solana remains the first and only recovery home for women in San Luis Obispo county. Established March 1st, 1985 “
Rosemary shared progress on the Nipomo Elementary School Food Distribution and the Nutrition Team. Other advocates who shared their agency needs and stories were:
Renee Poirier, Casa Solana
Erica Andrade, The Link
Heidi Boatman, The Wolf Den
Katie Gonzalez, Lopez High School
Melissa Richardson, County nurses
Stella Medina, Oceano Family Resource Center
Karina Ayala, Nipomo Family Resource Center
Jessie Lopez, Arroyo Grande Family Resource Center
Here’s a story that Erica Andrade, from the Link, shared from a grateful client:
“When the world’s in the middle of a pandemic and you have to move your fifth wheeler for a week due to RV park regulations with absolutely no money. I had worked as many hours as I could at my part-time job but did not have enough to cover a week's stay at a hotel. I asked my family and friends for money but had very little luck. I then get a random text message for my Family Advocate Erica Andrade wondering how things were going. I was telling her that we had to go to a homeless shelter for a week because we had no other options. She said let’s see what we could do. She somehow was able to reach out to The Link and Womenade of South County for financial assistance. I have a son with specials needs and it was the best option for him to stay at a motel. I can’t thank Womenade of South County and The Link enough for truly saving our lives by providing a safe space for us to lay our heads.” Thanks to all of you donors for helping to make this happen!
THE GREAT TOILETRY COLLECTION PROJECT
Lola Zybura, of Cypress Ridge led a toiletry collection project which ended on August 31st. Here are a couple of pictures of sorting and packed bags.
Lola collected enough toiletries to fill 24 large trash compactor bags with SO many coveted toiletry items. The advocates say that toiletries are a luxury and often unaffordable. These gifts you gave were so appreciated by the advocates for their clients. To demonstrate how expensive toiletries are, we estimate that between $5,000 and $6,000 of them were donated! What an awesome project and a big thank you to all who contributed.
THE NUTRITION TEAM
Great news! We have a new Nutrition Team Leader –Mary Anne Morgan has volunteered to lead the project and take over from Kathy Cohl. The Nutrition Team is starting up on September 4th with weekend food for 21 students. The brown bags and grocery bags are packed for the students at Mesa and Judkins Middle Schools and Lopez High School. Many volunteers have stepped forward to buy food and fill the brown bags and to fill the grocery bags. Mary Anne will keep the inventory and stock the shelves with the help from donations from all of our donors.
Judy Woo from Trilogy is heading up the “Adopting a Buddy” team of:
Patty Franz
Marilyn Dippell
Patti Reed
Natalie Goguen
Sue Sanders
Kathy Burrow
Jill Alexander
Jane Utsumi
Ellen Polinsky
Terri Roth
Sharol Tarabini
Tina
Susan Cox
And for outside of Trilogy:
Candace Guldeman
Jill Ostrove
Mary Browning
Volunteers for packing the bags for Lopez High School are:
Candace and Phil Guldeman
Lori and Phil Connolly
Kathy Cohl and Joanie Thomas
From time to time we will be sending out a request for specific food items we can’t buy from the Foodbank. We are not collecting food donations but always welcome financial donations.
MERCHANDISE
We have created a couple of items to help with fundraising. T-Shirts $20 and Tote bags $15. We are not mailing items.
They can be ordered by emailing Jill Ostrove at Jillian.Ostrove@gmail.com. She will need to know:
size T-shirt (M, L, XL) and # of T-shirts
Totes – Number
Pick-up or drop off (5 cities area)
How you want to pay: check or paypal
To make a donation write a check to South SLO County Womenade and mail to: South SLO County Womenade, 1793 Farroll Rd., Grover Beach, CA 93433 or go to our website sslocw.org or paypal.me/sslocwomenade . Our email is: sslocwomenade@gmail.com Our website is: sslocw.org Our EIN# is:27-0809744 Phone number: (805) 270-5751
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