SI Chico E-blast news & more |
Dec. 8, 2020 | Volume 21 Issue 19 |
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Please take the time to read this week's E-Blast so you can stay up-to-date on happenings in our club and around the Region.
What's New: Program Rainforest Art Project, Dec. 2, 2020 Business Meeting Minutes, Change in Bistro Bag Assembly, Senior Moment of the Month, Bev's Memory Book, ChicoER Article, Bear Fire Relief Report, SOLT Minute
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Message from President
Billie Araiza
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Greetings!
It’s hard to believe it’s December already and 2020 is almost over. Oh boy has it been an eventful year. Gratitude is the one gift we can all continue to give through the remainder of this crazy year. Thank you to everyone who attended our Business Meeting last week. I’m happy to announce that all motions from the Business Meeting passed.
I’m looking forward to seeing all of you at our Wednesday club meeting on Zoom! Take care, stay safe, and continue to share gratitude with everyone around you.
With Gratitude,
President Billie
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Thank you for supporting our Winter Bistro Bag fundraiser! Remember to pick up your order on Saturday, December 12th between 11:00am and 2:00pm at the Chico Elk's Lodge front parking lot. Any questions, email Lupe at bistrobag@sichico.org.
Our Winter Bistro Bag Sponsors are:
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There's been a change in the assembly of our Bistro Bags. See Signup click here
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Senior Moment of the Month |
Our December Senior Moment of the Month is Barb Evans.
I was born at home in the olden days in Buhl, Idaho, on November 13, 1937. It is worth noting that both of my parents were born in Czechoslovakia. We lived in the country but not on a farm. A doctor was there and I was now joining my sister who was only 14 months older than I was.
We attended a small country school which taught 1st to 8th grade. At that time, there was no kindergarten. I am still in touch with some long-time friends. In those days country schools would have track meets to compete against each other in various athletic games, and my best was winning a blue ribbon in shotput.
As we got older, we earned money by working on farms in the area doing such things as picking potatoes, weeding beans, shucking corn, and picking sweet cherries. The high school even had a two-week “spud vacation” in the fall so students could help harvest potatoes.
My first real job was working part-time for the City Attorney in Nampa, Idaho, then for some attorneys in Boise as well as the legal division of the Idaho State Highway Department. After getting married I moved to Chico where most of my husband’s family lived. Again, I found myself as a legal secretary working for attorneys, then for the (contract) City Attorney, and then for the City of Chico. My occupations at the City included working in the Finance Office and the Police Department.
After I was appointed City Clerk in 1968, I conducted my first election in 1969 for both the Chico City council candidates and the Chico Unified School District board candidates. This was done by paper ballot with squares in which the voter placed an X beside the candidates of their choice. The polling places were located in schools, churches or other suitable locations. At the close of the polls, the precinct workers would then tabulate the votes and all ballots and legal documents were taken to the Butte County Clerk in Oroville. At this time, citizens had to be 21 years old to run for city council, but later the age was changed to 18.
My early City Council agendas were duplicated on a ditto machine using purple ink and rolling on a circular drum as the paper went through. As time progressed, the Xerox machine came along and revolutionized everything in the copying/duplicating process. I believe we were the first public agency in the County to have a “consent agenda” that contained several (judged to be routine) agenda items that could be adopted in one motion.
Other responsibilities included handling candidate nominations, filing economic interest forms, overseeing board and commission appointments, and assuring that legal documents were appropriately processed.
My first computer sat on a table behind my desk for several weeks until I could get up enough courage to start using it. Hitting any wrong key caused me to get up and go fetch a secretary to show me how to get out of the mess I had created. Now I cannot keep up with all the technology and changes that are happening, and I often hire Joyce Brown for her professional services.
In the beginning, meetings started at 8:00 p.m., and then were moved to earlier times over the years. Meetings could be short or long, depending on what issues were on the agenda, and the longest meeting I can recall ended at about 4:00 a.m. The matters considered by the city council were always interesting and gave me insight into the city’s history. This position gave me the opportunity to make many friends and acquaintances over the years.
I joined Soroptimists in 1971 after being invited to a meeting by Doris Arbuckle. Marilyn Evers was President at the time. Over the years I have chaired some committees and have been a member of most of them. Soroptimist has brought me many new friends, allowed me to volunteer in many community projects, and given me the joy of attending all sorts of Soroptimist meetings and events. I was never able to accept a nomination for president and conduct Wednesday Soroptimist meetings because Tuesdays (the day of city council meetings) and Wednesdays (the day after), were the busiest days on my job.
I have one son and two daughters (all grown of course), 4 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. The end.
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Bev Rozendaal's Memory Book |
Our leadership team, Billie, Sara and Kathy have come up with an excellent idea to honor the memory of our beloved friend and Soropti-sister, Bev Rozendaal, by creating a memory book for each of her daughters, Peggy and Shari.
The plan is to ask you to select one or two photos and write a special memory you have of Bev. This should be about one paragraph of
75 - 100 words.
Please email your contribution of photos and memory to me as an attachment at:
We will organize these into a memory book for each daughter from all Bev’s Soropti-sisters of SI Chico club.
Thank you so much for participating. Please email me by Dec 28, 2020.
Maureen Duquette
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Thanks and Giving
By: Bonnie Chapman
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Soroptimists serve helpings of both North State Voices
For those of you that don't do Facebook or don't read the ChicoER here's an article that was in the paper on Nov. 26, 2020 by Bonnie Chapman.
Click on the article on the left to read it or if you are a digital subscriber to the ChicoER Click here
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SI Chico BEAR FIRE RELIEF COMMITTEE REPORT
A total of $6,884.86 with $4,800.00 disbursed so far. The latest disbursement request came through Oroville Cares, a local grass-roots organization of individuals dedicated to helping others in need.
Family #1: Couple with a two-year-old who are pregnant. They had been renting in Berry Creek when their home was destroyed. They had no insurance and are currently living in a small trailer on friends property in Oroville
Family #2: Mother with two daughters, living in a fifth wheel in an RV park after their rented home was destroyed in Berry Creek.
Family #3: Couple with two small children were renting in Feather Falls without renter’s insurance. Their home was totally destroyed including a freezer which was stocked with food for the winter.
Family #4: Family with one daughter, were burned out in the Camp Fire and then relocated to Berry Creek, where their home was destroyed in the Bear Fire.
If any club member would like to make a last-minute contribution to the Bear Fire Relief fund, click here.. We still have one more drive-through emergency assistance event happening on December 12. After that, we anticipate the funds will all be disbursed.
We'd like to give a big "Thank You" to SI Truckee Meadows in Reno for their generous donation of $1,500.
Thank you all for your contributions, they are so very much appreciated.
Rosie Potestio
Margaret VanLaanMartin
SI Bear Fire Relief Committee
Below is a thank you note we received from Oroville Cares
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SOLT Minute - Our Friendship Link – St. Albans England
by: Margaret VanLaanMartin
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St. Albans was chartered in1957
In 2020 they have 21 full members +5 linked (a classification we do not have) members. Unusual occupations of the members are a chaplain to the queen, and a professional woman’s cricketeer who played for England and was a high school chemistry teacher~ Audrey Collins.
Over the years five members have been awarded OBE (The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) It is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organizations, and public service outside the civil service.
The club supports different charities. Two women’s refuges located in the counties surrounding St. Albans. The International Peace Initiatives in Kenya. This is an orphanage and school. I participated in a Zoom call in November 2020 for the 11th anniversary, to see the children, the school, the farm, and the Airbnb for tourists on safari.
Another long-time charity is toilet twining: washing away poverty one toilet at a time. When 60 pounds are donated (approximately $80 American) to twin your toilet, a project is funded in a poor community, (in one of seven different countries), that enables families to build a basic latrine, have access to clean water, and learn about hygiene. While I was visiting England the last time, SI St. Albans twined the toilet in The Saint Albans cathedral. Attending were the SI president, the mayor of Saint Albans, and a representative from the cathedral, all were inside the women’s restroom along with the press taking pictures! It is a big deal to have a toilet twined in England.
SI St. Albans raises money by singing Christmas carols at railway stations while shaking the bucket to receive donations and/or tapping the phone for a 3-pound donation. A box stall on the market to sell books and quiz night at a local pub.
In 1980 members of the SI St. Albans club visited in Chico. In 1981 members of the Chico club visited England. They are our first friendship link. During the 1980 visit they presented a necklace, a replica of the St Albans coat of arms to our president. The necklace is to be worn by each SI Chico president as the insignia of office. Their president has a special heavy chain of office that they wear! An insignia is a sign or mark distinguishing a group, grade, rank, or function. It can be a symbol of personal power or that of an official group or governing body.
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Happy $$$$
If you just feel happy to be a Soroptimist, send us a small token of your joy, $5 or $10 or $20. Share good news and special moments.
Since we aren’t meeting for lunch these days, you’re saving $16 a week, $48 saved each month. Please consider donating some of those savings back to the club.
We will need help for future in club resources for this year, so please, please give generously.
Easy payment options
1. Mail a check, write Happy $ in the memo line, to:
SI Chico
P.O. Box 1812
Chico CA 95927
After submitting your payment email your good news and special moments.
Your Internal Fundraising team thanks you for your help.
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Support our advertisers. Their annual dues goes toward our Internal Fundraiser account. To visit their website click on their business card below. To visit their Social Media page click on the caption below their business card |
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Do you have a business? Would you like to advertise in our E-bast?
Contact: Joyce Brown, E-blast Editor
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Remember all articles need to be emailed by 5pm Sunday to:
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