Terri Banner, Bara Rosenheck

And Aggie Jordan are our Speakers for Our September Meeting

Saturday September 9, 2023

11:30 Socialization and Lunch

Morton’s The Steakhouse

74-880 Country Club Drive

Palm Desert, CA 92260

Menu: Mini filet sandwiches

Shrimp Louie bites

Caesar salad

House made chips

Double chocolate mousse

Plus coffee, tea and water included

Cost of lunch is $38.— inclusive

You are also welcome to attend and not order lunch--just specify "no lunch" when you make a reservation.

 Please contact Terri Banner (Terri Banner 951-330-9910 or email tkbanner@gmail.com) .  with your reservation by September 6, 2023. You will need to tell her whether you want to order lunch or not. You may pay online through Zelle (425 318-0754) in advance, or by cash, check or credit card at meeting. Our branch's policy is that if you order lunch, you will be expected to pay even if you are unable to attend.

We are having three local authors as our speakers for our September luncheon, Terri Banner, Bara Rosenheck and Aggie Jordan.  Each of our speakers started life on a different career path. All have become published writers.  

Teri Banner, is a member of our branch.  Terri has been involved in education for most of her adult life, as a teacher of all grades, a sociology professor and director of an independent study program.  After enduring the Campfire in Paradise, California where she lost everything, she began writing books.  Her first two books Phoenix Rising From the Ashes and Smoldering Embers of Paradise helped other victims of the fire recover.  Teri will speak to us about her most recent book, a historical novel, Best Friends: a Compass and True North.  Her passion for women's rights, history, and racial inequities prompted her to examine the history of our country through the lens of a sociological perspective.

Bara Rosenheck worked at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and later as a consultant working with educational agencies and private businesses.  Bara says, “I guess I'm considered a late bloomer. I started writing my memoir, "Courage: It's More than Luck" only a few years ago. Next, I authored a crime story, "Justice for Julia" and shortly thereafter wrote "Foolish Moments and Other Stories".  Foolish Moments and Other Stories is available on Kindle Unlimited.  Bara will speak about Justice for Julia which traces the journey from victim to survivor.  Julia moves mountains to find justice and empowerment after being attacked.

Aggie Jordan grew up in a staunch Irish Catholic family, attending 12 years of Catholic school, joining the convent at 17 years of age, teaching as a nun for 8 years and eventually becoming an entrepreneur.  This journey prepared her to continue the battle for women's equality. Aggie will be speaking about her memoir, A Woman’s Voice Should Be Heard, My Journey from The Convent To The Battle For Women’s Equality.  Aggie hopes this book will enrich the spirits to continue the fight for equality. The book shouts out to women how important their women friends are, how women mentors can be the springboard to success, and most of all, using their voices to be heard in facing their futures.

The featured books will be available for sale with a portion of the proceeds going to AAUW. You will not want to miss this very special event.

President's Message

WELCOME BACK!

I trust you all had a lovely summer and were able to stay cool, do many fun things and visit loved ones. 

I am looking forward to a very full and exciting year ahead. We are off to a great start of reaching our goal of $50,000 for this year. Thanks to Carol Marcuse’s grant writing skills, we were successfully awarded $11,000 from the Children's Anderson Foundation to send girls to STEM camp.  

It is our 75th anniversary in January. We are planning a big luncheon fundraising celebration with Pat Fredericks and Aurora Wilson co-chairing the planning. More information to follow.

Our Board meetings are always open and members are invited to attend them. Our first board meeting is Tuesday, September 5th at the RAP Foundation in Palm Desert at 4:00 pm.  Our first luncheon is the following Saturday, September 9^th, at Morton's in Palm Desert at 11:30pm. Thanks to Martha Blackburn and her committee we have secured Morton's for our meetings.

Let's have a great year Ladies!!!! I look forward to seeing all of you.

Kathi Farber, President

President-Elect's Corner

Greetings new and returning members of AAUW Palm Springs. As I begin my two-year term as your president-elect, I look forward to learning about AAUW governance and programs, becoming familiar with the responsibilities of branch presidency, assisting the Palm Springs leadership team and committees, and facilitating branch leadership transition and development.  I plan to keep you informed of the board’s actions, because we are here to serve you and act on your behalf.     

The May 27 branch planning session was well attended.  Our new fundraising co-vice presidents enthusiastically presented their ideas for reaching a $50,000 fundraising goal to support AAUW education and leadership programs (Tech Trek, TTAG, NCCWSL.)  To facilitate robust participation in upcoming board meetings, a change of time and venue was approved, and it was agreed that the board meetings will be hybrid—both in person and via zoom.  I expect our president will be announcing details soon. 

In July, the board voted to change the venue of our program meetings to Morton’s Steakhouse in Palm Desert.  The restaurant has an ideal set-up for private meeting events.  There is ample, convenient parking. The meeting space is well-designed, includes audio visual equipment and is expandable to accommodate both small and large audiences.  Moreover, Morton’s has agreed to accommodate our members and guests who are interested in attending our meetings but are not interested in participating in a dining experience. Morton’s does not require a minimum number of diners for our organization and is not charging us a room rental fee.       

Looking forward to seeing all of you at our meeting on Saturday, September 9.

Judy Schurr

President-Elect

Membership

WELCOME BACK EVERYONE

We are so excited about our new year starting with our monthly luncheon on Saturday September 9th at Morton's Steakhouse on Cook and Country Club at 11:30.

Some of you have not renewed your annual dues and need to send me (PO Box 11423, Palm Desert) your checks made out to AAUW-PS for $123.00, or unfortunately this will be your last Newsletter, monthly Luncheon and access to Interest Groups.

I am looking forward to seeing all of you on Saturday September 9th.

Hugs Sharron Cantarini

      Membership VP

Interest Groups

Book Group 

Wednesday, September 20, 2023, “Hiding in the Spotlight” by Greg Dawson. Anne LaConde will be the discussion leader. The meeting is on Zoom. Contact Mary Schambach to RSVP. She will send you the link 

Great Decisions 

Tuesday, Sept. 19th

10:00 a.m. -- via Zoom

 Great Decisions is a foreign policy discussion group. The topic for September is Iran at the Crossroads. If you are interested in participating, please contact Judy Schurr. 

Lunch Bunch meets on the last Friday of the month

September 29^th at 11:30 am.  

We will be meeting at D' Coffee Bouteaque, 73131 Country Club Dr. STE C 1 in Palm Desert, Ca. The restaurant is located between Bristol Farms and Sherman's Deli in the shopping mall. Please email Marsha Riley at mriley61@hotmail.com if you would like to attend. 

Reel Revelers is the first Thursday of the month,

September 7^th at 3:00PM.

The movie for this month is The Wife staring Glen Close, Jonathan Pryce and Christian Slater. It is on Netflix and Marsha Riley will lead the discussion on Zoom.

Summer 2023 Tech Trek Success

Seven Coachella valley students attended the Tech Trek camp at UC San Diego and seven at Whittier College and 4 participated in the week-long Virtual TT camp. From our Tech Trek Alumnae, Frida Arriega was a Jr counselor at UCSD and Mariabel Chaparo was a Virtual TT coach 

We received glowing, delightful Thank you notes from our residential campers.

Thank you excerpts: 

Now leaving, I realized that a week of new, exciting, and educational things without my phone was something I really needed. My favorite part was having the aerospace scientists explain their experience in their field. NVS

This was amazing experience and will always cherish it forever. Thank you again for choosing me to do this wonderful camp with the amazing Staff, JC/SC, students and dorm moms. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!  YS

My personal favorite was “a bite of” reality. It was very fun because I love financial literacy and it teaches you to organize your spendings!  DR

Beside meeting new people, there are so many role models from all over California that shared their life stories and experiences, where they helped [me] learn a lot of things I’ve never know or heard of.  Everything was so new to me and I have learned a lot of things, especially in chemistry. Like WOW, I did experiments and listens to all of the lessons that the chemistry teacher taught me. There are so many things in chemistry that got me hooked.   SH

Thank you so so so much for everything you’ve done for me. This means so much to me and I am looking to go into the STEM field just because of this opportunity. I am overflowed by joy and you have changed my life forever. SG

For the week, I stayed at the UCSD dorms I learned to be more independent and social. I was inspired by the JCs that came back. This experience has inspired me to try other things besides engineering, such as physics. Once again, thank you!  KR        [JC’s are junior counselor Tech Trek Alumnae] 

Dear Palm Springs branch AAUW, thank you for giving me this amazing opportunity. I sincerely appreciate all the effort put to fundraise all the funds that were needed for me to have this amazing opportunity. Where I was able to learn more about stem, and enrich my knowledge in stem fields that could help with my future career. JPG 

Honestly I was exposed to so many different things I would not have done otherwise, not only academically but socially. I want to sincerely thank you again. It was truly one of the best and most memorable experiences of my life.   GT

Photo Captions clockwise from top: Whittier Campers, Engineering at Whittier, UCSD Campers, UCSD Instagram, Physics at UCSD, Whittier Chemistry,

WE NEED YOU!

Tech Trek Luncheon Planning Committee:

Our most important meeting of the year, our Tech Trek Luncheon is approaching on November 11. We need volunteers bringing fresh ideas and energy to plan and execute the gathering that highlights our major focus—Tech Trek.

The committee will likely meet twice in October (possibly by zoom or hybrid) and help the day of our AAUW Palm Springs branch meeting with the Tech Trek students as our speakers. Contact Janet Braslow at jhbraslow@gmail.com if you are interested in joining the Tech Trek Luncheon Committee.  Thank You! 

Newsletter Editor: We need a new newsletter editor. It involves a few hours of work once a month. Members write all of the articles, all you need to do is put them together and send them out! The format of the newsletter is up to the editor. Shelley would be happy to teach you to use the Constant Contact Software, but any way you choose to do it is fine. Contact Shelley if you are interested or want more information.

Public Policy

Stronger California, a coalition partner of AAUW California, has provided a social media toolkit for AB 524: The Family Caregiver Anti-Discrimination Act.

AB 524 is one of the bills that AAUW California is supporting. This bill will prohibit employment discrimination on account of family caregiver status, as well as recognize the opportunity to seek, obtain, and hold employment without discrimination because of family caregiver status as a civil right. AB 524 is currently in the Suspense File, and on September 1 the Suspense File hearing will announce whether it will advance to the Senate Floor.

Take action on AB 524 now:

1.     Ask your branch members and your network to urge their State Senators to vote Yes on AB 524. They can very easily do this by going to https://actnow.io/Q2oxkgM and completing the form. An email to their State Senator will be automatically generated.

2.     The below can be shared out on social media:

Amy Hom and Melissa Maceyko

Co-chairs, AAUW California Public Policy Committee

publicpolicy@aauw-ca.org

Recommended by Sharrell Blakeley

Recommended by Laura Eaton

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Thank you to Susan Rosenberg who maintains our Facebook Page and to Judy Schurr who maintains our website

Sand Scripts is published monthly by the Palm Springs Branch of AAUW. Submissions are welcome. please send stories, photos, ideas and other contributions by the 15th of each month to shelleydmitchell@gmail.com