Dear Valley Women’s Club members – and you all are dear to me!

Your membership is essential: to the Club, to the work, to the Valley. Your voices make us heard; your participation makes us effective; your dues and donations make us thrive. We belong to the VWC because we are passionate about the future of our Valley!

Please renew your membership today! If you are a Lifetime Member, make a donation to one of the Club’s committees or events. If you are “planted” in the Legacy of Trees forest, branch out: from Seedlings to the Cathedral Grove, we already have 64 trees and lots of space to grow.

2019 proved to be a very active year!

Roger Wapner, Julie Wuest, Kirsten Hill, and Stephanie Heichel joined the Board, with Jane Mio as Vice-President, Maggie Barr as Treasurer, and Alisan Andrews as Secretary. Board Members Laurel Becker, Barbara Hanson, Wendy Harris, Linda Skeff, and Sanda Spiegel stayed on.

The Recycling Centers contract proposed by the County allowed no CRV activity; after Maggie examined the finances from all possible perspectives, we realized that the Centers could not be sustained without the CRV income. Rather than jeopardize the Club’s future by draining assets, we made the hard decision to close the Recycling Centers on June 30th, after 31 years in operation.

After the closing, Roger took charge of sales, finding buyers for an astonishing amount of equipment and, last of all, the office trailer. He cleaned, listed, priced, negotiated, sorted, and helped move literally tons of stuff! We saved some items for our Annual Scholarship Rummage Sale – to be held on May 23rd, 2020, the same day as Felton Remembers. Our Annual Rummage Sale new location will also be in Felton; check the VWC website for details and opportunities to volunteer – and start now to save items to donate!

The General Meeting brought the Club together to share food and conversation; to hear from – and ask questions of – our elected officials, and this year above all, we recognized the Recycling Centers’ workers and their contributions to our Valley. We look forward to seeing you in March 2020!

The Redwood Mountain Faire brought the Club and a host of volunteers together with a much larger community to share music, art, and the joy of this beautiful place where we live!

The Hammer-Marcum Awards for Outstanding Community Service brought us together to honor Paul Norcutt for his deep commitment to the work and research needed to build strong cases for protecting the environment, and to honor Janinne Chadwick for her dedication to teaching valuable life lessons to children through theater arts and performance. In the very best tradition of the theatre, and despite a lengthy PG&E power outage, the show did go on!

The Environmental Town Hall was packed! With interested people, informative displays, refreshments, and excellent Q&A. Assemblymember Mark Stone, as always, gave frank, comprehensive answers to the many audience questions.

By the time you receive this letter, the SLV Chamber of Commerce will have brought many of us together to celebrate our own Linda Skeff as Woman of the Year: for her numerous contributions to protecting native habitat; for bringing AmeriCorps teams to the Valley in support of our SLV Native Habitat Restoration Program; for her work in helping to prepare the Felton Library site for the Discovery Park; and for much more!

This is my last letter to you as President, a position I have been privileged to hold since August 2017. I look forward to passing the ‘gavel’ in January. I also look forward to remaining on the Board to work on our projects, events, and issues.

With 2020 coming up, we can – and should – celebrate the Ratification Centennial of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote! Come to the Candidates Forum on February 6th, help get out the vote, and vote on March 3rd!

Renew-your membership
Sustain-the Club with a Legacy donation
Volunteer – Many hands make light work!
Participate-to protect the Environment

Respectfully submitted,

Sheila De Lany, President