Announcements and Coming Events
April 11, 2009
April 11, 2009
The Arizona AAUW State Convention came to Surprise. That is Surprise, Arizona, and the Northwest Valley Branch was the host branch. The convention was held April 3 and 4, 2009. For convention highlights, click StateMeeting.
As those members who attended our recent Book Grants' "Tea and" at JANET MACDOWELL's home learned, our annual book grants are really helping to make attending college feasible. Especially in these difficult financial times, college students of all ages are using our book grants to make it possible for them to learn and expand.
Those members who came to Janet's home spent a lovely, interesting hour with a recent recipient -- and each other -- and heard another recipient's thoughts via a letter that she wrote. The recipient, Kristen, an honor student from Willow Canyon (a fairly new high school in the Dysart School District), was able to join us because she temporarily transferred from University of Arizona to attend classes at Glendale Community College for one semester while simultaneously interning at the nearby Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium. She plans to return to U of A this fall to pursue her B.S. in Wildlife Conservation and then on to a M.A. in Marine Biology.
Kristen's major necessitates MANY science courses -- environmental and general biology, organic chemistry, physics, plus some mathematics -- which means MANY expensive books. (The inclusion of pictures, diagrams, graphs, and charts raises the price of a textbook.) To meet the foreign language requirement in order to graduate, she is studying Spanish . Her Spanish 101 textbook at Glendale C.C. cost $202 for this semester! (No, that's not a misprint -- it was $202 for one book!) And her science books will all be in that price category or higher! Often, the purchase of second-hand books is not a realistic option because many times the professor wants the newest editions to be used OR there is non-reusable software that accompany the text.
The rising cost of textbooks is the reason we have increased our grants from $600 ($300 for the each of the recipient's first two semesters) to the current $1000 ($500 for each of her first two semesters). We also have increased the number of recipients because as each brand-new high school in the Dysart School District has had a graduation class, we have added one female recipient. This coming May, Valley Vista H.S. will have its FIRST graduation class! So we're now up to FIVE recipients: one female high school graduate from Dysart H.S., one from Willow Canyon H. S., and now one from Valley Vista H.S., plus two "returning-to-formal-education" females -- one from Estrella Mountain C.C. and one from Rio Salado C.C. That means we will be awarding $5000 in Book Grants on Thursday, April 16 at our Annual Awards Luncheon. (See coupon below, please.) AND THAT MEANS THAT WE REALLY NEED YOUR FINANCIAL HELP!
A second recipient, a "returning-to-formal-education" woman, also was scheduled to join us at Janet's gracious get-together but she couldn't get off from work. In these precarious times, she could not take the chance of losing her much-needed job to meet with us when her supervisor expressed displeasure. However, she did send a lovely, warm note that expressed her gratitude to our branch members. She said that she hoped that during these difficult financial times we would be able to continue to give these Book Grants to other recipients. She told us how much it meant to her to know that she could purchase her needed texts this year.
And BARBARA LASHMET deserves many thanks and accolades for her "Jockey Clothes Big Grant Big Give" Fundraiser at her home on March 20. It hasn't taken place yet as of this writing, but I hope that Barbara's fundraiser, like her other fundraisers, was a success!
Many thanks to those of you who have contributed to the Book Fund this year! There is to be one more, very special, Book Grant Fundraiser, yet to come, on Friday, April 17 from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. to which spouses and "special/significant others" are invited. CLARINE VILLENEUVE, who has hosted a Book Grants "Tea" previously, again has graciously and generously offered her hospitality! (See the coupon within this newsletter.) IF you aren't able to participate in any of these functions, please contribute what you can by sending a check to me. Please make the check out to AAUW/NWV and note "Book Grants' Fund" on the memo line. THANK YOU FOR MAKING A MAJOR, POSITIVE DIFFERENCE IN WOMEN'S LIVES!
Doris N. Flax, AAUW/NWV Book Grants' Fund Chairperson
AAUW/NWV BRANCH AWARDS LUNCHEON: Thursday, April 16, 2009, 11:00 AM, at the SCW Foundation Building. $18.00/person. Send checks to Deborah Channell.
AAUW SPRING FLING WINE AND CHEESE PARTY: Friday, April 17, 2009, 5:00-7:00 PM at the home of Clarine Villeneuve. SlO.OO/person. Send reservations to Clarine by April 10th.
A buffet luncheon will follow at the Los Cabelleros Resort.
Total cost for both activities is $25.00 per person. See coupon information below and note the deadline.
Past, Present & Future Special Interest Group sponsored this activity last spring. It was so well received by our AAUW members that we decided to repeat it again in 2009.
All members of AAUW are welcome to join us. We will depart PROMPTLY at 9:30 a.m. from aisle 17 of the RH Johnson Rec Center parking lot. We will have drivers for car pooling.
Linn Bastian
As soon as all the programs are confirmed, Patty Lang and Stephanie Rogall, branch Program Co-Chairs, will announce the list of speakers for the general meetings in 2009-2010. Each program promises to be one you won't want to miss!
Meanwhile, Patty and Stephanie are aware that some of the speakers may have last-minute emergencies which prevent their presenting a scheduled program. In order to avoid having a general meeting with no speaker, Patty and Stephanie need your help. They would like to create a backup list of members who could present a program on very short notice. If you have a special interest that you're prepared to talk about in a general meeting, please contact Patty or Stephanie. Your talk should be about 20 to 30 minutes in length. Thanks for sharing your specialty with other branch members!
Everyone please read carefully! This new law takes effect Jan 1, 2009.
Please understand you can have a license plate frame holder as long as it doesn't cover the name Arizona on the top your license plate. If the license plate frame holder covers the name Arizona, you'll receive from the nice police officer at $130.00 ticket! It is your responsibility, as privileged Arizona drivers, to know new motor vehicle laws - the state doesn't send out mailings. So, if you have a frame holder that covers the name Arizona on your license plate, remove it before Jan 1, 2009 and replace it with one that doesn't cover the name Arizona.
..Please forward/pass along to everyone you know..
For more info on new motor vehicle laws clickAZ DOT
Reprinted from st-comm@aauw.org via AZ Sun
Beginning immediately, AAUW has a new partnership with Barnes & Noble's online sales site, BNN.com. Customized for AAUW members, the www.bn.com/aauw website is our own AAUW bookstore. Click Our Bookstore to be connected. AAUW members automatically receive a 5 percent discount on purchases (10 percent periodically)— and that’s on top of other available discounts that apply to the purchase.
You will also find information on
For more information, click on Membership Benefits. For help, e-mail connect@aauw.org or call Cordy Galligan at 202/785-7735.
Join other members to preview the printed Citrus Recipe Cookbook on Sunday, March 29th at the Citrus Cookbook Wine and Cheese, 4:00 to 6:00 PM at the home of Judy Hodgins.
Thank you for your help! For more information about the Citrus CookBook, click Citrus Cookbook for Citrus Lovers.
For further information, click Book Review Luncheon.
DATE: February 27, 2009
TIME: 11:30 AM
PLACE: Thunderbird School of Global Management
SPEAKER: Kellie Kreiser, Director of Thunderbird for Good.
For more information, click International Luncheon.
Click General Meetings for information about coming meetings. General branch meetings are held the third Thursday of each month, September through April, with the exception of the December meeting which is generally held the second Thursday.
Calendar of Events
Check out the great calendar of events for AAUW. This is an active and vital group. You will want to take advantage of the many opportunities for continuous learning, contributing to the community and our AAUW branch, networking with others with whom you share similar interests, polishing your leadership skills, and making new friends. For a schedule of activities for the year, click CALENDAR.
DUES: Rather than the regular full rate of $70.00 for the year, dues for the remainder of this AAUW year will be $35 for first time members only. PLEASE NOTE: the membership rate for all continuing members will be the full rate. The breakdown for full year dues is as follows:
To read about the proposed bylaw changes and the impact on AAUW's organizational structure, click Proposed Changes for a reprint of the article by Dr. Jeanne Clarke which appears in the January issue of the AZ Sun.
AAUW encourages you to give the gift of action this year. By sending your friends and family an invitation to join the Action Network, AAUW's nationwide network of e-activists, you'll be giving them a simple and easy way to make a difference on issues important to them. For more information, click Public Policy.
"The Next Step," the Community Action project of the Northwest Valley Branch, won 'Honorable Mention' at the Best of the West Awards. You will want to read more about the special recognition for this collaborative partnership between AAUW-NWV, Dysart Unified School District and Rio Salado College. Just click The "Next Step" Comes Up Big! to learn more about the latest "Next Step" activities and this important recognition.
Special thanks to all who were involved in orchestrating the wonderful holiday brunch on December 10th. It was, indeed, a special beginning to the holiday season. Thanks to the delightful Sunset Hills Children's Choir and the music they provided.
Phil Weliky, who works with GuideDogs of the Desert, and his companion, Avery, were inspiring. Phil discussed his experience and the importance of the seeing eye dog program for him and others.
And, of course we were treated to "great food and fellowship."
Sixty-seven participants from several child care agencies attended the one day Arizona Directors' Academy at Rio Salado College in Surprise. The conference, co-sponsored by the AAUW-NWV Branch and Rio Salado College, was a success. To read more about the event and the involvement of our members, click AZ Directors' Conference.
As you know, fundraising is essential to help support our branch projects. The following links will lead you to ways that you can assist the branch and without much effort on your part plus a bit of entertainment.
They (The Dysart Unified School District) needed our help, and we gave it.
They needed our help on additional days, and we gave it.
They needed our help for additional sites, and we gave it.
They needed our help for additional chores, and we gave it.
In this case, the "we" consisted of AAUW/NWV, AAUW/Sun City, AAUW/Glendale and the League of Women Voters of Northwest Maricopa County. Members of all four groups volunteered and helped implement the KIDS VOTING AZ project in the Dysart schools. The involvement with KIDS VOTING AZ was supported by the CIVICS EDUCATION COMMITTEE, chaired by Bonnie Saunders, and composed of AAUW and LWV members of the above-listed groups. For more information about this project, click Kids Voting Project Thanks
Special individuals who were extremely valuable from our branch included: BONNIE BOYCE-WILSON, BARBARA GOBELL, GRACE HESTON, PATTY LANG, ALICE MASON and ERNA NEMETH.
As discussed at the AAUW-Arizona Fall Forum, communication and visibility are very important to AAUW. Our branch website represents a "critical 21st century medium" for both external and internal communication. Not only can we reach potential new members, but the usage statistics show that we are also reaching an outside audience. The website provides the outside world with an ongoing, day-to-day comprehensive view of our branch and the organizational mission and activities.
Although the website and newsletter serve some similar functions, they are not and should not be a carbon copy of each other. Because the website doesn't have the same space constraints as the newsletter, it can provide more in-depth articles plus providing cost-effective, more timely information and a photographic album of our members in action.
November, for me, marked the end of three years of designing and editing our branch website. Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your website editor. As a snowbird who joined the branch in mid-year, editing the website introduced me to many facets of our branch for which I had been unfamiliar. Hopefully, someone else will have the same experience and our branch website will continue.
Many of you have been consistent and timely contributors to the website and your efforts have been greatly appreciated. The support of members in contributing articles and photos is the most important ingredient in a good website and those submissions make it easy and enjoyable for anyone to edit the website. This editor, however, has a lot of other projects demanding attention and therefore, at the end of December,
I say adieu. ....... Joye
Three NW Valley AAUW members attended the Rocky Mountain Regional Conference in June. First time attendees Linn Bastian, Judith Hodgins and Elizabeth Rielly, from our branch, were among the twenty-one members from eight Arizona branches who attended the conference. For more information about the conference, click Rocky Mountain Regional Conference.
Click LEMKE to learn how the Ruby M. Lemke Book Fund had a doubling effect on a local school library.
New Versions for Young Adults and Children
If you enjoyed and were inspired by the story told in the book, Three Cups of Tea, you may want to know that two new versions, one for young adults and one for children, will be available in January. The young adult version has been adapted by Sarah Thomson with a foreward By Dr. Jane Goodall. It ncludes an interview with Amira Mortenson, daughter of Greg Mortenson.
The children's version is entitled Listen to the Wind and tells the story of Dr. Greg and Three Cups of Tea and was written by Greg Mortenson & Susan L. Roth.
For more information about these two new books and the incredible story of "one man's mission to promote peace...one school at a time", visit the website, Three Cups of Tea .
During our 2007-08 year, we had a great Three Cups of Tea International Luncheon on Feb. 29th. Click Album to view photos from the luncheon.
For more information about the work of Greg Mortenson and the Central Asia Institute, read the series of articles and view the photos in "The Journey of HOPE", a wonderful seven-article, five part series featured in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle during September and October, 2007. The link is Journey of Hope.
Pennies for Peace is designed to educate children about the world beyond their experience and show them that they can make a positive impact on a global scale, one penny at a time. Through cross-cultural understanding and a solution-oriented approach, P4P encourages children, ultimately our future leaders, to be active participants in world peace.
During the 2007-08 school year, we worked with three of our local schools who were participating in the Pennies for Peace program. Just look what those students accomplished in their efforts:
Our local schools were three of 270 schools which collectively raised more than $900,000 for the Pennies for Peace program in 2008. Currently more than 2,900 schools around the world are registrated with plans to participate in the program. To see more photos and learn more about the local project, click Student Articles to read their stories.
One penny buys one pencil for a student in Pakistan or Afghanistan. School children are learning they have the power to build bridges of peace, one penny at a time. The Pennies for Peace project gives children, our future leaders, the opportunity to contribute to global peace. Read the articles written by students from participating local schools. Click Student Articles to read their stories. Click Pennies for Peace to learn more about this project and how you can help the children of the NW Valley work toward peace, one penny at a time!
AAUW/NWV Members Join Civic Education Committee COALITION
Click Civic Education Committee Coalition to learn more.
