Fall 2012 - First Blog of the LOWC Year!

President’s Message

Welcome to Fall!

I hope you all have had a relaxing summer and a chance to slow down to enjoy your family and friends. I have had a great summer; my oldest son turned 21 and began his senior year of college and my youngest is starting his sophomore year of high school.

Sunday, September 8, is our last Friend Raiser for the summer.  We need your help to make this another successful year for new membership. We have been so lucky to have 5 new members join us so far this summer! My hope is that 10 more will be joining us in September. 

Please help by inviting someone new to our Friend Raiser or to our 12^th Annual Fashion Show. LOWC’s invitation for new membership will close for the year on Sunday, September 30.  Contact Lauren Retzlaff or Ingrid Smith of the Membership Committee with names of potential new members today.  

The Fashion Show Committee has been hard at work this summer and needs to be applauded for what will be one of our most enjoyable events of the year, our 12^th Annual Fashion Show scheduled for Thursday, September 20. We will have many tempting items in our Raffle baskets, so come prepared to win something wonderful! I hope to see you there. 

Have you picked your committee yet? There will be an email coming soon listing our committee choices.  A prompt reply to this email giving me your selection will be much appreciated, I will then be able to update your committee. Pick 1 or more, the choice is yours. The deadline for updating your committee choice with me is Monday, September 24 by 9am.

Again, welcome to a wonderful new season of small changes. I hope you enjoy reading this month’s news and that I will see you at our 12^th Annual Fashion Show. 

In all you do, do your best!

Denise Smith

LOWC President 2012-13

LOWC Fashion Show

Football has started for the guys, school has started for the kids, and soon the 12th annual Fall Fashion Show and Luncheon will start a new year for LOWC. The fashion show committee has been working very hard to ensure it will be a great event. This is the first year that our fashion show will also be a fundraiser. Many local businesses and several members of the club have donated fabulous raffle items. 
Raffle tickets will be sold cash or check only: 1 ticket for $5 and 5 tickets for $20. In addition, a Golden Leaf Cupcake Raffle will be offered at $20 for a chance to win a Silpada jewelry item. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible and to kicking off a fun and successful club year. 
R.S.V.P. to Denise K. at fashionshow@lowomensclub.org by September 13th.

From the Treasurer:
Membership Dues are Due

Everyone should have received 2 emails from me in the last month with your 2012-13 dues invoices. If you did not receive an invoice in your email, please check your spam or email trash. I can resend invoices if you should need one.  Remember to keep a copy of your invoice as it can be used as a tax write off for your 2012 income taxes! 

If you have any questions regarding your membership dues, email me at: treasurer@lowomensclub.org.

Robin Tremayne
Treasurer

Board Members: 
September 30th Directory Deadline

Board Members are reminded that the deadline for all the elements going into the hardcover Directory is September 30th, 6pm. All new member forms must be turned in with their checks on that date, along with the President's letter and her final committee assignments. This deadline also affects the following Committee Chairs for their individual "calendar of events" to be published in the front pages: Social Committee, Philanthropy, and Meetings, as well as any of the club's special interest groups, such as Book Club. If you have questions, please contact the Directory Chair, Johanna McCormick, at directory@lowomensclub.org.

The Directory Chair also encourages anyone without a picture in the online Directory to look through your summer vacation photos to crop to a low-resolution, traditional-portrait composition. Further details about uploading it will be sent out in the next two weeks.

Johanna McCormick
Directory Chair

Get Social with LOWC! 

Hello ladies,

I hope you all had a wonderful summer and if you are anything at all like me you are having a hard time seeing it end.  I have been so busy this summer that I am finding it hard to get back to any sense of responsibility but at least my responsibility with the club is a fun one.... 

Last year's happy hours were so much fun that I wanted to keep those going so I have planned every other month happy hours at the following restaurants: 

All Happy Hours begin at 5 pm

11/7       5 Spice

1/9         Oswego Grill

3/6         Tucci's

5/1         Manzana's

This year they will all start at 5pm but please feel free to come later than that as your schedule allows.  I may add more as the year progresses if the interest is high but for now I am going to stick to the every other month schedule.

I hope to see many of you November 7 at 5 Spice!  As we get back into the swing of things this fall more social gatherings will be planned.  As always please feel free to email me with ideas, suggestions or advice!  I will happily take it.

Enjoy the last few days of summer and I hope to see many of you very soon at a happy hour!

Jeri Parrott
Social Chair

Membership

The Membership Committee has been quite busy this summer!  We hosted two successful “friend-raisers”, and the third is just around the corner.  Our first friend-raiser was an evening party in late June at Sharon Mirarchi’s house, and the second was a brunch in early August at Ingrid Smith’s house.  At these friend-raisers, we met many wonderful women who are interested in joining our club.  Both events were well-attended by our own members as well, who brought lots of delicious food and shared their LOWC experiences with the new folks. 

Our last friend-raiser is scheduled for Saturday, September 8th at 5:30 PM at Kathleen Ellman’s house.  It promises to be a great evening, with food, drinks, and merry conversation, all while lounging by the lake.  All members are welcome and encouraged to join us for this fun event.  This time, men are invited as well, and we are shamelessly plying them to come with the promise of food, beer, a televised football game, and a boat ride!

We would like to thank all LOWC members for coming to the friend-raisers and for referring their friends, neighbors, and acquaintances to our club.  If you still have anyone in mind, it’s not too late to join!  We will be taking membership applications until just after the Fashion Show. 

Speaking of the Fashion Show, we expect to see many new faces at the luncheon.  We will have a table or two reserved for these special ladies, so make sure to stop by, say “hello”, and spread the word about our club.

Finally, and most important, we would like to welcome six new members to our club, all of whom joined this summer.  A huge, warm welcome goes out to Carolyn Fisher, Theresa Koppie, Becky Nicoli, Deloris Scherschligt, Garlinn Story, and Megan O'Toole.  WELCOME!

Membership
Lauren Retzlaff and Ingrid Smith

Meetings, Meetings, Meetings!!

We had a great turnout at our August 16th LO Women’s Club general meeting hosted by Lauren Barnes Gaar at the Grand Papery. With a little socializing, business and shopping thrown in it was an enjoyable evening. Our September meeting is always a favorite. Please make sure to read about the fashion show/luncheon to be held Thursday, September 20th  at the Lake Oswego Country Club. Next month our meeting we be held Thursday, October 18th  at the Children’s Center in Oregon City. Typically our general meetings will be held the 3rd Thursday of the month. There will be some morning as well as evening meetings. Please see the dates and locations listed in the new directory.

Meetings
Julie Lester and Traci Greenberg

Online Communications

What’s Online Communications?

I’m glad you asked!

Online communications includes Facebook, Website, Blog, and e-mail. As the LOWC Online Communications Chair, I am responsible for each of these resources.

Here’s the scoop on each branch of online communications:

Website: www.lowomensclub.org

Our website is vital to our organization. This is our public face and our behind-the-scenes location for our member directory, organizational calendar, e-mail distribution service, document storage, and so much more.  For the past six years we have contracted with a service named “ClubRunner” to manage these tasks. Due to changes in ClubRunner’s services, we recently made the decision to move to a vendor called “Wild Apricot.” I expect to have the Wild Apricot version of our website up and running in the next couple of weeks.  By the end of September, our URL www.lowomensclub.org will take you to the new web-site, until then, you can have a sneak peek by visiting http://www.lowc.wildapricot.org/. Remember, this URL is not permanent. We will still have the URL www.lowomensclub.org – it’s just not transferred at this time. I think you’ll like the new service. It has some nice features not offered by ClubRunner. You will receive your new logon ID and password in the next week or two.

Blog: http://lowomensclub.blogspot.com/

The news-blog will be updated every two weeks. This will be your primary source for the latest LOWC news and information. You will continue to receive the “classic” PDF version of the newsletter, but the PDF version will only be distributed every two months. All news articles should be sent to admin@lowomensclub.org.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LOWomensClub

Please “like” our Facebook page. I will post occasional photos, and event reminders.

E-mail administration

Over the summer, I set up Google Apps for non-profits, which provides board members with email addresses that end with @lowomensclub.org. Google provides this service free of charge for non-profits. Businesses also use these services, but they must pay a fee for each user. I’m very excited about the availability of these email addresses. We can now provide contacts with unchanging email addresses!! For example, Lake Run organizers can ALWAYS be contacted my sending an email to lakerun@lowomensclub.org. The same is true for sponsorship, membership, philanthropy, fashion show, etc!

Training

This year, all board members and provisionals will be required to attend a 1.5 hour training session at the Lake Oswego Adult Community Center. I’ll work very hard to make the training FUN! I hope to offer a few small door prizes and maybe we can go out for coffee or drinks after the training.

I will provide available training dates and times within the next week.

Looking forward to a GREAT year!

Online Communications Chair

Lori Malone

Healing Garden Gala

I have heard many of you in the past say that you would like to feel more connected to some of the nonprofits that LOWC supports.  I am happy to tell you that you have such an opportunity!  The Children's Center has one of their two fundraising events planned on September 27th.  They are in great need of volunteers and have asked LOWC if we can help by providing 15 volunteers. 

Remember that the Children's Center is Clackamas County's only child abuse assessment center.  Each year they help hundreds of abused children find hope again and start down the path toward healing. This event will raise funds for the operation of the center.  Please take this opportunity to reinforce our partnership with the Children's Center and sign up to volunteer.  You can help them raise the funds that they need to serve the children of our community.  

What:   Healing Garden Gala Event 
When: September 27th**
Where: Children's Center, 1713 Penn Lane, Oregon City 

Volunteer Jobs Available (scroll for details): 

• Setup 
• Catering
• Registration
• Kitchen
• Greeters
• Silent Auction Assistants
• Bid Tracking Assistants 

**Time commitments and all the details are in the attached document below.  If you can help, please let me know by Sept. 10th.  If you'd like to help but can't commit to an entire shift, let me know that too.  
Ladies, our club does great work to help raise funds for charities.  This is our chance to be a "hands-on" partner and actively demonstrate our commitment to the children of Clackamas County.  

Thank you,
Lori Faris -Children's Center Liaison
Lake Oswego Women's Club 


Children’s Center Volunteer Opportunities (Detailed Descriptions)


Healing Garden Gala Setup:  We are looking for 10-12 volunteers to help with the setup for the Gala. Volunteers will be setting up tables with linens and centerpieces, picking up catered food, putting up twinkle lights, stocking wine and setting up silent auction items.
Duration: 11:00am-3:45pm, September 27th.
Dress Code: Jeans and sneakers

Healing Garden Gala Catering Volunteer: Time to dust off those food handler skills! We promise we won't make you wear a bow tie or polyester vest, but we will ask you to set up catered food for gala attendees, make sure everyone has a fork and napkin, and keep eating areas tidy. We are needing 5-8 volunteers for this opportunity.
Duration: 3:30pm-8:30pm, September 27th.
Dress Code: Business Casual- comfortable attire (no sneakers or denim)

Healing Garden Gala Registration Volunteer:  Do your co-workers comment that you have a smile on your face and you explain things well?  If this is you, we are needing 5 volunteers for various registration tasks such as, finding guests nametags, showing guests to their tables, processing credit cards, and helping with the silent auction.  
Duration: 4:30pm-9:00pm, September 27th. **Training for this position will be held the week of the Gala (TBD).**
Dress Code: Business Casual- comfortable attire (no sneakers or denim)

Healing Garden Gala Kitchen Volunteer: Water, coffee, and Wine oh my! Call in the troops, we are needing 25 volunteers to pour and fill water pitchers, brew coffee for carafes, unload catered food, set service tables  and put out dessert trays and overall make sure the guest tables in the event tent are stocked and lit with pretty candles! 
Duration: 4:45pm-9:00pm, September 27th.
Dress Code: Business Casual- comfortable attire (no sneakers or denim)
  
Healing Garden Gala Greeter Volunteer:  Welcome our guests as they arrive to the Gala. We will have a shuttle service bringing guests over from a nearby parking lot and will need 14 volunteer greeters stationed both at the parking garage and Center to welcome our guests and direct them to registration as well as into the event.
Duration: 4:45pm-7:45pm, September 27th.
Dress Code: Business Casual- comfortable attire (no sneakers or denim)

Healing Garden Gala Silent Auction Volunteer: We need 2 volunteers to be our auction specialists, familiarizing themselves with auction items, identify the winning bidder, and instructing winners on how to receive their winning auction item.
Duration: 5:00pm-9:00pm, September 27th.
Dress Code: Business Casual- comfortable attire (no sneakers or denim)

Healing Garden Gala Bid Tracking Volunteer: Looking for 3 pairs of good ears! We need 3 volunteers to help us with a crucial piece of the evening. These volunteers will be seated during the silent auction program, listening for the bid numbers that the auctioneer calls out and writing them down. This is a fast paced job that will require attention to detail and accuracy.
Duration: 6:30pm-9:00pm, September 27th
Dress Code: Business Casual - comfortable attire (no sneakers or denim)

And last but not least...we are hoping all volunteers can help with the clean-up...did I mention we will feed you?? Clean-up will be 8:45pm-9:45pm