Happy, happy Spring! May your gardens flourish and your allergies be manageable! To celebrate spring, we have a joint meeting with the Morro Bay branch planned. On Saturday, April 12, hear speakers from the Five Cities Orchid Society talk about the care of orchids. In the past, they've brought samples for the attendees. Morro Bay will also have some goodies to eat! Please see the story in the newsletter and remember to RSVP so they can plan accordingly! I hope you can make it! Gail Wakefield will also be sending an Evite as a reminder and to see if anyone needs a ride; please don't hesitate to ask! Thank you to Mary Jefferson, Morro Bay AAUW President and a dual member with our branch, for inviting us to join them!
April is Sexual Assault Awareness/Action Month (SAAM). A few of us will be tabling at Cal Poly on Wednesday, April 30 from 11 am - 1 pm to commemorate Denim Day. We can always use a few more volunteers to meet and talk with students, faculty, and staff. Gail will be sending an Evite request.
"Each year during SAAM, Cal Poly Safer participates in Denim Day, a national day of action focused on speaking out against sexual assault and victim blaming.
Denim Day grew out of a 1998 Italian Supreme Court decision that overturned a rape conviction because the survivor wore tight jeans. Enraged by the verdict, the women in the Italian Parliament launched into action and protested by wearing jeans to work. This motivated and emboldened the California Senate and Assembly to do the same. People all over the world were outraged, and wearing jeans became an international symbol of protest against erroneous and destructive attitudes and myths surrounding sexual assault."
There are also a couple of other SAAM events at Cal Poly that may be of interest:
Take Back the Night - Thursday, April 24th, 5:00 pm in UU Plaza
- Join Safer for its annual capstone event! They'll have speakers, a resource fair, and a march designed to break the silence that so often surrounds sexual assault.
SAAM Symposium - Tuesday, April 29th, 9:00 am-5:00 pm, Chumash Auditorium
- Multiple tracks, student and faculty presentations, and lots of opportunities to engage with our community around the issue of gender and power-based violence.
For more information and to see the full schedule of events, see https://safer.calpoly.edu/saam
They say April showers bring May flowers. While you will hear more about these branch items over the next few weeks, I do want to emphasize two things that will be coming into bloom in May!
First, May is the month when we finalize our branch nominations for our 2025-2026 branch leadership. We have several elected positions: President, Finance Officer (Treasurer), Secretary, and Vice Presidents of Programs and Membership, as well as a number of other ways to get or remain involved with the branch. We'll be sending out feelers over the next several weeks to gauge interest. There are numerous ways to be involved, including splitting responsibilities. After all, many hands make light work, so please don't hesitate to say YES!
Second, we are having a May fundraiser at Brooks Burgers on Wednesday, May 21 from 4 pm to 7 pm. This will also be the Dine Out venue for the month of May. Be sure to read the story in this month's newsletter and mark your calendar! Food can be ordered for eat in, take out, or delivery, with 15% of the profits coming to us to support our various scholarship programs. And the fundraiser is not limited to members. Share the info with your family and friends!! Again, more info to come!
Before I sign off, I want to thank again our amazing speakers from the March branch meeting. As you'll read in the newsletter, Cal Poly student and Lynn S. Janeway Memorial Scholarship recipient Karina Saldivar and Dr. Joni Roberts, Assistant Professor in the Kinesiology and Public Health Department at Cal Poly, were impressive and inspirational. We wish them all the best in their career and educational pursuits!
Finally, as we contemplate the chaos of current events, let me leave you with this hope-filled quote:
To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow. – Audrey Hepburn
Debra Valencia-Laver
President
