M

AAUW Scottsdale Holiday Luncheon

WHEN: 11:00 a.m., Saturday December 13, 2025

WHERE: McCormick Ranch Golf Club, Lakeside Room

7505 E McCormick Ranch Parkway

WHO:  You and all Scottsdale AAUW Members and Guests

WHAT: Delicious Luncheon, 50/50 raffle, wine pull, and gift baskets

Cost: $80 per person. Send check made out to AAUW Scottsdale

by December 1, 2025 to Lennie Andrews

112 E Echo Lane

Phoenix, AZ 85020

Message From The Board...

What an exciting month for our branch, beginning November 1 with the Fall Forum! Our AAUW Arizona President, Karen Ramos, also a Scottsdale Branch member, welcomed us to the Forum. The entire program was well attended, 81 members from all over the state, including a dozen plus of our Branch Members!

Dr. Mary Rothschild, Professor Emerita of Women and Gender Studies at Arizona State University and member of the NW Valley Branch, spoke about how the loss of DEI initiatives will impact women, reminding us of the importance of challenging harmful narratives and expanding opportunities for all.

Scottsdale Branch member Jodi Liggett moderated a compelling panel featuring AZ State Representative Nancy Gutierrez, two mothers of disabled children, and one daughter—the twin of her disabled brother. Their stories highlighted how these women broke through partisan divides to advocate for disabled kids with courage and persistence.

Jodi, Founder of the Arizona Center for Women’s Advancement (ACWA), also brought her depth of expertise to our November Branch Meeting, offering an engaging update on women’s rights and a strategic preview of the 2025 Legislative session. We are so fortunate to have her as a member of our branch!

Thanks to all who attended the November meeting at Scottsdale Community College—it was a terrific program (thank you, Jacqui Sasser). Fourteen of us continued the conversation over a delicious lunch at Wally’s Gastropub (thank you, Judy Hubbard and Gail Stempl!).

Our Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are thriving, with several welcoming new participants. We’re especially excited about our newest SIG, Storyteller’s Corner, as well as the reactivation of our Advocacy and Community Action Committee.

A reminder from Program Coordinator Jacqui Sasser: Our Holiday Luncheon will be held December 13 at the McCormick Ranch Golf Club, 7505 E. McCormick Parkway, Scottsdale. Festivities begin at 11:00 AM. Thank you to Jacqui and Sue Jaros for their hard work preparing this festive social event and fundraiser! Join us for a 50/50 raffle, wine pull, and gift baskets. For

details, contact Sue at sue.jaros@gmail.com or Jacqui at jacqui.az55@gmail.com.

’Tis the season for gratitude, kindness, and joy!



We love our members. Special thanks to Joyce Yarbrough and her associates (Renae Bates, Claudia Carman, Marcia Gonzales, and Esther Groves) who will be accepting donations of scarves and jewelry. Thanks as well to Laura Hurwich for creating notecards for this event and to all members contributing items—your generosity is truly appreciated.

We hope each of you enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are grateful for every member of our Scottsdale Branch. On to the December holidays! Our Board looks forward to seeing you at the Holiday Luncheon at McCormick Ranch Country Club.

--Laraine Rodgers, President

Program Coordinator Jacqui Sasser presenting our speaker/member Jodi Liggett with a thank you gift after her presentation at our November meeting.

Branch Members lunching at Wally's after the November Meeting.

Jodi Liggett leading her Fall Forum panel regarding legislation to save funding for caretakers of disabled family members.

Branch Members attending November 1 Fall Forum.

MEMBERSHIP MATTERS:

YOU are a member of the Membership Committee! Yes, you! All of you!

We are counting on you, our current members, to help increase our membership. We need you to let us know if you have friends, relatives, neighbors, etc., who may be interested in joining our Scottsdale AAUW Branch. Invite them to any events you think they would enjoy or give us their

information and we will invite them. In order to remain an active organization, we need new people to participate and hopefully to become leaders in our branch.

Feel free to contact us, the co-Membership VPs with any names and/or questions:

Judy Hubbard trinahub@aol.com

Gail Stempil stemgw@aol.com

Co-Membership VPs

**************************************************

Meet New Member Cindi. She joined right after our November meeting.

Cynthia (Cindi) East

17840 N. Black Canyon #218

Phoenix, AZ 85053

zadron06@gmail.com

Purdue Univ. BA, Indiana Univ. MA Ed

Welcome Cindi

RED ENVELOPE REMINDER

You recently received your mailed Red Envelope from our Corresponding Secretary, Linda Nance, which included a wonderful letter explaining our Red Envelope Tradition and how your donations are used to support AAUW's fellowships and grants to deserving women. Please review the letter and send your generous contribution with the attached form to Lennie Andrews at 112 E Echo Ln, Phoenix AZ 85020 so it is received by December 13 or bring it with you to the Holiday Luncheon on December 13.

Programs...

For your planning purposes, our Scottsdale Branch 2026 speakers and topics will be:

January 17 Adero Allison, Ph.D. Inclusivity in Higher Education

February 21 Julie Cienowski Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESAs)

March 26 Monica Brown Author’s Luncheon

Monica Brown will be our Author’s Luncheon speaker. Monica is the award-winning author of over thirty magical multicultural picture books for children. Her books are inspired by her Peruvian and Jewish heritage and the desire to bring diverse stories to children. Monica’s books have been featured in The New York Times and The Washington Post and on NPR’s All Things Considered. She is the recipient of two Américas Awards and a Christopher Award for books. Her books have been published in a dozen languages and she has been a featured author at The National Book

Festival, The Texas Book festival, The Brooklyn Book Festival, and The Tucson Book Festival, and internationally. The luncheon will be held on Thursday, March 26th, at the Indigenous Cultural Center (ICC), in room 222. The luncheon will be catered, and additional information will be provided later.

April 18 Open

--Jacqui Sasser, Program Coordinator

Advocacy/Community Action

At our November 11th meeting we reviewed the Fall Forum “take aways."

With the focus on preserving our history, Dr. Mary Rothschild spoke on

Women’s History in Today’s World and Dr. Melanie Sturgeon shared how

important it was to document Women’s History. Our own Elaine Kennedy

shared her experience in the work force. We ended with Jodi Liggett

leading a panel showing how Advocacy Works in getting an important bill

passed in the last session concerning payment for families as caregivers.

As we respond to bills in the next session starting in January, we will want

to personalize our letters to our representatives and senators, make those

calls and visits to them as well.

Watch for the Spring Forum being held here at Scottsdale Community

College on March 28, 2026.

What can we do right now? With the food shortage being front and center,

we are promoting stocking the shelves at Artie’s Pantry right here on the campus of Scottsdale Community College.** I delivered the first bag there after we had already collected some non-perishable food for the students at our November meeting. You can bring your nonperishable food donations to each meeting we have at SCC. We are investigating other places we can deliver to as well.

**When making contributions of food, consider the costs/availability of items to make the product: i.e. macaroni and cheese requires milk and butter, cake mix requires eggs. Consider flip top cans for ease of use by possibly homeless students (and there are some).

We are keeping an eye on our Scottsdale School Board as schools reduce

their student count and lead to a possible closure of two schools. Laraine,

our president, has been watchful of the Scottsdale City Council and we

may want to connect more with our libraries as book banning becomes

more prevalent.

We will take a break for the holidays and meet next in January. Watch for a date and place in the coming newsletter.

Janet Larkin, Chair

jalarkin@cox.net

cell: 480-242-3089

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP News.....

Story Teller’s Corner:

Nadine Schwartz has led us to look back in our history and find moments

that will lead to a story worth sharing. As we share we are finding

connections not only with our past, but with each other.

Due to the holidays, we will meet a week earlier on December 16, 2025, at

1:00 p.m.. We also have a change in location: Lynn Spinelli’s home at 8245 E.

Camelback Rd, Scottsdale.

Come join the fun.

If you have any questions, please contact me. And let me know you will be attending.

--Janet Larkin

Jalarkin@cox.net

Cell: 480-242-3089

Books Etc.

Ladies, ladies, ladies! One of our most anticipated events is coming up on December 17 at the beautifully decorated home of Renae Bates, 11737 E Mariposa Grande Dr, Scottsdale. We are having a Pot Luck, which will begin at 12:00 p.m., before we discuss the wonderful historical novel, The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhorn. Jacque Tooley will be our discussion leader. A short summary follows:

Maine in 1789 is a harsh landscape where the mighty Kennebec River freezes solid. The icy river becomes a pivotal setting, entombing a man’s body. This shocking event sets off a chain of inquiries that expose deep-seated societal issues. At the center of this tale is Martha Ballard, a determined midwife and healer. Martha’s life is recorded in her diary, which documents births, deaths, and community secrets. Her writings reflect a woman’s perspective during a time when women’s voices were often silenced.

So ladies, pull out Grandma’s best pot luck recipe and whip it up so that you can share with your AAUW companions amid stories of home, laughter from Christmases past and delicious repasts made with care and love! This is NOT the party you want to miss. And you get two-for-one———a rousing discussion of a dynamite book and delicious homemade fare! Remember we begin at 12:00 noon so that we have time to share our goodies. Please RSVP to Renae at renaeb88@gmail.com as soon as possible so she can add an extra room on the house if need be!

Merry, Merry!

--Cynthia Peplinski cynthiadysart@cox.net

Lunch Bunch for 2025

Hello Gourmet Ladies,

Normally our Lunch Bunch would take place on the first Thursday of the month but I am otherwise occupied on that date so I have moved it to December 11, Thursday - not too close to Christmas but close enough to exhibit Christmas spirit!

Our chosen restaurant is our favorite P.F.Chang’s, 7132 E Greenway, Scottsdale, on Greenway and Scottsdale Rd. We will meet there at 12:00 p.m. and enjoy all the old favorites I bet you haven’t enjoyed in a “coon’s age” (as my dear ole’ Daddy used to say) —and some new dishes that will become some of your favorites. Would you believe that Chang’s now has Miso Lobster Dumplings and Butternut Squash Dumplings added to their appetizer menu!! Some of us could just make a meal on that! Or you may be waiting for those delicious and long awaited lettuce wraps (A secret family recipe and our signature dish. Enough said.) But if you are trying to lose those last five pounds to fit into your new red taffeta Christmas attire, you might want to partake of the Lunch Soup and Salad (Soup Options: Cup of Egg Drop Soup, Hot & Sour Soup, Salad Options: House Salad, Thai Peanut Salad, Asian Caesar Salad, Mandarin Crunch Salad) Bet you didn’t know they had this option, did you?

 If you have been waiting for the spicy entree, try Salt and Pepper Prawns (Crisp prawns, aromatics, chili peppers, tossed in a spicy chili butter) Not too spicy for me!! However, if you are a MILD devotee, try their LoMein (wok tossed noodles, mushrooms, Asian vegetables, savory soy sauce. Protein options: Vegetable, Chicken, Beef, Shrimp, Combo) .And are you just a little bit sad that we are going to a Chinese restaurant because you were in the mood for a WHOPPING dessert? Never fear! It may be difficult to pass up the Chocolate Soufflé (Chocolate soufflé, vanilla ice cream, raspberry sauce)! BECAUSE IT IS CHRISTMAS!

PLEASE LET ME KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN OUR LITTLE EXCURSION!

-Cynthia Peplinski cynthiadysart@cox.net

Shopping at Fry's Can Help an SCC Student...

Scottsdale Branch has, over the years, been part of Frys Reward Program--whereby, if you are enrolled, a percentage of your purchase goes to our scholarship fund at Scottsdale Community College's Maricopa Community College Fund, which will then benefit a returning student. Here's how you can enroll:

1. Go to frysfood.com
2. click on Community
3. click on community rewards
4. click on Enroll Now
5. sign on with your email and password
6. enter with organization number XV773 (Maricopa Community College Fund)
7. click Enroll
8. enter your 12 digit Frys account number (which you will have had to obtain first)
9. MCCF will pop up

HOW TO ORDER AN AAUW NAME BADGE

Go to AAUW.org and in the upper right hand corner, log in with your email and password. 

You'll need to create an account if you don't have one.



Click on Membership in the top right hand corner.

Go to Discounts and Perks on the right side of the screen.

Scroll down to Shop AAUW, about halfway down, and click on it.

Click on Accessorize.

You'll see Custom Name Badge and click on it.

Decide between pin or magnet back. 

Customize to order.

$11.50 w/pin   $15.00 w/magnet

And place your order!

NEWS FROM NATIONAL....

AAUW: Gutting the Department of Education Betrays Students’ Civil Rights

November 20, 2025

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Association of University Women (AAUW) is deeply alarmed by the Trump administration’s escalating efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. These efforts include mass staff cuts and the recent announcement of six “partnerships” that shift the day-to-day work of major K–12 and higher education programs to other federal agencies. 

These moves raise serious questions about how the Department can carry out the statutory responsibilities Congress assigned it in 1979. These were enforcing civil-rights laws in education, administering federal aid fairly and effectively, and ensuring equal educational opportunity for all students. 

Statement of Gloria L. Blackwell, Chief Executive Officer, American Association of University Women (AAUW): 

"Let’s be clear about what is at stake. The Department of Education was created to center students’ rights and educational equity, not to outsource its core expertise across agencies whose primary missions are labor, health, interior affairs, or foreign policy. You cannot meet that mandate when the people and programs with the most expertise in K–12 equity, higher education access, Native education, international education, and childcare for student parents are scattered across agencies whose missions are labor, health, public lands, and foreign policy. When you hollow out the Department and scatter its knowledge of K-12 and higher education, you make it harder for students to challenge discrimination and harder for Congress or the public to hold parties accountable.

AAUW urges Congress to intervene and ensure that the Department of Education can do what the law requires it to do — protect students’ civil rights and advance gender and racial equity in every classroom and on every campus."

Time to sign up for the Two Minute Activist:

Send emails and texts to your legislators to fight for equal pay, family leave, stopping sexual harassment, equality in education and more. Sign up to get regular alerts to be able to take timely action.

To sign up, (click here).

Be an AAUW Activist. SIGN UP NOW