DVC Retirees Association NEWSLETTER --- FALL 2022
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It’s that time again! Please join us for the FALL 22 DVCRA Luncheon on Friday, October 7, at 11:30 am.
LUNCHEON INFORMATION AT A GLANCE:
Date: October 7, 2022
Time: 11:30am-1:30pm
Location: DVC Commons
Luncheon cost: $15 per person
RESERVATIONS: Please make a reservation by sending a check for $15 for each lunch made out to DVC Retirees Association and addressed to:
DVC Retirees Association
Diablo Valley College
321 Golf Club Road
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
Checks must be received by Wednesday, September 28, to ensure we have lunches for everyone. Please include each attendee's name and indicate if they would like a vegetarian or gluten-free option for lunch. For questions, please contact Irene Menegas at imenegas@comcast.net or 925-946-0420.
Thank you for pre-paying promptly. Your cooperation means that we avoid paying for more lunches than we need.
SCHOLARSHIP DONATION: You may make a scholarship donation by adding any amount to the cost of the luncheon OR by including a separate check made out to the DVC Foundation, with "DVCRA Scholarship Fund" written in the memo line.
DIRECTORY: Each member who attends the luncheon will receive a hard copy of the directory. Directories will be mailed to members not present.
IMPORTANT PARKING INFORMATION: As usual, Lots 7 and 8 are the most convenient places to park. If you still have a DVC Parking Sticker (with no expiration date) on your car, you can park without another permit. For those who do not currently have a sticker, there is a new online permitting process that you will need to complete (see comments in Karen Castle’s welcome article). There is no charge, and you can complete the process at any time before the event, but you will need to register the license plate number of the vehicle you will drive to the luncheon. There will be people available to guide you through the process upon your arrival in either Lot 7 or 8 if you would like assistance.
To get to the event, from Lot 8, you can walk straight up the campus entry stairway to the Commons area. For those who would like assistance getting from the parking lot to our meeting place, Laurence Orme will again provide transportation to the Commons via the college’s Disabled-Assistance vehicle, picking people up in Lot 7 near the BFL Community Conference Room.
COVID SAFETY: In keeping with our recent practice, DVC’s Culinary Arts Program will provide individual box lunches, with both vegetarian and gluten-free options. There will be enough outdoor tables and chairs to allow for social distancing based on your personal situation and comfort level. Masks are recommended, but not required if you need to enter a building at any time.
IMPORTANT: As much as we would miss your presence, if you are feeling unwell, experiencing any COVID symptoms, or have tested positive for the virus in the week before October 7, please help keep everyone safe by not attending. If at some time after you have paid, but before the event, the continuously shifting COVID situation leaves you no longer comfortable about attending, please notify Irene, and let her know if you would like a refund, or if you prefer to apply your payment towards the scholarship fund.
We are looking forward to seeing you on October 7!
Submitted by Rachel Westlake
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Thank you to donors for Spring Luncheon’s Silent Auction
Below is the list of our generous donors to the Silent Auction at our luncheon in April 2022. Money collected from your winning bids goes directly to our scholarship fund for Diablo Valley College's continuing and transfer students.
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A Message From Our Association Coordinator |
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It’s a New Year, a new lunch, some new features, and the same old friends
Welcome back to another academic year. We’re hoping to see EVERYONE on campus for lunch on Friday, October 7. Based on last year’s stellar fall weather and the ugly crown of Covid, we are will be outdoors on the commons again.
There are some improvements, we hope, for this year.
We want to maximize our time for socializing. Rather than run a silent auction with competitive bidding and lots of announcements, we will have items for sale, including many DVC-related ones. No more worrying about who we are outbidding, or whether we will get the item we want. Sales will continue throughout lunch.
The goodies for sale are listed in this newsletter but include passes to DVC sports events, drama tickets, and DVC T-shirts. Sports event passes are good for any date, but we hope to go together to see the DVC Vikings play football against the College of San Mateo Bulldogs on Oct 21, 6 pm.
Parking on campus this term requires a FREE single-day registration. Lots 7 and 8 are closest, but any lot is all right. If you have a permanent faculty or staff sticker (no expiration date), you are good to go. If not, please register online for October 7 or go to https://mycampuspermit.com/4cd.html. Help will be available at the luncheon if needed.
HRM is providing our food once again and the price for the lunch is unchanged. Don’t hesitate to sign up.
We are seeking more ways to connect. In addition to the spring luncheon, we are planning to banish the constraints of distance with a February Zoom Happy Hour as well. Please check out the possible topics of discussion and make suggestions.
Stay well and cool. See you in October.
Karen
Submitted by Karen Castle, DVCRA Association Coordinator
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Welcome New DVCRA Members!
Membership Renewal Period for 2022-2023 Continues
Welcome to new DVC retirees who have joined our organization! We’re so glad to have you with us. And to those of you who have already renewed your membership for 2022-2023, a big thanks. As you know, DVCRA offers an excellent opportunity to continue to support DVC students through our scholarship program as well as helping us stay in touch with friends and colleagues and stay informed about any changes in our retiree benefits.
We had another great response for our membership drive this year and a good start on funding student scholarships. There are several members, though, who still need to renew their memberships. If you realize you haven’t paid your dues yet, don’t delay. Now is the time to write out your check for $20.00 to the DVC Retirees Association and put it in the mail. Just download and print the DVCRA Dues and Membership Form or you can find a copy of it on our DVCRA website at https://uf4cdretired.org.
Please complete the form and mail it along with your dues check made out to DVC Retirees Association. Also please consider including a scholarship donation. See below for more information.
Address your envelope to:
DVC Retirees Association
321 Golf Club Road
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
Please include your return address on the envelope. It helps us sort! If you have any questions or difficulties, please contact Sue Shattuck at 925-855-5534 or sshattuck@earthlink.net.
Scholarship Donations: DVCRA would also appreciate any contribution you can make to our scholarship fund. Our efforts to reach this year’s goal of giving 20 students $1,000 each depend largely on your thoughtful and generous donations. We are suggesting a donation of $40 or more so we can help as many students as possible. If you would like to have a tax deduction for your contribution, please include a separate check made out to the DVC Foundation and write “DVC Retirees Association” in the “Memo” area.
Thank you!
Submitted by Sue Shattuck
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SUPPORT THE DVC SCHOLARSHIP FUND AND
HAVE SOME FUN!
Thanks to your generous support last year, DVCRA provided $1,000 scholarships for 20 continuing and transfer DVC students, including three set aside for Umoja and Puente transfer students. This year we hope to do make the same. To reach this goal we need to raise $4,500 by the end of the year. While this is a challenge, we are confident we can make it if we all pitch in. The need for student scholarships has only increased since the onset of the COVID epidemic. Please consider sending an additional donation this year or dropping a check into the Scholarship Fishbowl at the luncheon.
In place of our silent auction, we’re offering several items for sale. Please consider purchasing any of these items, even if you can’t attend the luncheon. We will mail them to you.
Calling all DVC sports fans! Join us for a DVCRA outing to a DVC Vikings Football game against the College of San Mateo on October 21, at 6 pm.
Tickets are complimentary with a suggested $5 donation to the DVCRA Scholarship fund. Join your friends and colleagues in cheering on our Vikings at home! The team started off the season with a win over Fresno. Check out dvcvikings.com to keep up with their progress. Can’t make it to the DVCRA outing? You can still get tickets to another home game. For details about the outing or to get tickets, contact Rachel Westlake, at rwestlake07@gmail.com. We also hope to have basketball tickets available at the luncheon once we know the schedule. Home games will be played at DVC now that construction on the new facilities has been completed.
We’ll also have DVC Athletics T-Shirts ($20) for sale. (We have a range of sizes.) They’re perfect to wear to all Vikings’ games, any sporting event, or while you’re exercising at home or at the gym. And they’re a great way to show your support for DVC!
For you theater lovers, we have two season tickets to DVC’s 2022-23 Drama Season, $50 for the pair. You choose the date for each performance. Enjoy four performances by our talented DVC students, directed and staged by our own DVC faculty and staff. Check out the offerings at dvcdrama.net.
You’ll notice there’s no silent auction scheduled—your Board is truly auctioned out, so we are looking for extra sets of hands to help us with this important activity. The main job is soliciting and tracking donations. For more information about how to do this and the details of setting up the silent auction, please contact Karen Castle, castle.kg@gmail.com, or Irene Menegas, imenegas@comcast.net.
We look forward to seeing you at the luncheon!
Irene Menegas, DVCRA secretary
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REMINDER!
WE NEED TO RAISE $4,500 IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS TO REACH OUR GOAL OF TWENTY $1,000 SCHOLARSHIPS FOR OUR STUDENTS.
CAN YOU HELP?
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More Talk,
Less Driving,
More Fun in February
We never seem to have enough time to visit at our luncheons,
and we miss the folks who have moved far from DVC or who are saving gas.
So
Let’s get together on
Zoom for
Happy Hour
Friday, February 10, 2023
3 - 5 pm PST
We can catch up on key topics like:
Grandchildren, Restaurants,
Good Reads, Travel Past and Future,
Movies, Professional Sports,
Hanging Out with Old Friends,
and You Name It
Put February 10, 2023 on your calendar and email me with your ideas for a chat. I hope to see y’all.
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Financial Report
For the Period January 1, 2022 to July 31, 2022
The primary purpose of the DVCRA’s fundraising is to award scholarships to DVC students. The association has awarded scholarships for many years. From 2008 to this year, we have awarded 146 scholarships! We award and fund scholarships in the spring and our major fundraising efforts occur during the summer. Consequently, the funds raised in 2022 will be used to fund the scholarships in 2023.
The following DVCRA financial information is for the period January 1, to July 31, 2022:
- We have $33,724 in cash held in our bank accounts with Travis Credit Union and the DVC Foundations.
- Our fundraising activities (including donations, memberships, and auctions) have generated $11,827 available for scholarships in 2023.
- We had $15,300 in expenditures. Included in this total were: $14,000 in scholarships, $800 for spring luncheon expenses, and $500 to support the DVC Food Pantry.
The DVCRA has awarded a total of $146,000 scholarships since 2008!
The DVCRA Board has set a goal of awarding $20,000 in scholarships in 2023. To achieve this goal we will need to raise approximately $4,500 before the end of the calendar year.
We want to thank our membership for their continuing generosity to the students of DVC.
Submitted by Chris Leivas
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Got Ideas? Got Talents? Got Free Time (even a little)? DVCRA Wants YOU!
Inspired to write? The newsletter needs your ideas, your words, and your commas.
Appreciate getting to the lunch without getting lost? We need you to help guide folks.
Want us to give more scholarships? We need you to ask and thank donors.
Want more interesting activities? Weigh in.
We need You. We know you have talent and skill.
Just let us know what you want (are willing?) to do.
Karen Castle
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The following are only those retirees who have passed since our last newsletter. You can check the In Memorium webpage to access information just as it was sent from the DVC President’s Office as well as other thoughts offered by our membership:
Submitted by Nancy Zink
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Association Coordinator - Karen Castle
Immediate Past Association Coordinators - Judy Walters and Diane Scott-Summers
Treasurer - Chris Leivas
Secretary - Irene Menegas
Membership Meeting/Luncheon Coordinator - Rachel Westlake
Scholarship Coordinator - Mary Ulrich
Newsletter Editor - Chrisanne Knox
Member Directory Maintainer - Nancy Zink
Membership Coordinator - Sue Shattuck
New Member Recruiter - Linda Robbins
Unions, District, Benefits Liaison - Nancy Zink
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