President Shelly called our meeting to order.

Lydia's invocation today recalled a wonderful story about true love witnessed in the acts of a husband and his blind wife out to dinner. It is not the grand gestures that constitute love, it is the small, everyday kindness and attention that we show that truly speaks to love.

Sunshine goes out to Diane Imbach, lots of positive thoughts and prayers for healing and Nina Gralak for a broken wrist.

Today's business meeting started with a bunch of thank you cards being read. We love giving out funds to our fellow service clubs and we adore hearing about how our donations helped the community through the services they provide. AAUW and the Tech Trek program, Tahoe Magic, Encompass Youth, The LTCC Scholarships program and Live Violence Free were all very thankful for the help we provide due to generous community engagement with our club.

We also received an email from a 2014 winner of a Most improved 8th grader award we gave out. This generous young man, Christian Tovar, wants to pay it forward and is asking to contribute to this year's winners of the same scholarship. Our help matters to these kids and comes back around.

Shelly related how well the Senior Mid-Year Graduation Cookie Social went and how much the kids enjoyed being celebrated. June 4th will be our chance to celebrate the seniors graduating in the spring.

Saturday is the District 5 meeting in Reno. Several gals are attending in person and a few are attending on zoom.

Congratulations to Jeanne Prestella she was recently selected as Elections coordinator for SNR - Congratulations Jeanne, when will you find the time with all you do for our club.

Rose awards (Recognition of Soroptimist Excellence) were given out to Nancy for her hard work coordinating our Awards program, Jeanne for her unending help with Everything and Paula for her hard work behind the scenes with Mad Hatter, posters and advertising. Shelly reminded us to be grateful for all who step up to do the projects required to keep our club moving forward. This is a completely volunteer organization and we all deserve a pat on the back.

Mad Hatter tickets go on sale TODAY! to get yours visit SITS2024.com and click on "purchase tickets". All ticket sales will be done through the Givesmart portal this year. We will have 120 seats available this time! Send emails to your friends with the email address to purchase tickets so they don't miss out on getting tickets to a great time this year.

Raffle tickets for the trip to Hawaii will be available soon and more information will be given prior to tickets being handed out.

If you'd like to purchase a new Soroptimist "everything" bag, talk to Jeanne P. The bags are $12

REMINDER TO FUN LADIES EVERYWHERE! Looking for something to put your heart into this year? Interested in hanging out with fun and hard working women? Then join us at our meeting from 7:30 - 8:30 AM on Thursdays at the SLT Senior Center. It's a great way to begin your morning! Check out our website to see our fabulous calendar of speakers at www.sitahoesierra.org

SITS Member Items & Our Projects

Congratulations to one of our SITSters - Margie Kovarik-Maxhimer as a new member of the Board for El Dorado Community Foundation!

From our TECH Committee!

If you need tech help, contact: techhelp@sitahoesierra.org

For anyone who wants extra, hands on, help, with all that's going on in town and the holidays, Laurie F will provide a personal, private tech lesson for you! Simply contact our SITSter and she'll get you in the know! Please check your "SITS Calendar" and make sure you can access it, if not, call or email Laurie.

From our HWHW Committee!

Our Club will be supporting St. Theresa's Bread and Broth program again this year. Our first opportunity will be on February 12th. We will be teaming up with Lasagna Love to provide the funding, lasagna and workers for the night. SITS crew members are needed at St. Theresa's Grace Hall from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. to help the B&B volunteers with the meal's setup, serving, and cleanup.

Healthy Women, Healthy World committee has a meeting scheduled for February 22nd at the Coldwell Banker office in Zephyr Cove at 4 pm. A zoom link will be provided for those who can't make it in person.

Letterhead, business cards and new brochures have been printed and available to any member who needs them. See Jeanne P.

The Social Committee is hosting an outing to cheer on the STHS Girls Basketball team on Friday, Feb. 9 at 6pm. All are encouraged to make signs for the event. After the game, you can stay to watch the boys, or go out for a bite to eat with your SITSters.

The Awards Committee want to remind you all to attend the March 21st Award breakfast where 3 Live Your Dream awards will be given out as well as our Ruby Award and our GIVE awards (Girls into volunteer experiences) This will be a very impactful ceremony and you will have the chance to rub elbows with some big wigs in the Soroptimist community who are coming to support us.

SITS COMMITTEE Signup Portal!

Our SITS club and all that we do are driven by the committees that we maintain. All members are asked to join at least ONE Service Committee and ONE Technical Committee. Service is what we do and Technical is how we roll! Please signup for your committees here. And remember, you are not limited to participating in any of the fun. YOU can attend any committee meeting or event!

NON-SITS Fun and Opportunities in Tahoe

There's actually so much going on so you're going to want to check out the EVENTS tab on www.southtahoenow.com, but here's a few to get you started!

Fannan Fellowship Now Accepting Scholarship Applications!

All South Tahoe High School seniors planning to attend a 4-year university in the Fall of 2024 are eligible to apply. We will award three $20,000 scholarships. Applications due by February 29, 2024

Click here for full details

LTCC Basic Needs Center is looking for food donations. A variety of foods and basic need items are on the list. Click here for full list and drop off details

If you'd like to donate through our club, please bring your donations to the monthly business meeting and Lisa C. or Andie will make sure they are delivered to the college. Please include an estimate on the value as LTCC needs to keep records of that information.

Important information for your family from TASK (Tahoe Alliance for Safe Kids)

A Guide to Healthy and Responsible Practices for Families During the Holidays.

This month TASK www.tahoesafekids.com has collaborated with our partners at Barton Health to share a guide for responsible holiday practices around substances. Aislynn Soave, the Substance Use Navigator at Barton, has put together some tips for parents and children to remember during this holiday season.

Click here for the full article

South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue has a quarterly newsletter to keep us all updated on fire safety info. Their goal is to help people learn about the fuels reduction products they are working on, seasonal fire safety info and other fire dept related news. Click here to sign up for the newsletter

How would you like to make 100x the difference with your donation!

Great way to spend your donation tax deduction dollars.

Click here for full details and to donate

Saint Joseph Community Land Trust has changed their Motel to Home (MTH) program from a loan program to a grant program and we're hoping this will attract families living in substandard housing, who would like to live in a more permanent and adequate home. Please click here for more details

Tahoe Learning Haven - Click here for all their information and a link to each month's newsletter.

League to Save Lake Tahoe's Keep Tahoe Blue Volunteer Portal!

For all of those who want to help keep our Lake Tahoe prestene, here's a portal which you can now see the events and programs which are available to volunteer for! SHARE this with your family and friends! Portal here!

Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless seeks community support in keeping people cared for.

Our South Shore community has been able to sleep better knowing that our homeless population has an indoor option. This winter season marked the seventh anniversary of the Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless (TCH) providing warm beds to the most vulnerable in our community.

They are also in great need for warm clothing items and will accept donations at their office

The office hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 12-4 at the Red Lodge, 1137 Emerald Bay Rd.

More details here

Bread and Broth needs volunteers for Mondays and Fridays:

 Thank you so much for your current or past involvement with the Bread & Broth organization. Without you, our food outreach services which help ease hunger for hundreds of our community neighbors would not be possible.

Currently, Bread & Broth needs individuals who would be interested in assuming leadership roles in the organization.

Bread & Broth’s Advisory Board is seeking an individual for the position of board Secretary. B&B’s Advisory Board meets quarterly, and the Secretary is responsible for recording the meeting minutes and ensuring that all documentation from the meeting is compiled and filed with the meeting minutes. 

Bread & Broth’s Second Serving (weekly Friday meals served at the LT Community Presbyterian Church) serves a simple entrée and a hot soup which are provided by various local community restaurants. Currently B&B is seeking 2 to 3 individuals to coordinate and pickup soups from restaurants and deliver them to the Presbyterian Church on Fridays. The soup coordinator is responsible for interfacing with the existing list of restaurant soup providers to schedule soup donations and drivers are needed to go on Fridays and pick up soup from the week’s designated soup provider. 

Second Serving is also looking for assistant cooks to support the Lead Cooks at their Friday meals from approximately 2 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. once a month. The meals are simple entrées like meatloaf, pasta dishes, and sloppy Joes.

For those of you with leadership skills, B&B is looking for individuals to train as Lead Assistants for the Monday Meal dinner (2:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m.) and the B&B 4 Kids program (Thursdays from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m.) Training is provided and you will be assisting the Team Leads in overseeing and managing the duties of the team volunteers. Lead Assistants are assigned to a Team that volunteers once per month.

If you are interested any of the volunteer positions mentioned above, please contact Carol Gerard at 310-256-1019 or carolsgerard@aol.com

Blood Donations are Needed!

Our Nation continues to have a blood shortage everywhere. Giving blood is giving life. So GIVE!

Vitalant Blood Donations. Click here to find a blood draw near you!

Wed - Mon Carson City Vitalent Donation Center

256 Winnie Lane, Carson City, NV.

Click here to find more dates and locations

Upcoming Blood Drive Locations

Between Horses and Humans continues to grow! If you're a lover of youth and a lover of horses, this is a program for you! You can keep up on their information by reading their newsletters here! Volunteers and donations are always needed. BHH Update-they are soon relocating to the Amacker Ranch!

Food Assistance Guide for So. Lake Tahoe. If you know of anyone in need, please share this information. Click and print!