President Shelly called the meeting to order.

Lydia's invocation today recounted the movie Groundhog Day. Reminding us that to be released from the never-ending tedium and problems of our days, to reach out with love and a desire to do the right thing in all our interactions.

Guests included: Emery Hansa - Beavers from Shelly's Girl Scout troop came to talk about their annual cookie sale and the amazing trip the girls are taking to Austria and Croatia this year as they finish their Senior year as well as their last year in Girl Scouts. If you'd like to donate directly rather than buy cookies, see Shelly.

Sunshine goes out to: All those in the world with mental health, depression or physical issues that need help or support. Our former member, but forever SITSter, Joy Rogers is recovering nicely from recent hip surgery. Paula's Neice's Son who was a victim of extreme bullying.

To begin our meeting we'd like to formally thank El Dorado Savings Bank as another Club Sponsor! Thank you to Mr. John Cook and the entire EDSB family for your continued support of our club and the women and youth in our community and the world! We appreciate you all so very much! .....

Today we had some "SITSterhood" time. This is when we get time to really get to know each other. Today Wendy asked us all to share what we think our current "Superpower" is and then what "Superpower" we wish we had. There were some great answers ranging from organization, planting seeds of change, optimism, grocery planning and shopping, communication, crafting to kindness and commitment. For the Superpowers we'd like to have: Patience, technological knowledge, motivation, empathy, the ability to say "No" more easily and the most important one of all......being able to eat anything we want without gaining weight.

We had some extra time and were able to share with each other who in our lives most influenced who we became. Our parents were a favorite, along with Grandparents. We were especially influenced by those who dealt with, and taught us to deal with, physical, financial or other hardships. One of our ladies has a son with mental challenges. She said he has influenced her whole life and how she interacts with the world. At the end of the sharing, we had several drawings for prizes to reward those who were hearty enough to brave the elements this morning.

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

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. We currently have 4 volunteers, if you are interested in being the 5th, please reach out to Kim to sign up as a crew member ASAP.

From the MIDDLE SCHOOL PROJECT COMMITTEE: This year, this committee, in addition to supporting the Challenge Day and Challenge Day Assembly also instituted an Essay contest. We received 50 Essays from the kids on what Challenge Day meant for them. What a wonderful way to help kids reflect on the change they can make in the world and in their fellow students lives.

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.

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!

The Tahoe Institute for Natural Science is sponsoring several outings in January. For more information on how to sign up for these events click here.

·   February 2 - Carson Valley Raptor Tour - Carson Valley, NV

Alias Brass

In Schools February 5-9, 2024

Public Performance Friday February 9th 6:30 PM - LTCC Duke Theater 

Admission at Doors: $10 Adults $5 Children

Doors Open at 6pm

Click here for more details

Click here for flyer

THERE’S STILL TIME TO BECOME A MOMENTUM MENTOR

Mentor Training Session: Wednesday, February 7th at 6pm at Lake Tahoe Community College

Click here for more 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.

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

Bald Eagle Count

Two of our lovely SITSters (Amy and Jeanne) participated in the annual Bald Eagle Count with Tahoe Institute of Natural Science (TINS)

Here is a message from TINS-

We at TINS would love to give you a big THANK YOU for making this year's Bald Eagle Count a success; this event would not be possible without your careful data collection. This week, Sarah and Will carefully reviewed all the datasheets, and plotted the location and movements for each BAEA seen to ensure that we weren’t double counting any birds and we had our third highest count ever! We also had our highest volunteer turnout with 130 volunteers participating. Enjoy the results, along with some highlights, and some follow up below.

2024 Results 

This year we tallied a total of 30 Bald Eagles. Thanks to your efforts, we were able to document 17 individual adults and 13 immatures



Very cool time lapse video of how they compiled all the data

and

Click here for the TINS website - TINSWEB.ORG

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

Great way to spend your donation tax deduction dollars or make a huge difference donating on someone's behalf for Christmas!

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!