Today's meeting was opened by President Shelly and our invocation provided by Lydia pointed out some lessons that Gardening can teach us about Life. Just to name a few--Slow down and have patience; plants emerge and bloom in their own time. Stop comparing, accept yourself as you are whether you are a daffodil or a rose. Balance is key, too much water or fertilizer can be toxic. Gardening is a process--it may take months or years to "fill in" and realize the final goal. At this time of year, take pleasure in your garden and be in awe as your plants come back to life.

Sunshine goes out to Theresa's daughter for her knee pain that it is not serious, Karen H. as she recovers from shoulder surgery, Lisa C. and her family as they deal with illness, Abby P. for strength to deal with her dog's ACL surgery, and Elizabeth P for healing of her hand so that she can do her job.

Our guests included Sally Ross. Welcom, Sally. Glad you came to check us out. Hope you will think about joining us permanently.



Today's Speaker was Kim George, Fire Marshall with South Lake Tahoe Fire and Rescue. See their website here.

As Fire Marshal, Kim's job is all about wildfire prevention. She helps homeowners with Defensible Space (removing hazardous materials around the home) and Home Hardening (using fire resistant materials on the roof, windows, vents, and siding of the home).

Defensible Space.Kim provided those in attendance with the requirements for Public Resource Code 4291 which requires 100 feet of defensible space around your home. SLTFR staff are inspecting homes in the city now to determine compliance with this requirement. You can view the document here. The goal with these inspections is education for the homeowner, but they will site infractions and they will fine if there is no effort to comply. SLTFR has numerous resources to help homeowners meet the California Code requirements. Check out their web page here.

Home Hardening. Wildfire researchers at the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) have spent years researching wildfire through both field and lab studies. Now, in collaboration with other wildfire community experts, IBHS has identified the mitigation actions critical to reducing your wildfire risk. The goal is that completing these actions and receiving a certificate should lead to insurance companies offering to insure your home. See more information here. These actions have been verified in scientific testing by numerous insurance companies. SLTFR is working on being able to do the assessments and offer certificates.

Firewise Program. Firewise is a neighborhood education and evaluation program where volunteers assess properties, offer information about defensible space and home hardening, and help the community to bring properties into compliance. Insurance companies will give discounts to Firewise neighborhoods. More information on the program can bee see here. Al Tahoe was the first firewise neighborhood in South Lake Tahoe.

Catastrophe Modeling. Presently, insurance companies don't consider future possibilities of wildfire. They have their own proprietary requirements which they do not share. But Kim tells of her experiences viewing their satellites that can see the pine needles on your roof and how much tree canopy covers your home. Using Catastrophe Modeling will allow insurance companies to consider fuels reduction efforts, forest resiliency, prior burn scars and the health of the forest to make their assessments. Jessica Morse is the former Deputy Secretary for Forest and Wildland Resilience at the California Natural Resources Agency who is now running for US Congress in California's 3rd District. She has secured $3 Billion for California for fire resiliency and has ideas on how to push insurance companies to insure California homes.

Thank you Kim, for a very informative talk and information to help make Tahoe fire safe. Kim is happy to answer questions you may have and can be reached at: kgeorge@cityofslt.us

And a bit more fun from Mad Hatter Tea Party, 2024!

SITS Member Items & Our Projects

MEMBER Weekly Contribution or Quarterly Contribution can be paid online here! It's fast and easy! It can go through your Paypal or Credit Card. Get er dun!

Healthy Women Healthy World committee members are participating in Bread & Broth on June 3! Our team is established and we're very excited. Reminders will be provided by Shelly as Kim is gone!

Mad Hatter DEBRIEF!

Andie announced that we will have a debrief soon so she's asking ALL members to jot down things that can be improved upon either from their observations or comments from our guests!

2024-2025 SITS Installation will be on Thursday, June 27th beginning at 5 PM at Wendy's. Put it in your calendars now ladies and we'll circle round with details soon.

Announcement from President Shelly: I have fabulous news to share. Our Live Your Dream award recipient, Astraea Marion was selected to be honored with the past Governors Live Your Dream Award, which means that she'll be recognized and awarded $1000.00 dollars at the SNR Conference next week. Thank you to Nancy and the entire LYD committee for your excellent work! And a big thank you to us all for showing up and doing big , small, and in between things that truly make a positive impact on the world. 

SITS COMMITTEE Signup Portal!

This is how we get things done.

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!

Between Horses and Humans - Mane Event - June 1st

Join us for an unforgettable day of celebration and giving back at our Mane Event fundraiser and launch! This occasion supports Between Horses and Humans and celebrates the partnership between Untethered and Cowork Tahoe. Be part of the $35k Match program by Untethered and enjoy catering, food trucks, live music, kids' activities, a silent auction, wine raffle, and a kids' raffle. Save the date for a day of fun, community, and making a difference! Proceeds benefit Between Horses and Humans.

Click here for full details.

Western Days, June 1 from 10 - 4 PM. Fun for the whole family!

Read details here.

Here Fishy Fishy!

The South Lake Tahoe Optimist Club is hosting its Annual Kid's Fishing Derby at Sawmill Pond (corner of Lake Tahoe Blvd. and Sawmill Rd. in South Lake Tahoe) on Saturday, June 1st from 8am - 12pm and is open to youth up to 14 years of age! Fishing tackle and bait is available. Expert guidance from Tahoe Fly Fishing. Free fish cleaning table. Hot Dogs, Chips and lemonade will be provided!

Rotary Club of South Lake Tahoe is having a Crawdad Festival at Valhalla on July 6 from noon to 4 PM! This will be an amazing event with an amazing view! Details here.

Marcella Foundation Partners with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to Offer FREE books to Local Children

Marcella Foundation is thrilled to announce the launch of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in El Dorado County. Each month, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library will provide an age-appropriate book for each registered child, absolutely free to the family. All 8,000 children ages 0 to their 5th birthday living in El Dorado County can enroll now to receive a free monthly book. Any child in the home can register, and books are available in both English and Spanish. In a show of support for early literacy for all children in our region, First 5 El Dorado, El Dorado County Library, Friends of the Library, El Dorado Community Foundation partnered with Marcella Foundation to help launch Imagination Library. Additionally, United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra is providing the initial funding to bring Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to each of the communities surrounding Lake Tahoe. 

Committed to FEED, READ, and LEAD

Click here for details on how to enroll your child

Looking for up to date resources in our community? Barton Health has a list for all of us and it is actively updated! SHARE this link with others!

ALL YEAR LONG!

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)

TASK presents Jonathan Lowe speaking about "Understanding Teen Substance Use and Tools to Support Their Recovery" on June 5, from 5:00-6:30 at STHS Student Center. For more information click here.

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

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.

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 in other areas

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!