Sasa! That's "hello" in Swahili. Today's meeting was opened by President Shelly on this beautiful Lake Tahoe morning! A beautiful morning, friends, coffee, and shopping with Zawadisha, how could a day's start get any better!

Invocation - In Lydia's absence today, Teacher Shelly read excerpts from an absolutely beautiful lyrical picture book that everyone needs to check into. Change Sings-A Children's Anthem by Amanda Gorman and illustrated by Loren Long. Simply beautiful in words and art. This is something to consider for the holidays if not sooner! Check it out here. Share it with a young person you love.

We welcomed a new guest today, Diana Fisher! Lisa Cali met her while walking her fur baby and we were so delighted to have her join us today.

Sunshine goes out to Joanne Shope and Lydia who are both under the weather. Get better soon ladies! To our Laurie Flesher who had to part ways with her fur baby this past week. To the family and friends of Dr. Peterson and Alan Petrell, who both passed away recently. Our hearts go out to all of you.

Special congratulations to our sister club, SISLT who celebrated their 65th birthday as a club! 65 sure looks good on you! They have accomplished so much work these many years and everyone can help to keep the momentum going by purchasing a ticket to their 50th Golden Gala to be held on Nov. 3 at the Tahoe Blue Event Center. Visit their website! www.sislt.org

Today's speaker is a long time supporter and friend to SITS and to the world of women, Jen Gurecki. Jen Gurecki is the founder and Board President of Zawadisha, a social enterprise whose mission is to provide small loans to rural Kenyan women to finance their livelihoods. Zawadisha’s model is soundly pro-poor, pro-woman, and pro-environment.

She holds a master’s degree from Prescott College and dropped out of their PhD program when she realized that being her own boss was more her calling than academia. She’s been featured in Outside Magazine, Huck Magazine, Red Bull Magazine, and Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the top 50 Most Daring Entrepreneurs. She spends her summers in Kenya working with Zawadisha. In the winters she runs Coalition Snow, the only women-owned and operated ski and snowboard brand that she also founded. She spends her evenings recording the podcast Juicy Bits, reminiscing about the time she turned down an offer from Bodie Miller to buy Coalition Snow, and how she’d like to cycle across Africa again. Now that she’s almost 50-years-old, she’s going to see how far she can push that Older Women thing. Learn more at www.coalitionsnow.com and www.zawadisha.org.

Her passion for Zawadisha and how she and a community of women have approached poverty will enlighten you. Watch her Ted Talk at “Rethinking the Paradigm of Poverty” to learn so much more. Today, Jen presented Zawadisha, an amazing organization, to continue to bring us along on her journey.

The website says it as it is. Zawadisha is improving women's lives one loan at a time. Their efforts are not charity, but rather change. Zawadisha's loans are specific to women, but the efforts affect the entire Kenyan family.

Zawadisha provides small loans (in the form of product) to rural Kenyan women to help them finance their own livelihoods but they do it in a manner that WORKS! Why does it work? Because Number one reason is because Zawadisha responds to what the women of Kenya need. This isn't a situation where someone from the outside is determining the need of someone living there. It is and always has been conducted as a bottom - up organization. Jen learned that many of the Kenyan women wanted to be out of the house earning their own money but they had barriers and were looking for opportunities to change things.

It was 20 years ago that Jen was conducting her grad school research. She wanted to figure out a way on how social change could happen successfully and more importantly sustain itself. Throwing money at people is never the answer. Jen met an amazing woman, Monika Makori. Together, she and Monika (now Zawadisha's Country Director) traveled and met with the women in the county of Murang'a and listened to what they needed. Women shared the amount of work, daily time, and danger involved with just collecting water for their homes. It was this basic need which Zawadisha first focused on.

Rather than loaning actual money (they did not want to be a bank), the notion of purchasing items needed, and having the client pay for the cost of the item as a "loan" was born. Ms. Jen took savings bonds (remember those things!) that her grandmother had given her and turned that money into the first funds to buy water holding tanks, which still today, is an item for women in high demand.

Women are "loaned" the water tank, are placed on a payment schedule, and pay the loan back until they own the tank outright. How do women pay back their loans? That water tank can make money for its owner as water can be sold to another, or the water is used for the garden which produces food which can be sold, etc. Solar lamps, used for necessities in the home, also have the ability to charge cell phones, another item which can be sold to make money. She joked, but Zawadisha is Kenya's Rent a Center for needed products! And the beautiful wares that Jen brought today, most of which are made by the women in the villages during their leisure time, are purchased by Zawadisha, sold to people like us, and then those funds go back into the Zawadisha business.

In addition to the work Jen began in Kenya, she worked her tail off back at home in gaining supporters for Zawadisha. That's exactly how SITS became an annual donor for the organization. Our middle school's Club Live program has also raised money for water tank purchases for the program and many of us donate to Zawadisha monthly!

Jen also brought some of the Zawadisha wares that many of us purchased! We love shopping in the morning. She brought the baskets made of sisal (relative of the agave plant), bags from Machakos, and Kikoy (wraps) from the Zanzibar area. You can purchase items online and/or you can high tail it to the lovely shop they have in the Reno Public Market! Take a look here! Several of us at SITS have been buying items from the women of Kenya for years. Perfect items with the holidays coming up! Buy unique things for people you love AND do good in the world.

Want to be part of dynamic change? Join their mailing list here to get updates on the work being done in Kenya, donate, purchase their products from Kenya or go to the Reno Public Market and visit FAR OUT, the shop of Zawadisha and Coalition Snow, or participate on a trip to Kenya organized and led by Jen!

SITS Member Items & Our Projects

The Education Committee met at Cookie's home to pack up 100 backpack with school supplies for the community children. Packs were delivered to various organizations and schools last week. Thank you ladies!

• Healthy Women/Heathy World is announcing a community e-waste drive for Saturday, September 23 from 10 - 2 PM at the South Tahoe Refuse Center!

Ewaste includes:

• CRT devices including older televisions and computer monitors.
• LCD desktop computer monitors, laptop computers, and tablets.
• LCD televisions and smart displays.
• Plasma televisions.
• OLED-containing televisions.
• OLED-containing desktop monitors, laptop computers, and tablets.

The I Got Lei'd ad hoc committee is planning a fundraiser for Lahaina. More information to come, but if you would like to be on this committee, please contact Paula.

The Technology Committee is planning a Happy Hour at the Tech Cafe (Laurie's home) for the first weekend in October (time to be determined). This will be a chance for everyone to get some fun instruction on how to use our technology--calendars, website, Google Mail, etc. Everyone is encouraged to attend.

Challenge Day Volunteers needed!

A SITS supported opportunity for all of us and your friends!

South Tahoe High School will be having their Challenge Day event on September 11,12, and 13. However, signups are happening THIS WEEK at SLT High School Challenge Days. TASK (Tahoe Alliance for Safe Kids) needs volunteers for all three days from 8:15 to 3:15. Our contact on this is Theresa so direct an email to her for more information at tahoesafekids@gmail.com. Volunteers are only asked to spend one day with 4-5 kids in a small group. The program will be facilitated by professionals and lunch will be provided. This is a very rewarding way to connect with kids in our community.

SI Sierra Reno officially chartered on June 23^rd, 2023. We are now thrilled to invite you and your club members to join in the Charter Celebration on Wednesday September 13^th from noon pacific time to 1pm. See the attached flyer.

 The best part about a virtual celebration is you can join us right from the comfort of your own home or office.  All you need is your laptop or smartphone and a stable internet connection. Attached is the invitation flyer. Please RSVP to Secretary Sarah Carrasco at sarah@sarahcarrascolaw.com and she will send you a zoom link for our 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!

Raising Support for Maui

SUPPORT MAUI: There are fully vetted charities on Maui that are collecting funds for those affected by the tragic Lahaina Fire. Visit HERE for a full list.

There will be a local SUPPORT MAUI event being spearheaded by a woman who is a member of Soroptimist of West Maui but also lives in South Lake Tahoe part-time. More on that soon but it looks like it will be at end of Sept.

Our club is also organizing a I Got Lei'd fundraiser. See above to get involved in the planning.

To all organizations with exceptional volunteers and employees who go beyond the call of duty:

This is the second year of our effort to recognize and nominate those who go over and above to serve their community in their job or as a community volunteer.. The Kiwanis are the primary organization with the South Tahoe Chamber as a partner.

Please read this, nominate someone who deserves it and send it out to others who might have someone else who is an unsung hero. 

The deadline is September 11th. See attached flyer for details

Duane Wallace,

Kiwanis member and Chamber Exec

530-545-3563

Last call!

MOUNTAIN TOP YOGA SERIES

Sunday Summer Mountain Top Yoga Series @ Blue Sky Terrace

DATES: Sunday: Jul 02 - Sep 03

TIME:10am -11:15am

LOCATION: Blue Sky Terrace

COST: Free (must have a ticket or pass to ride the gondola)

Full details here

6th Annual Reef's Run for Hydrocephalus Awareness - Sept 10th

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR!

Registration is OPEN for our 6th Annual Reef's Run!

Sign up today and save $10 OFF adult registrations until August 7th.

Children 4 and under are FREE and kids 5-14 are always just $20!

We have just 40 days until our big event! We will once again be starting and ending at Round Hill Pines Resort! Sign-in and day of registration start at 7:30 am and we will have coffee, water, and light snacks to get your day started right. After the run, enjoy an ice-cold beer for those of you who are 21 and over, and ice cream for the kids provided by Crystal Creamery! Stay around for our awards ceremony, group photo, silent auction and raffle, face painting, music, snacks, and more!

If you can't make the run, come on down for our silent auction and raffle, starting at 9:30 am. Our DJ will be keeping the event upbeat, and we will even have face painting for the kids! 

Dear Blood Donors,

 Please join us for the South Lake Tahoe community blood drive on Friday, September 22nd from 11:30a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Located at the South Lake Tahoe Parks & Recreation Gym, 1180 Rufus Allen Blvd., South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150.

Donors are encouraged to schedule an appointment. Walk-ins will be accommodated if space allows.  

Please schedule an appointment click here

or go to donors.vitalant.org and use blood drive code SMFM062

or call Vitalant at 877-258-4825 and mention blood drive code SMFM062.

Community E-waste Day! Hosted by our club, SITS, and South Tahoe Refuse on SATURDAY, SEPT. 23, from 10 - 2 PM! Bring your items to dispose of your ewaste properly!

Leadership Lake Tahoe Applications Open

Leadership Lake Tahoe is an interactive intensive ten-month experience to provide information, strategies, contacts, and opportunities for personal and professional growth. This program is built upon three main pillars: GROW, CONNECT, and VOICE. The program will return in September 2023 and will run through June 2024. Program sessions are held on the second Thursday of each month from 8:30-5:00. Follow the link for more info on the Chamber website and the program application: Details 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 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

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

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

Sugar Pine Foundation

It's their busy time of the year! Check out the website for ALL the opportunities to do your bit to help!

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!