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Women Transforming Sonoma County Through Collective Philanthropy - Oct. 2020
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We just learned of yet another Impact 100 RC member who lost her home ... adding to the long list of members who have lost homes in the fires of recent years. Our hearts and thoughts are with you all. Please reach out to your Impact 100 RC colleagues for whatever assistance or support we can offer.
Many of us are feeling the fatiguing effects of 2020 - the pandemic, wildfire season, the political chaos. It is wearying and worrying. But we can always find something to celebrate, always find something for which to be grateful ...
- We're grateful that you, our members, have continued to stay involved and engaged. Our membership numbers continue to grow. It is testament to the power of our mission, the strength of our collective commitment, and the network we share.
- We're grateful for the army of Impact 100 RC volunteers busy preparing for our November 7th Annual Meeting, when we will announce the winner of this year's $100,000 Impact Grant. Of course, the meeting will be via Zoom and you can imagine how complex it is to plan a virtual session for 245 members! The Impact Grant Committee is winding up their evaluation of the grant proposals, selecting the Final three for our vote, and sending out an electronic ballot that will include video presentations by the three finalists. Watch for your ballot in your email on October 26. The Membership/Next Gen Committees have been working diligently via Cocktails & Conversation and other recruiting efforts to get new members on board in time to vote. The Marketing and Technology Committees are coordinating the communications and voting process, and developing the program structure. The Events Committee is making it festive and fun (and has surprises in store for us all).
- We're grateful for the ED TALKS presented by our Education Committee. October will feature William Carter LCSW, Behavior Health Division Director, Sonoma County Dept of Health Services. We're grateful for the ongoing updates from our Grantees for keeping us connected to our mission. Thanks to the Liaison and Marketing Committees who enable us to hear how our grants have made a difference to their programs and clients.
- We're grateful for the group of women who form our Racial Equity Study Group, diving into the issue of racial inequity, building awareness and understanding through reading and personal examination. Last month, Erica Lipanovich, a young Latina Physician Assistant serving the LatinX community, spoke to the group about their unique healthcare challenges. This is very much in the news with COVID-19's disproportional LatinX statistics. The Study Group is moving towards their next phase - researching how other organizations address diversity, equity, and inclusion in their grantmaking, organizational diversity, and policies and practices.
Yes, much for which to be grateful.
Jan Gilman & Suzy Marzalek, Co-Presidents
Impact 100 Redwood Circle
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Stay connected by attending these upcoming
8:30 a.m.
Taylor Mtn. North Entrance
ED TALK
Wednesday, Oct. 21
12:00 noon
Bill Carter, LCSW Behavioral Health Division Director, Sonoma County Department of Health
Cocktails & Conversation
Thursday, December 3
6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Open to members & guests who want to learn more about Impact 100 RC
Note: advanced registration is required.
Annual Meeting
Saturday, Nov 7
10:00 a.m.
Stay tuned for details!
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Membership
Please welcome the newest member of our circle:
Gail Ginder
Linda Heidi
Mel Konrad
Lucy Groetsch
Lindsey Alman
Liz Bippart
Nancy Anne Lang
Susan Lewis
Jane Read
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VOTE!
For our 2021 slate of officers:
CoPresidents - Suzy Marzalek and Cindy Schmidt Vice President/Governance - Carol Lynn Wood Vice President/Nominating - Eloise Tweeten Secretary - Suzanne Abrams Treasurer - Jenny Downing Click here to vote. Ballots must be received via email on, or preferably before, 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 23.
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GET READY FOR NOV. 7TH - ANNUAL MEETING!
The Impact Grant Committee is winding up their evaluation of the grant proposals, selecting the Final three for our vote, and sending out an electronic ballot that will include video presentations by the three finalists. Watch for the ballot in your email on October 26.
To celebrate our 5th year of providing grants, you will receive a special memento to unite you with the rest of our members. Our virtual event will include networking opportunities, similar to previous years, and other fun participatory activities. Plus, updates.
We are excited that the announcement of the selection of our $100,000 Impact 100 RC winner will be "live" and hope your ringside seat through ZOOM will provide you with an up close and personal experience with the winner that you could not have experienced otherwise.
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Updates From Our Grant Recipients
Forget Me Not Farm Children's Services
Animal Program
We have all things in place for our Roseland expansion and are now waiting for the quarantine restrictions to be lifted. We have offered a modified program to the families at Roseland Elementary. The program would be for individual participants instead of small groups. Each participant would also have the opportunity to bring siblings as well as parents. Although our services are typically during the week, we will extend our service time to the weekend to accommodate working parents with the understanding that transportation might be difficult during the week for working adults. We are waiting to hear back from the school principal about the interest level.
We have put this program modification into place for our other groups and are c
urrently serving several individual students. With our robust SSU internship program we are able to pair these individual participants with an intern and that is working very well. Referrals are trickling in from social workers and case managers as the county is still prohibiting face to face meetings between Behavioral Health clinicians and child clients. I predict this service will grow as word spreads around the mental health community.
All other public-school groups have suspended their participation in our program until school is back in session live.
Over 50 students have returned to our program. They are all from non-public schools and are in small groups living together in group homes. Because they are already in congregant settings transportation together to the farm is not a problem. The groups we are serving began coming out in June and their attendance has been sporadic due to random exposures to COVID-19 and subsequent quarantines.
We are taking animals with us offsite to one of our therapeutic preschools. This has been very successful but also sporadic because of virus exposure. Most of the children we serve are in high-risk families to virus exposure. We are taking it one day at a time.
Food Program
We have expanded our organic production garden and are now harvesting weekly and delivering boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables to many of our partner agencies. We have an abundance of produce so we are taking the over flow to other community agencies that distribute food such as Community Action Partnership, Catholic Charities and Food for Thought. We have also supplied one of our partners with organic plant starts for their onsite garden.
We are making weekly food deliveries to Valley of the Moon Children's Home, TLC - group homes, the YWCA - Safehouse and therapeutic preschool, North Valley School - group homes and The Living Room. We are also distributing bags of produce to community members, students and Forget Me Not Farm alumni. At this time, we are planning for a robust winter garden and plan to continue food distribution throughout the year.
Since mid-March we have assisted in farm animal rescues of 250 animals. Two hundred of the rescues were factory farmed hens from a commercial farm in Iowa - we were able to adopt 190 hens and we kept 10 to add to our flock. With the additional hens we are also supplying many of our  partners with fresh eggs.
We've added several animals to the farm, placed several in new forever homes and recently assisted with a rescue from the Walbridge fires. We took in over 36 animals and happily they were reunited with their owners last week and returned to the home place which was burned by the fires but not destroyed.
We are supporting our community by providing respite to COVID-19 medical personnel. We are working with local hospitals to give their doctors and other staff a place to relax, commune with nature and animals and re-energize.
On Thursday, September 10th we had a group of 13 doctors from a Residency program with Sutter Hospital - below is feedback from their program coordinator.
"I cannot thank you all enough!!! I have only received rave reviews from the group that went to the farm. All reported it was fun, restorative, and a great place to connect together. I so appreciate you sharing your space, time, and love with us. "
With great appreciation, Mariah Hansen, PsyD
Like everyone else we are adjusting to the new normal. We are adapting our program to be of service to as many people in the community as possible. We appreciate the ongoing support from Impact 100 members and our relationship with your organization.
Loretta Zweig & Cynthia Schmidt, Liaison Co-Chairs
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 Membership Committee
We continue to grow in these challenging times!
We currently we have 248 members (197 regular members, 48 Dyad members and 3 sponsored members). Our organization continues to grow, even in these challenging times!
The September 14th Cocktails and Conversation Zoom event was well attended and five of the attendees joined Impact 100 RC. The year-end Zoom C & C will be on Thursday, December 3, from 6-7 PM. December is typically a month where a good number of new members join Impact 100 RC since it is the last month for 2020 tax deductible donations.
ALL MEMBERS: Please seriously consider asking one or more guests to join you for this event. We need the support from all of our members in our ongoing recruitment efforts. There will be an eblast announcement coming soon with a link to register. Click here to register now.
Zoom tutorials are still being offered for any members needing help with any matter concerning our Impact 100 RC Zoom meetings. To sign up, please email Sharon Beckman at skuroki@sonic.net
Many of our members have October/November/December RENEWAL DATES. We are hoping for continued high renewal rates at a time when our community is in such great need of our support. Members up for renewal will receive timely email notifications. Membership Committee members are continuing to reach out to make sure emails have been received and to answer any questions.
**When renewing, please remember to mail in your renewal application (available on Impact 100 RC website under "Join Us") with your renewal fee donation.
Excitement is in the air for our year-end Zoom annual meeting on Saturday, November 7, from 10-12 Noon. This is a great meeting to bring guests, where they can see what Impact 100 is all about and experience the dramatic presentation of the Impact Grant.
Charlene Staples & Bev Curry, Co-Chairs
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NextGen
The monthly NextGen hike will be Sunday, October 18, 8:30 a.m. at Taylor Mountain Regional Park, hosted by Impact 100 RC founder Melissa Kelley. This is an opportunity for younger members to get to know each other, and guests to learn more about our group. Click here to sign up.
Do you know a younger woman who would like to learn more about our growing NextGen program? Invite them to join you on a hike or send contacts to Robin Wendler, NextGen Chair rwendler@rocketmail.com 707-889-4497.
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The Collective Power of Women - Part II
Last month, we acknowledged the collective power of women by highlighting the suffragette movement. This month, we acknowledge the four women who have served as Supreme Court Justices for the United States: Sandra Day O'Connor (ret.), Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg (died), and Elena Kagan.
First assembled in 1789, the Supreme Court did not appoint a woman until 1981.... 192 years later. These four women have truly played a ground-breaking role in American history. For example, Judge
Ginsberg lived what she stood for; her marriage with Marty Ginsburg rejected what was then society's
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| | The four female justices |
defined roles for men and women. Marty Ginsburg campaigned heavily for her to become a Supreme Court Justice and their collaboration allowed them to raise a family together, while judge Ginsburg make significant achievements in women's rights and multiple Constitutional issues. Hopefully many additional women will follow in her path.
We are a great example!
In support of the collective power of women, we congratulate our Impact 100 RC 2020 Leadership Team and all committee members who have worked together to fulfill our goals and demonstrate the continuing viability of collective giving.
Our collaboration has increased membership, educated and informed us on community needs, opened communication and lent support to our recipients, and will culminate in an annual Membership meeting to meet our goal of giving $100,000 to a non-profit and another $10,000 each to the two runners up. Our November 7th presentation will be made with both gusto and meaning-despite COVID-19, fires, evacuations-due to our collaborative efforts. We are stronger than ever!
We also take this opportunity to invite you to join us in actively working at our 2021 programs and events. We welcome your suggestions. See you on November 7th.
Valorie Bader, Marketing Committee
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Education Committee
ED TALK - Bill Carter, LCSW, Behavioral Health Division Director of the Sonoma County Department of Health Services
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| | Bill Carter |
Sonoma County has been through a lot these past three years, with the last seven months being especially trying for our community. The current demand for public and private behavioral health services is extraordinary. It is because of this that we are thrilled that Sonoma County Behavioral Health Director, Bill Carter, LCSW, accepted our invitation to speak!
When: Wednesday, Oct.21, 12:00 noon
We will be provided with a comprehensive overview of our public behavioral services, including mental and substance use treatment programs, Medi-Cal services, disaster and crisis response, prevention/early intervention, and other specialty mental health services. The importance of public/private community partnerships and the role of local nonprofits will be discussed. As always, there will be an opportunity for attendees to ask questions via the friendly Zoom Chat Box.
Mr. Carter has over 38 years of experience as a direct service provider and administrator in public and private mental health, social services and health programs. From 1998 to 2010, he was an administrator at the California Institute for Mental Health (CIMH, now CIBHS) where, among other things, he led the Institute's efforts to disseminate evidence-based practices. In 2010, Mr. Carter joined the Napa County Health and Human Services Agency, becoming its Mental Health Director in 2014. Mr. Carter was appointed the Sonoma County Behavioral Health Director in 2018. Recognized as a statewide expert in the mental health field, his expertise has been described as invaluable as the County has worked toward the redesign of its behavioral health system, while addressing a number of fiscal and operational goals crucial to the sustainability of the division. Mr. Carter leads the operations of the Behavioral Health Division (BHD) and oversees the division's programs and services, including the Crisis Stabilization Unit (CSU) and Mobile Support Team (MST).
Thea Hensel & Laurie Parish, Co-Chairs
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Contact our Newsletter Editor:
If you have questions or suggestions for The Impact 100 Redwood Circle Communique, please contact Editor, Jan Houts at impact100newsletter@gmail.com
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