The annual luncheon was held March 3rd at the Lion's Center for the Visually Impaired. We had over forty attendees honoring special women in our community. President Timi Tumbaga did a fine job emceeing our program.

Opening the program was the keynote address given by our own Joan Silva posing the question "Is it better to Give or to Receive?" It was delivered with poise as well as humor and everyone could choose the merits of either giving or receiving. It was great food for thought. Thank you Joan!

Phyllis Gordon introduced Josie Monaghan a member of the East Contra Costa County Peer to Peer Council who accepted a check on behalf of SI Pittsburg to help continue their good works on behalf of our brave women veterans.

Phyllis Gordon introduced our Ruby awardee, Dr. Julianna Hynes who spoke to us about her work in the field of motivation and encouragement of aspiring professional women.

Wendy Anderson presented Shannon Gonzales with the Violet Richardson Award for her volunteer work at Pittsburg High School where she and fellow "Club Puente" members volunteered for Shelter Inc. in Pittsburg and Antioch."Club Puente" also received an award for their special volunteer work.

Joan Silva presented our Women's Opportunity Award Winner Quintina Clark with a check and certificate as our 2012 WOA winner. WOA is Soroptimist's signature awards program first given in 1972. It recognizes the endeavors of a woman to improve her life by reentering academia while supporting not only herself but her family. Quintina maintains a 3.5 GPA while studying accounting and auditing.

Mary French introduced the newly re-named "Marilyn McFaul Vocational Scholarship" awardee Apollonia Jordan. This award was named in honor of our beloved Marilyn McFaul who passed away in 2011 Marilyn's husband Archie McFaul presented Apollonia with a check and certificate for her work in pursuing a degree in speech therapy. Apollonia hopes to transfer from Los Medanos College to San Francisco State in the near future.

Dion Weaver presented SI of Pittsburg's MVP award to President Timi Tumbaga. Timi was voted by her peers to be the most valuable member of our club. This award is given to a member who regularly attends meetings, is always there to help with or chair projects and goes above and beyond. She received an engraved charm bracelet and lots of gratitude from our membership.

District II Director Gloria Soderbery presented the Club Fellow to Jackie Buccellato. Jackie will receive her fellowship pin and certificate in May at Founder Region Conference. This award is presented to a club member voted by her peers in recognition of their support and work for our club's goals and ideals. "Fellowship" is a signature program unique to Founder Region. SI Founder Region gives up to $60,000.00 annually to female doctoral students within the boundaries of Founder Region to complete their doctoral studies. The program was established in 1948.     

Kitchen & Clean Up Crew - (L to R) Mary French, Dion Weaver, Joan Coss, Gloria Soderbery, Rose Mary Tumbaga, Wendy Anderson (chair) & Doris. (Not pictured - Darrelle Vecchio, Robin Armour, Jackie Buccellato, Roseanne Lazio, Louise Lawson, Peggy Nichols)

Wendy Anderson catered the luncheon serving salads and desserts. Many thanks go out to the trusty kitchen crew that assists each year. Dion Weaver, Mary French, Roseanne Lazio, Rose Mary Tumbaga and long time friend Darrelle Vecchio made this task fun and efficient. The members who served the food did a great job and many thank yous to Doris Bedford, Robin Armour, Jackie Buccellato, Joan Coss, Rose Mary Tumbaga, Roseanne Lazio and Louise Lawson. Thank yous are extended to Dion Weaver for compiling the list of the attendees and to Doris Bedford and Peggy Nichols for attending to check-in duties. Great job ladies and finally to our ladies, too many to name who all helped to clean up and put the Center back in place. Your work is very much appreciated.

The luncheon is always a joy to chair and makes us proud to be a Soroptimist. These awards are one of the primary reasons we are passionate about our fund raising events. We are very proud to ask support of others to assist these wonderful women in attaining their life and career goals.

Wendy Anderson

Chair, Making a Difference Awards Luncheon

Cocktails for a Cause 2012 Fundraiser

Celebrity Bartenders

   

COCKTAILS FOR A CAUSE

What a great evening of fun! It may have been cold and rainy, but we managed to fill the house. The event was held at La Veranda on February 29th 2012. A percentage of the bar sales and all tips benefit the Soroptimist Service Fund which goes towards projects such as Kidz on Target, The Reading Project, Get Real Academy, The Women's Opportunity Award, Violet Richardson Award, and the Marilyn McFaul Vocational Scholarship.

 

 As part of the event, we featured the Great Gift Card Basket Raffle. Gift cards and certificates from local and surrounding businesses for goods and services were gathered to fill the basket. Valued at more than $1700 dollars, the drawing was held on March 3rd at our annual awards luncheon. (Click here to read about the luncheon.) Congratulations to our winner, June Rogers of SI Martinez!

 

Joe Sbranti, Gloria Soderbery & Sal Evola

A very special thank you to our celebrity bartenders: Gloria Soderbery, District II Director; Contra Costa County Supervisor Federal Glover; City of Pittsburg Council member Sal Evola; and Pittsburg City Manager Joe Sbranti! Let's not forget our fabulous hosts Nick Maamari, Johnny Khalileh and the entire crew at La Veranda! The night was truly special! A special toast to all of you that were there "Sipping for Soroptimist" and helped make the evening a success!

 

Federal Glover & Phyllis Gordon

Nick & Johnny

Many stayed for dinner, invited friends to enjoy the evening.

(L to R) Tim Barrett, Nancy Dadami, Joan Silva (SI of Pittsburg member), Linda Barrett, John Silva & Ron Dadami

Brags & Sharing
by Members  

Thank you SI of Pittsburg, and Awards Luncheon chair, Wendy Anderson, for the lovely flowers I was given for being the keynote speaker at our most recent awards luncheon. They are beautiful, especially the antique vase it was in. I feel very grateful for this lovely gift and thank you!  

Joan Silva 

_____________________________________ 

Past President Peggy Nichols Receives Her Pin!

Presented by Gov-Elect Dona Gaddis-Wolf

______________________________________

SPECIAL THANK YOU

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I don't have the words to truly express my gratitude to all of the women in this organization. I am honored by being named this year's Club MVP. There are so many women within our club that are deserving of this title. It was such a surprise to receive this award and so much more meaningful when it is decided upon by my fellow club members. For me this was a gift that I will cherish deeply.        ~~ Timi ~~ 

Calendar of Meetings & Events
MARCH 2012

Club Meetings

Daytime meetings

 Held @ Country Waffles, Pittsburg @ 12 Noon  

(except where otherwise noted)

March 1st  - Business meeting  

March 8th -  SI Pittsburg Celebrates 59 Years of Service!  

March 22nd - Joe Sbranti, City Manager from the City of Pittsburg

March 29th -  Fr. Robert Rein from St. Ignatius of Antioch will give us the history of St. Patrick

Evening Social meeting    

March 15th -   Saint Patrick's Day Feast & Celebration  

Social Meeting @ The Art Shack         

Other Important Dates & Events  

SI of Pittsburg BOARD MEETING 
Thursday, March 24th @ 11am - @ Country Waffles     

Deadline for SI of Pittsburg April 2012 Newsletter

~ Friday, March 30th