A Message from Pat

As I begin my Presidency, I could use your help with an easy task. Please, let’s greet each other and communicate often. Making your acquaintance is important to me. It is exciting to be part of the leadership team for such an exceptional organization; one known in the Green Valley community for its charitable work, for providing its members opportunities to learn, and as a place for creating friendships. I look forward to working with you. Hats off to The Women of Quail Creek!

This week’s Friday Morning Message:  A BIG Thank You: Monday’s Program | Reserve Your June Luncheon Seats | Memorial Day Wreath Laying | Veteran’s Donations | Honor Flight | Member’s Corner | Member Spotlight | Baby Shower Recap | 2019 Fashion Show: Need Volunteers | Helping Homeless Youth | Thermal Totes for Scholarships | Upcoming Events 

“The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Designing Cacti Containers” was the May 21^st TWOQC program. The dynamic duo of Kathy Stone and Francesca Schelenski from Earth Angels, presented an informative and highly entertaining program about creating, planting, and caring for container cactus gardens. The program featured a variety of cacti and succulents, gorgeous handmade containers, and a “how to” demonstration. Lucky door prize winners received small container gardens or special cactus planting equipment (forceps and rubber gloves!). Congratulations to Janice Pell for winning the special cacti pot in the photo. Thank you, Kathy and Francesca.

Hot off the press, we just received their tips and tricks for the caring of cacti containers. Follow THIS LINK to access Fran & Kathy’s handout.

Eileen Sykora, club photographer, deserves a huge round of applause for her beautiful photos capturing moments of the program. Click on the picture to view the photo album. Also, many members brought donations for the Green Valley Food Bank. The food bank reported that our groceries totaled 56 lbs. There were also monetary donations totaling $100. Thank you for your ongoing support!

Beat the heat and have a great time at our June summer luncheon. Entertainment is being provided by the Celtic Step Dancers, an award-winning troupe of exciting, young talent. Seats are being sold now (in tables of 8). Contact Janice Messer at (951) 230-1171 or events@womenqc.com to reserve and pay.

Price is $20 for members, $25 for non-member first time guests. Please provide a preferred table number if you have a preference (maybe you’ll be joining your friends who already have reserved seats). As always, reserve your seats early for the best choice.

SUMMER LUNCHEON SCHEDULE: Monday, June 25, 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Menu: Chicken salad stuffed beefsteak tomato on a bed of greens with raspberry vinaigrette and green goddess dressing on the side, bread, iced tea/water/coffee, and chocolate cupcake with Irish cream frosting.

• 11am – Bar opens
• 11:30 – Luncheon begins
• 11:45 – Remarks
• 12pm – Lunch is served
• 1pm – Program begins

TWOQC will be laying a wreath during the Memorial Day service that begins at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, May 28 (the official date for Memorial Day) at Green Valley Mortuary and Cemetery, 18751 S. La Cañada Drive.

This year our own Laurie Brown will be doing the honor of laying the wreath. All are invited to the cemetery to pay respects to those veterans who have gone before us. It is recommended that you bring a lawn chair in case they run out of chairs. Of course, it’s always a good idea to bring your water and wear a sun hat.

Many thanks to those who continue to support those who served. The paper products and snack items will be put to good use for the walk-in homeless veterans seeking services. The underwear for both men and women is much appreciated and the hospitalized veterans like the note paper and greeting cards.

If you didn’t make it to the program and have donations for the VA, they may be dropped off at the McGee’s house, 1908 E Longspur Place, at any time. Peggy goes to the VA at least twice a month.

You have let them know that they are cherished and not forgotten. Three hundred ninety-five letters of thanks were written and distributed during mail call to the WWII and Korean War Veterans on Honor Flight #24 to Washington DC. Thank you for your devotion to this project. The next flights are in September and October. You may wish to start writing “To a Veteran” now, please.

Cheers to our newest members! Welcome: Stephanie Esposto, Cathy Goodrich, Lisa Johnson, Carin Kaiser, Beth Larose, Deb Melton, Bonnie Nowicki, Mary Smith, and Kathy Westerburg. We look forward to seeing you at our monthly programs and getting to know you as the year unfolds.

A sincere “thanks” to our wonderful volunteers who greet our members and guests, register new members, and assist following the program: Linda Bradley, Barbara Fiallos, Mary Fix, Tessie Hagerich, Nancy Jacobs, and Joyce Walton.

Joette Schenck moved from Silicon Valley to Quail Creek almost 10 years ago. With her father being in the Air Force, Joette recalls a different school every year of grade school and felt grounded enough to make friends once her family settled in Sunnyvale, California. Joette has finally started referring to Arizona as “home” and shares her Quail Creek life with “Chico” a Chihuahua/Rat Terrier rescued at birth from the Katrina flood.

Joette’s most important priority is keeping in touch with her daughters. Kyrsten owns a food cart, OMG (Oregon Made Grub) in Portland, Oregon where she serves mostly organic food. Lauren lives in Silicon Valley and attends college.

Joette admits her passion is residential real estate, and is now in her 17th year. She co-owns HomeSmart Pros Real Estate with 2 friends. Overseeing 38 agents keeps her schedule full and increases her knowledge of the business on a daily basis.

She enjoys reading (especially murder mysteries) and traveling. Her adventures have taken her to Turkey, Egypt, Andorra, Israel, the Greek Islands, all the countries along the Rhine, Main and Danube and a number of other countries. Joette has a love of languages but her daughters have forbidden any attempts to demonstrate her “skills” as her sentences start in one language and include two more before she finishes. Joette fondly remembers her carefree days of running topless on Bermuda beaches totally uninhibited… as is the case with most toddlers!

Attended by TWOQC Shower Committee (20 ladies), staff of the 162^nd Air National Guard, mom’s & dad’s, and 3 of the 4 major TV stations in Tucson… a great, blessed day was had by all. In case you missed our posts these last few months, here is a recipe for a baby shower…

• 

  Award presented to TWOQC at the 2018 Military Families Baby Shower. (Click image to enlarge)

  1 military unit (162d ANG, members of 214^th @ DM, 1 family from Army National Guard)

• 29 families
• 30 babies
• 35 stuffed animals
• 130 blankets
• 391 Onesies
• 351 outfits
• 954 handmade items for 30 diaper bags
• 200 bags of wipes
• 5,200 diapers (3500 of them from Unit 31!)
• 2,000 hours of planning
• Shake all together and enjoy!

Check out over 100 photos of the event provided by Eileen Sykora in the online photo album. Look for the 2019 baby shower planning meetings sometime in November. Notices will be in the Fall FMM’s and listed in the online Calendar.

Plans for the annual American Cancer Society Fashion Show February 25^th are already underway. This important event helps save lives of people in our community and around the world. We need many volunteers for one of the largest TWOQC events. If you volunteered last year please consider helping again. Take heed Snowbirds, you too, can sign up. It is not too early. Consider one of the following as an opportunity:

• Co-chair for the Fashion Show
• Raffle Basket Committee
• Registration Committee
• Models for the Fashion Show

… READ MORE

TWOQC has become a pivotal support resource for Youth On Their Own (YOTO).  YOTO is a non-profit agency located in Tucson that provides critical services to homeless youth throughout Pima County, giving them much needed counseling and financial support as well as food and school supplies. One of YOTO’s key goals is to help these young people stay in school. According to the Arizona Daily Star, 240 YOTO participants are graduating from high school this week. Your support is making a difference.

YOTO is ramping up for their annual school supply drive and, once again, TWOQC will support these efforts in Southern Pima County. Look for information soon about how you can help.

Tired of your frozen foods being thawed and your ice cream melted by the time you get home from the grocery store these days? How about a thermal tote to keep things really cold?

You can order them from Peggy at pjmcgee@cox.net. Cost is $7 with all proceeds going to the scholarship fund.

(♦) public event

• June 25 – 11:30 a.m.→Summer Luncheon “A Wee Bit Irish”
• July 30 – 6:30 p.m.→Making New Fashions from Found Clothing
• Aug. 27 – 6:30 p.m.→Makeup for Baby Boomers & Beyond
• Sept. 24 – 6:30 p.m.→Creative Tips to Refresh and Redecorate Your Home Tastefully
• Oct. 14→Oktoberfest for Scholarships (♦)
• Oct. 20→Clothing Drive for Homeless Veterans (♦)
• Oct. 29→Membership Brunch “Fiesta”
• Nov. 12→”Getting Holiday Ready” Ladies Night Out
• Dec. 10→Holiday Luncheon

“Thank you” to this week’s FMM contributors: Yasmin John-Thorpe, Lisa Johnson, Kathi Krieg, Peggy McGee, Carol Mutter, Diane Quinn, Eileen Sykora, Kay Robinson, and Angie Werner.