As in the past several years, we will have five wines from Total Wine, to learn about and to taste. Richmond manager Jeff Jenkins will be discussing the wines, assisted by one of his colleagues.

So far, ten folks have signed up to bring hors d’oeuvres, and two will bring desserts. We could use 3 or 4 more people bringing food. In the next several days, branch members who have not already signed up will be contacted and asked either to bring something or to do something at the event.

We will be in the St. Matthias Parish hall. It is a nice sized room, and we have learned how to decorate and light it for a party ambience. People bringing food and the sparkling grape juice and apple juice should plan to be there before 6:00, so we will be ready for the partygoers.

This event is our only money-earner for our core reason for existence: making funds available for women seeking graduate degrees. The Educational Foundation was this year awarded the Independent Charities of America Seal of Excellence. Only 5% of the charitable organizations in the US can qualify for the criteria established by this organization.

If you have not already signed up, please give Marcia Phillips (320-5180) or Carol Mazur (272-8460) a call, and tell them how you want to participate. And of course, we need everyone to sell tickets. I have a nice little core of a party sitting in my wine tasting file right now. But we are hoping for lots more to join us!! The more who come, the better the party, and the more we all will enjoy what has to be the best way to raise money we have ever found!

-Marcia Phillips

Did you read all about it?

AAUW – specifically now the Educational Foundation – has been included in the list of charitable organizations that have been awarded a Seal of Excellence by the Independent Charities of America (ICA). We are one of 5% of charities – out of approximately 1 million – who have achieved the highest standards of excellence in accountability and effectiveness, including programming. And according to the ICA, the AAUW Educational Foundation does “give deserving women a chance to excel through programs advancing education, research, and self-development for women and girls – fostering equity and positive societal change”. If you need something to add to your response to folks who ask who we are and what we do, here is another nugget.

And we have also signed on to a letter to Senators Warner and Webb urging them to cosponsor and support the Fair Pay Restoration Act (S.1843). We have long been committed to pay equity and this is one more step in that process to ultimately make it happen.

As we have been reading, and hearing from our program speakers in September, there are many changes ahead for AAUW as the strategic initiatives from the last convention are implemented and we grow and change into a stronger and even more viable organization. And we have input. At the end of October, I will receive a survey about our activities – the national office staff and boards want to know what we’re up to…if you have comments that you would like to see included, do let me know. And each of us has another opportunity to add to the discussion by completing the Every Member Poll that you will soon see in the upcoming edition of AAUW Outlook. Let’s take that opportunity – we are not a quiet bunch and we each have something valuable to add.

Looking forward to seeing many of us and our guests at the sixth annual (Wow!) Holiday Wine Tasting on Friday November 9. Marcia Phillips and Carol Mazur have worked their organizational magic once again and you, our branch members, are participating in a variety of ways to make this another successful fund raising event for the Educational Foundation.

Mary Farrell
Branch President

The budget published in the October Newsletter was presented and approved at the October meeting.

Bon Air AAUW Book Group routinely meets on the third Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m. November’s meeting will be held Thursday, November 15, at the home of Gay Olsen. Contact Gay at gsolsen@vcu.edu or phone 323-4057 to let her know you will attend. All Bon Air members and their guests are welcome.

About this month’s book: Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations One School at a Time, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

“Educate a girl – change the world!” That’s the theme of this book whose author was a very popular speaker at 2007 AAUW National Convention. The subject and philosophy are in line with AAUW’s original founding purpose -- promoting education for women and girls. Our organization is urging Branches to read and discuss this timely book. Kathy Kelley heard the author speak at the Convention and she is enthusiastic about leading our discussion.

Synopsis: Some failures lead to phenomenal successes, and this American nurse's unsuccessful attempt to climb the world's second tallest mountain is one of them. Dangerously ill when he finished his climb in 1993, Greg Mortenson was sheltered for seven weeks by the people in the small Pakistani village of Korphe. In return, he promised to build the impoverished town's first school, a project that grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. Coauthor Oliver Relin recounts Mortenson's efforts in fascinating detail, presenting compelling portraits of the village elders, con artists, philanthropists, mujahideen, Taliban officials, ambitious school girls, and upright Muslims Mortenson met along the way. As the book moves into the post-9/11 world, Mortenson and Relin argue that the United States must fight Islamic extremism in the region through collaborative efforts to alleviate poverty and improve access to education, especially for girls. Captivating and suspenseful, with engrossing accounts of both hostilities and unlikely friendships, this book will win many readers' hearts.

In December, we get to enjoy Carol Mazur’s festively decorated home and discuss The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield. Described as “a novel of ghostly legacies, descended from Jane Eyre,” it was the inaugural “Barnes & Noble Recommends” selection in 2006. To qualify, a book must pass B&N’s “unputdownable test – meaning it’s a book [staff] read, loved, and want to share.” In connection with this book, B&N suggests as further reading: Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. If the book meets the expectations raised by comparisons to such classics, it should be a good one.

Contact DeAnn Hubicsak at 233-5352 for Book Group information. For more information about the Bon Air Book Group’s selections, click here: http://aauwbonairva.org/book selections 2007.html, or go to the Bon Air web site at http://aauwbonairva.org, click on the Interest Groups link on the left column, then click on the link for 2007 Book Group Selections.

The Kelly’s hosted Gourmet for a brunch on Sunday, November 4 at 12:00 p.m.. The theme was Southern Cooking. the next gourmet will be at Carol Mazur's home on December 8.

ACTION: AAUW strongly supports promoting and strengthening science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, especially for girls and other underrepresented populations. Teaching children about science during their early years is critical to not only improving subject matter competency but also sparking and maintaining students' interest in these fields. This is especially valuable for young girls, who have been shown to lose interest in STEM subjects by junior high school. If you haven’t yet done so, please use AAUW’s Two-Minute Activist online to urge your representative to support the inclusion of science as a required area of assessment under the No Child Left Behind Act's measurement of adequate yearly progress (AYP).

Changes on the Hill

Rep. Michael McNulty (D-NY), the chairman of the of the Ways and Means Committee’s Social Security Subcommittee, is expected to announce on Monday that he will retire at the end of his current term. He will be the first Democrat in Congress to make such an announcement this term. Two other House Democrats have announced they will leave the House to seek seats in the Senate. CQPolitics.com has the latest on which members of Congress are retiring and who is running for their seats, all contained in an interactive Flash map. The map also shows all currently open, vacant, and recently-filled seats so you can keep up with the changing face of Congress.

AAUW Awarded Independent Charities Seal of Excellence

AAUW recently received the Independent Charities of America Seal of Excellence, awarded to organizations having the highest standards of accountability and effectiveness. Only about 5 percent of charities in the United States meet the criteria necessary to receive this seal.

Be sure to visit our branch website at http://aauwbonairva.org. You will find a great list of resources: the schedule for the branch book group and the gourmet group; a page of links guiding you to information about government, reproductive rights, literature, libraries, books; current and archived copies of the branch newsletter; information on membership, public policy, Education Foundation, Legal Advocacy Fund, Eleventh House, and much, much more. Comments or suggestions? Contact Maggie King at maggie.king@yahoo.com.
Maggie King
Webmaster

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