Well over 100 people filled the Highlands Park Senior Center in Ben Lomond on Sunday, March 6, as the 33rd annual general meeting of the Valley Women’s Club welcomed the San Lorenzo Valley’s county, state and federal representatives.
The afternoon featured a community potluck lunch and updates on the social, political and environmental activities of the Valley Women’s Club and was headlined by speeches by U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, state Sen. Joe Simitian and 5th District County Supervisor Mark Stone.
Eshoo called the turnout “nothing short of extraordinary.”
“This looks like a Norman Rockwell painting,” she said, surveying the crowded room.
Eshoo told the gathering that while there was encouraging news on the nation’s economy, challenges lie ahead in health care, cuts in social programs, the environment and unemployment.
“President Obama has seen more private sector jobs created in 18 months than in eight years under the previous administration,” she said.
Eshoo spoke against cuts to education, saying that despite budget crises, “there is a difference between cutting and crippling.”
“(An uneducated populace) undercuts our status as the world’s most important democracy,” Eshoo said. “We need to make the investments that will pay off in the future.”
Eshoo also warned of politicians who try to undercut environmental regulations and agencies by stripping away their funding under the guise of balancing the budget.
State Sen. Joe Simitian also addressed the gathering, warning of the grim budgetary situation facing California legislators.
Citing likely severe budget cuts, Simitian predicted that many groups and agencies that work for society’s benefit would need to “find ways to still do good work without funding being the same.”
Simitian also stressed the need to further explore alternative sources of energy and the need for the state to set an example for the rest of the country by adopting green power technologies.
He called for the state to “focus on America’s needs rather than energy needs.”
Valley Women’s Club board member Nancy Macy said the night was a big success.
“Having Anna Eshoo there was very special,” she said. “(The question-and-answer session) went over time by about 45 minutes.”
Macy, who was a founding member of the Valley Women’s Club and its inaugural president, said that because the group is a nonprofit, it can’t endorse any particular politician, but in its role as a community advocacy group, “we are very political organization nonetheless.”
“We don’t care if a politician is Republican or Democrat, as long as they listen to our issues and concerns,” Macy said.
Macy said that the club’s schedule for the upcoming year will be an eventful one.
One new endeavor will aim to reduce the number of cigarette butts that find their way into the creeks and waterways of the San Lorenzo Valley.
Several receptacles for cigarette butts will be strategically placed throughout the community, Macy said, to keep them off the asphalt.
The organization will also issue the Status of Women and Girls in Santa Cruz County report, Macy said, which documents employment and gender inequities in pay in the county.
After last year’s successful revival of the Redwood Mountain Faire, Macy said, the June 2011 incarnation will be a two-day affair with lower prices, more food options and children’s activities, as well as more booths for local businesses and groups.
“The idea is to have a community event that also benefits the community organizations,” Macy said.
She also lauded the Valley Women’s Club’s education efforts, which included three $500 scholarships to students attending Cabrillo College as well a new program to provide a free education bag of school supplies and information to every child registered for kindergarten in the fall.
“We spoke to teachers and asked them, ‘What would you like the students to have?’” Macy said. “The important thing to me is young people.”
