By Edita McQuary
In a county known for its numerous benevolent organizations, Corralitos Woman’s Club seems to have fallen under the radar. Organized in 1920 and affiliated with the Federated General Federation of Women’s Clubs in 1921, CWC became incorporated in 1949.
In the 125 years since its founding, this outstanding, hard-working group of 75+ Santa Cruz County women have been enthusiastically supporting education and scholarships for local students and numerous other charitable groups.
As well as being community service-minded, these women like to have fun. Some of their fun activities are arts and crafts, book club, movie day, wine-tasting, bunco night and prom night.
The most recent fundraisers: The Spring Wine Tasting at the clubhouse with eight local wineries and a Mother’s Day Pop-up on May 10 with Jett and Rose and treats for sale at El Vaquero Winery.
When asked about the Corralitos Woman’s Club, President April Johnson said the following:
“Men are welcome to join the club, though, to date, none have. Some of the organizations we support are: Shot@Life, a United Nations program that provides childhood vaccinations in third world countries, the Veterans Transition Center in Marina, and Dress a Girl, where we make dresses for girls in third world countries on the conviction that every girl should have at least one new dress.”
“We also participate in the Knitted Knockers program knitting breast prostheses out of soft cotton and then provide them free of charge to women who have undergone mastectomies. We work with Pajaro Valley Loaves and Fishes. We sponsored a fifth-grade art project at Bradley Elementary School taught by Shannon McCarthy, a local artist who creates mosaic art using found plastics.”
The kids learned about ocean conservation while creating beautiful works of art. Our recent Bunco Party raised funds for the For Kids Foundation Monterey Bay and our recent Wine Tasting Event benefitted foster youth through Encompass Community Services, specifically targeting youth aging out of the foster care system.”
Johnson conluded: “Having been a member of the Corralitos Woman’s Club for 11 years, I have found the friendship and community of a group of women who are willing to share both joy and grief. We strive to come together to support each other and our greater community.”
Some of the other charities CWC supports are Free the Girls, student scholarships, hospice, Pajaro Valley Women’s Shelters, Salesian Elementary and Junior High School, Salvation Army, Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter, Santa Cruz County Fair, Second Harvest, Te4en Kitchen Project, The Hawaii Community Foundation-Maui Strong, Toys for Tots, and Youth Now.
Member Linda Ripatti says, “When I moved to Corralitos, I was nearing retirement and had always wanted to do something to give back to our community. At the Corralitos Woman’s Club I found wonderful, hard-working women who are all very community-conscious. They bring a plethora of amazing skills to share in fundraising to help our community where the proceeds go to charities. An upcoming Country Store is coupled with the Padres’ Memorial Breakfast and is a lot of fun as all of the community turns out. I invite you to find out more by going to our website.”
Avalena Squier, a member since 2016, says, “I joined CWC after I retired from Silicon Valley. I have always been involved in giving back to the community and doing lots of volunteer work. I knew about CWC and wanted to be a part of this amazing group of beautiful, giving ladies.
CWC is a place that you can go and be around fabulous, loving women that makes you forget about all the bad in the world because when with CWC you’re around kind-hearted, caring, giving ladies. I am proud to be a member because it definitely keeps my days filled up with love, joy and laughter. CWC is a huge blessing to me and I am so grateful.”
Meetings are on the second Tuesday of each month at 1 pm in their clubhouse at 33 Browns Valley Road next door to the Corralitos Community Center. Members are encouraged to participate in various club activities such as teas, bunco parties, wine-tasting, etc. If there is a luncheon, the group meets at noon.
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There are no meetings in June, July, and August. For more information, go to www.corralitoswomansclub.com.