Left to right: Renee Smith, Marsha Scholze, Moe Fitzgerald, Deb Williams, Nancy Wendt, Suzanne Cote, and Vicki Schoemaker; front row: DeeDee Karabetsos and Rebecca Elsen
Rupa Mathur
Despite social distancing, Voices United (VU) found some inventive ways to socialize. On Oct. 1, three teams of VU members took to the golf course for an evening scramble with a twist, players were limited to just three clubs. Despite this limitation, perfect weather inspired some great golf, including a birdie putt by Deb Williams, using her 6-hybrid. Top prize for the event was awarded to DeeDee Karabetsos, Marsha Scholze, and Deb Williams, who scored 36. Other participants included Rebecca Elsen, Vicki Shoemaker, Suzanne Cote, Nancy Wendt, Renee Smith, and Moe Fitzgerald.
VU’s October Zoom meeting featured a Halloween mask contest. Prizes (engraved pumpkins) went to first place winner, Lisa Olson; second place winner, Marsha Sholze; and the third prize to Rupa Mathur. Then, in November, the group held an inventive outdoor scavenger hunt.
Meanwhile, VU’s Outreach Committee, headed by Karen McDaniels and Frances Rolater, has put in a lot of effort collecting donations and items to help Meals On Wheels (MOW). The coronavirus pandemic is affecting a number of organizations that assist others in need, and requests for MOW’s services have doubled this year. To make MOW clients’ holidays a bit nicer, VU is preparing 400 holiday gift bags for the organization to distribute. VU is working with two other Robson groups to fill the bags for Meals on Wheels. Material Girls have contributed by making masks and the Sassy Stampers have made gift cards for every bag. Robson residents have also helped through donations of about $700. The gift bags will contain about a dozen practical items, such as bath soap, hand sanitizer, toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoo, facial and toilet tissue, notebooks and pens.
All who donated to VU’s MOW project receive a receipt (donations are tax exempt) and are recognized on VU’s website, unless they wish to remain anonymous. The gift bags will be distributed by Meals on Wheels right after Thanksgiving. A huge thanks to all who generously donated to and assisted with this project.
In addition to its charitable work and socials, VU holds weekly discussion groups. At one of the recent meetings the topic about Black Lives Matter came up. Rupa Mathur stated that the discrimination extends not only to African Americans, but also to Latinos and Asians. Since then, an informal group was formed and headed by Vicki Shoemaker, called “Diversity in Action.” This group is involved in community outreach and providing civic awareness.
Voices United is a non-partisan group of Robson Ranch women who share progressive values, perform community outreach, provide civic awareness, and social contact for members. We are a 501(c)(3) organization. If you are interested in being a part of VU please contact Tracy Olson at [email protected].