On the Town: Women’s Athletic Club imparts holiday cheer with tea
The Women’s Athletic Club celebrated the holidays and successful results from its annual “Parking Lot Sale” during the Christmas Tea at the clubhouse.
Welcoming members and guests was Kathleen Aberman, club president, who also poured tea and coffee at the refreshment table filled with trays of petite sandwiches, fresh fruit and mixed nuts.
Over the years, the club has offered women sports activities through its various departments. Today, the remaining departments are hiking and quilters. The hikers experience more than 25 hikes throughout the year. Not only do they get a great workout, but they see nature’s beauty along the trails in Griffith Park and other local wilderness areas.
The quilters get together to sew on Mondays at the clubhouse and introduce other members to the craft during summer workshops.
With activities that provide exercise and fellowship, it’s no wonder members remain active with the club long into their 90s — like Elisabeth Allwelt, Johanna Hahnlein and Evy Erdos, who recently turned 90 and, after a trip to Hawaii with family, had a birthday party with 90 of her closest friends at the Pickwick Gardens in Burbank.
“Love was oozing from every corner of the room,” she said.
Club members are champions of recycling, too. They collect cans and bottles and take them to the local recycling center. They also accept donations of gently used items that they resell in the annual Parking Lot Sale. It’s the largest money maker that keeps the club going throughout the year.
Helping to make the recent sale a huge success was Alene Shaibi, who donated many items, worked as cashier and was on site when truck drivers from Vietnam Veterans of America came to pick up leftover items after the sale.
Other members Fontaine Hebb and Carl Lowe were the club’s quarter hunters extraordinaire as they ran around to get coins to make change. In addition to Aberman, others helping as organizers and pricers who came all day and every day before the sale were Judy De Garder, Susan Hallgren, Elizabeth Reeves, Melody Abers, Lucille Davis, Catherine Taft, Gail Nelson, Marilyn Goodman, Sylvia Carson, Margaret Hammond, Marie Pisano, Diane Lewis, Carol Hart, Cathy Fogel, Judy Meek, Sharon Bishop and Leanne Compean.
Club members also said they appreciate entrepreneurs Elena Sanchez Castro and her sister, Marina Argueto, who always do a terrific job of handling the jewelry and special items table as well as the ever-helpful Genevieve Ondrejcka, who sat in the clubhouse all day to help make change, count, sort money and provide breaks for Shaibi and Treasurer Marsha Saracco.
And last but not least Martha Moren, who gives time and her truck for the day.
Las Candelas members shine their light on youth
Members of Las Candelas joined forces with staff at Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services in Glendale to wrap hundreds of Christmas gifts for their young clients in mid-December.
Didi Hirsch serves children and youth who have psychological and behavioral challenges requiring specialized care and treatment, many coming from single-parent and financially-challenged homes. The gifts are presented to the children by their counselors during the holiday season.
Las Candelas is a group of women formed in 1953 to provide volunteer service and programs to emotionally challenged children. The group annually assists the Didi Hirsch Center (formerly the Verdugo Mental Health Center) with the huge undertaking of wrapping the wide variety of gifts, and this year completed the task in a record-setting one hour and six minutes.
Assisting Jacqueline Buda, who is Didi Hirsch’s events coordinator, this year were Las Candelas President Ellyn Semler and members Patti Baker, Mary Lane, Joan Campbell, Margaret Cline, Cathy Keen, Ginny Simpson, Carolyn Beaton and Shirley Johnstone.
Las Candelas also provides monthly programs, activities and support to the children at Hathaway-Sycamores in Altadena and the students at Hillsides Education Center in Pasadena. Other philanthropies include Glendale Healthy Kids, Ascencia and the Glendale YWCA’s domestic violence program.
--
JOYCE RUDOLPH can be reached at rudolphjoyce10@gmail.com.