A Typical Year - Woman's Club of Redondo Beach

HomeA Typical Year

A Typical Year for the Woman's Club

A Typical Year in Brief
A Typical Year Month-By-Month

A Typical Year in Brief

According to our bylaws, we must have 10 General Meetings with Luncheon included per year. We hold 9 of these General Meetings on the Third Mondays of the month from September through May. These are held at our 100+ year old historic landmark clubhouse. (In the event of high COVID-19 levels we do not meet in person and instead meet on Zoom.)

We are a part of the Marina District of Woman’s Clubs and each District Club has a different meeting day (e.g. we are on 3rd Monday of the month, while Hermosa is 2nd Wednesday of the month, Torrance is 1st Wednesday of the month, District Council is on 3rd Friday of the month, etc.) so our meetings will not conflict and we can support each other. Our Board Meetings are held via zoom on the 1st Monday of the month.

In June we have our 10th General Meeting: a special Installation Luncheon on the 1st Monday of the month (when we would typically have our June Board Meeting), in which we install the new Board for the new operating year for the Club. We then “go dark” for the summer months of July and August with no general meetings, however, the Board continues to meet and plan for the upcoming year and there will often be opportunities for our general membership to connect and volunteer. For example, we often volunteer at the Riviera Summer Festival in late June and we traditionally hold an Ice Cream Social for the community at our Clubhouse around the Fourth of July or in August.

The General Meetings with Luncheons are typically themed to the season and usually have a 10am social hour, an 11am business meeting where we vote on club issues, and a 12pm luncheon with an educational program about a community service opportunity. In addition, our volunteers plan other fundraisers outside of the monthly general meetings luncheons such as galas, spaghetti dinners, swing dances, wine tastings, rummage sales, and more

A Typical Year Month-by-Month

What follows is a rough outline of a typical year, but each year is flexible and unique according to the current President’s vision and according to the causes, interests, and skill-sets of our amazing members.

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September:

We open the year with our monthly General Meeting on the 3rd Monday of the month: The meeting has a Compass theme as a nod to our proximity to the ocean as well as functioning as a symbol of orienting ourselves for the coming year. It is inspired by college campus’ “Orientation Week” Activities Fair where students can walk around different tables and sign up for activities. We have tables with sign-up sheets that are each decorated with a theme according to the volunteer opportunities we have planned in the coming year. It is a beautiful visual representation of what lies ahead for the year. Members can sign up to volunteer or chair an event. The board presents the vision, plans, and calendar for the year and yearbooks are distributed. The luncheon is typically seafood in keeping with the compass/nautical theme.

In September it is our turn in the Marina District to host the monthly District Council, which we co-host with the Woman’s Club of Hermosa Beach. This is a breakfast meeting typically held on the Third Friday of the month. As we have a clubhouse while our co-host does not, we supply the venue, tables, chairs, wifi, etc. while our co-host supplies the home-cooked breakfast foods and beverages, though we typically supply coffee and tea, as it makes logistical sense. This meeting is attended by members from all clubs in the Marina District. The theme of the meeting is “lighthouses,” and we own lighthouse centerpieces for this occasion. Our September General Meeting compass-themed nautical decorations do double duty at the Marina District “lighthouse” themed event and are hosted at our Clubhouse within 4 days of each other.

During this transitional month of Summer turning into Fall, where our general members are getting back into the swing of things, we might hold an additional fundraising event like a Luau, Ice Cream Social, etc.

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October:

We generally have a Fall Rummage Sale the first Saturday of October, with the opportunity to drop off donations at the Clubhouse on Friday (the day before). Some years the volunteers decide to make the rummage sale more of a curated boutique; this is usually up to the Chair of the event.

We meet for our General Meeting on the 3rd Monday of the month, and the theme is traditionally “Halloween” with a witch’s hat decorating contest, although in 2022 we held a Dia de Los Muertos themed event in honor of Redondo Beach’s Sister Cities of Ensenada and La Paz, Mexico.

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month and we typically do programming at the luncheon for this urgent cause of Ending Domestic Violence. We encourage participation in Redondo Beach’s Annual Domestic Violence Candlelight Vigil, held by the Redondo Police Department on a Saturday in October at Redondo Beach City Hall. This event has been held since 1996. We begin the process for “Adopt-a-Family for the Holidays” in which we adopt one, sometimes two families for the holidays and buy them gifts for the holidays, e.g. we might have one family who are survivors of domestic violence and one family who is being reunited through the foster program.

During this Autumn month we might hold an additional fundraising event like a Wine Tasting, Swing Dance, Bus Trip, or Scholarship Dinner.

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November:

We meet for our General Meeting on the 3rd Monday of the month, and the theme is traditionally “Thanksgiving” Programs can include: MMIW - Murdered and Missing Indiginous Women, Pallet Shelter for the Unhoused, National Caregivers Month. We usually participate in food drives for Thanksgiving. We release a sign up sheet (essentially a gift registry) for the families we have adopted for the holidays. People sign up to for a Christmas table decorating contest during the next general meeting.

During this Autumn month we might hold an additional fundraising event like a Wine Tasting, Swing Dance, Bus Trip, or Scholarship Dinner.

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December:

Gifts for our “Christmas Families” or “Adopt a Family for the Holidays'' program are bought and collected by our members during the first couple weeks or so of December.

We meet for our General Meeting on the 3rd Monday of the month, and the theme is traditionally “Christmas.” Members who have signed up to participate in the table decorating contests decorate their tables and a winner is chosen and usually wins a small gift.

In the past we have participated in events such as “Angel Tree” through Cheer for Children, decorated Rose Bowl parade floats, and more.

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January:

We meet for our General Meeting on the 3rd Monday of the month, and the theme is “Chinese New Year,” which also honors Redondo Beach’s Chinese sister city of Zhangjiagang. In past years we have held a Membership Tea in January but now that generally is held in February. In January the Parliamentarian puts together a Nominating Committee to nominate a new board to be installed the 1st Monday of June.

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February:

We meet for our General Meeting on the 3rd Monday of the month, which in February is President’s Day, a national holiday. In the past we have honored past club presidents at this event as it is our nation’s President’s Day. As of 2022, we have started a new tradition of holding a “Galentine’s Day Tea” for our February General Meeting. Galentine is the last name of our first Club President Mrs. Galentine. The Galentine’s Day Tea is a cohesion of three traditions: 1) honoring past club presidents on President’s Day such as Mrs. Galentine; 2) celebrating sisterhood and February’s Valentine’s Day with a play on words of “Galentine” which has come to represent in popular culture a love for our strong female friendships, fitting for our Woman’s Club; and, 3) our popular Membership Tea in which we encourage members to renew and bring new members, dress up in afternoon tea attire, hold a hat contest, sip hot tea, and enjoy tiered trays of scones, cucumber sandwiches, and more.

This time of year our members might organize a Bus Trip in which we apply for a bus from the city to take us on an educational tour as planned by the Chairperson of the Bus Trip. Bus Trips are usually themed and might include a visit to the Petersen Automotive Museum, the Getty, the SpaceShuttle Endeavor, etc.

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March:

We meet for our General Meeting on the 3rd Monday of the month. In 2022 we chose a theme of “Cherry Blossom Festival” in honor of our Sister City of Itoman, Japan which is in a “Blue Zone”. Fittingly, our program for the luncheon was Blue Zones where we explored longevity and learned about how to make our bodies and our communities healthier. In the past, the March General Meeting has had a theme of St Patrick’s Day or celebrated Women’s History Month. At the March General Meeting the Nominating Committee presents the slate of nominees for the following year’s Board, to be voted on next month. Around this time of year we usually hold a Baby Shower to support pregnant girls in foster care. Social benefits don’t cover the unborn child, yet these girls are moms-to-be who need to be prepared to welcome a baby into their lives. We work closely with the Los Angeles County Department of Families and Children (DFS) Services. We help collect donations of necessary items for the moms such as diapers, toys, clothes, and more. At the baby shower event a representative from DFS comes and tells us more about the services DFS provides.

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April:

We meet for our General Meeting on the 3rd Monday of the month and hold a Chance Auction during the meeting. We collect donations of 60-100 items and sell raffle tickets - guests put raffle tickets into containers for the items they want to win, and during the luncheon we have drawings to see the winner for each item. It is similar to a silent auction except instead of written bids where the highest bid wins, you “bid” using raffle tickets and the ultimate winner is chosen by drawing, i.e. a game of chance. Items can include jewelry, purses, clothing, crystal, electronics, homewares, coffee table books, and more. This is our most popular and well-attended General Meeting with guests coming from all of the different clubs in the Marina District. In 2022 we changed the name of this event from “Chinese Auction” to Chance Auction as the term Chinese Auction had racist roots using the word “Chinese” to be a synonym for cheap. It was decided to change the name to “Chance Auction” and to have different themes each year and not necessarily linked to a country. 2023’s Chance Auction will be Greek Island themed while future themes may be “Casino” or “1970s” etc. The Chinese decorations collected over the years for the Chance Auction will be used for Chinese New Year at our January meeting.

At our April General Meeting nominations for the board not already selected by the Nominating Committee will be accepted from the floor and we hold elections for the incoming Board. The new Board is decided upon that day.

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May:

We meet for our General Meeting on the 3rd Monday of the month and hold a Scholarship Luncheon where we award scholarships to local high school seniors from Redondo Union High School.

Various high school clubs from Redondo Union High School will often rent our club this month to hold Farewell Dinners for their graduating seniors, e.g. the Journalism Club or Swing Dance Club.

Our firefighter neighbors usually hold a Service Day on a Saturday in May - usually the first Saturday of May, which sometimes falls the day before Mother’s Day. They close off the street to car traffic and attract upwards of 300 people to our area, mostly families with young children. It lasts from morning through afternoon. In the past we have co-hosted the “Firefighter’s Spaghetti Dinner” in the evening of their Service Day, though the firefighter coordinators have generally decided that in the future they would prefer to do this event on a different day from their Service Day. The Spaghetti Dinner is a collaborative event held at our Clubhouse where the firefighters cook and serve spaghetti while the Woman’s Club volunteers prepare and serve salad, bread, dessert, and beverages. There is a fairly low entry fee, with the majority of donations coming from a Silent Auction and a “Pass the Boot” fundraiser. We have raised thousands of dollars through this fundraiser. May is also Mental Health Awareness Month and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

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June:

We meet for our Installation Meeting on the 1st Monday of the month, which is attended by board members AND general members like at a typical General Meeting. The theme of the Installation Meeting is the theme the incoming President chooses for her year as President. It is an opportunity for the incoming President to be creative and inspirational, for example the theme might be “Butterflies” to represent our ability as a Club to transform in the coming year, or “Ships” to represent our ability to weather a storm and explore new horizons in the coming year. In addition to a theme, the incoming President also typically chooses a color and a flower for her Presidency–, her “branding” for her Presidency, if you will.

The outgoing and incoming board meets an hour earlier at 9am for the “In and Out” Board Meeting where keys and binders are relinquished and handed over to the proper people. Then we follow the typical format of our General Meeting with a 10am Social Hour, 11am Business Meeting which is the last meeting run by the outgoing President. Following the Business Meeting, during (or before) the 12pm Luncheon, we have an Installation Ceremony Program in which the new President and Board is installed by an Installer chosen by the incoming President.

An Installer is a Woman’s Club member who might be from a different club or an officer at a state level. She uses the theme chosen by the Incoming President and writes a short speech for each of the elected officials relating their job description to the theme, and then asking the elected official if they accept the responsibility for the coming year. For example, if the theme is “Ships” the President’s job may be compared to “Captain” while the First Vice President’s job is compared to “First Mate.” The Installer then gives a small token to the newly elected official in keeping with the theme, for example a keychain decorated with the theme’s symbol. A group photo is taken of the new board for the Yearbook and website.

In past Junes we have volunteered at the Riviera Village Summer Festival held in late June and sold water bottles donated by the Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce at a booth while encouraging festival attendees to join our Club. We also have volunteers participate in the “Champions for Children” 5K Run/Walk for the South Bay Children’s Health Center which handles dental and mental health care for children.

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July:

We have a board meeting the first Monday of the month via Zoom where we lay out the calendar for the year.

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August:

We have a board meeting the first Monday of the month via Zoom where the Treasurer presents the Yearly budget for approval. We typically hold a free Ice Cream Social at the Clubhouse for the community, not as a fundraiser but as a community spirit morale booster.