Women's Press February-March 2011 Issue

Women's Press February-March 2011 Issue

www.womenspress-slo.org

NEWS FROM THE WOMEN'S PRESS

Dear Friends,

I have been working hard, with a wonderful group of energetic, creative women and all of us are very excited about our next issue

Our cover will feature a young local artist, Lena Rushing, her vibrant colors and feminine style subjugated me!

Before the end of February, you will be holding in your hands an interesting, informative, creative issue, with articles from women near and far.

Local musicians and artists working together in a page where Music, Poetry and Art entwine.
We have a new page about local women protecting the local environment.

A page on health, on caring about our bodies, with articles from local women physicians, psychologist and tips on helping our bodies work and look better.
A legal information page, with up to date, local assistance.
The WCC page with all the latest news, programs and workshops.

Our NOW page with excellent articles and information
And a global page, where we can learn what our sisters are doing around the planet.


I will let you discover for yourself the new style, and I hope your comments will be positive!

Send me your ideas, and articles !!

In sisterhood,

Sonia Paz Baronvine
Editor
Women’s Press

WCC 2011 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Amber Baron, Rebecca Said, Sonia Paz Baronvine, Janet Potter,
Vickie Steffensen, Robin Rinzler



President
Robin Rinzler,
Vice president
Rebecca Said
Treasurer
Janet Potter
Editor Women's Press
Sonia Baronvine
Board Members
Amber Baron
Shannon Scaife
Vickie Steffensen
Dianne Tuttle

We also welcome our new volunteers

Amanda Atkinson
Sharon Dobson
Debbie Hall
Mabel Jaramillo
Karen Wilkins

ANGIE KING STEPS DOWN AS HEAD OF WCC

Angie King steps down as head of Women's Community Center
Sonia Paz Baronvine to take helm


After more than 10 years as President of the Board of Directors of Women's Community Center ( WCC ),
Angie King announced her resignation at the January 2011 Women's Community Center Board meeting. King, who retired from her position as Director of Senior Legal Services in 2008, has a distinguished career in women's issues, for which she has been recognized with the San Luis Obispo County Bar Association John L.Seitz Award in recognition of community service, 2002; the League of Women Voters' Mary Rhodes Leadership Award, and Cuesta College's -Woman of Distinction Award, 1999

The incoming board president, Sonia Paz Baronvine has been a Women's Community Center Board Member since 2007 Nx hZ organized the all day entertainment at Day With Creative Women, the annual craft fair and fundraiser the Women's Community Center presents each year in August at the SLO Mission Plaza. She is also the current editor of the Women's Press, the Women's Community Center bi-monthly newspaper. Ms Baronvine is the founder and president of Mellowswan Foundation, a medical charitable international all volunteer non-profit foundation that helps orphans with deformities worldwide to attain medical care.

In addition to leadership changes, Women's Community Center also has a new home in a more central downtown location (1124 Nipomo St. Suite D )
The SLO County Law Library has agreed to house their monthly legal clinic for self represented litigants; and this past year saw the creation of a new service program BETTER (Building Enduring Ties That Enrich Relationships), providing low cost community based monitors for court ordered supervision visitation following divorce.
Programs for 2011 include the above, plus a "makeover" program for clients of the Women's Shelter Program, who will receive fashion assistance when returning to the workforce.
King says of her tenure at Women's Community Center, " A lot has happened in those ten years. Women's Community Center stabilized its infrastructure and budgets, expanded its programs activities, including the Family Law Action Commitee programs, and administered on-going grant awards from both public and private sources. During this time WCC also collaborated with a number of other local womane's organizations to produce succesfull seminars on improving women 's financial literacy." King added, " I think we have set up a base that will foster lasting relationship among those groups serving women in our county."

WOMEN'S PRESS HAS A NEW EDITOR

Women's Press has a new editor, Sonia Paz Baronvine who is a WCC board member has taken the post after Courtney Brogno our old editor had to resigned as family and work obligations made it hard to continue.

Sonia Paz will bring a new style to Women's Press with her cosmopolitan background and with the help of WCC President Angie King and Ashley Kircher our graphic designer among others, we are sure the Women's Press will continue to delight the women of our counties.


As always, articles are welcomed and volunteers too!!




Send your opinions, requests, articles, and ideas to




womenspress.slo@gmail.com

WOMEN`S PRESS STAFF 2010

We took this photo at the end of the year 2010 at the WCC office.
From left to right Ben Lawless, Angie King, Courtney Brogno, Ashley Kircher and
Sonia Paz Baronvine

REMEMBERING A WONDERFUL WOMAN

On a cold rainy day, looking out my window at the wet grass on the quiet park, I think of my friend Chelita.
That is how we called Doctor Graciela Sarmiento, a Peruvian born physician who died tragically last Friday, south of Ensenada, Mexico.
She had gone along a group from San Luis Obispo, California in a mission to Baja with the Flying Samaritans, a charitable group that does free medical procedures for low income people in rural Mexico.
The Beachcraft A-36 plane took off from the San Luis Obispo Airport, Friday morning and landed in Ensenada, Mexico. It then took off for it's final destination in San Quintin in Baja California.
At about 15 miles south of Ensenada, the pilot called the control tower and said he was climbing to get above heavy fog... radio contact was lost around 2 pm Friday.
The people aboard the plane were Roger Lyon an attorney and pilot from Cayucos, Doctor James Thornton MD a plastic surgeon from San Luis Obispo, Andrew Theil a Cal Poly Student and Paramedic and my friend Doctor Graciela Sarmiento MD a physician who worked at the Community Health Center in Oceano, California. All of them were wonderful selfless people, doing what they loved, helping the poor.

I met Doctor Graciela Sarmiento in 1993 at a bbq at the house of another physician friend, Alba Barberia from Argentina.

I found doctor Sarmiento to be sweet, bright, fun and someone very friendly.

She had moved from Seattle with her family to work at the CHC Clinic in Oceano, hired by yet another physician friend from Peru, Isabel Ruiz MD ( R.I.P )
Dr Sarmiento went to medical school in the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain graduating in 1984 and she did her residency at University of Kansas School of Medicine.

We had long conversations about our lives in South America, we being neighbors her from Peru and me from Chile we had similar cultural, culinary and musical memories. She was married and had three children, I did too.

Years later, she saved the life of my oldest son, when he was an inpatient at Arroyo Grande Hospital, taking over his medical treatment and aggressively treating him with antibiotics and thus controlling his rampant infection. I was forever in her debt.

Today I attended a Catholic Mass in her honor,along my son now a young man, at Saint Patrick's Church in Arroyo Grande, California. At least 600 or more people were there, the church was filled with teary eyed family members, friends, colleagues, patients and neighbors..

We heard about Graciela's kindness and tenderness, about what a great woman she was, a great wife, mom, daughter, sister, friend, neighbor and a super doctor.

She leaves behind her husband Jocelin, and her children Maya, Saioa and Sebastian
I had the pleasure afterwards to meet her sisters Camuncha, Patricia and her brother Francisco, all of them sweet as Chelita and I asked them to please let her mom and dad back in Lima, Peru know how much Chelita was loved and admired by so many, but what an imprint she left forever in my life.

Sonia Paz Baronvine
WCC Board Member