Recap of St. Germaine Children's Charity Spring 2023 Cocktails & Conversation Event

St. Germaine Children’s Charity welcomed more than 40 guests at their Cocktails and Conversations event held on March 23. Twice a year the organization brings members and guests together at a home in La Jolla to highlight one of the organization’s non-profit grant recipients.

This recent soiree evening was held at stunning, classic mid-century residence in Lower Hermosa listed by La Jolla native, Jim McInerney. The rain held and the guests enjoyed an evening in the outdoor courtyard, mixing and mingling while enjoying light bites catered by Charlotte Riley, owner and Chief Culinarian of Enjoy. The menu consisted of a savory white bean chili with sausage and kale, a chopped green salad dressed in an aromatic vinaigrette, and French bread while sipping wine and waters.

The evening highlight was the presentation from the Armed Services YMCA organization in San Diego. This YMCA is not your typical YMCA, this YMCA supports over 170,000 San Diego based active-duty service members and their families with a diverse range of programs that support the whole family by specifically focusing on the children of junior-enlisted service members, making sure their children have access to educational programs and the parents have a network to lean on to learn and advance their parenting skills.

For more information on the Armed Services YMCA please visit:  https://www.asymca.org/sandiego

For more information on St. Germaine Children’s Charity visit
https://stgermainechildrenscharity.org/

The next event for St. Germaine is The June luncheon to be held at La Valencia on June 6, 2023. At this annual luncheon St. Germaine will be awarding grants to this year’s recipients and introducing the new members of the Board of Directors. More details to be announced.

Recap of St. Germaine Children's Charity Annual Grant Awards and Membership Luncheon

With the scenic backdrop of the Pacific Ocean, St. Germaine Children’s Charity members came together on June 6 at the iconic La Valencia Hotel for their Annual Grant Awards and Membership Luncheon. With over 100 attendees, this year’s luncheon chair, Coco Bancroft and her volunteer team, orchestrated a beautiful event featuring stunning table florals from Bridget’s Blooms, a delectable lunch menu and an atmosphere of celebration.

The new Board of Directors was introduced. The annual membership drive was launched. This year’s membership theme is You + One, a campaign that encourages members to renew their membership and recruit a new member or give the gift of membership to one person.

The highlight of the luncheon was the grant ceremony. St. Germaine awarded $135,000 in grants to 12 agencies that support the organization’s mission to stop child abuse. A special thank you to Andrea Anderson, VP Philanthropy, Co-Chairs Cathy Boychuk and Sue Kalish, and the entire Grants Committee for their work in reviewing agency requests, conducting site visits and creating detailed evaluations of the agencies.

In her speech at the Luncheon, Andrea made this salient point: “One of the most powerful things for me about St Germaine is that our focus on preventing and ending child abuse means it is not about only the children we are serving today, in present time, but about their children, the children of the future.”

The new Board President, Janice Farnow, drove home the reason why the members are so passionate about their work with St. Germaine during her speech sharing, “Did you know Charity Navigator, the largest evaluator of charities in the U.S., awarded St. Germaine its highest rating: four out of four stars. Our classification– Crime Prevention. To me, this drives home the reason why we’re members of SGCC – to help prevent crimes against children.”

The agencies honored with grants are listed below. The new Board of Directors is listed below.

For more information on St. Germaine Children’s Charity visit https://stgermainechildrenscharity.org/

 

SGCC Grant Recipients for 2023:

Angel Faces | Angels Foster Families | Armed Services YMCA | Children’s Legal Services | Epicapal Community Services | Home Base Ranch | Home Start | Monarch School Project | Promises2Kids | Solutions for Change | Voices for Children | Women’s Resource Center

2023 – 2024 Board of Directors:

Executive Committee

  • President:  Janice Farnow
  • Parliamentarian:  Jeanette Wright
  • VP Underwriting:  Jamaica Grace
  • VP Philanthropy:  Andrea Anderson
  • VP Membership:  Katie Oliver
  • VP Programs:  Lisa Rhoads and Bree Little
  • VP Publicity:  Michelle Serafini and Lauren Gable
  • VP Data:  Robin Gilmore
  • Treasurer:  Melissa Circello
  • Secreatry:  Taylor Won
  • Corresponding Secretary:  Barbara Giammona

Committee Chairs:

  • Silver Tea Chair:  Kathryn Stephens
  • Addressing and Mailing:  Wendy Neri
  • Grants Co-Chairs:  Cathy Boychuk and Katie Oliver
  • Proofreader:  Kris Benham
  • Social Media:  Ashley Nagashima
  • Mother’s and Father’s Day Cards:  Janice Farnow
  • Graphic Designer:  Lydia McNeil (Silver Tea)
  • Graphic Designer:  Pamela Cabanilias
  • Website Coordinator:  Jocelyn Mahittipongse