AWC BERLIN NEWSLETTER

THE BEAR FACTS

DECEMBER 2022

Dear {Contact_First_Name}, 

It's a cold and snowy start to our holiday season this year.

The snow lends an especially festive look to the city's Christmas Markets - which we're visiting on three different occasions in the coming weeks! But at the same time, we know that the frigid cold further complicates life for those in precarious living situations. So as we celebrate the holiday season, I hope you'll join in our philanthropic initiatives this month:

• At our Annual General Meeting & Holiday Party on December 12, bring warm items of clothing to decorate our Mittens Tree. These items will be donated to our hosts at the Stadtmission at the end of the evening. (We're also looking for raffle items - see below.)
• Sign up to be a Christmas Angel Volunteer to provide a shoebox of gifts for the young women at Leben Lernen. (At last count, we still need 17 more volunteers.)
• Thank you to the members who have already volunteered to donate gift boxes to the residents at Papatya, our local charity for 2021-2022. This need has been met.

Speaking of philanthropy, we're welcoming a new Philanthropy Chair, Gwendolyn Lynch. Read more about her below.

As 2022 draws to a close, I want to take a moment to thank our 2022 Board of Directors, as well as our dozens of Club volunteers, for your dedicated work this year. Whether it's planning events, updating our calendar, or paying our bills, many hands make light work. I look forward to thanking you all more personally at the AGM on the 12th.

Here's wishing all of you a beautiful holiday season and a prosperous and healthy New Year!

Warmly,

Jennifer

Jennifer Post Dräger
President, The American Women's Club of Berlin
president@awcberlin.org

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CLUB NEWS & HIGHLIGHTS

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING & HOLIDAY PARTY

Monday, Dec 12, 6:00pm

Festsaal der Berliner Stadtmission
(near Hauptbahnhof)

Join us at the AGM to celebrate our work together over the past year, select our Local Charity for 2023-2024, and elect the Club's 2023 Board of Directors. We'll also donate warm items to the Stadtmission and host a raffle. 

The deadline to register for dinner has passed. However, you are welcome to register for the meeting using the button below, and you can join the waitlist for dinner by emailing programs@awcberlin.org.

If you cannot attend the meeting and would like to vote on the slate of nominees for the 2023 Board of Directors by absentee ballot, please email Nominations Chair Hollis Vaughen at hollis.vaughen@gmail.com to request a ballot.

Event Agenda:

6:00pm Welcome Glühwein & Social Time


6:30pm Annual General Meeting begins

7:30pm Meeting ends; Dinner begins

8:30pm Incoming President's Remarks & Raffle Drawing

What to Bring: 

1) We'll create a "Mittens Tree" of donated hats, scarves, gloves and mittens to donate to our hosts at Berliner Stadtmission. You're invited to bring warm items to donate. 

2) For fun and fundraising, we'll hold a raffle of donated items to benefit the upcoming FAWCO Target Project. If you have an item to donate to the raffle, please email philanthropy.awcberlin@gmail.com.

CHRISTMAS ANGEL VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

Seeking approximately 35 CHRISTMAS ANGEL VOLUNTEERS for our SIXTH annual collaboration with Agape Tree and Leben Lernen e.V. As a volunteer, you will be given a handwritten letter from one of the single young women at Leben Lernen for whom you (perhaps partnering with your daughter) will prepare a Xmas shoebox. These are vulnerable, often physically and emotionally traumatized single women and young women with young children, who have found refuge in a facility that provides a sense of home and practical support in the areas of education and training as well as counseling to help the women regain the health, confidence, and practical skills to re-enter society. RSVP to Molly Brown - meigsbrown@gmail.com

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS

Christina Möllenkamp
Celia Chan
Diana Meyer
Anna Polczyk-Boron
Anne Angyal
Hattie Cai Xia Wei
Kristen Marcus
Irene Noy

We look forward to seeing you soon!

MEET OUR NEW PHILANTHROPY CHAIR

Gwendolyn Lynch takes on the leadership of our philanthropic activities, as Lissa Rosenbloom steps back to focus on her ceramic practice. We thank Lissa for all that she has given to our Club, and welcome Gwendolyn to the role!

Gwendolyn Lynch is a San Francisco, California native and has lived in Berlin the past decade by way of Paris, Rome, and Geneva. Her studies in Anthropology have prepared her for a life of applied anthropology; observing and studying the wilds of Berlin and, especially, the daily wonders of raising a young, bilingual child in a culture + language outside her own. After a pause from some intensive volunteer roles, Gwendolyn is excited to bring her energy and enthusiasm to the philanthropic work which AWC Berlin has so strongly encouraged, supporting women and children both locally and internationally.

FAWCO NEWS

As a member of AWC Berlin, you're also a member of FAWCO, the international organization of clubs like ours around the world. In 1931, AWC Berlin helped create FAWCO, which now includes 56 member clubs in 28 countries. 

The 2023 FAWCO Biennial Conference, Stronger Better Together, will be held March 23-26, 2023, in Bratislava, Slovakia. Hosted by the AWA Vienna in cooperation with the IWC Bratislava, the Bratislava Team is pursuing several impressive speakers and workshop leaders to learn how Central European countries are working together and collaborating to protect the natural environment and to supplement the FAWCO meeting and workshops.

In addition to the conference, FAWCO is organizing numerous pre-tours to explore the region and its many UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 

Get more details in this slide presentation, and at the conference website (A FAWCO login is needed for the conference website. Apply for your login on the FAWCO website if you do not yet have one.) 

AWC Berlin member Elyzabeth Simpson was featured in the latest issue of Inspiring Women Magazine. You can browse through the full issue here.

We are currently in the midst of the 16 Days of Activism Campaign, an international initiative from November 25 to December 10 to challenge violence against women and girls. AWC Berlin is using our public social media pages to raise awareness on each day of the campaign.

Would you like to attend the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67) in New York City, March 6–17, 2023? FAWCO is an ECOSOC-accredited NGO and can send 20 in-person delegates to the conference. As a member of AWC Berlin, you are eligible to attend as a FAWCO delegate! If you would like to attend, please register here. Once you have done so, you will also need to contact FAWCO UN Liason Alexandra Vo for approval: unliaison@fawco.org. Registration is available now through January 27, 2023. All UN CSW events may also be viewed on UN Web TV.

Education Awards - Applications are now open for the 2023 FAWCO Education Awards. If you have been a member of AWC Berlin, or another FAWCO club, since at least September 27, 2021, you or your child/grandchild could apply! These awards include:

• Academic Awards: grants to support higher education for the children and grandchildren of FAWCO members

• Non-University and Technical Awards: grants to support vocational/technical education for the children and grandchildren of FAWCO members

• Dual Cultural Awards: grants to enable a member’s teen child or grandchild who has been living outside the US for at least six years to pursue a semester or full-year educational experience in the US

• Member Educational Awards: grants for members who wish to return to university, acquire or foster new skills, or otherwise continue their education. 

Applications are due January 27, 2023, but it’s best to begin as soon as possible to ensure a competitive application. If you are thinking about applying, please reach out to Frances Durocher at fawco@awcberlin.org. 

For parents of teens: The FAWCO Youth Cultural Volunteers Program is happy to announce that AWC Zürich will be hosting the program in 2023. Dates are during their spring break, April 8–15, 2023. Applications are open from December 1 until January 31. Space is limited, so plan to get your application in early! You can read about the personal impact of this year’s program  in the participants’ own words and enjoy their self-produced video.

Learn more about FAWCO at fawco.org, or contact Frances Durocher at fawcorep@awcberlin.org.

BERLIN NEIGHBORHOOD GROUPS

DECEMBER EVENTS

Week of December 4

Sunday Brunch @ Christmas Market
Sunday, December 4, 12:00 - 2:00pm
German Conversation (In Person)
Monday, December 5, 9:30 -10:30am
Reading of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (In Person)
Tuesday, December 6, 11:00am - 12:00pm
Holiday Cookie Exchange
Tuesday, December 6, 12:00pm - 2:00pm
Art & Culture: Donatello at the Gemäldegalerie
Thursday, December 8, 11:00am - 1:00pm
Travel Group (In Person)
Friday, December 9, 10:00 - 11:00am
Women's Salon with Atousa Ghadimi (In Person)
Friday, December 9, 6:00 - 9:00pm

Week of December 12

German Conversation (In Person)
Monday, December 12, 9:30 - 10:30am
Annual General Meeting & Holiday Party
Monday, December 12, 6:00 - 9:00pm
Genre Book Club (Romance) (Zoom)
Tuesday, December 13, 10:00 - 11:30am
Art & Culture: Mona Hatoum at Georg Kolbe Museum (In Person)
Wednesday, December 14, 11:00am - 1:00pm
Thirsty Thursday @ Christmas Market
Thursday, December 15, 6:30 - 8:00pm
Holiday Drinks (Spouse/Partner Invited) @Christmas Market
Friday, December 16, 6:30 - 8:00pm

Week of December 19
German Conversation (In Person)
Monday, December 19, 9:30am - 10:30am

Club Activities take a break during the second half of the month.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays! 

HOW TO AWC BERLIN

AWC BERLIN ONLINE

AWC members can manage their account, access the membership directory and sign up for events by logging into their AWC member account. You can access your account from your smartphone via the Wild Apricot Mobile app, or simply by going on any computer with internet and visiting the "Members Login" area of the AWC Berlin website.

Calendar and Event Registration

As a reminder, AWC Berlin members must log in with a user name and password to access events on our calendar and register for them.  So that we know to expect you, please remember to register for events you wish to attend.

IN THE MEMBERS ONLY AREA, you can:

• Register for and cancel events
• See your event registration
• Add events to personal calendar
• See who else is going
• Much more...

Step 1: Go to the AWC website and click "Members Login" (request new password from the website if needed). Manage your events from the calendar.

Step 2: You could also download the Wild Apricot Member app to your smartphone or tablet and use your website login on the app.

Step 3: Poke around and get familiar with the tools. See the Instruction Guide for detailed steps and pictures of set up and navigation. Currently, the event registration feature of the app is not available to Android users, but otherwise the app is fine for Android users. Questions? WA-Admin@awcberlin.org.

AWC BERLIN & SOCIAL MEDIA

Besides the private AWC Members Only group, did you know we have 3 private sub-groups on Facebook?  Click the links below and ask to JOIN. 

**AWC Berlin Second-Hand Postings (to buy, sell or swap):  https://www.facebook.com/groups/653200785262766 

**Bookmarked in Berlin (for book lovers to share and discuss their favorite reads): https://www.facebook.com/groups/302249127866608 

**Women and Finance (to share resources):  
https://www.facebook.com/groups/472000217478608 

Also, come “like” our public Facebook page and follow us on Instagram @awcberlin!

AWC BERLIN FACEBOOK POLICY

The AWC Berlin Private Members Only Facebook group is open to current members only and is a casual, respectful and friendly forum for member announcements (for example, babies! weddings!, etc.), discussion, information and questions regarding AWC-related topics and/or life in Berlin. 

• Only authorized AWC Berlin events that are already listed on the AWC Calendar can be created as an event in our Facebook group.

• Please do not post charity donation requests or political items not related to the AWC Berlin.

• You are invited to let us know about your business, but please limit commercial, self-promotional posts to Mondays and be sure to preface your post with MARKETING MONDAY. No comments are allowed on these posts.

• When in doubt, please send your question to facebookpolicy@awcberlin.org.

Thank you for your cooperation!

AWC Berlin Facebook Page | AWCB Website