I can't believe August is here all ready! Where did the summer go?

We had an excellent turnout for the Bunco meeting and Teresa Harrison did an excellent job at getting great raffle prizes. We had 55 people RSVP for the event and everyone seemed to have a really good time.

Don't forget CA Council is right around the corner, please let me know if you plan on attending. Ruth Hinkfuss will represent our chapter in the CWC Speak Off and it would be great to get a lot of familiar faces in the audience for her. Ruth is an excellent speaker and I am sure that she will do well.

We will be dark in August but will be picking back up in September with our annual safety meeting. Patricia Wenskunas from CrimeSurvivors will be speaking. From what I hear she is an excellent speaker and this is a meeting not to miss.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe August!

In fellowship,

Jennifer Hetzel

How many of our members have actually logged on to the NAIW website and updated their status, added a photo of themself, included all of your bio, such as where you work, what your accomplishments are, the list goes on & on.  NAIW, by launching this new website last year gave us a wonderful networking tool that 75% of the membership is still NOT using!

Not only do you have your own page, but there is also a wealth of information on the site including the educational opportunities, scholarships, and leadership tools.  Dani & I encourage all of you to go to the website at www.naiw.org and check out all it has to offer.  To get to your personal section, you need to log in at the membership section. If you do not have your login id & password, please send an email to John McCullough at membership@naiw.org and he will be happy to send it to you.

Since we do not have a dinner meeting in August, please mark your calendars to attend the September meeting where we will be installing all of the new members.  New members - please make sure you are there! 

Also, we will be passing out a questionnaire to all of the members at the September meeting for feedback for not only our own Association, but it will also be used for the California Council, Region VIII and National.  We encourage all of you to complete the questionnaire. It will only take a few minutes and it will benefit everyone.

In closing, we want to remind all of you again that we have a new website at www.sdinsurancewomen.com that we worked very hard to set up & launch.  Please take the time to visit the site for any upcoming events and educational opportunities we are offering and please let us know your feedback.

In fellowship,

Kathleen Kerstenbeck

With September around the corner, I thought this would be a great time to let you all know of the guest speaker we have in store for you at our next dinner meeting. The topic for this September is related to safety awareness.

As you know, many of us work long hours, sometimes leaving the office well after the sun goes down. This makes us susceptible targets for assault. As such, we felt it would be a good idea to focus on safety measures we can apply to everyday life.

Patricia Wenskunas, a victim and survivor of crime herself, is founder of the Crime Survivors organization.  Crime Survivors is a non-profit organization that provides support, resources, and awareness of victims' rights as well as guidance through court proceedings. 

Ms. Wenskunas had fallen a victim of crime once as a young girl, and later again as a young woman. She came from a small Midwestern town and after having her son, the single mother in her mid-20's came west to California in search of a better life. After working as a caterer, she began a successful catering business of her own called Creative Coordinating.  She was still taunted by her past, and decided to fight those overwhelming feelings by going to 24 hour fitness. It was there that she met a man, whom under false pretenses, became her personal trainer. Sadly, months later, she had fallen victim of a very brutal crime from this very man she had been led to believe was someone he was not. One day, he invited himself over to her home where he drugged her, severely beat her, bound and suffocated her. When she came to, he threatened to kill her son, if she screamed. She instead, fought him off and jumped off a 12 foot balcony, running to save her and her sons life.

As if this weren't enough of a battle for her, she further fell victim of injustice during her court proceedings.  She found that victims of crime had no written rights. Even more appalling, the judge presiding over her case dismissed several charges, scorning her, and seemed sympathetic for the defendant. Her assailant was facing charges of deliberate pre-meditated attempted murder, burglary in the first degree, assault with a deadly weapon, and criminal threat. Unfortunately, her attacker only received 120 days in jail, after only being charged with assault with a deadly weapon and criminal threat. Not to be discouraged, and feeling frustrated with the mishandling of the case by the judge, she took it upon herself to present her case to the court system, resulting in the judge being removed from the bench.

 Over the last few years, Ms. Wenskunas' worked on a Victims Bill of Rights. Her dream is to have an ongoing Survival Resource Center for victims of crime, to assist in every way, including bringing awareness, prevention and survival.

For a better overview visit www.crimesurvivors.org.  Ms. Wenskunas is donating her time and making a special trip from Los Angeles to speak to our group.

I would also like to recognize Katie Freeman, who graciously volunteered to pay for Ms. Wenskunas gas expenses, as Katie put it, "This is how much I believe in this organization."

To show our appreciation and support, we've decided to donate items for their emergency bags.  Some acceptable items include mini hand sanitizers, stress balls, mini first-aid kits, and emergency phone cards.  For a list of all appropriate items please refer to their website. 

We hope you will be available to attend in our September monthly dinner meeting, and we look forward to Ms. Wenskunas' presentation.

In fellowship,

Elvira Chavez