March is here and with a little bit of winter now under our belt we are raring to go for spring!  We are excited about this very busy month; both for our girls and for exciting opportunities in our community.  We are gearing up for our 8^th annual Power of the Purse event held on March 21.  Our senior girls are working hard on their scholarship applications and many have made decisions about their next step after graduation.  They look forward to seeing you at our Graduation and Scholarship Dinner on May 10.   Our leadership girls are working hard on their event, a spaghetti dinner to be held on May 12. High School girls will be busy this month attending classes at the Artist’s workshop in Grass Valley, and attending a college field trip to Sierra College, Nevada County campus to learn about local opportunities after high school.

In March you can also support The Friendship Club by taking advantage of two community opportunities: Bikram Yoga of Grass Valley/Nevada City’s Karma Classes will benefit The Friendship Club in the month of March and Las Katarinas will also host a Friendship Club Day on Wednesday, March 28^th.

We love the opportunity to expose our girls to new and varied experiences and on February 22^nd, 12 girls had the chance to attend a production of Rigoletto in Sacramento.  It was student night at the theater and the final dress rehearsal, and not only did the girls watch the production, they also spent time learning about the plot and characters, and had a chance to ask questions. This rare opportunity gave them a chance to deepen their understanding of the production. During intermission several girls explored the Orchestra Pit where they were able to observe the different instruments, musicians warming up and the set up.  Overall it was a fantastic experience for the girls; “On the way home, it was great to hear the girls discussing the Opera – everything from plot points, to costumes, the talent of the singers, and the “awe” they felt watching it,” said Denise Tambasco, Program Director. “Most exciting to me is that many of them asked when we were going to do something like this again.”  Thank you to all of you who make life experiences like this possible for our girls.  You can enjoy a little Rigoletto too by following this link: Rigoletto La Dona e Mobile

The Friendship Club is happy to announce a partnership with the Nevada County Cinderella Project by becoming their fiscal sponsor.  The Cinderella Project is in its second year providing assistance to local young ladies in securing a gown for Junior Prom or Senior Ball, as well as a ticket to the event.  All gowns are new or gently used and donated to The Cinderella Project.  They are all laundered by Launderland, free of charge, and made available to girls who are referred through their schools and social service agencies. By providing fiscal sponsorship, The Friendship Club will give donors the opportunity to receive a tax-deduction when they donate gowns or make cash donations to The Cinderella Project.  Cash donations primarily go toward purchasing tickets to the dances for the referred girls at all area high schools.

If you are interested in learning more about The Cinderella Project please visit their website. http://nccinderellaproject.us/ and “like” them on Facebook!  The Friendship Club is now accepting donations for The Cinderella Project – please call 265-4311 to make a credit card donation or send your check today.  Make checks payable to The Friendship Club and please include The Cinderella Project in the memo line.

Whether you are new to Bikram Yoga or are a regular, you can support The Friendship Club by attending a Karma class any Tuesday night at 6:00 p.m. in March!  Your $5 donation goes directly to The Friendship Club.  This is a great chance to try something new and challenge yourself if you’ve always been curious about “Hot Yoga.”  Please visit their website to learn more about the benefits of Bikram Yoga: http://bikramyogagvnc.com or just stop in any Tuesday night in March: 6, 13, 20, 27.

Our fantastic friends Dave Francis and chef, Delia Gutierrez are hosting The Friendship Club Day on March 28^th!  Come for either lunch or dinner and a portion of proceeds will go to The Friendship Club! Enjoy an authentic Mexican meal, good company and benefit the girls by calling today to make your reservation; 478-0275. We are grateful for Las Katarinas’ continued support of The Friendship Club.   Last year we filled the restaurant, please help us do it again! Las Katarinas is located at 311 Broad Street, Nevada City.

February is another busy month at The Friendship Club.  The program staff is busy planning for their field trips and activities. The Leadership Council girls have started planning their spaghetti dinner fundraiser coming up on May 12^th  and I recently had the chance to give them a session on soliciting donations in our community. They are excited to produce this event and will be looking for raffle prizes.  Don’t worry, no door-to- door knocking in town.  They will be crafting a letter to some of our local businesses and will be following up with personal phone calls and visits. If you happen to get a call, please take a moment to hear their message!

Our line up of events for 2012 is set and we recently sent out save the dates to everyone.  Please note that due to unforeseen circumstances we are changing the date of the Graduation and Scholarship Dinner to May 10^th rather than May 17^th. We are sorry we had to change the date after the cards went out but promise it will be the best one ever. This year we will be at the Miners Foundry and we are looking forward to the opportunity to change things up a little bit.

In our continued effort to celebrate the Year of the Girl, we started February with an artist’s reception at the Nevada City Winery on February 2^nd.  The girls who participated in the summer photography clinics were on hand to talk about their photography.  The photos will hang at the winery through the month of February so please take a minute to pop in when you are downtown and see their work.  They are beautiful and all professionally framed – a huge thank you to Nevada City Picture Framing for a generous discount on the framing!  All photos are on sale for $150 and most proceeds go directly to The Friendship Club to support our summer clinics.

And please see the next article about a benefit showing of “Finding Joe” at the Stonehouse on February 23^rd.  Thanks to Machen Macdonald for thinking of us!

Looking forward to seeing you around our community soon!

Join us for a movie, light appetizers and learn how to follow your bliss.  The ProBrilliance Leadership Institute, The Union and The Stonehouse have teamed up to present the movie Finding Joe on Thursday, February 23.

Proceeds will go to benefit The Friendship Club.

Finding Joe is an exploration of famed Mythologist Joseph Campbell’s studies and their continuing impact on our culture. Through interviews with visionaries from a variety of fields interwoven with enactments of classic tales by a sweet and motley group of kids, the film navigates the stages of what Campbell dubbed The Hero’s Journey: the challenges, the fears, the dragons, the battles, and the return home as a changed person. Rooted in deeply personal accounts and timeless stories, Finding Joe shows how Campbell’s work is relevant and essential in today’s world and how it provides a narrative for how to live a fully realized life – or as Campbell would simply state, how to “follow your bliss”.

Doors open at 6pm with light appetizers being served along with a no-host bar at The Stonehouse located at 107 Sacramento St. in Nevada City.

The movie will begin at 6:30pm

The cost is $15 and tickets can be acquired by calling the ProBrilliance offices at (530) 273-8000 or by going online to http://probrilliance.com/joe (all major credit cards are accepted)

Finding Joe – Official Trailer

For those of you who have had the opportunity to attend a Power of the Purse event, you know how fun it is and how important it is for The Friendship Club.  In its eighth year, this event has helped us spread the message about The Friendship Club to well over 500 men and women in Nevada County.  It serves as a great source of information for people who are not familiar with the Club and as a celebration of the volunteers and donor opportunities that are critical to our success.  March 21 we will once again gather at the Holiday Inn, enjoy lunch catered by Antonio Ayestaran, raffle beautiful purses donated by local businesses and learn about the impact The Friendship Club has on our community. Attendees will enjoy presentations by Carol Scofield, Our Executive Director Jennifer Singer, a Friendship Club girl and a Friendship Club family member.  Judy Hess will deliver a closing that is sure to be inspiring.  We are currently recruiting table captains to help us fill our tables.  Please call for more information if you would like to attend or if you can commit to filling a table of eight.  This is a complementary luncheon so filling a table is pretty easy, just find your friends and neighbors who would like to learn more and we will do the rest!

Photographs taken last summer by Friendship Club girls during a Photography Clinic are on display for the month of February at Nevada City Winery.

While the cornerstone of The Friendship Club is the after school program. summer brings a host of new opportunities and exciting activities that keep the girls active and engaged. There are summer camps, a weekly reading club, sports and art clinics and community service opportunities. Lead by Middle School Program Director, Denise Tambasco, photography clinics have been a part of summer for six years. The girls learn about all aspects of digital photography from composition to Photoshop.

If you can’t stop by the exhibit, call TFC for a Club tour. The walls are full of the girls’ photography!

Nevada City Winery is located at 321 Spring Street, Nevada City, and is open daily.

High school is one of the most fun times of our lives, but it’s the temptations-drugs, alcohol, and sex- that can set us back. I have lived with the constant fear of becoming an alcohol or drug addict, to fall into the dark pressures that many people are faced with, because of my past family situation. It was the summer of 2007 that a bright light lit my life; I was brought into The Friendship Club. As a sixth grader, I was recommended to The Friendship Club by my teacher who saw that I needed some extra support. I had been enthusiastic about joining, and establishing new friendships. I have grown to love The Friendship Club more and more with each passing day. I have established close friendships with the girls and ladies. The Friendship Club has given me that extra push that I needed and I appreciate that very much. After I graduate in June I will be going to the Air Force and then college after that.  Eventually I would like to become a movie producer/director. I hope to see you all on May 10^th at our graduation and scholarship dinner to personally thank you all for your time and contributions for this great program. Thank you!