Greetings Dear California Daughters!

November is upon us and it is finally feeling like fall to this Daughter. Needing to be outside in the crisp morning air, this State Regent walked by the American River and enjoyed the sound of the water and the beautiful beginnings of fall changes to the trees. It felt today, like an awakening, as if I was seeing the brilliant reds, yellows and rusts for the first time and it occurred to me just how much of our time we have been spending looking down at our phones and our computer screens over the last eight months ! Time to break out and enjoy the colors of fall before they are gone!

October flew by filled with Zoom meetings, dedications, the Annual Day of Service and the DAR Day of Prayer. This Regent could not be more inspired by California Daughters as they found ways to fulfill the Annual Day of Service with drive by collections for veterans, boxes filled and sent for active duty military, food collected and delivered to food pantries, clothes, toiletries and baby supplies collected for homeless shelters, books collected for schools and little free libraries, beaches cleaned……. So many ways of fulfilling our purpose!

We are sharing social time together through book club meetings with State Librarian Debbie King, a fascinating series on a variety of topics for registrars, genies and cemetery lovers with State Registrar Robin Hurwitz and Fall District meetings and celebrating birthdays with drive bys. Daughters are busy learning, with record numbers involved in the Members and New Horizons and GEP courses. Daughters are staying active and involved with each other – wonderful !!!!!

The time for membership renewal is upon us as well and State Treasurer Christina Ramos is working with all chapters to achieve 100% participation in Electronic Dues Submission. If your chapter has not signed up for this, please take the time to do so. A reminder, that DAR HQ in Washington, DC is still only staffed at 25% and mail is not able to be dealt with on a daily basis- both reasons to submit electronically rather than by mail. If you need help with signing up for electronic submission or you have questions, please reach out to Christina ! Please reach out as well, to those members who may not have responded – sometimes, a personal phone call is all that is needed to retain a member who may be on the fence.

As we turn toward the holidays, we invite you all to join us for our first event of the season. The Heritage Tea, normally held in Northern CA, will be held virtually this year on Sunday, November 8th at 1pm. State Chaplain, Christine McMahan has a wonderful event planned with over 350 Daughters already registered to attend! You won’t want to miss it !

Our last event of the season is our beloved Victorian Christmas Tea held at State HQ in Glendora. Due to the requirements of LA County, this too will be held virtually on December 12th. Please watch for more information as we get closer. While we continue to miss being together, We Can & We Will, find ways to keep our treasured traditions alive.

In closing, remember to take time to get a way from the “screen” and to enjoy the season and all that it offers, to spend time with friends and family as you are able, to be grateful for all that we have in this great country, to pray for our leaders and for an end to the pandemic. It is a tall order ladies, I know.

Thank you, Daughters, for all that you do, for all that you give and for all that you are. This State Regent is so very grateful to each and everyone of you.

With much DAR love and appreciation,
Susan
Susan Broderick,
State Regent, CSSDAR