San Jose Woman’s Club celebrating 130th anniversary in style

When you get to be a certain age every birthday is cause for a celebration right Well the same holds true for organizations like the San Jose Woman s Club which will hold a free society celebration Thursday for its th anniversary at its historic downtown clubhouse As the tale goes the club was born in December when nine women described as citizens spirited in a newspaper article gathered at the downtown studio of Fannie Estabrook San Jose historian April Halberstadt who has been a member of the club since says women s clubs proliferated in the era when two of the big topics of discussion were women s suffrage and Prohibition And there were definitely points of disagreement There was a misconception that all women requested the vote and would hold hands and sing songs Those women were considered too radical at the time stated Halberstadt who served as the club s president in - How do you get people with divergent ideas together Where is neutral territory An exterior view of the historic clubhouse of the San Jose Woman s Club is seen on Friday May in San Jose Calif Dai Sugano Bay Area News Group Betty Ann Chandler now is the oldest member of the San Jose Woman's Club and attended its th anniversary tea on Sunday Dec An interior view of the historic clubhouse of the San Jose Woman s Club is seen on Friday May in San Jose Calif Dai Sugano Bay Area News Group An interior view of the historic clubhouse of the San Jose Woman s Club is seen on Friday May in San Jose Calif Dai Sugano Bay Area News Group The ballroom inside the historic clubhouse of the San Jose Woman s Club is seen on Friday May in San Jose Calif Dai Sugano Bay Area News Group A scrapbook shows selected of the members of the San Jose Woman s Club in Dai Sugano Bay Area News Group An interior view of the historic clubhouse of the San Jose Woman s Club is seen on Friday May in San Jose Calif Dai Sugano Bay Area News Group Show Caption of An exterior view of the historic clubhouse of the San Jose Woman s Club is seen on Friday May in San Jose Calif Dai Sugano Bay Area News Group Expand The San Jose Woman s Club provided that venue and hurriedly grew in size and mission The club and its members helped uncovered the San Jose Day Nursery and were early supporters of the Sempervirens Club to save the redwoods in Big Basin Over the years the club championed mentoring and advancing women s rights In - the club sponsored the San Jose Junior Woman s Club for women under and one of its first members was Betty Ann Chandler At she s the club s oldest and longest-serving member and still makes occasional appearances at events Thursday s celebration with the theme Beginnings Building Belonging runs from to p m and sessions will include an exhibit on the club s history including a celebrated visit by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt another showcasing its public partners including Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence and the Sempervirens Fund live piano music and light refreshments There ll also be tours of the historic Spanish Revival clubhouse at S th St which was built by architects Wolfe Higgins in and a book drive in partnership with Hicklebee s for nearby Horace Mann Elementary School The event runs from to p m and you can RSVP at sjwc eventbrite com The club this day has members including chosen men and that number has been trending upward since the COVID- pandemic as the club continues to host events for its members and rent out its Landmark Ballroom to other organizations In April it started a monthly Salon Talk series featuring interviews with local women who work in creative fields Poet and artist Dorothy Atkins will be the guest at the May salon at p m and landscape designer Candice Stein will be featured June Lynda Sereno a club member since noted that while women s concerns have evolved since the need for women to gather in solidarity and learn from each other is just as relevant as ever Our work s not done Sereno disclosed Women s work is not done especially currently SUNNYVALE CARES Marie Bernard the executive director of Sunnyvale Population Services shared several sobering statistics at its Our Kids Our Society benefit on Thursday night In one of the wealthiest areas of the country it helped low-income residents last year including kids under percent more people came for weekly food than last year and because of limited food donations from Second Harvest Silicon Valley the nonprofit had to purchase percent of the proteins eggs milk and meat that it distributes I wish we could say that things have gotten better she noted Fortunately she was talking to the right crowd The -plus people who gathered inside Sunnyvale Society Services warehouse headquarters on Kern Avenue helped surpass its fundraising goal by donating more than At the event Sunnyvale Public Services presented awards to longtime supporters Shane Jacksteit Mary J Bradley and El Camino Hospital which had CEO Dan Woods in attendance ART THAT MATTERS Three Gilroy high school students won in prizes from the Santa Clara County District Attorney s Office s Justice for All poster contest which this year challenged Santa Clara County Students to raise awareness about online crimes such as catfishing and cyberbullying A poster created by Austin Abero a senior at Christopher High School in Gilroy warns of the possible danger of online interactions for teens It won the Santa Clara County District Attorney s Office s Justice for All poster contest and Abero received a prize on Thursday May Courtesy Santa Clara County District Attorney s Office Christopher High senior Austin Abero received for first place Nataley Ramos also a senior at Christopher took second and got and third place went to Maya Sanchez a junior at Dr TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy who received The winners received their checks Thursday afternoon from Assistant District Attorney Terry Harman at the Neon Exchange in Gilroy which houses the office s Mariposas Resiliency Center for casualties of violent crime and also displayed all learner posters submitted for the contest The prize money by the way comes from assets seized from drug dealers and other criminals WALK IN THE PARK For those or older San Jose s Happy Hollow Park Zoo launches another season of Senior Safari events on May The monthly series runs through October invariably on the fourth Thursday of the month and gives those young-at-heart visitors entrance to the park at a m an hour before it opens to the community There are usually senior-related booths and programs to check out along with the various animals Both admission and parking are free for Senior Safari attendees though if you didn t pre-register you may want to arrive early Get more details at www happyhollow org seniorsafari CHEERS The San Jose Wind Symphony will show its appreciation for Edward C Harris who served as its music and artistic director for years with its May activity For Ed at the McAfee Performing Arts Center in Saratoga When he wasn t wielding a conductor s baton Harris instrument of choice was the clarinet so the Wind Symphony now under the direction of David Vickerman will have clarinetist Steve S nchez performing Oscar Navarro s beautiful II Concerto which shows off the wind instrument s technical capabilities The p m concert also features several other favorite pieces of Harris and it s my understanding that he ll take up the baton once more before the end of the show Go to www sjws org for tickets