President's Message October 2024

Dear All,

I hope this message finds you well as we move into the heart of fall. It's been an incredibly busy and exciting time here at NCJWSTL, and I'm happy to share some of what's been going on and what's ahead.

Our Grape Escape Fundraiser event took place on September 19th and was a wonderful success. The wine and food pairings were terrific and the spirit tastings added a whole new dimension to the evening. I'd like to thank everyone that attended and in particular our sponsors for your participation. Your support helps us continue our advocacy work and allows our community projects to grow. Thank you also to those in attendance that donated that evening.

The Resale Shop celebrated Couturier September 25-28th. This was the 60th Anniversary of this sale, which was started by Bede Wolff in her garage with a group of her friends that wanted to clear out their closets of clothes they were no longer wearing. They all agreed to give whatever money they raised to NCJWSTL, and that was 60 years ago this month! You, too, can donate to the Resale Shop Monday through Saturday all year long between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The shop sells handbags, jewelry, and clothing for men, women and children, as well as housewares. Come shop Monday through Saturday. All proceeds from the shop further our advocacy work and programs like our Back to School! Store; Kids Community Closet; Wife, Widow, Women; Lunch & Learn; and our newest project on the horizon, The Women's Network.

As we all know, elections are coming up very quickly. Please be sure that you are registered to vote and that you make a plan to vote on November 5th. NCJWSTL held a coffee on September 8th for anyone that wanted to pick up yard signs and postcards. Thank you to everyone that came out and enjoyed the camaraderie and prepared for advocacy this election season. If you still need yard signs or postcards supporting Amendment 3, please feel free to come by the office at 269 N Lindbergh to them up. NCJWSTL is in favor of Amendment 3 and opposed to Amendment 7. 

A quick update on the status of our new building: As I have said previously, the new building will give us the room to expand the Resale Shop and Donation Center, as well as give us more office space for all of our programing needs. All the architectural plans are final and are out for bids. The parking lot at 311 N. Lindbergh is going to be resurfaced and striped in the next couple of months, giving us the additional parking that is so desperately needed. If you are interested in donating to the campaign, simply go the the NCJWSTL website and click on the Capital Campaign.

The September Coffee Talk held on Tuesday, September 24th was guest Martin Schneider talking about his new book "Army Unbound." The next Coffee Talk on Tuesday, October 22, will have a special guest talking about identity theft.

Our Advocacy in Action – A List sponsorship ads sustain our efforts to educate the community and elected officials about issues relating to our mission. Your support NOW will put your name on all of the Get Out the Vote and support our Amendment 3 work that will be running before November 5th.

Wishing everyone that celebrates the Jewish Holidays a very happy and healthy New Year!

Phyllis

314-422-8807

President's Message September 2024

I hope you have had a wonderful summer! We have been very busy at NCJWSTL. In June, we were offered the opportunity to purchase the contract for the Joseph Bank building at 311 N. Lindbergh, which we did. We have outgrown our space in our current building and there is not enough parking. The new building will offer us more room for our programs, our volunteers, our donations (currently about 35 drop-offs per day, a bag of donations coming through the door an average of every 8 minutes), our Resale Shop and our offices. In addition, we will have much-needed parking spaces.

I want to thank Eddie and Ben Cherry of Manor Real Estate, our marvelous agents, who worked so hard to make this deal for us. I also want to thank Micheal Staenberg for his guidance and advice throughout this process and Bill Remis, our attorney, for all the work he has done to make sure all the documents were correct.

NCJWSTL is and has been very involved in the Ballot Initiative to end the Abortion Ban. Amendment 3 is the result of this hard work. We will be hosting a Campaign Coffee Kickoff on September 8 from 9-11 a.m. at the NCJWSTL offices to start the hard work of getting out the vote. You can pick up “Vote Yes” yard signs, find out how to get involved and enjoy a photo booth to use on your social media when you stop by on September 8^th.

On September 19, NCJWSTL will again host the Grape Escape, a wine and food pairing event. This is our annual fun fundraiser. Come join your friends and family from 5:30-7:30 at the Reverie in Chesterfield. There will be 4 different wines to taste with paired foods wines and for those that don't drink wine, we have mock cocktails and spirits to taste as well. Please register to join us. This is our largest fundraiser helping to support all of our programs and advocacy work.

Couturier will be held this year from September 25^th -28^th . We love having you donate your handbags, jewelry, clothing and housewares anytime, but if you are planning on donating, now is the time.  Do you want to volunteer? The Resale Shop is looking for volunteers, especially on Saturday the 28^th and Monday the 30^th. Sign up and join us for this wonderful sale.

As you can see, NCJWSTL has had a busy summer and is looking forward to an even busier fall.  We never stop working to make the lives of women, children and families better. Happy Labor Day!