Tahoe Women's Community Fund to honor two locals during Membership Celebration Dinner

The Tahoe Women’s Community Fund (TWCF) will be celebrating two local women during their annual Membership Celebration Dinner on Tuesday, October 30, 2018, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Tahoe Beach Retreat. Tickets are on sale now for $35 each and can be purchased online at tahoewomenscommunityfund.org.

Everyone is welcome to attend, and it is the perfect opportunity to get to know the organization if you are not already a member.

The theme of this year’s dinner is, “The Power of Collective Voices,” and the keynote speaker, Jen Gurecki, is the co-founder and CEO of Coalition Snow, a women’s outdoor equipment and apparel company designed to deconstruct the status quo. She also founded Zawadisha, a social enterprise whose mission is to provide small loans to rural Kenyan women to finance their livelihoods. Zawadisha’s model is soundly pro-poor, pro-woman, and pro-environment. Jen has a master’s degree from Prescott College and dropped out of their PhD program when she realized that being a CEO was more productive than being a grad student. She spends her evenings recording the podcast Juicy Bits and recovering from her 70-day cycling trip across Africa (where the idea for Scout Magazine was born). She was recently featured on the CNBC show Adventure Capitalists where she turned down a $1 million offer from Bode Miller and is a seasoned public speaker who delivered a TEDx talk in January 2016.

TWCF will also be honoring their Woman of Distinction Award winners, Natasha Schue and Joanne Shope.

Natasha grew up in Orange County and is a graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo where she earned a degree in English and communications. Her husband, Ryan — a born and raised Tahoe-native — is what ultimately brought her up to the area, where they now reside in Meyers with their two sons. Natasha has enjoyed a fun and challenging career path in Tahoe, starting at the Tahoe Daily Tribune where she worked in advertising and was later promoted to publisher. She now works at Barton Health in community outreach and relations and enjoys the opportunities this role has brought her to connect further with the Tahoe community. Her work includes bringing awareness and education to mental health, substance abuse and access to care issues in the community. Natasha is a member of Soroptimist International of South Lake Tahoe and sits on the board of the Chamber. She is a graduate of Leadership Lake Tahoe and continues to serve on their task force.

Joanne Shope is a giver, worker, and a social advocate. She worked as a Public Health Nurse Practitioner for El Dorado County and then at the Barton Clinic as a nurse as well during her career. After retiring, Joanne began another career, continuing her giving, using her tireless energy and her desire to help others. Joanne is the Director of Christmas Cheer and has had a leading role in this amazing non-profit for more than 30 years. Joanne works many hours every week to make sure our hungry have food and at Christmas that our children have gifts. She has been a part the American Legion Auxiliary for 35 years and currently serves as the District President. One of her pet projects through the Auxiliary is Girls State, a leadership conference for girls that are Juniors in High School. She is also an active an integral part of Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra, serving on the Healthy Women, Healthy World Committee for many years and is a past president. Joanne was also a part of Flying Samaritans, a nonprofit that flew medical personnel down to San Quinten, Mexico every month or provide medical services to the community. They served about 100 people during each visit. She did this for about 3 years. Always taking on something new, which keeps her young, Joanne now is also a docent in Virginia City. She loves this volunteer position and currently working as a docent at St. Mary’s of the Mountains Catholic Church, having also been a docent at the Piper Opera House.

In 2018, the Tahoe Women’s Community Fund granted a record $68,000 to various nonprofit organizations in the South Lake Tahoe Community. This amount was possible from a very generous donation from Ms. Lisa Maloff allowing them the ability to match membership money dollar for dollar, doubling our collective giving power. We are excited to announce that we will be able to continue the match for another year! Everyone is welcome to join the fund and can sign up to become a member online at tahoewomenscommunityfund.org or in person at the Membership Dinner. Each member receives one vote on their annual ballots, and 98.5 percent of the TWCF funding goes directly to grants and the endowment fund so they can continue to give each year. All members must join by the end of the year to receive a vote in the 2019 granting cycle.