By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer
The 99-year-old Women’s Club of Lake Arrowhead (WCLA) held their May meeting at the Mountain History Museum during which they announced many of their end-of-the-school year, beginning-of-summer donations to a wide variety of projects and to support graduating scholars.
About 55 members attended the catered luncheon. Each month, the club chooses another location within the mountain communities to hold their luncheons and to explore more of the mountain communities which they hope to support. They always have a presentation on some item of local interest to learn about.
Michelle Davis attended the meeting and spoke again on brain tumors, with many startling facts about who can be affected and her personal experience and recovery from them. Davis recently completed one of her many SoCal walks to raise funds to support the research of the National Brain Tumor Society. A $500 donation was presented to her by the club for the research project.
The Women’s Club also donated $1,000 to the Rim of the World Historical Society. These funds will help pay for the window replacements the society was forced to undertake this last winter, when they discovered that their 12, six-foot-tall windows had been broken by the 2023 snowstorms. The WCLA was also grateful to the museum for hosting this luncheon meeting so close to its opening day on Memorial Day weekend.
This reporter and historian was the luncheon speaker on early mountain pioneer, Sara Switzer, after whom Switzer Park is named, for her conservation efforts to preserve the forest. The WCLA had created a tree shrine at that location in 1937 and placed a historical monument and renamed the park Switzer Tree Shrine Park on Highway 18 in 1945 in her honor. They have placed other historical markers in Switzer Park, too, honoring another club member, historian Pauliena LaFuze, for her excellent research and documentation of the history of the San Bernardino Mountain area.
In addition to the donations made that day, the club also recently awarded donations to other organizations and scholarships to graduating seniors, totaling $25,000.
The Rim High marching and uniforms were all over 20 years old, so the club donated $1,000 toward their replacement. The WCLA also presented the Rim of the World Educational Foundation $1,000, to support the various programs such as CTE and AVID.
During the community scholarship awards night, the WCLA presented nine $1,000 scholarships to Ali Holtzen, Ava Holtzen, Lily Dobbs-Toner, Shelby Gross, Jorden Hall, Collin Johnstone, Antonio Nunez, Reilly Simons and Hailey Vargas.
The Crest Forest Senior Citizens Club will be co-producing the Memorial Day service at the San Moritz Lodge on Monday, May 26; to support them and their many fine programs, the WCLA presented them $500.
The Blue Jay Jazz Foundation was presented $1,500 to assist them in support of their recent “instrument petting zoo,” the Rim High bands and the Blue Jay Jazz Festival. The Blue Jay Jazz Festival performances will occur in August.
The Women’s Club has to work hard to raise those $25,000 in funds for these community donations. Most of their funding comes from two major sources: the Blue Jay holiday parade and the hours their members volunteer at the Mountain Thrift Shoppe. There are 10 nonprofit organizations that “work” at that thrift shop; the profits are split between them in proportion to their hours of running the shop.
The Women’s Club of Lake Arrowhead was organized in 1926 and will be celebrating its 100th anniversary next year. The club members are anticipating hosting a wonderful celebration at that time. Last year, when the WCLA visited the Mountain History Museum for a luncheon, Rim of the World Historical Society President Bill Pumford gave a PowerPoint presentation on the Women’s Club’s 98-year history and many of their accomplishments thus far. Since then, they have accomplished so much more in their support of the mountain communities and its residents.
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