SRMC MISSION
The Santa Rosa Mothers' Club is a non-profit, self-sustaining volunteer organization founded in November 1991. We are a network of parents who strive to support, encourage and strengthen each other as we raise our young children. SRMC relies on club members, annual fees and fundraisers to support our functions.
Being a parent can be joyous, stressful, wonderful and trying. Although we would not trade our role for anything else, raising children can be a lonely endeavor. The SRMC provides a unique community that strives to bring mothers, children and families together to replace loneliness with laughter.
We make new friends for ourselves and for our children. We encourage each other in the daily challenges of parenting. Monthly Events, shared interest groups, outings, and club events are ways to share company, gather ideas, encourage self-improvement, make new friends, and of course, have fun. For more information on joining SRMC, please visit our membership page.
SRMC HISTORY
The Santa Rosa Mothers' Club will celebrate its 20th anniversary in November 2011. Six women who attended a workshop at CPI on starting a mothers' club in September 1991, started our Club. From those founding moms grew a club that now serves over 250 families. The Club was based on a format outlined by author Katie Hoepke in her book, Mothers Club: Nurturing the Nurturers.
The first meeting began in a small room at the old CPI office on Yulupa Ave. The Club quickly outgrew the space and moved to the First United Methodist Church, then to St. Rose Parish. In February of 1999, we moved to the Finley Center, which turned out to be the best fit. Since that first meeting in 1991, the Board has brought a multitude of features to the membership, including playgroups, a monthly newsletter, monthly events featuring well-respected speakers, an In-A-Pinch service, a website, social and fundraising events, membership-based discounts from local retailers, and an online community for parenting advice and support.
We are completely self-sustaining. Dues, advertising, and fundraisers support all Club functions. We are a social non-profit organization, which makes us exempt from paying taxes. However, donations to our club are not tax-deductible.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
SRMC Helps Local Students Start the School Year Off Right September 2011
In September 2011, the SRMC donated $500 to the Living Room's Backpack and School Supply Drive. This money helps buy school supplies for the children of the homeless and at-risk women who are living on the street, in cars or in shelters. The Living Room's mission is to provide comfort, support, resources and services to meet the basic needs of these women and their children. The SRMC is humbled to be able to support such a caring organization and is happy to know many children started off a new school year with the essential supplies they need to succeed.
SRMC Rescues a Program for Local Homeless Kids
July 2010
In the spring of 2010, the SRMC learned from its City Liaison board member that the City of Santa Rosa was going to cut a city program called Neighborhood Services. The program provides recreation programming for children living at Santa Rosa's Family Support Center, the largest family homeless shelter from SF to Portland, OR. The kids at the shelter named the program "Da Pad" because it provides a safe recreation room that only kids and trained, fingerprinted staff can enter, and where the kids can escape from the chaos of the shelter. Da Pad is a place where the kids can get help with homework and have access to a computer and printer (like many of their housed peers would have at home). Da Pad also offers activities in arts and crafts, local outings, and opportunities to learn social skills through structured play.
The Board of the SRMC put their heads together to find a way to save Da Pad. We are proud to announce that because of the SRMC's interest in the Neighborhood Services program and our vow to support Da Pad, the City Council pulled Neighborhood Services off the chopping block! We helped save the program!
- The SRMC Board has offered the following help:
- $500 donation right away to keep Da Pad in operation over the summer.
- An offer to match up to $1,000 in donations made from our membership to Da Pad.
- A holiday drive to support local homeless families served by the Family Support Center.
SRMC Receives Santa Rosa City Merit Award for Community Service
November 2009
On November 7, 2009, the Santa Rosa City Council awarded the City's Merit Award to the Santa Rosa Mothers' Club for our positive contributions to the City and people of Santa Rosa.
The Mayor and City Council Members recognized the community service contributions of our club, and other
outstanding individuals, businesses, and organizations. A slide show of pictures showed some of our members packing boxes at the
Redwood Empire Food Bank, visiting convalescent hospitals, planting trees, taking care of our citizens and our environment.
The woman who spoke of our club's list of good works said she could only give a sampling of our activities; the list of deeds was so long.
She wondered how we busy mommies found the time. Isn't that just what we do as women, though? Somehow, we find the time to care - for our
children, for each other, for our community.
SRMC joins the First 100 Families of the Children's Museum of Sonoma County
December 2008
In 2008, the SRMC participated in a fundraising effort called Founding Families 100 where the CMOSC asked 100 families to donate $1,000 to become a "Founding Family." While it would be difficult for many of our members to come up with donations on their own, together we pitched in to help the CMOSC become a reality. With the help of member donations, club funds, and a percentage of the proceeds from our own fundraisers, we successfully reached our goal and the SRMC will be recognized on the Family Founding Wall of 100 in the permanent museum.
SRMC Holds Annual Holiday Clothing/Item Drive for The Living Room
November/December, annually, since 2007
For the last several years, the Santa Rosa Mothers' Club has collected donations for The Living Room's Holiday Store. We are proud to continue this tradition yearly.
The Living Room is a daytime drop-in center that provides a safe-haven to ease the adversity of homelessness in a kind and caring atmosphere.
For women and children who are homeless and at risk, The Living Room provides comfort, support, resources and services to meet their basic needs and
to assist them in attaining self-sufficiency and stability in their lives.
SRMC Adopts the Tot Lot at Galvin Park May 2007
As part of our collaboration with the Santa Rosa Recreation and Parks Department to give back to the community, the SRMC Board agreed to adopt the Tot Lot area of Galvin Park in Santa Rosa.
An agreement was worked out with the SR Rec and Parks that included specific ways we will care for the park, such as watering the trees once a week through the summer and holding an event once a month at the playground where parents and kids can give the Tot Lot a little TLC.
As an on-going thank you to us, the City put up a sign on the Tot Lot fence stating the SRMC adoption of the area.
SRMC Gives $6000 in Charitable Donations March 2005
The Santa Rosa Mothers' Club Board, in effort to reach outside of its own circle of involvement, voted in favor to donate monies to charities nominated and championed by members. Members suggested a wide range of charities and the Board narrowed the group down to those that fulfilled a set of criteria which was to involve/help children and families, and had to operate in Sonoma County.
$1000 was donated to each of the charities below:
Redwood Empire Foster Parents Association: Respite care
California Parenting Institute: Kindergym room
Kids Turn of Sonoma County: Therapy for children of divorce
Sunburst Projects: Send a child from Sonoma County with AIDS to camp
Kid Street Theater: Programs
The Living Room: Second phone line