FARIBAULT Best of the Year

 The Faribault branch is committed to the AAUW mission. The mission statement appears in our membership brochure and every issue of our newsletter. We center our programs on women presenters as well as women’s issues. In September, we invited Kate Roberts, author and editor of Minnesota 150. In November, Linda Lehman presented a program about grief and children. Olivia Frey, an area organic farmer presented a program on shopping and eating locally, based on Barbara Kingsolver’s book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Our branch book club had this book as one of our monthly reads. March’s program presenter was Mary C. Ellison, Women’s Program Staff Attorney for the Advocates for Human Rights. She spoke about violence against women in Minnesota. We co-sponsored this program with the Faribault Hope Center and opened it to the public.

      The Faribault AAUW branch has sponsored political forums every year that an election is held. It may be a forum for school board member candidates, state representatives, city council candidates, or mayoral candidates. It is recorded and presented on our local cable channel. We chose a qualified moderator and offered opportunities for community members to write and sometimes telephone in questions.

We have a scholarship that is given to a South Central College female student. We qualify to be listed in the foundation booklet in the Scholar’s Circle. This year the amount was $750. We also offer another scholarship for the same amount to a local woman attending college. Annually we present the AAUW Sportswoman of the Year award to a senior girl who excels in scholarship, sports, community activities, and extracurricular activities.

Each December, our holiday gathering includes a silent auction to raise funds to support EF. Our annual book sale has become an anticipated event for members of our community. We gather and store books during the year. In April, we set up the sale at the Faribault West Mall. We have chosen to extend past the weekend to garner more revenue. The sales also help fund Project STAR, a program that allows us to present a book to each child at preschool screening. Faribault AAUW has always given the maximum to LAF.

Each year, the Faribault Daily News publishes four or five articles during women’s history month written by our members. The themes have varied over the years. The last few years we’ve focused on local women. This year our focus was on women of diversity who work in our community.

We have strived each year to find ways to make AAUW a recognizable entity. We have opened up at least three programs to the public. We met at Buckham Memorial Library to accommodate larger groups, and also at South Central College. We offered continuing education credits for the grief and children program. Each member is encouraged to invite a guest to any or all our meetings.

We are participants in the Admission Possible program, which raises awareness among students who might not otherwise think about going to college. We also have an active, vibrant book club that emphasizes women authors. We continue to participate in the Highway Clean-up program.

The Faribault AAUW branch continues its tradition of being a proactive group in the community.