Woodland Sponsors History

Building Community By Getting to Know Our Neighbors

Woodland Sponsors

by Ann Becker

One of the best ways for women of Kent Woodlands to build community and get to know their neighbors is through Woodland Sponsors. Woodland Sponsors is a social-educational-charitable organization made up of Kent Woodlands women who meet monthly to learn and socialize, and who donate a portion of their dues as well as “Angel Donations” to nonprofit organizations serving children and youth in Marin County.

HISTORY

The origins of Woodland Sponsors go back to 1951 to the “Orchard Branch” of the “Friends of Arequipa”. Arequipa was a tuberculosis sanatorium in Fairfax founded in 1911 to offer care to hundreds of working-class women suffering from Tuberculosis in early-twentieth-century California. Arequipa gave female doctors a place to practice, female nurses and social workers a place to train, and white “society women” a noble philanthropic mission, according to Lynn Downey, author of the book Arequipa Sanatorium: Life in California’s Lung Resort for Women.

Friends of Arequipa was formed in 1951 to raise money for Arequipa. Members of it’s orchard Branch came from the entire Ross Valley area including Kent Woodlands. All meetings were held at the home of the organization’s President. The meetings focused on projects such as making placemats and table decorations for sanatorium patients.

Arequipa Sanatorium closed in 1957 with the containment of tuberculosis. The fundraising organization, Friends of Arequipa, became The Marin Foundation of Friends of Arequipa. At that time, the Orchard Branch, whose members were then all from Kent Woodlands, voted to dissolve and re-form as a new social and fundraising group because members wanted to directly choose the recipients of their fundraising efforts. Thus, Woodland Sponsors was born.

The first Woodland Sponsors projects were “camperships” for Summer program at Adaline E. Kent School. Children were selected for camperships by the Kent School Psychologist from among children whose families needed financial help. Woodland Sponsors later began earmarking the donations to provide financial assistance to children with what we now call learning differences. Woodland Sponsors also donated to the College of Marin Center for the Handicapped.

Back in those days, Fundraising parties were the principal means of raising funds to be donated. The annual Winter Gala was the most lavish of these parties and meetings leading up to it were focused on its preparation, including making centerpieces.

In those days prospective members had to be sponsored by two members-in-good-standing. Attendance was mandatory: a small fine was charged if one missed a meeting. The mandatory attendance rule made membership impractical for many women, such as women who were employed. And the number of members was capped because their mandatory meetings were held in members’ living rooms.

In 2014 when I was co-President, a number of us saw the potential of Woodland Sponsors as a unifying force connecting and involving all the women in our neighborhood. But the rules about mandatory attendance got in the way of recruiting working women and younger women. We formed a task force to propose revisions to the ByLaws, which was chaired by Carole Gray, and which included a very long-term member (the late Mary Cole), a brand-new member (Bitsa Freeman), and two other members (Daly Schreck and Dori Crawford). The new ByLaws were adopted in early 2015. From that point on, Woodland Sponsors has evolved into the much larger, vibrant group of women of all ages which it is today.

11/6/2022

PRESENT DAY

The current co-Presidents are Jeannie Perry and Denise Olson. The current leadership team consists of Jeannie Perry, Denise Olson, Alison Carbone, Bitsa Freeman, Daly Schreck, Julie Reischman, Vanessa McKinley, Kate Braun, Michelle McKechnie, Victoria Dade, and Ann Becker (President Emeritus).

Various programs in 2025-2026 included a tour of the San Rafael Frank Lloyd Wright Civic Center, the beloved “Annual Book Talk” at Book Passage bookstore by Elaine Petrocelli; the annual meeting this year will be held at the College of Marin with COM President, Jonathan Eldridge, speaking about the symbiotic relationship between the campus and our local community. Community service opportunities included a drive for wishlist items benefitting Marin Foster Care, as well as gift cards or cash donations. Several members gathered onsite at MFC to deliver all the donated items, helping to organize them in the MFC Community Resource Center. We will be welcoming our new members with a special luncheon in February at Homeward Bound of Marin. We look forward in the year ahead to many more fabulous fun and educational opportunities for us to engage with our neighbors and lend a helping hand to our communities children in need.