By Khalida Sarwari
To raise funds for programs that benefit homeless women and children in Santa Clara County, the Los Gatos-Saratoga branch of the American Association of University Women is holding its first spring garden party on April 29.
“In the past we did an English tea party, so we thought we’d try something new this year,” said AAUW spokeswoman Joan Kjemtrup.
Guests begin the evening at a reception that will include music, appetizers and wine, and a silent auction. The fundraiser, which benefits the programs at Georgia Travis Center, also features an indoor and outdoor gift sale, including floral, landscape and vegetable plants. Tickets are $35 per person.
The Committee on Homeless Women and Children is a division of AAUW started in 1986 by Travis, who at the time lived in Los Gatos. After repeatedly seeing stories and statistics about the homeless in Santa Clara County, Travis decided to investigate.
She went out to the Guadalupe River in San Jose and talked to people camped under the bridges and to the homeless in shelters. Travis came to realize that thousands were homeless and that nearly half of them were children. Many of the homeless women and children slept in overnight shelters but didn’t have anywhere to go during the day.
The Georgia Travis Center, a daytime shelter, opened in 1990 on Rosemary Avenue in San Jose before it was moved to a bigger building on Commercial Street.
The new facility includes computer classes, an eating area, indoor children’s play yard, laundry and shower rooms, and a warehouse for clothing, furniture and household items for women who move into their own homes.
Every Thanksgiving, the committee hosts a brunch at the Georgia Travis Center and a holiday dinner with gifts for the women at the Commercial Street Inn overnight shelter in San Jose. The committee has also provided parent education programs and money management classes.
The garden party will be held on April 29 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Summer Winds Nursery, 1491 S. De Anza Blvd., in Cupertino.
The event also offers an opportunity for guests to speak with nursery staff and learn orchid care tips, attracting birds and bees, and controlling garden pests.
Call homeless committee chairwoman Nancy Anderson at 408.867.4383 for more information.
AAUW holds spring garden party as benefit for homeless women, children
