Another fun Easter-basket-stuffing-gathering by OJWC. We created 18 beautiful and yummy baskets for the siblings of kids at Oakland Children’s Hospital. Thanks to everyone who participated and to our fabulous host Amy!
The Orinda Junior Women’s Club had a wonderful holiday celebration last night! We collected a mountain of gifts for children at the Bay Area Crisis Nursery, packaged and sold olive oil gift sets for our holiday fundraiser, hosted our annual holiday mug exchange, dined on a wonderful potluck feast, and best of all had a fastastic evening enjoying each other’s company!
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- Juniors enjoying a fabulous potluck dinner
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- The elves at work packaging Amphora olive oil and vinegar sets for our annual holiday fundraiser.
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- The finished product. 120 bottles of gourmet goodness!
The Youth Ink writing contest was created to support the literary arts among young people in the Orinda community, Youth Ink is open to all 6th, 7th, and 8th graders who live in Orinda or attend an Orinda school.
Entries must be a story (fiction or non-fiction), poem, or other creative writing form; presented in English, and written specifically for the contest and without teacher or parent involvement. Submissions will be evaluated on content, clarity, structure, and originality.
Prompt
The writing prompt for 2018 is My World; however, you may write about anything you like—real or imaginary—adhere to the prompt or not! There is no limit to your imagination.
To Enter
Contest opens December 4, 2017 and closes on February 14, 2018. Download a Youth Ink 2018 Entry Forms, or obtain a hard copy at local schools or the Orinda Library. Contest rules and submission information can be found on the entry form.
Prizes
First Place $250, Second Place $125, and Third Place $75, and ten honorable mentions gift certificates. Winners will be notified by mail and receive their prizes at an Awards Ceremony on April 19, 2018. The ceremony is open to the public and all family and friends are invited.
Contest Sponsors
The contest is organized and run by the Orinda Junior Women’s Club, with additional financial sponsorship provided by Friends of the Orinda Library, the Lamorinda Arts Council, and Orinda Community Foundation.
The Orinda Juniors came together with all of their costumed kiddos and decorated pumpkins to bring a bit of Halloween spirit to the residents at the Orinda Village Senior Center.
Special thanks to Brigitte Meagher for corralling the little kids and making sure they got those pumpkins out. The kids were adorable, and the residents were lovely. We had all the superheroes represented, along with StormTroopers, GameBoys, ninjas, Steph Curry a few butterflies, the best snail costume ever and many more.
The pumpkin centerpieces stood the test of time (storage), and the kids loved the cookies and M&Ms.
Thanks also to our new members who attended along with their adorable kiddos. The Senior Village really was appreciative of the effort, and their Friday night dinner was off to a great start as we filed out.
The Orinda Juniors were pleased to put together a wonderful Easter dinner for the staff and families staying at the Bruins Hospice House. Several Juniors and their families delivered the dinner on behalf of the group and received a wonderful thank you from the staff.
The Orinda Juniors celebrated the end of a great year by going out to support the 2017 Orinda Restaurant Tour. Thank you to all of the board members who served!
The Orinda Juniors were in action for Orinda Action Day on April 22. A group of over 20 Juniors and their children met to clean up the Orinda Park. Together we collected over 12 bags of trash and debris.
Friends and families gathered at the Orinda Library auditorium for the presentation of the 2017 Youth Ink Awards. This year, over 45 Orinda middle school students submitted entries inspired by the writing prompt 60 Seconds. Many of the young authors read their essays, and guest speaker, MJ Marggraff spoke to the crowd.
The Orinda Junior Women’s Club is pleased to announce the winners of our annual Youth Ink Writing Contest:
First Place ($250):
Kirstin Parker, OIS, So Long, So Short
Second Place ($125):
Kate Laudy, Athenian School, The Last Minute
Third Place ($75):
Lydia Gant, OIS, Sixty Seconds of an Anxiety Attack
Kali Sharma, OIS, Leaving the Life You Love
Honorable Mention:
(alphabetical order)
Mia Balonick, 60 Seconds to Live
Devon Bradley, A Dream
Malayna Chang, Pen Pals
Annika Gubser, Worlds Within Words
Audrey Lambert, See You Later Alligator
Zoey C. Patterson, Flammable
Maxine Pollock, Small Steps
Kelsey Viadro, Breaking Free
Abby Wallach, Inspired
Lily Wood, Awed by Abe
Orinda Juniors continued the tradition of putting together Easter baskets for the The Family House for Oakland Children’s Hospital. This low-cost “home away from home” has 16 bedrooms available to qualifying families who live 70 miles or more from the hospital. All residents share a common living room, play room, kitchen, and laundry room.
We assembled over 20 baskets filled with toys, books, and Easter treats to deliver to a very appreciative group of families staying at The Family House.
One of the favorite events of the year, is the Orinda Juniors annual Mug Exchange and holiday party. This year, the Orinda Juniors got together and not only exchanged mugs, enjoyed a decadent holiday spread of soups, salads and seasonal treat—we also donated holiday gifts for over 25 children from the Bay Area Crisis Nursery and kicked off a new holiday fundraiser! Inspired by our November meeting at Amphora, we bottled 142 bottles of specialty olive oils and vinegars, including Basil Olive Oil/White Peach Balsamic Vinegar, Herb Olive Oil/Fig Balsamic Vinegar, and Gold Medal Arbequina Olive Oil. Once bottled, we labelled and packaged them along with some great recipes and then sold them for holiday gift giving. Our best fundraiser to date!
