F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H
University of WisconsinLa Crosse
INSIDE THIS
ISSUE:
Welcome from
1
the President
Coat & Food
1
Drive Totals
Book Club
2
OCW
3
Symposium
Nominations &
3
Elections
OCW Holiday
4
Social Photos
STEERING
COMMITTEE
MEETING DATES
All OCW meetings take
place in 263 Cartwright
Center and are open to
all. We encourage you to
join us and share ideas
about OCW events and
opportunities.
February 16
March 9
April 20
May 18
2 0 1 1
Organization for Campus
Women (OCW) Newsletter
President’s Welcome
It’s the start of a new year,
and like most of us, I tend
to reflect on my life and
make ridiculous new year’s
resolutions that I never
manage to continue past the
end of January. So this year,
I’ve decided on simply trying
to appreciate the little
things in life, recognize
and be grateful for all my
blessings, and attempt to
make a difference.
It’s that last one that
always makes me panic.
I suffer from the fear of
not doing enough and
not being enough. How
can I possibly make a
difference, right? I don’t
have tons of money to
donate to worthy causes. I
barely have any free time to
volunteer. What can I
possibly do to make a
difference?
But, by appreciating the
little things in my life, I
realized that it’s also the
little things that make a
difference for others as well.
And when lots of people get
together and do little things,
it can make a lasting impact
in our own lives and those
around us. Just look at
what OCW and the UW-L
community did with the
coat/mitten and food drives.
Together we made a
difference in the lives of
students and community
members.
This idea of ―creating
opportunities that last‖
is this year’s OCW
Symposium is focusing on
micro-lending which are
very small loans given to
“I am only one, but I am one. I
cannot do everything, but I can
do something. And I will not let
what I cannot do interfere with
what I can do.”
Edward Everett Hale
poverty-stricken people,
allowing them to expand a
business or pay for their
children’s school tuition.
Research indicates that
small money loans given to
the poor resulted in
increased quality of life,
decreased child mortality,
improved maternal health,
and increased savings and
investment. Women, in
particular, benefit greatly
from micro-financing and
have increased the concept
of women empowerment
and independence. Small
changes can yield big results.
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU to everyone
who took the time to donate
food and clothing items to
the recent OCW Coat/
Mitten Drive and ―Can for a
Cookie‖ food drive. You’ve
made a difference in the lives
of UW-L students and
hundreds of La Crosse
area residents.
Coat/Mitten Drive
Headbands/Earmuffs
38
Hats
121
Mittens/Gloves
192
Coats
82
Scarves
84
Boots/Snowpants
10
TOTAL
527
Can for a Cookie
Food Drive
Boxed Items
Breakfast
Canned Goods
Desserts
Beverage Items
Pasta Noodles/Sauce
Peanut Butter
Snacks/Chips
Soups/Ramen Noodles
Personal Care Items
TOTAL
18
25
107
35
17
87
10
19
89
118
541
OCW representatives: Maruq Khan, Krista Shulka,
Sharie Brunk, Maggie McHugh and Marueen Wilson
with Chancellor Joe Gow at the All-University Address
PAGE
2
OCW Book Club
The OCW Book Club is proud to announce its Spring 2011 reading list.
Please join the discussion on the dates listed below at Murphy’s Mug from 12:00-1:00 p.m.
The Latehomecomer
Before I Fall
(Emma Donoghue)
February 8, 2011
(Kao Kalia Yang)
April 5, 2011
Lauren Oliver
May 3, 2011
In many ways, Jack is a typical 5-year-old.
He likes to read books, watch TV, and play
games with his Ma. But Jack is different in
a big way—he has lived his entire life in a
single room, sharing the tiny space with
only his mother and an unnerving nighttime
visitor known as Old Nick. For Jack, Room
is the only world he knows, but for Ma, it
is a prison in which she has tried to craft
a normal life for her son. When their world
suddenly expands beyond the confines of
their four walls, the consequences are
piercing and extraordinary. Despite its
profoundly disturbing premise, Emma
Donoghue’s Room is rife with moments
of hope and beauty, and the dogged
determination to live, even in the most
desolate circumstances.
Yang, cofounder of the immigrant-services
company Words Wanted, was born in a
Hmong refugee camp in Thailand in 1980. Her
grandmother had wanted to stay in the camp,
to make it easier for her spirit to find its way
back to her birthplace when she died, but
people knew it would soon be liquidated.
America looked promising, so Yang and her
family, along with scores of other Hmong, left
the jungles of Thailand to fly to California,
then settle in St. Paul, Minn. In many ways,
these hardworking refugees followed the
classic immigrant arc, with the adults working
double jobs so the children could get an
education and be a credit to the community.
But the Hmong immigrants were also
unique—coming from a non-Christian, rain
forest culture, with no homeland to imagine
returning to, with hardly anyone in America
knowing anything about them. As Yang wryly
notes, they studied the Vietnam War at
school, without their lessons ever mentioning
that the Hmong had been fighting for the
Americans. Yang tells her family's story with
grace; she narrates their struggles, beautifully
weaving in Hmong folklore and culture.
In this Groundhog Day meets Mean Girls teen
hybrid, Sam Kingston is pretty, popular, and
has a seemingly perfect boyfriend. But after a
late-night party everything goes terribly
wrong, and the life that she lived is gone
forever. Or is it?
Room
The Immortal Life of
Henrietta Lacks
(Rebecca Skloot)
March 1, 2011
Henrietta Lacks was a mother of five in
Baltimore, a poor African American migrant
from the tobacco farms of Virginia, who
died from a cruelly aggressive cancer at
the age of 30 in 1951. A sample of her
cancerous tissue, taken without her
knowledge or consent, turned out to
provide one of the holy grails of mid-century
biology: human cells that could survive—
even thrive—in the lab. Known as HeLa
cells, their stunning potency gave scientists
a building block for countless breakthroughs,
beginning with the cure for polio. Meanwhile, Henrietta’s family continued to live
in poverty and frequently poor health,
and their discovery decades later of her
unknowing contribution—and her cells’
strange survival—left them full of pride,
anger, and suspicion. Skloot tells a rich
and haunting story that asks the questions,
Who owns our bodies? And who carries
our memories?
At the start of Before I Fall, Sam is selfconsumed and oblivious about the impact of
her actions on others. But as she repeatedly
experiences slightly altered versions of the
hours leading up to her death—and her
relationships with friends, family, and formerly
overlooked classmates bloom, end, or shift—
it’s impossible not to feel for the girl whose
life ends too soon. Oliver’s adept teen
dialogue and lively prose make for a fast,
page-turning story in which the reader is
every bit as emotionally invested as Sam.
June 7—Book to be selected
July 5—Book to be selected
August 2—Book to be selected
Campus Activities Board Event
Kao Kalia Yang
Sunday, April 10, 2011 at 7:00 p.m.
Valhalla, Cartwright Center
Kao Kalia Yang is the author of ―The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir,‖ which is one of
the first memoirs by a Hmong writer released with national distribution. Driven to tell her family’s story after her grandmother’s death, ―The Latehomecomer‖ tells the story of her family’s
flight from Laos to Thailand, running away from the North Vietnam army who intended to wipe
out the Hmong since they helped fight with the CIA during the Secret War of Laos from 1960 to
1975. ―The Late Homecomer‖ is Yang’s tribute to the remarkable woman whose spirit held them
all together—her grandmother. It recounts the challenges of adapting to a new place and a new
language. Her words give voice to the dreams, wisdom, and traditions passed down from her
grandmother and expresses one perspective of a people who have worked hard to make their
voices heard.
Co-sponsored with the Hmong Organization Promoting Education (HOPE).
OCW Symposium
Creating Opportunities that Last
The poorest 40 percent of the world’s
population accounts for only 5 percent
of global income. For many of these
people, the only chance they have to
work their way out of poverty is to get
a loan to help them start a small family
business.
Valerie Breunig, Worldwide Foundation
for Credit Unions Executive Director,
will share how her organization helps
the working poor around the globe
climb out of poverty through financial
cooperatives. Valerie will also share
how her 25-year career has led her to
places –and to skills-- she never
thought possible and discuss careers in
international development.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
OCW SYMPOSIUM
Friday, March 25, 2011
11:30 a.m.—1:00 p.m.
Ward Room
To register:
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
VALERIE BREUNIG
Valerie Breunig is Worldwide Foundation Executive
Director for the World Council of Credit Unions.
She is responsible for the WOCCU Supporters
Program, which doubled from over $300,000 to over
1.6 million dollars in her five year tenure.
Breunig was previously Director of Development for
the Agronomic Science Foundation. Prior to that she
ran Wisconsin’s largest trade show, World Dairy
Expo. She was with CUNA as a marketing account
executive and product manager after her first position as Director of
Communications for a data processing cooperative.
Breunig was in the first group to receive the International-CUDE
designation in Barcelona, Spain in 2009. Professional affiliations have
included serving on the boards of National Agri-Marketing Association,
Wisconsin Cooperative Day, Wisconsin Rural Leadership Program, and
memberships in Cooperative Communicators Association, Association
Foundation Group and Association of Fundraising Professionals. She’s
spoken to numerous groups including a cooperative microfinance panel
at the United Nations.
A graduate with distinction of University of Wisconsin-Madison with
majors in Ag Extension Education and Ag Journalism, Breunig lives in
Waunakee, Wisconsin, with her two children.
https://uwlacrosse.qualtrics.com/SE/?
SID=SV_cMC0bmzLSIRR2HW
“One woman can change
anything. Many women can
change everything.”
CONGRATULATIONS!
SUZANNE HARM
WINNER OF THE
OCW QUILT RAFFLE
FUNDRAISER
OCW Nominations & Elections
It’s that time of year again to start
thinking about OCW committee representation and service. OCW is seeking
nominations of classified staff to serve
on the 2011-2012 Steering Committee.
Volunteers are also needed to serve on
the various OCW sub-committees
which include:
Book Club
Social
YWCA Tribute
Symposium
Newsletter/Webpage
Membership/Elections
Scholarship/Fundraising
If you are interested in nominating someone for the OCW Steering committee or
are interested in serving on a subcommittee, please complete the form at https://
uwlacrosse.qualtrics.com/SE/?
SID=SV_42eq93DEXNLiyyg
Official election ballots for the Steering
Committee representative will be
distributed in mid-April.
OCW Holiday Social Photos