Dear Friends,
Happy Birthday Kathleen Dowd!
Please help us celebrate Kathleen Dowd's Birthday this Saturday, July 26th at 9:30am @UUMarin (240 Channing Way) with a Stop Drop and Dance fundraiser benefitting the California Nurse-Midwives Foundation!
Kathleen has been a midwife for 30 years in the greater Bay Area and has worked in many settings, including hospitals, out of hospital birth centers, and community settings. While serving as President of California Nurse-Midwives Association, she negotiated new legislation to remove barriers to midwifery in California. She continues her work to ensure all individuals have access to midwifery care as a way to improve reproductive and maternal health in the state.
In 2019, she founded the California Nurse-Midwives Foundation and she is currently Chair of the Board. The Foundation raises funds to improve maternal and newborn outcomes and improve access to high quality maternity care, while addressing inequities in care for People of Color and under-resourced individuals and communities. In our nation and our state, Black and Indigenous people are 3-4 times more likely to die than white woman in relation to pregnancy and childbirth. The Foundation is addressing this with many programs, such as supporting aspiring and current midwifery students of color and advocating to uplift people of color and those doing innovative work to change our current systems and institutions.
To make it extra fun, Kathleen has chosen a Great Gatsby theme, so accessorize your workout clothes with headbands, feathers, or even fringed dresses!
Save the Dates!
Please mark your calendars for a few more upcoming special events with our community members. All Saturday Stop Drop and Dance classes are 60 minutes long at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Marin, located at 240 Channing Way in San Rafael. Wear comfortable sneakers, bring a water bottle, and join our joyful community!
Saturday, August 9th 9:30am
Lisa Hudson's 60th Birthday Celebration
Theme: TBD
Saturday, August 16th 9:30am
Mika and Kaleo Chow's Fundraiser for the Kliptown Youth Program in South Africa
South African Flag Theme: wear white, red, yellow, green, blue, and/or black
Saturday, August 23rd
Class is Cancelled
I will be celebrating my dad's 80th birthday!
You Are Light.
"Love is the light that can shine bright, even in our darkest times. We all have something we can offer one another. Gentle words or a receptive ear, an arm around an exhausted shoulder, or silently being by someone's side.
We must all shine for each other because in times of joy and sadness, we are all each other's light."
- Kate Middleton
We love seeing our community members "out in the wild" either for planned get togethers or spontaneous run-ins! Keep sending your Dancers in the Wild photos to our WhatsApp social group (scan the QR code in class at our check-in table!)
(pictured below)
* Sara Rainbolt and Lisa Butcher at Water Polo in Orange County
* Shannon Bindler, Erin Meyers, Laura Williams and Laura Briggs attending the Songwriter's Roundup in Fairfax
Thank you for being a bright light for one another, in and out of class!
Love,
Grace
