December Newsletter

The year is drawing to a close but the IWCV is still busy, particular our Charities ladies who have organized a few great ways to help those less fortunate than ourselves during this holiday season. We’ve got Amigos de la Calle’s Sponsor a Child and Gifts for the Homeless program, holiday gift baskets from Casa Ronald McDonald, and holiday poinsettias from Proyecto Vivir. See below under “Charities” for details and to learn how you can help.

Even though so many of us are away or busy over the next few weeks, we’ve still got some fun events for you during December! There are other events too that have already filled – to join a waitlist for any or all, just email president@iwc-valencia.com and provide your name, email address, and the number of persons you want to register.

Now take a look below at the open activities and don’t forget to check our website periodically as new events are added all the time!

FIRST TUESDAY COFFEE, Tuesday 2 December at the café behind the MUVIM Museum. Open to all women of Valencia. Join us for coffee and conversation. Invite your friends – all are welcome, both members and those who haven’t formally joined us yet. No need to register in advance. Details here: First Tuesday Coffee | IWC - Valencia

FELLOWS OF THE IWCV HAPPY HOUR, Wednesday 10 December at Gina Melenas, 6pm – 8pm. Open to everyone! Come see your old friends and make some new ones. No need to sign up in advance! For details click here: Fellows of the IWCV Happy Hour | IWC - Valencia

FESTIVE WREATH WORKSHOP ON TWO DATES, 13 or 15 December at Tina Vaia Studio. Open to IWCV members, their partners/spouses, Fellows of the IWCV, and out-of-town guests. Get into the festive spirit and create your very own holiday wreath in a fun, creative, and relaxed setting! For complete details and to register, click on the date you prefer:

Saturday 13 December: Festive Wreath Workshop - 1st of 2 dates | IWC - Valencia

Monday 15 December: Festive Wreath Workshop - 2nd of 2 dates | IWC - Valencia

IWCV HOLIDAY LUNCHEON, Thursday 18 December at 2:00pm for IWCV members and their partners/spouses. Fellows of the IWCV are welcome too, and if you’ve got out-of-town guests visiting you this month, bring them along for a sampling of how much fun the IWCV really is! This month we celebrate the season with an amazing degustation including an assortment of delicious, homemade Georgian food at Batumi Rusafa. Details will be posted on our website shortly so please keep an eye out so you don’t miss it!

IWCV HAPPY HOUR – OWL (OUT WITH THE LADIES) Because the last Wednesday in December is New Year’s Eve, we will not be holding OWL this month, but we’re looking forward to seeing you at our next OWL on 28 January!

MEMBERSHIP

Janine Forbes, VP Membership

New members and re-joiners in November 2025

We now have 460 full Members with 27 new members joining and some leaving us for pastures new . This month our joiners are from Spain, Ireland, Brazil, UK and the USA. A huge welcome to all our new members!

Andrea Quiroz Jira

Bonita Yucas

Caroline Baines

Catherine Jorgensen

Claire Donnai

Coletta Blackburn

Cynthia Lynn

Elena Titskaya

Elizabeth Wydelts

Hanna Bazheova

Janelle Krennrich

Janet Christian

JaTaun Noelle

Jimena Echeverri

Katherine Bretz

Leah Bolger

Marina Ivanova

Martha Hudak

Maruchi Kotcherha

Mary Desmond

Sandra Kindler

Serena Chester

Simone Corno

Sonia Gonzalez

Thaisi Leal

Tina vaia

Yolanda Grijalva

Happy Birthday to all our ladies celebrating in December!

Agne Maseviciute

Alicia Sridhar

Audry Phillips

Candy Mirrer

Catherin Kohler

Cheryl Schuberth

Debbie Roth

Denise Huffman

Done Garcia

Emily Judd

Esperanza Arevalo

Geraldine Boyles

Jennifer Powers

Julie Buchholz

Karen Habib

Ketty Delapena

Lynne Brown

Marisa Ramos Perez

Marlyse Lupus

Myra Deuel

Nancy Farkas

Norma Acland

Phyllis So

Robin Kaplan

Silvia Ayllon

Susan Martin

Suzanne Rosselet

Tiffany Gaura

Victoria Stith

Virginia Green

Vistoria Young

New members found us through other members referrals, web searches and increasingly Facebook recommendations.

Input from Membership VP - Janine Forbes

Welcome to ALL our new members.

We’ve almost doubled our membership from the start of 2025! Valencia continues to be very popular and new members mostly join us from existing member recommendations so that is amazing!

This last month brought us the New Members Meet up, which we try to hold at least twice or three times a year. It is always a delight to meet our new members in person and hear their many and varied stories about how they found Valencia and the Club and this meeting was no exception. We have a host of talents in the club and our new members are no exception. We hope you enjoy your membership, sign up for the activities and feel you have a landing place to flourish and make new friends here in Valencia. If you are very new to your area or the city please speak to Veronica Lopez who is our Ambassador Coordinator. Her e mail is iwcvwelcome@gmail.com New members really appreciate the support of an IWCV Ambassador when they are relatively new to the city.

Remember, all the really useful information about What’s On within the Club and the many, many events is on the IWC website. If you would like to join one of the many WhatsApp groups, just contact the relevant lead member or any Board Member including myself, janine_forbes@hotmail.com. Of course, If you know any women in your personal network who you think would enjoy being a member of our club, please pass on the www.iwc-valencia.com and bring them along to an event. This is how the majority of women find us and referral is the best recommendation of all . Please join us for coffee at Muvimas on 2nd December at 10:30!! Hope to see you there and Festive Wishes to all!

CHARITIES & FUNDRAISING

Pauline Fitzgerald, VP – Charities

The Holiday Season is finally here, the season of joy and goodwill and as always the needs of others lies firmly at the heart of the IWC-V

For those of you who wish to make a private donation please note theBank details of our three charities:

Proyecto Vivir ES75 3159 0066 9828 5328 2123

Casa Caridad La Caixa:ES47 2100 0736 0022 0061 2310.

Banco Sabadell:ES75 0081 7352 4300 0105 7311

Casa Ronald ES27 0081 1518 9300 0150 8057

CASA RONALD It is still possible to become a family member at Casa Ronald. Every year the ⁷Casa Ronald house next to La Fe Hospital hosts more than 200 families with seriously ill children who need to be close to them during their recovery. In order to be able to assume the high costs of maintaining this, they are asking us to join their great family in a very simple way that generates a lot of stability: Becoming a family member You decide the amount and how often you can contribute, every amount no matter how large or small helps in such a big way https://participa.fundacionronald.org/sociocasaronaldvalenciaCasa Ronald greatly appreciates the support of IWCV

CHRISTMAS BASKETS For those of you who have ordered Christmas Baskets from Casa Ronald please watch for details of dates and point of collection in December

CASA CARIDAD Casa Caridad also continue their mission to support victims of The Dana which is now more than one year ago and still so vivid , so many people suffered and are still struggling. They are still appealing to companies and individuals for donations, two bank accounts have been enabled for this purpose:

CaixaBank: ES2321008681530200122656 and

RENTA 4 BANCO: ES 7600830001110097130755

or you can use The Bizum number 11001.

AMIGOS DE LA CALLE - SPONSOR A CHILD

The holiday season has begun and we are busy allocating families to members who are sponsoring children. We still have some children who need sponsors, please see details below and contact Evelyn as soon as possible. I'm hoping we can exceed our 2024 target due to the amazing increase in IWC-V members. Who doesn't enjoy shopping for children.

This is  a project we all enjoy and again I am asking for your help to sponsor children. When our members sponsor a child or family, it means providing wrapped gifts (age-appropriate toys, clothing) for the children of families in need. The gifts are distributed by the volunteers of Amigos de la Calle at a special children's party which will be held on Saturday December 27th. Last year 2024 the IWC-V sponsored more than 100 children which was an amazing achievement. I think for all of us it is fulfilling to bring happiness into the lives of children in need at this time of year.

For those of you who wish to participate and provide wrapped gifts for needy children, can you please send your details as soon as possible to: Evelyn Smithevcelina@gmail.com Please include your name, email, WhatsApp/phone number -confirm the number of children you wish to sponsor or perhaps you would like to sponsor a small family. Evelyn will allocate children on a first come first served basis along with all necessary details of the child/children (ages, gender, clothing sizes, etc.). Watch your feed for emails, whatsapp messages regarding drop-off times in December for gifts to Clare Keefe's house in Central Valencia.

The first drop-off will be at the December First Tuesday Coffee on 2 December at MuviMas, on the terrace behind the MUVIM Museum. The closing date for drop-off will be December 21st.  All gifts should be wrapped and labelled with the following information:1. Family Number 2. Family Name 3. Child Name 4. Child Age. Gift receipts should be included with clothes and shoes.Thank you Ladies as always for your support

GIFT BAGS FOR THE HOMELESS

The ladies of IWCV always bring a little Christmas cheer to those less fortunate people and for the past several years we have collaborated with Amigos de la Calle to make up Christmas Gift Bags with essential goodies and some Christmas treats for distribution to the homeless people on the streets of Valencia City. The volunteers of Amigos de la Calle try to meet the requests of the individual homeless people and put together a gift bag of their needs. Missy Anobile has successfully overseen this project since it began and she will kindly co-ordinate it again this year. If you wish to participate, please note that Amigos de la Calle request that items donated should be new items. The items you purchase should be from the recommended list. Please feel free to buy one or more of as many items as you wish and please note that 95% of homeless people in Valencia are male.

LIST OF RECOMMENDED GIFTS:

Ropa interior  - Underwear

Calcetines- Socks

Bufanda - Scarf

Gorro - Hat

Guantes - Gloves

Pantalones deportivos - Sweatpants / Trainers

Sudadera - Sweatshir

Champú - Shampoo (350 ml or less)

Gel de ducha - Shower Gel (350 ml or less)

Desodorante - Deodorant

Cepillo y pasta de dientes  - Toothbrush and toothpaste

Linterna de Bolsillo -  Flashlight / Pocket Torch

Dulces de Navidad - Christmas Sweets

EACH item must be gift-wrapped  (even toiletries - it’s fun to open presents!) and labelled with the contents and size.  For example, if you buy socks, size medium, 3 pairs, the label should read in Spanish: Calcetines de hombre, Mediana, x3

SIZES IN SPANISH: 

Pequeña = Small

Mediana = Medium

Grande = Large

Extra grande = Extra Large

Unfortunately, we cannot accept gifts that are unwrapped or unlabelled, as we do not have the resources to do the wrapping and labelling.

PLEASE WATCH YOUR EMAIL FEED FOR COLLECTION/ DROP-OFF DATES WHICH WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON!

Ladies, please watch your emails in the coming months, there will be tours of Casa Ronald, Proyector Vivir and and Casa Caridad in the New Year. Places will be limited, it will be important to register as soon as possible when the events go “live"

Finally, from The Charities Team a "BIG" heartfelt thank you for your generosity throughout the year, this year being our 20th Anniversary, you ladies have been amazing. Enjoy the holiday season

ACTIVITIES

Susan Burke March, VP—Activities

We are working hard to schedule a whole bunch of fun, interesting, educational and definitely social events for our members in the new year! Do you have an idea for an activity or event? Our IWCV ongoing activities and many of IWCV's special events thrive because members like you step up to lead them. Hosting or organizing is an excellent way to share your interests and help our community flourish. Please reach out to Susan Burke March (activities@iwc-valencia.com) to brainstorm your ideas—you'll receive support every step of the way!

FELLOWS OF THE IWCV

Carey Hepler, Coordinator

Details of the Fellows’ December Happy Hour are above. This event is open to Fellows and everyone else too! We hope to see you there. If you are new to Valencia (or even if you’ve been here for a while!) and your husband/partner wants to meet people and keep busy, bring him along and introduce him to the Fellows. It’s a great way for the men in your life to make friends!

The Fellows of the IWCV is open to all men of Valencia. For questions or to join, please contact me (Carey Hepler) at carey.hepler@gmail.com.

DECEMBER HOLIDAYS IN VALENCIA

Monday 8 December - Immaculate Conception

Thursday 25 December - Christmas Day

Enjoy the holiday season (whatever holiday you may celebrate!) and we’ll see you all next year!

Jane Buck,

President