Dear Friends,
Happy Liberation and Gratitude Birthday Kathleen Dowd!
Kathleen has been a midwife for over 25 yrs in the greater Bay Area and has worked in many settings, including hospitals, out of hospital birth centers and community settings. As the President of California Nurse-Midwives Association, she crafted and negotiated new legislation to remove barriers to midwifery in Ca. 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. As such, she founded the California Nurse-Midwives Foundation and is currently the Chair of the Board.
Funds are raised to support strategies to improve maternal and newborn outcomes, improve access to high quality maternity care, and address inequities in care for Black, Indigenous, People of Color and other under-resourced individuals and communities. The Ca Dpmt of Public Health released a report addressing maternal outcomes in our state and Black persons are 3-4 times more likely to die related to childbirth as white persons. This is appalling and must be addressed urgently. We support aspiring and current midwifery students, programs, policies, and advocacy that uplift people of color; and those who are doing innovative work to change our current systems and institutions.
Please join us on Thursday in-person or on Zoom and come dressed in rainbow colors!
All donors will receive an on-demand recording of our class for the week after! Even if you cannot make the class or are not interested in dancing, we appreciate your support!
Click here to dance and donate!
Happy 55th Birthday Laura Tollen!
It was so wonderful to get back into the routine last week after a two-week break! Even better was seeing all of you and remembering just how JOYFUL it is to be surrounded by positive, kind and playful friends who know how to have a good time!
Happy Birthday to Laura Tollen who said YES to dancing in the front for the whole class for her actual birthday!
Laura is usually a Saturday morning only dancer so it was extra special for her to set her priorities right and take off work to dance with us! We all showed up in her favorite color, Blue, and finished class with an electric “Purple Hat” dance altogether!
At the end of class, Laura shared something beautiful:
“If my 15-year-old self would have known that my 55-year-old self was going to be doing this, I never would have believed it.”
So grateful to grow older and wiser!
Happy 55th Birthday Laura!
Happy Beach Birthday Erin Meyers!
We celebrated Erin Meyers last Thursday with a beach-themed sweaty 75 minute Stop Drop and Dance class filled with lots of fun and laughter!
The outfits were spot on, from board shorts and sundresses to a full body shark suit and a hilarious cameo from Chad the lifeguard (thanks Michelle Sullivan and Karin Conn!)
Erin brought sunglasses and bracelets for everyone who came, and afterwards we had a community potluck gathering on the hill!
Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate Erin, who always welcomes newcomers and builds new friendships, is the ultimate thoughtful and creative gift-giver, and is often behind-the-scenes organizing our community potlucks and decorating the church for others’ birthdays.
“Erin is Awesome” is a thing!
Happy Birthday Erin Meyers!
Double Trouble
When I said I was jet-lagged last week, that was an understatement. In addition to coming home from China on Sunday, we also picked up two puppies that same evening who have to go potty every 2-3 hours at night.
It has been exhausting to say the least but my girls and my husband have been begging to get a dog for over 3 years now... and I finally caved. Last Thursday, my girls introduced the pups to those who came to our community potluck!
Meet Taro and Bun-Bun
(steamed Taro Buns are one of my girls' favorite Chinese desserts and is pictured on their head in the photo!).
Tired? Who's tired???
Let's DANCE!
See you in class!
Grace
