President's Message Archives - NWPC Fresno

President’s Message

NWPC Fresno — Sun, 30 Aug 2026 16:18:53 +0000

It’s almost September and that means Women’s Equality Day is just weeks away. Now is the time to step up to help us raise a record amount of money for our PAC account. We still have candidates that we hope to support before the November election. So, help us raise those funds at our September 12th luncheon.

You can also help by donating silent auction items with a value of at least $50. We need twenty-five or more items to make the auction a success. Please help by bringing your auction items to the September meeting or contact me to drop off your item. If you have questions, please reach out to Cathy Brass (559 288-8973) or to me (559 260-8343).

If you haven’t already purchased your WED ticket or sponsorship, please bring a check to or use your credit or ATM card at our September meeting. When you buy your ticket through Eventbrite we have to pay a processing fee so we don’t receive the full ticket amount you paid and it really adds up. I’m sorry we didn’t think to share this info with all of you sooner.

I have one last item to share with everyone. California NWPC has asked our caucus to host their bi-annual conference in January. I spoke about this briefly at our August General Meeting. At our recent board meeting it was decided that we would agree to host the event. We will have more details in the coming months.

In solidarity as we stand up for Women’s Rights,

Lynn Badertscher

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President’s Message

NWPC Fresno — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 22:30:33 +0000

How can it almost be August? This summer seems to have just flown by. For those of us in NWPC Fresno, now is the time for our caucus to get serious about preparing for our Women’s Equality Day (WED) fundraiser on September 12th.

We need everyone’s help to break last year’s WED fundraising record of $24,000 in profit! So, you ask, how can you help?

You can buy a ticket to attend the event.
You can bring your friends to WED.
You can donate cash to be used to purchase alcohol for the Booze Table raffle. We sell tickets to this raffle and usually make $900-$1,000 dollars on this alone.
You can donate an item or two to the silent auction.
Gift cards to restaurants, gift stores, manicurists, massages, book stores etc. are great auction items.
Items should be valued at $50 dollars or more. Baskets are very popular. Think out of the box for interesting baskets, for example:

o Coffee/tea basket
o Themed food baskets
o Dog or cat baskets
o Placemats, napkins, candles basket
o Gardening basket
o Various herb plants basket (don’t bring
live plants or flowers in advance of
the event)
o Wine and accessories baskets

Now is the time to act!

Please bring your donations to the August or September meeting. Include a note that is attached to the item with your name, the value of the item and a description of the item (2-4 sentences, please). You can bring it to my house or I will pick it up from you if needed. Feel free to give me a call if you have questions 559 260-8343.

Hope to see you on August 4th,

Lynn Badertscher

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President’s Message

NWPC Fresno — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 23:48:46 +0000

I want to start off by giving a shout out to all of our endorsed candidates who ran in the June election! No matter if you are moving on to the November runoff, or not I am so proud of you and the campaigns that you ran. You made us proud to have supported you and your campaign. We promise to be there if you decide to seek office sometime in the future. I hope that we will continue to see you at our monthly NWPC meetings.

It’s time to start talking about our Women’s Equality Day (WED) fundraiser luncheon on September 12th at Pardini’s restaurant. The WED Planning Committee has been meeting and we have a good start on putting the event together. We have secured the venue, we have secured our speaker, we are working on honorees (we will let you know who we’ve chosen to honor this year when our list is finalized), we have a theme for the event “Strength In Numbers,” and we’ve determined that the ticket price will be the same as last two years $125. Remember this is a fundraiser.

Now is the time for everyone to think about what you can do to help us with WED. Here are some ways you can help us make this year’s event a record-breaking success:

Buy a ticket for yourself and perhaps others
Bring your friends and family
Bring an item valued at $75 or more for the silent auction
Be a sponsor for $5,000-$100. We are still working on the sponsorship categories, so stay tuned
We need someone to put together our program
Ask a business you frequent to donate a gift card of at least $75 to our silent auction. Restaurants, nail salons, grocery stores, gift shops, coffee shops, pet stores, book stores
Baskets of themed items do well at the silent auction: i.e., coffee and tea basket; pet basket; Mexican, Asian, or high-end snack basket; gardening basket; children’s basket; cookbook basket; let your imagination go wild
We will need extra hands for set-up and clean-up on the day of the event so please volunteer
There will be other opportunities along the way

Our speaker is going to be Kat Taylor. As Forbes Magazine described her work “Kat Taylor started a bank, a venture capital firm and an agribusiness to use capitalism’s toolbox to fight systemic racism, environmental destruction and economic inequality.” She has big ideas and the heart and the drive to make things better and healthier for all of us. We are excited to hear about her work and to join in her vision of ways to improve our communities and our environment.

Join us on July 7th when our speaker will our own caucus member Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria.

Happy 250th Fourth of July America and to all of you!

Lynn Badertscher

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President’s Message

NWPC Fresno — Sun, 31 May 2026 01:07:25 +0000

Our May meeting is on June 2nd which is also Primary Election Day. I promise that our meeting will be over by 7:30 so everyone can get home to watch the numbers roll in when the poles close at 8:00.

May Greetings Everyone!
This is an exciting time for our caucus as we await the outcome for our many endorsed candidates. I want to remind everyone of these local candidates that have been endorsed by our caucus in the past few months:

NWPC Fresno Endorsements:
Fresno City Council District 3 – Keisha Thomas
Fresno City Council District 5 – Danielle Parra
Fresno City Council District 7 – Ariana Martinez-Lott
Fresno Superior Court Office #3 – Rosalina Nunez
Fresno Superior Court Office # 6 – Deidre Adams
Fresno Superior Court Office # 14 – Jaime Xiong-Vang
Fresno County Supervisor District 1 – Maria Pacheco

NWPC CA Endorsements:
California State Senate District 14 – Esmeralda Soria
California Assembly District 31 – Annalisa Perea

I am so proud of this slate of women who asked us for support. I don’t think we have ever endorsed this many candidates in just one election. I am also very proud of our caucus for our willingness to support them, both with our endorsement and with our financial support. All of our candidates have worked hard in this campaign and we wish them well!

Now the disappointing news…. I just learned that while we have been interviewing candidates, working on plans for Women’s Equality Day, and planning for the Pride Parade, we failed to register to participate in the Pride Parade. Somehow that slipped through without our notice and the parade is full and not taking any more groups. I apologize to everyone, and I take personal responsibility for this oversight.

The Pride Parade staff suggested that we, as individuals or as a group, ask to join with other groups who will be participating in the parade. I know many of us are already members of other groups who participate in this event. I hope everyone who was planning to join us can find a group who will welcome our members. I am so very sorry that we will not be able to be together and show NWPC’s support for the LGBTQ community.

If you haven’t already voted, now is the time to complete your ballot and get it in by mail or in the ballot boxes located around the County. This is a critical election and every vote counts!

Hope to see you at our June 2nd meeting. We’ll be finished in plenty of time for you go home to watch the early election results.

My best to all,

Lynn Badertscher

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President’s Message

NWPC Fresno — Sat, 02 May 2026 18:26:40 +0000

We are fast approaching a momentous primary election. An election that began with more than sixty citizens qualifying for the race for governor. Now that list is down to eight who are still in the race in late April. Of the eight, only six qualified for the televised debate you may have seen on April 22. Two of the eight didn’t qualify for the debate because their poll numbers were below ten percent, but be assured, they are still officially in the race. The eight include six Democrats and two Republicans, a woman, a billionaire, a sheriff, one endorsed by the President, a current mayor, a former mayor, a former state superintendent of schools, and a former US Secretary of Health and Human Services. What a list!

As we approach this primary election on June 2, I encourage you to consider our NWPC values and issues as you cast your votes for all the offices on your ballot:

Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities for Women
Reproductive Rights to Choose
Equal Pay for Women
Access to Quality Child Care

I encourage you to hold off voting when your ballot first arrives in early May. There have been a number of candidates who have already dropped out of the race for governor and there may be more to come. Our own NWPC CA endorsed candidate for governor Betty Yee dropped out of the race in recent days, but her name will still be on the ballot. Eric Swalwell will be on the ballot too but he has withdrawn from the race. A vote for any withdrawn candidate is a wasted vote, so let’s wait until the later part of May to cast our ballots. It is crucial that our votes count in this important election.

So, let’s get ready for the June 2 primary. Watch the upcoming debates; do our homework and learn about the many candidates running for all the offices on our ballots; get your ballots in on time or go to your assigned polling place and vote in person. You may want to check out the NWPC CA website nwpcca.org to find who our state caucus has endorsed across the ballot.

This is such a critical time in our state and our nation. So much division, so much anger and so much distress among our citizens. I am proud of the work we do in endorsing and financially supporting local progressive women candidates. We support women who are problem solvers, not agitators. We support their work for our communities. Let us continue to do what we can to be agents for change in our community.

Be sure to join us at our May 5th for BIG NEWS about our
Women’s Equality Day Event!

So happy for our sisterhood!

Lynn Badertscher

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President’s Message

NWPC Fresno — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 03:53:59 +0000

March 28, 2006–What a day! For the third time since January 20, 2025, America has experienced nationwide protests of the current resident of the White House. It is important to acknowledge that these events are peaceful, in fact today’s event in Fresno was both peaceful and joyful. I appreciated how many of our NWPC members participating today. Special thanks to Fresno’s Indivisible group who organized this event.

I heard so many people saying “I thought I was the only one ….” or “It feels so wonderful to be with so many likeminded people.” One woman said to me “I was so very angry when I got here. I hate what is happening to our country. When I looked around, I was overwhelmed by how many people were carrying signs that said what I’m here to say. I don’t know anyone in Fresno but this is my tribe.” I heard the word “tribe” over and over today.

We had a grand time reading the wonderful signs people were carrying. Here are some favorites:

Keep Your Hands Off My Voting Rights & My Social Security
They like their tea with ice, I like my tea in the harbor
Resist
Clean up on Aisle 47
No Ice in America
Bring Our Soldiers Home

I handed out lots of NWPC brochures to women standing on the sidewalk or holding signs and waving to the cars passing by. I told them about our caucus and about the work we do and the women we endorse and support. I really hope many of them will join us at an upcoming meeting. No one had heard of NWPC but everyone asked questions.

At a time when so many of us are angry, disheartened, and frankly afraid for our country, I came away from today’s No Kings event in Fresno feeling uplifted by the thousands of people standing on the sidewalk and peacefully proclaiming their objections to the direction and policies of our current administration. I didn’t see anyone passing by who was cursing at us, raising their fingers to us, or showing us any disrespect. Instead, we saw lots of people cheering us on and honking their horns is agreement. Fresno should be proud of the way everyone handled themselves at the No Kings event on this beautiful Saturday morning.

I look forward to seeing everyone in April!

Lynn Badertscher

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President’s Message

NWPC Fresno — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 18:21:08 +0000

The third month of the year is nearly upon us and it is time for NWPC to begin interviewing and endorsing candidates. This year the Endorsement Committee will begin interviewing female candidates in the last week in February. Our VP for PAC, Darcy Brown, reaches out to all female candidates and provides them with our endorsement application and with information about our organization. If they return the completed application, we schedule them for an interview with our Endorsement Committee. Using the questions provided by the California State NWPC, we will interview each candidate for possible endorsement. At the next General Membership meeting the Endorsement Committee will present their recommendations for endorsement to the membership.

At the March meeting we anticipate the committee will have interviewed at least two candidates. They will present their recommendations for endorsement and will recommend an amount of financial support for the candidate. The membership will have a chance to ask questions and make comments before we vote on the endorsement motion from the committee.

On another note:
When we conducted the brainstorming session in January one of the issues that received the greatest support was the idea of finding more ways to participate in supporting our endorsed candidates i.e., postcard writing, phone calls, and hosting meet-the-candidate neighborhood events. We voted to be more informed and more active in other kinds of political issues and activities, such as Letters to the Editor, working on public campaigns, marches for or against people or issues, or attending public meetings. Missy Heffron and I will research and share actions members can take to be more politically active. If you have suggestions for us, please reach out to me or Missy. We welcome your ideas!

Membership:
Our Membership chair Linda Knight announced at our February Board meeting that in the next three months, twenty-five percent of our membership will need to renew their membership. If you don’t know when your membership expires, please contact Linda to make sure you renew your membership. You can reach Linda by email at knight7380@gmail.com

Best Wishes to Everyone and I hope to see you on March 3rd.

Lynn Badertscher

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President’s Message

NWPC Fresno — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 21:39:59 +0000

Many thanks to all of you who attended and participated in our January General Meeting. Instead of a speaker everyone who was present had the opportunity to help us plan the speaker topics for the year ahead. We had more than thirty topics suggested and each member had a chance to vote for eight topics. Those 30+ topics were diverse and wide ranging.

Among the most popular topics were Immigrant Success Stories; Candidate Forums or Hearing From the Candidates; the Dakota Eco Gardens; and Dementia. We will do our best to cover as many of the topics as we can this year. There was also a lot of interest in becoming more active in the campaigns in 2026. If you have suggestions for election activities, please share your ideas or information with a Board Member.

We had our first Board Meeting of the year on January 21st . Our Board is made of up new members and members who have been with our caucus for decades, and some of us have been around for a while; we are of many different backgrounds, experiences, ages and interests. I’m excited to see what we can make happen this year.

Apparently, at the January meeting, I forgot to update every one on our December donation to Faith in the Valley. Our $1,000 donation was directed to their Valley Watch Network Program. This program focuses on the immigration landscape in the Valley and the current status of ICE detentions and raids in our local communities. Thanks to all of you who for your generous contributions.

Looking forward to seeing you on February 3rd .

Let Your Voice Be Heard!
Please contact your member of Congress and make sure they know how you
feel about the “State of Our Nation.”.

In Unity and Equality,

Lynn Badertscher

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President’s Message

NWPC Fresno — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 03:19:45 +0000

This has been a wonderful year for us at NWPC Fresno. We’ve had wonderful, interesting speakers thanks to Marsha Conant. We added more than $24,000 to our PAC account for important endorsements in 2026. We have nearly tripled our membership numbers to 96. We are still the largest caucus in California. We had much to celebrate at our December Holiday Party and everyone seemed to have a great time.

I want to thank our 2025 Board for all their hard work. Thanks to Past President Marsha Conant; CFO Cathy Brass; Secretary Myra Coble; State Director Barbara Castle; PAC VP Darcy Brown; PAC Treasurer Linda Knight. Special thanks to Cathy Brass who has been on our Board for 16 years and to Myra Coble who has done a great job as Secretary this year.

I want to remind everyone that we will be voting for the 2026 slate of officers as the first item at the January meeting. The slate includes:

President – Lynn Badertscher
Past President – Marsha Conant
ADMIN VP – Vacant
Secretary – Vacant
ADMIN CFO – Michelle DeLaBarre
State Director – Barbara Castle
PAC VP – Darcy Brown
PAC Treasurer – Linda Knight

Please consider joining our Board as either the ADMIN VP or Secretary. We hold our Board Meetings once a month for an evening Zoom meeting that lasts about an hour.

Marsha took responsibility for scheduling speakers this past year but that was not her official responsibility. She will remain on the Board as Past President but she has decided that she won’t be able to take on the responsibility of arranging speakers. Please consider volunteering to be ADMIN VP. The major responsibility for this position is finding a speaker for the monthly meetings. I have already scheduled speakers for March and April and the Board will be helpful in suggesting speakers. The Secretary is responsible for taking minutes at the General Meeting and at the Board Meeting.

The Board is a fun and dedicated group of women who enjoy one another and our caucus. Join us in leading the largest caucus in CA. Please reach out to me if you are interested in taking on one of the vacant positions.

No speaker this month. Instead we are going to break the meeting up into small groups of 4-5 and people give us ideas about topics or speakers and perhaps a theme for the year.

Hope to see everyone on our January 6th meeting. Please feel free to bring a friend.

Happy New Year to Everyone!

My best to all of you,

Lynn Badertscher

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President’s Message

NWPC Fresno — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 22:53:50 +0000

***Late Breaking News on Women’s Equality Day***

To sum it up in one phrase, our Women’s Equality Day and 50^th Anniversary Event was a “Smashing Success.”

Our celebratory luncheon was a high energy and joyful occasion. Our honorees were inspiring, our speaker Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis was impressed by the size of our event and spoke with passion and appreciation for the work done and support given by NWPC in California. Her message focused on the many challenges facing us in California.

NWPC California President Angelica Ramos-Allen’s message included confirmation that we are still the largest caucus in the state.

We had about a dozen elected officials who attended including one of our favorite Good Guys Congressman Jim Costa. I’m sorry not to list all of the elected officials, but I’m afraid I’ll leave someone out. We invited former honorees, former Good Guys and former Fresno caucus presidents.

We were honored that our caucus’ first president Donna Newman was in attendance. She told the story of how she brought like-minded women together to create our caucus. After fifty years she was as dedicated and committed to our cause as ever. It was truly wonderful to have her in attendance.

We sold over 170 tickets in advance. I don’t have final numbers on our total attendance since we had a number of walk-ins. We raised nearly $1,000 on the sale of tickets for the alcohol tables. Our Silent Auction was a big hit, with more than thirty-five items for sale. Many thanks for all of those who donated items to the auction. We were blessed with many art and craft items which were very popular. Several attendees told me this was the highest quality silent auction they had ever seen. Good work my friends.

A special thank you to Annette Levi who has put together the slide presentation for many years. She really out did herself this year. She told me this is the last year she will be able to create the slide show but she assured me she had found two of our members who will take her place next year. Thank you Annette, we will miss you.

A special thank you to Keith Cappellutti who graciously used his graphic design expertise to make our program, flyer and other handouts look spectacular. Thus, he made us look good. Thanks Keith!

Thank you to all our sponsors who donated a total of $20,000 to the event!

The Women’s Equality Day Committee worked hard and it showed throughout the event. Teamwork was the key to such a well-organized event. Marsha Conant was the committee chair and her vision carried us forward to make the event such a success. Courtney Becker Foster was our very talented florist and decorator; Myra Coble, Patty Cappellutti and Courtney Becker-Foster manned the check-in table; Linda Knight organized and coordinated the Silent Auction; Cynthia Sterling and Barbara Castle worked with legislators to provide certificates from each of their offices to each of the honorees; Gina Vue shared her wealth of decorations to make the venue a floral and balloon wonderland; Cathy Brass organized the tables with NWPC brochures, membership applications, candy and NWPC pens; Marsha and Claudia Soria Delgado presented the awards to the honorees, Joanne Bazarian purchased the bottles for our alcohol tables and ordered the pens we placed at each place setting. Kimberly Tapscott-Munson and David Tepperman did a great job of selling tickets for the alcohol tables. Special thanks to all of you who stayed to help us clean-up after the event was over. If I missed anyone, I’m sorry and thank you for your help and support.

We will have a more accurate count of our attendees and our fundraising success at our next meeting!

Hope to see all of you on October 7^th.

Grateful to be your president,
Lynn Badertscher

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