Cypress Branch Auxiliary
The Cypress Branch Auxiliary was organized in 1990 by a group of 17 purposeful women in the community. Over the years they have grown in numbers and increased efforts to raise awareness and support the work we do at Boys & Girls Aid.
Some of these amazing women decided to share their stories of how they started making a difference in children’s lives!
We are grateful to these amazing women!
When we moved to Charbonneau we brought the Chicago snow storm at Christmas 2008. We did not even move a snow shovel. ‘We weren’t going to need it.’ We had to hire a neighbor’s grandson to shovel the driveway.
Speaking of neighbors, I met a past president of Cypress on one of my walks who told me about Boys & Girls Aid but I wasn’t listening. Her name was Sue DeFrancisco. Later I listened to someone who invited me to a luncheon. I had been looking for an outlet since moving here and now I had found it. I LOVE Boys & Girls Aid!
Why do I love this organization? I am an MK. An MK is a Missionaries’ Kid. I was definitely not called to be a missionary, but I guess there is a little of that in my blood. So now, Boys & Girls Aid is my mission. This is what I donate time, energy, and money to. Time is the most important resource I have because it’s the one I can’t get back. The other two resources, energy and money are also important.
“Cypress Branch Auxiliary women are an amazing bunch of dedicated people and it has been my great joy to be part of it for the past seventeen years. ”
During this COVID time it is even more important to understand that since we aren’t spending money on luncheons, we have more to spend by donating. Since we can’t go anywhere, we have more time to give to this worthy cause.
I started on the board as Vice President when Mary Frinell was president. The first thing I said to her was, “Don’t go anywhere.” I hadn’t a clue what I was doing. She was great in that she really wanted to know about me, so I told her the long story of my missionary kid upbringing.
Next, I was in charge of the Easter Baskets. That job was a ‘piece of cake’ and fun.
Then Maureen talked me into being co-president. The only way I could have done it was CO-ing. Then the wonderful Diann Harland agreed to co-president with me and now she is the President.
What I want to say to all my friends and neighbors of Boys and Girls Aid is, give of your time, of your money and of your energy to the extent that you can.
A very wise man named Bob Pierce once said, “Don’t fail to do something just because you can’t do everything.”
- Margie Wiesenthal, Cypress Branch Auxiliary former President
“What I want to say to all my friends and neighbors of Boys and Girls Aid is; Give of your time, of your money and of your energy to the extent that you can.”
I thought that some people might like to know how the Crab and Rib Dinner got started. During the 2002-2003 year a woman named Candace Ryding joined our group. She came to one board meeting and said she knew how to do a Crab and Rib Dinner for 200 people and asked if we would like to try it. Of course we said yes. That year she put the whole thing together and I followed her around like a puppy dog to learn how to do it. At that time, it was simply a dinner with no auction. The ribs were cooked on the BBQ outside. We bought all the salad and beans in 8-pound boxes from Resers outlet store. The second year was my year to be president and Candace ran the dinner again. The following year she left for Seattle and I took over the dinner and added the auction, because people were just standing around doing nothing waiting for dinner so we gave them something to do while they were drinking their wine.
The first year I think we raised $5,000. The following year we added the balloon pop. It has been very exciting to see how the whole thing has progressed over the years. It has really evolved and grown to raise an amount of money that we couldn't even have imagined in the beginning.
Cypress Branch Auxiliary women are an amazing bunch of dedicated people and it has been my great joy to be part of it for the past seventeen years.
- Dianne McMichael, Cypress Branch Auxiliary Member
“To support foster care, I just explain my past circumstances and how I was saved by the intervention of the Court and foster care system. If I hadn’t turned to my school counselor for help, I wouldn’t have survived long. ”
I found out about Boys & Girls Aid having a chapter in Charbonneau about a year after I moved to Charbonneau in late 2013. I wanted to join because I love children and wanted to see how I could become involved. I am happy to donate and help where and when I can. There are many different avenues within Cypress Branch Auxiliary to choose something that works for each member.
I enjoy packing the sports bags for the boys in December. I always think how happy and wide eyed each of the boys will be when they see their bags and open them up to see them filled with the various goodies that Dianne McMichael and other volunteers are able to collect for them! I think every child deserves a safe, healthy home with loving parents. If I can do a tiny bit to help this happen, that is my goal. My sister-in-law has been involved in foster care in Eugene for over 40 years and I have had a bird's eye view of the work it takes, but also the satisfaction they get helping their charges along the line of life.
- Leslie Walker, Cypress Branch Auxiliary Member
When I moved to Charbonneau nine years ago, Cherie Sanville told me I should join Boys & Girls Aid. I did that and attended my first meeting. After that I was hooked. I thought it was a great cause and I love kids. Cypress Branch was the one I joined on Community Night here in Charbonneau. I was co-president of the club last year and I’m president of the club this year. I’ve always served and supported the Crab & Rib dinner and other fundraisers.
Prior to Covid, I tried to be active in all the activities I could manage - stuffing sports bags, splitting a dinner with Margie Wiesenthal for Safe Place in Hillsboro, attending the Christmas Party for the Transitional Living program TLP.
I developed a proposal for funding of the Sports Bags for 30 boys last year. I presented the proposal to the Rotary Club of Wilsonville and they gifted us with $1,500. It was a great help in supporting this very important project.
It’s important to support the young people served by Boys & Girls Aid because these youth have had difficult lives. They desperately need to know there are people in the world who care about them and their future.
I’m inspired by the women who belong to the Cypress Branch Auxiliary of Boys & Girls Aid. I’m inspired by the money we raise for the projects we support and by the generosity of all of our members.
I would encourage anyone considering foster care.
I’m grateful to be a part of Boys & Girls Aid Cypress Branch Auxiliary. It’s a wonderful organization and a group of gracious, thoughtful, generous women. We all work hard to make every project we work on the very best experience we can for these youth.
- Diann Harland, Cypress Branch Auxiliary President
“I’m inspired by the women who belong to the Cypress Branch Auxiliary of Boys & Girls Aid”
I found out about Boys & Girls Aid in 2017 when I was approached by the President after my one woman show, Beyond the Dark.
Maureen told me that anyone with my background as a survivor of child abuse is needed in Boys & Girls Aid. She hosted a luncheon for me, and I listened. At the end of the luncheon, I signed up.
I support the children served at Boys & Girls Aid in the following ways: I support gift giving for the holidays and I promote Boys & Girls Aid every month by writing an article highlighting their good works. Since I live so close to Charbonneau, it is an easy commute from my house to board and luncheon meetings. Besides, the ladies are the same sort of “madcap” supporters of
children in foster care as I am. Being a foster child saved my life. I am grateful and this is how I “pass it forward.”
At our last luncheon (pre pandemic), I met a young lady in foster care who remembered me speaking at their Transitional Living Program. She was grateful that I taught her how to make a white sauce, “Two, two, one,” (two tablespoons butter, two tablespoons flour and one cup of milk). With that you can make your own mac ’n cheese and save money. We laughed together.
I am lucky that I survived child abuse. I want to make some other kids in foster care be lucky too.
To support foster care, I just explain my past circumstances and how I was saved by the intervention of the Court and foster care system. If I hadn’t turned to my school counselor for help, I wouldn’t have survived long.
This is all I can think of. However, if anyone is curious about me they can read, Driving in the Dark, A Childhood Memoir.
- Zoe Niklas, Cypress Branch Auxiliary Member