October 2025 - President's Message

Happy Fall BPWEV’s Sisters,

I want to thank all who helped with planning and assisting with our “Paint It Forward” fundraiser held at Englewood Chamber of Commerce on September 27th from 2-4 PM. It was a fun afternoon, and we raised over $1,000.00. The Silent Auction with the selling of the tickets for the baskets turned out to be an added success as well.

We are still planning our 15th annual Passport Wine Tasting event to be held on Saturday, January 24th from 5:30 – 8:00 PM at Venice Wine & Coffee Company located at 201Venice Ave West. More pricing and the committee formation will keep the members advised.

We have (1) new member that signed up at our September meeting. Morgan Martin is the owner of Exterior Softwash Solutions, LLC. Morgan was a great help at our Saturday fundraiser.

Kristin Szafraniec will be our speaker for October. Kristin is the Vice President of Philanthropy of United Way of South Sarasota County.

Our meeting is on Tuesday, October 21st at 5:30 at Artur’s Restaurant in Englewood. Hope to see you all there.

Best Regards,
Sue Hogrefe, BPWEV President

2025 BPW Adult Learner Scholarships

Christine Davis Memorial Scholarship

For those of us who never knew her, I’d like to take a moment to introduce the lady our scholarship awards are named after.

Christine Davis was a BPW member for over 50 years, first in New York State and later in Florida.  Her energy to promote BPW was astounding. She served in every office the organization had to offer, short of State or National President. She served on many committees and especially enjoyed being chair of the scholarship committee until ill health required her to resign from too many obligations. Her beautiful smile, her eagerness to be always willing to help and her efficient handling of any task she elected to do or help with, will not be forgotten by the BPWEV members, but will be missed.

The Christine Davis Memorial Scholarships will preserve the love and devotion she championed to achieve equality for all women.

Public Policy Platform 2023-2024

At the BPW Florida State Conference in June, 2023, the Proposed Public Policy was presented and approved. The new Public Policy for 2023 – 2024 is below:

Introduction:

Since the inception of BPW/FL in 1919, BPW/FL has always supported women’s rights. BPW/FL continues to support the ERA as a basic foundation of our Public Policy Platform, even as we understand that passing the ERA grows more difficult with the passage of time. BPW/FL firmly believes that equality of rights under the law should not be abridged or denied by the United States or by any state on account of sex, and the rights of women require constant vigilance.

Item 1: Economic Equity, Opportunity and Self-Sufficiency

BPW/FL supports public policies that:

• ensure pay equity and equal employment opportunities for all women
• promote opportunities for women-owned businesses
• promote affordable, quality dependent care
• promote Social Security and retirement reform options benefiting women
• guarantee a workplace free from harassment and discrimination

Item 2: Health Care

BPW/Fl supports public policies that:

• support the expansion of affordable care, including Medicaid, in Florida
• support funding and initiatives the cover women’s health care needs
• ensure women’s access to all health care and family planning needs, including full access to all forms of reproductive health services, education, and prescriptions

Item 3: Voting Right and Access

BPW/FL supports public policies that:

• promote free and fair elections
• are aimed at expanding voters’ access to the polls
• are designed to protect the right of all American citizens to vote in fairly drawn legislative districts