June 2025 - President's Message

We were very excited to have a great group of ladies who attended our May BPWEV. A special thank you to Mary Jones who is the host of “All About Women” on WENG gave us a great insight on how to deal with being too concerned about what other people think of us. Mary provided some points on how to be our own person. Mary is co-author of “Incredible Life”, and “The Power of Persistence”, which reached #1 in Amazon’s self-improvement category.

Our state conference is scheduled from June 20th to the 22nd in Palm Beach Gardens. I will not be able to attend, but all information is available on bpwfl.org/State-Conference. Our local organization is participating in the Bra Decoration Contest with proceeds going to BPW/FL Breast Cancer Fund. Thanks to Kim Storie and Maria, her assistant, for volunteering to decorate the bra. We will have pictures at our next meeting.

We will not have a speaker at our June meeting. We will be initiating our new members and awarding (2) scholarships to very deserving applicants. Since we had the Meet and Greet in April, we did not have an Election of Officers. We will also take nominations from the floor and vote on our current slate of officers. Again, we would like each of the current members and our new members to sign-up for a committee. Wendy Namack, who is in charge of fundraising, had some wonderful ideas for fun events and raising money. We are planning our 15th Wine Tasting event planned in January 2026. More details will follow.

I hope everyone has a wonderful summer and safe travels if you are vacationing.

Sincerely,
Sue Hogrefe, President of BPWEV

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