T.W.I.S.T.’s Fifth Annual Tea Party by Darlene Hutchins
On Friday, November 20th the Memorial Hall in Tuolumne City was all abuzz with people going in and out setting up for The Women’s Improvement Society of Tuolumne’s (T.W.I.S.T.) Fifth Annual Tea Party. This year’s theme was “Coming Home”. There were 25 beautifully decorated tables with their own twist on the Coming Home theme with titles such as: “Kissing the War Goodbye”, “Gramma’s House”, “The Colors of Fall Always Welcome People Home” and “Maypole Memories” just to name a few. Many of the guests commented on how every year the tables are more elaborate and creative than the year before and that the Memorial Hall is always transformed into an elegant meeting place where friends from the community can come together and spend an afternoon eating delicious food and enjoying good conversation.
“This event would not be possible without the hard work of the T.W.I.S.T. members, who work year round planning for this event,” stated Terri Neher, Event Coordinator.
The day of the event the members work selflessly helping to set up tables, clean and decorate the restrooms, pick-up food and tea donations for the door and raffle prizes, decorating the entryway, and finally, doing the clean-up.
“The annual tea turned into a two-day event the year after the first event was held,” stated Terri. “The event would quickly sellout and many people in the community wanted a way to come and see the creative table decorations.”
For a $5 donation guests could come and view the pre-event open house and enjoy the decorated tables, refreshments, purchase raffle tickets for gift baskets and guests were also eligible for a door prize. On the day of the event, guests of the Tea vote for the winning tables and this year’s winners were: John LaTorre for “Carpenter’s Lunch Break Table,” winning Most Creative. Tara Ingalls and Heather Henderson for their “Tribute to Past and Present Veterans” table won Best Use of Theme. Sandy Uslander of Seniority Lifecare won Best Overall Award for her “A Family Vacation at the Sea”.
Terri stated, “On behalf of T.W.I.S.T., their gratitude goes out to the over 100 sponsors who provided many things this year from money to items for the raffles.”
The two-day event raised over $9,000, which will go toward scholarships awarded to the seniors at Summerville High School. T.W.I.S.T. has been able to provide over $17,000 in scholarships since it got its start over five years ago. Anyone who lives in the Tuolumne area and is interested in becoming a member of the T.W.I.S.T. organization, their next meeting will be on Monday, January 11th at 7 p.m. at the Tuolumne Museum. For more information, call 352-6842.
