A civic organization, dedicated to our local community.
We stand for…
Established in 1911, the Alexander Valley Ladies Aid is a civic organization, dedicated to our local community. Our organization aids in the maintenance of Sonoma County Historic Monument Alexander Valley Community Church, gives college scholarships to local high school graduates, and extends donations to worthy local charities including the Alexander Valley School Library.
We have an executive committee, and meet once per month September through June. In existence over 100 years, the Alexander Valley Ladies Aid has helped residents of the Valley in times of fire, flood, and hardship. Read below for interesting snippets of our meeting notes over the past many decades.
Our main fundraiser for the year is our annual Christmas Bazaar, which takes place the first Saturday of each December. See our Bazaar Tab for more info!
Meet our past scholarship recipients:
My name is Addison Nielsen and I received the Alexander Valley Ladies Aid Scholarship in 2020 when I graduated from Healdsburg High School. I received the letter in the mail from the organization asking about where I am today and my plans for the future. Let me start by saying that this scholarship helped me to pay for classes during my three years of Junior College. I am so grateful I was selected to receive this scholarship and feel proud that AV has such generous donors and workers of the organization helping young women like me.
Here is where life has taken me:
I have finished my general education and transfer classes at SRJC studying plant science. This fall (2023) I am moving down to San Luis Obispo as I have been accepted to my dream school, Cal Poly. There I will take hands-on classes studying both the agricultural and environmental aspects of plants. I am still exploring what I will do after I get my degree. I know it will involve sustainable agriculture alongside helping to heal the environment from the effects of climate change. Thank you again for helping to fund and support my journey through school and open more doors for my future.
Sincerely,
Addison Nielsen
Minutes of Interest posting from 1939-1942
March 8, 1939: “Twenty-three members responded to roll call, and named their favorite flower.” Later in the meeting the minutes read: “Mrs. Frida Patrick, in charge of the program, gave us many helpful hints on flower culture. The room had been most tastefully decorated with many varieties of flowers…..”
March 22, 1939: “In co-operation with Healdsburg, to help promote prune advertising at the Fair, the society voted to give $5.00 to help pay expenses.” At the next meeting (April 12th) “She (Mrs. Goodyear) also gave an account of the filling of the prune boxes that were sent out from Healdsburg to the Fair at Treasure Island”. And at the next meeting (April 26th) “Mrs. Goodyear read a letter of appreciation from the Redwood Empire Assoc. for our assistance in advertising Healdsburg at the Fair.”
December 16, 1942: “Our luncheon varied from that held in former years, as this year, due to wartime emergencies, it was voted to be a pot luck affair, rather than having a committee furnish the food.” The minutes concluded with “members were asked to bring a shovel or a thimble to Jan. meeting as there is much work to be done.” (In reading the next set of minutes the shovels were needed to move gravel and the thimbles for tying quilts)
This is a brief recap of some of the events and projects of the Alexander Valley Ladies Aid, 1939-1942.
