Meeting like-minded people within our community is hard to do and networking professionally, can be even harder. At the click of a button we can connect with millions of people across the world through social media, even then, we still remain disconnected from our community and the people in it. With approximately 43 clubs across the nation, the 20/30 club is group of professional men or women from ages 21 to 39 who share the same interest in giving back to their community. Although their meetings and gatherings are often socially oriented, much of what they do is centered around raising funds to help meet the educational needs of children in our community.
Each year, the 20/30 women’s club holds annual fundraisers in collaboration with the men’s chapter, to help raise money in an effort to provide a Kohls “back to school shopping spree” for disadvantaged youth who might otherwise not be able to buy school clothes for the upcoming school year. They also host the “Something Wicked,” halloween fundraiser that helps provide costumes for children in need, in addition the club supports other local businesses by hosting club social events and meetings at their venues. The club has even raised and donated funds to local schools to send disadvantaged students to “Shady Creek,” an environmental science camp, that focuses on teaching children about preserving and enhancing the environment.
Club members are professionals. A wide range of professions make up the members of the club. The current club President Allison Kunz is a Biologist for Caltrans. Diana Jaschke is a public secretary for the information office for Caltrans, and prospective member Danielle Batha-Bengston owns her own pawn shop. Made up of mostly teachers, the reason for joining the 20/30 club
was an easy decision for most, Tiffany DeAlba, a Kindergarten teacher says of her decision to join, “Working with children in schools, just knowing and seeing the need among students and of course, the social part of the club I felt that there had to have been something that I could do and that’s when I found the club and ultimately decided to join.”
Prospective member Danielle Batha-Bengston says that she is in the process of joining because she is new to the area and as a business owner, she wanted to help get involved with her new community, meet new people and professionals while being able to pursue her passion of giving back.
Allison Kunz says that Yuba College students could greatly benefit from joining or hanging out with the 20/30 club. She says that for transfer students, perspective colleges would appreciate volunteer work and community involvement for their perspective students in making the decision to accept or reject a student and the 20/30 club can certainly offer the community service that universities expect and require. “It is also a fun club to be a part of, because we are just a bunch of girls who like to hang out, spend time together, network, help each other out and give back to the community, I think that we are a club that anyone can be involved with.”
For more information on the 20/30 club, please contact frvactive2030@gmail.com
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