For a while, the local Quota club was clinging for dear life. Los Altos and Mountain View clubs merged within the last 10 years as longtime members struggled to recruit new blood. Member Sandy Perez recalled that club membership was down to 13 when she joined in 1996.
But things are looking up. Thanks to the efforts of a few new energetic members, the Mountain View-Los Altos Quota Club has since doubled in size.
This past month, the club, comprising community-minded businesswomen, joined the Los Altos Chamber of Commerce. At the club’s urging, both Los Altos Mayor John Moss and Mountain View Mayor Matt Pear drafted letters proclaiming this month Quota Cares Month.
Members are preparing for one of their big fund-raisers of the year, Quota’s annual fashion show. The event is scheduled March 20 at Michael’s at Shoreline, where Quota regularly holds its meetings. Fashions awill be provided by the Yum Yum Tree of Sunnyvale.
Proceeds from Quota efforts benefit a variety of community non-profits, including the Community Services Agency of Mountain View-Los Altos, the Community Health Awareness Council and the Support Network for Battered Women. CSA serves needy residents with food and other basics, while CHAC provides free counseling services for youth and low-income residents. Support Network helps victims of domestic violence.
In keeping with Quota International’s mission to help hearing impaired and disadvantaged women and children, the organization also provides an annual scholarship for a hearing-impaired student and supports the Infant Hearing and Screening Center at El Camino Hospital.
In recent years, Quota has promoted a “Clean Out Your Closet” event twice a year to benefit the Career Closet. It provides suitable clothing to needy women looking for work.
The club bids to become even more effective as it grows. Laura Brown, in charge of membership growth, noted that Quota gained nine new members this year.
Still, longtime members remain, such as Bernie Tieso, a youthful 95, who has attended Quota meetings without fail for 52 years. Tieso, who opened Sims Shoe Store on Castro Street in 1943, figured she first attended Quota meetings around 1946 or 1947.
“The women in it are the warmest, most welcoming, most supportive group I’ve been in,” said Brown, a third-year member.
Founded in 1919 as the first businesswomen’s service organization, the club has changed its focus from exclusively businesswomen to volunteers who have more time to do good deeds, said longtime member Pat Patterson. You also don’t have to be a woman to join; the club has one male member.
Quota meets at noon the first and third Thursdays of the month at Michael’s at Shoreline restaurant. The first meeting is a business meeting, and the second is a program-oriented gathering.
For more information or to join, call 969-5860.
