5 minute read
WCA and me
By Patti Boochever, WCA President
You may have heard that after five years as president of the Women’s Cultural Alliance (WCA), I am concluding my term in September and stepping off the Board of Directors. My husband, Steve, and I have been blessed with four grandchildren in the last four years, and we are moving to Boca Raton to be close to two of them, a two-year-old and a two-month-old.
My involvement with WCA began in 2013, more than 12 years ago. After I retired as an attorney in 2012 to care for my father-in-law and bring him to Florida with us for the winter, someone told me about WCA. Although I knew no one, I decided to attend the WCA Welcome Back Luncheon in November 2013 and was lucky enough to sit at the head table with then Vice President Elaine Soffer. Actually, I was put there because I hadn’t requested to sit with anyone. Why? Because I didn’t know anyone!
At the end of the luncheon, I mentioned to Soffer that I would be interested in volunteering. I was given my first job in March 2014, taking email reservations for an event. (Thank goodness WCA doesn’t have to do that anymore!) After my father-in-law died in 2015 and I had more time, Soffer, by then the second WCA president, asked me to plan trips and speakers, which are two of WCA’s major programs. I was then asked to join the Board, became vice-president for programming, and eventually president, taking over from Soffer in September 2020.
When I first joined WCA, we had approximately 800 members. Every season, we create a printed program guide and a printed membership directory. The 2020-2021 Program Guide was 40 pages long! Just imagine having to proof a program guide and a membership directory each season using Excel spreadsheets with 800 members’ winter and summer contact information!
The greatest challenge during my tenure was assuming the presidency at the height of COVID in September 2020. We all learned a new word: Zoom. We began offering virtual meetings and presentations to continue to do what WCA does best: keeping our members engaged as active members and participants in our community.
One of the greatest achievements of my presidential tenure has been the successful conversion to an online membership management system in March 2021. All credit goes to Soffer for initiating the concept of using a management system and for creating a committee to research various providers. This system, Wild Apricot, permits us to have a secure online membership directory and our own website, wcanaples.org. The website enables us to put an abundance of information about WCA at members’ fingertips. It also allows us to provide up-to-date information about events, groups, news, and more, as well as online registrations and payments.
Learning how to use this system and designing, managing and editing the website exponentially increased my limited technical skills. Moreover, with more than 1,660 members now, we could not possibly run WCA without it! Between the beginning of September 2024 and the end of March 2025 (when I wrote this article), WCA has registered members for over 460 events. And this does not even include all the activities of our more than 50 WCA interest groups that disseminate information via emails about their events. We have an additional 54 events thus far on the schedule through the end of August. And that doesn’t include the events scheduled during the summer for the approximately 650 members who now call Naples their home year-round. That’s more than 500 events this season!
In addition to surviving COVID and transitioning to Wild Apricot, over the last 10 years, WCA added NextGen for younger members and also created many other programs that have now become key parts of WCA’s programming, including the Style Show, Volunteer Community Expo, International Potluck, Artisan Showcase, Volunteer Appreciation event, Interest Group Fair, a Passover Seder, Chanukah dance and Cocktails and Conversations. We also keep our membership busy with art classes, trips, more than 25 speakers a season, coffees, lunches, game days, museum tours, golf and pickleball, and much more.
Obviously, I could not, and did not, achieve this success or manage all these events on my own. I have had the support of remarkable, accomplished, brilliant and committed WCA Board members and volunteers who are the true heart of WCA. (More than 300 volunteers were invited to our Volunteer Appreciation Tea, which was held on March 25!)
I have always been a shy and introverted person at heart. Through WCA, I was forced, or should I say I was provided with the opportunity to stretch myself, and, dare I say it, become a techie! I appreciate all the opportunities WCA has given me, particularly serving on Jewish Federation of Greater Naples' Board and helping to plan the magnificent Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center.
After living here for 17 years, I have very mixed emotions about moving. However, I am confident that I will be leaving WCA in good hands with a vibrant and incredible Board, led by our new Co-Presidents Darlene Muller and Debbie Lurie, and Vice President Shelly Bell. I have no doubt that WCA will continue to grow and be an integral part of Jewish Federation of Greater Naples and the Jewish community of Greater Naples.
But I will miss you all and this unique community. WCA has given me great purpose and more importantly, great friendships. Thank you all for these opportunities. I would be remiss if I also did not thank my husband, Steve, for his unwavering support for all my time devoted to WCA. It has been an honor and privilege to serve as the president of the Women’s Cultural Alliance.
