Families with Children From China, Northern California

Mailing address:
FCC - N. California, P. O. Box 6688, Albany, CA 94706

Central Coast (San Luis Obispo/Santa Maria/Paso Robles):

To subscribe to events e-list for the Central Coast, send a blank email to: FCCcentralcoastcaliforniasubscribe@yahoogroups.com

• Regional coordinator: Deidre Basile, dobasile@charter.net
• Playgroup contact: Deidre Basile, dobasile@charter.net
• Events coordinators: Lisa Moreno, lisa.voss@sbcglobal.net, Awgust Vogtmann, am_vogtmann@sbcglobal.net
• Waiting/prospective parent & new families welcome contact: Awgust Vogtmann, am_vogtmann@sbcglobal.net

Central Valley (Tracy/Stockton/Modesto)

• Regional coordinator: contact Rhonda Spencer, the4spencers@sbcglobal.net

Chico/North Sacramento Valley (Butte, Tehama, and Glenn Counties):

• Regional coordinator: Lynn Pardini, dpardini@dcsi.net
• Contact for Mandarin language classes: Lynn Pardini (above)

Coastside (San Mateo County west of Skyline):

• Regional coordinator: Marian Lacey, melacey@pacbell.net

Diablo/Contra Costa County:

• Regional coordinator: Kim Giuliano, kgiuliano@aol.com
• Waiting/prospective parent contacts: Lisa Silva, ljsilva@aol.com; Kim Giuliano, kgiuliano@aol.com
• Friday playgroup contact: Melodie Soe, imkmal@juno.com
• Weekend playgroup contact: Elaine Hannah, ehan5@sbcglobal.net
• 7-up group for older kids is up and running. Contact Kim Giuliano (above).
• Mandarin language program in Orinda: weekday afternoon classes for K-5th grade. Contact Cristi Chow, Emily Wu, emwu12@comcast.net; or Katie Kratz, kraatzfamily@earthlink.net

East Bay:

For East Bay and Diablo events e-list, send a blank email to EBFCC-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

• Regional coordinators: Hanni Lee, yunnankids@yahoo.com; Peggy Scott, plscott@stanfordalumni.org
• Waiting/prospective parent contact: Rhonda Righter, rrighter@ieor.berkeley.edu
• Playgroup contacts: East Bay Playgroup meets first Sunday of the month, 10am-noon, at Memorial Park, 1331 Portland Avenue, Albany. For information, e-mail Alison Seevak aseevak@earthlink.net or Tom Howell thowelljr@earthlink.net

Marin/North Bay:

For Marin/North Bay events e-list, send a blank email to marinchinafamilies-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

• Regional coordinator: Milinda Lommer, mjlommer@yahoo.com
• Waiting/prospective parent contact: Elisabeth Winnen, ewinnen@mac.com
• Monthly playgroup meets the 3rd Saturday of each month, 10:30am-12:30pm. Everyone welcome, including waiting families. Locations vary and are announced on the MarinChinaFamilies newsgroup (to join, e-mail marinchinafamilies@yahoogroups.com)
• Mandarin language classes: Karen Koenig, koenigke@yahoo.com

• Regional coordinator: Kim McDonald, 1kimmcdonald@comcast.net

North Coast/Sonoma:

• Families with Children from Asia (FCA): Annette Holland, annettehol2@aol.com

Sacramento/Sierra/Foothills:

For SSF events and info e-list, send a blank email to SacSierraFoothills-FCC-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

• Regional coordinators: Allison Branscombe, rrandab@alumni.ksg.harvard.edu and Terri Hardy, terrihardy@sbcglobal.net
• Waiting/prospective parent contact: Kate Haroldson, china9799@juno.com
• Mandarin Cultural Playgroup contacts (for kids 2.5 to 7): Carol Hammond, cmhammond@sbcglobal.net and Linda Roberts, robertslm@csus.edu. Currently meets at Learning Tree Preschool at the Chinese Community Church on Gilgunn Way
• Lifebooks and/or Book discussion group contact: Helen Wallquist, helen@surewest.net Contact Helen for specifics if you have an interest in joining either a lifebook assembly group or a book discussion group.
• Sacramento playgroup coordinators: Contact Angela Hansen, a_hansen@comcast.net or Linda Roberts, robertslm@csus.edu
• Chinese brush painting classes for adults, taught by Lillian Seto. Mondays and Fridays 3-6, Saturdays 9-noon. Sacramento Chinese Community Service Center, 915 T St. Info: 916-442-2523.

San Francisco:

• Regional coordinator: Amy Heredia, amy.heredia@sun.com
• Waiting/prospective parent contacts: Adeline Wu-Ratner and Eric Ratner; wurat@att.net; Debbie Davidson, dldgomi@earthlink.net
• Mandarin language classes for children and adults are held at the Chinese Cultural Center, 3rd floor of the Holiday Inn, 750 Kearny St. in Chinatown, San Francisco. Contact is Pat Houden, phouden@mac.com
• San Francisco playgroup: Meets the second Sunday of the month from 10:30 am–1 pm. Location varies. Contact Elizabeth Huey, elizabeth_huey@yahoo.com

Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay :

• Regional coordinator and playgroup contact: Liz DeFrancesco, bizzde@gmail.com
• Playgroup (Soquel) Third Saturday at Blue Ball Park (Anna Jean Cummings Park) Soquel, on 461 Old San Jose Road, start time 11am.
• Mandarin classes (Santa Cruz) Wednesdays @ 5:30 for older children and Sat mornings @ 10:30 for younger children. Contact Rui Li, liruirui@gmail.com
• Lifebook writing and brainstorm meetings. Westside Santa Cruz, contact Andrea Webster, awebster at cruzio.com (change the at to @ and remove the spaces)
• Monterey playgroup contact: Cynthia Duvall, cynthiaduvall@comcast.net
• Monterey area events and playgroups: Dana Cleary, cleahoff@redshift.com

South Bay/Peninsula:

• Regional coordinator: Terry Ahearn, tahearn@mwe.com.
• Waiting/prospective parent contacts (South Bay): Liz and Jeff Stitt, elizabeth@stitt.com.
  (Peninsula): Rebecca Geraldi, winterskeeper@yahoo.com and Tina Chester, zachsmom101@hotmail.com
• Playgroup coordinator (South Bay): Dianne Maxon and Peter Dahl, dm_maxon@hotmail.com
• Come and join the Mid-Peninsula Adoptive Family Playgroup. We meet the second and fourth Saturdays of the month at various parks and playgrounds. For more info or to be put on our mailing list, contact Cathy Chang, gnahc3@aol.com
• China Mom's Book Group of the South Bay: We meet the last Monday of the month (this is a change from previous years) at a Chinese restaurant to discuss a chosen book. We read books having to do with China, Chinese Americans and adoption. New members are welcome. Please contact Sharadon Smith at sharadonsmith@juno.com for more information and a schedule

• Bay Area/SF/Marin: Nancy Humphrey, nancy.humphrey@comcast.net
• Sacramento/Chico/Foothills: Katrina Wong, kwong331@yahoo.com

FAIR Contact: Wilma Chu, wilmachu@gmail.com or Noreen Chin, travelscrap@yahoo.com

FCC Orphanage Assistance Contact (Foundation for Chinese Orphanages and Amity): Amy Klatzkin, amyk@alumni.stanford.org

FCC Internet Resources: (www.fwcc.org is the national FCC website)

• Join FCC-Northern California (covers all regions above): www.fccncalif.org/subscribe
• General Waiting Parents/Adoption Info: www.fwcc.org/info1.html and www.fwcc.org/faq.html
• FCC-N. Calif. chapter info (events, playgroups, subscriptions): www.fccncalif.org
• Bilingual Schools in Northern California: www.fccncalif.org/SanFrancisco/schools.html
• FCC Charitable Initiatives for Orphanage Assistance: www.fwcc.org/fccnationalappeal.html
• FCC Bookstores: www.fccne.org/merch.html or www.fccny.org/NewStore
• General Health and Medical Questions: www.fwcc.org/health.html
• Links for Educational Items, Gifts and Other Resources: www.fwcc.org/resources.html

Main FCC-Northern California Email List:

To join this list, send email to fcc-ncalif-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. This list covers the entire chapter, from Fresno-San Luis Obispo to Redding and Mendocino. All events are posted, and this list has the most postings of information and resources for our families. To post a message, send it to fcc-ncalif@yahoogroups.com. All messages must be approved by the list moderator.

Regional Email Lists: (These regional email bulletins are for organizing more localized events and do not contain all the information on the bigger Northern California Chapter e-list, above)

• Central Coast Send a blank email to: FCCcentralcoastcalifornia-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
• East Bay/Diablo Send a blank email to: EBFCC-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
• Marin/North Bay Send a blank email to: marinchinafamilies-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
• Sacramento/Sierra Foothills Send a blank email to: SacSierraFoothills-FCC-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
• Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay Send a blank email to: SantaCruzFCC-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

List for N. Calif. families whose kids have special needs and/or learning differences To subscribe, send a message to FCC-NCalifSpecialNeeds-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and state name, address, location of the adoption, and nature of your child’s special need.

To subscribe or renew your FCC-Northern California chapter membership:
Go to http://fccncalif.org/subscribe.htm. Print out the form and mail it with your check, payable to FCC-N.Calif, to our address:
FCC-Northern California, P.O. Box 6688, Albany, CA 94706-1682.