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Model Homes: AAUW holds 10th Annual Home Tour Sunday

ERIN ROTH, Sierra Sun

You may know the feeling. You’re taking a morning stroll around your neighborhood or you’re on a peaceful afternoon drive, and you pass an enormous, beautiful, modern mountain home. You wonder what it looks like inside: the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the color of the carpets, the style of the furniture, the size of the backyard. You wish you could march right up the front steps, knock on the door and say, “Let me in, I want to see it!”

Now you can. The 10th Annual Home Tour, sponsored by the Truckee-Donner branch of the American Association of University Women, will be taking place Aug. 13, and tour participants have the opportunity to view five homes in the Big Springs Area at Northstar-at-Tahoe.

The purpose of the event is to raise money for college scholarships for local women.



“We have been doing the Home Tour for 10 years,” Barbara Deel, in charge of publicity for the AAUW, said. “People love it, it’s always a success, and the money goes to such a worthwhile cause.”

In past years, the Home Tour has displayed homes at Squaw Valley, the Prosser Lake Area, Tahoe Donner and Northstar.



Deel said that around 400 to 500 locals, vacationers and other tourists usually participate. She boasted that the tour made approximately $10,000 last year, and the AAUW was able to award four $1,500 college scholarships to senior girls from the local high school, two $1,000 scholarships to local women reentering college and four $500 scholarships to local middle school girls to attend a science camp at Stanford University.

“With a portion of the money from the Home Tour, we were able to send four girls to Stanford’s Tech Trek, a science and computer camp, during the summer after their 7th grade year,” said Marti Carrington, AAUW president.

“The girls were nominated by their middle school teachers and were then interviewed and selected by AAUW women to attend the camp. They were very excited to be chosen and will speak about their experiences at our October meeting.”

Deel said the Home Tour is the AAUW’s largest and most important event. It is so significant that over 70 percent of AAUW’s members are involved, she said. The Home Tour has grown every year as it continues to build its reputation, and this year is expected to be the biggest yet, said Deel.

“With the money we raise from the Home Tour alone, we have been able to earn about $10,000 each year,” Deel said. “We count on this event for our scholarship money for the local women.”

Truckee resident Carol Lewis has been going on the Home Tour for the past six years.

“I always have a great time,” Lewis said. “Each year the tour changes and is unique. Every year we get a car-load of women together and go. The event is for a wonderful cause.”

The AAUW sponsors this event, as well as many others, to promote education for girls. Carrington said some of their other events include Career Day at local middle schools, mentor programs, fellowships and Women in History, where AAUW women visit local elementary schools and act out famous women in history to demonstrate how women have contributed to society in the past.

Carrington said that the AAUW is a prominent organization with over 1,000 branches across the country. The Truckee-Donner branch has about 70 members and meets once a month at the Tahoe Donner Clubhouse, Carrington said.

“All the women in our organization must be college graduates,” said Carrington. “We promote education for women, and we also follow the political trends that work for causes which promote the welfare of women; like the pro-choice movement or women in the workplace.”

The Home Tour will take place on Sunday from 12:30-4 p.m. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at the Northstar Activity Center, ARTruckee, Bookshelf at Hooligan Rocks and Wild Cherries Coffee House. Tickets may also be purchased the day of the event at the home sites, but Deel said advance purchase is recommended because the tickets provide information as to the Home Tour locations. There will be a raffle for prizes donated by local vendors and complimentary refreshments served in the fifth house. Please, no cameras on the tour.

For information on the Home Tour call 587-0647.


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