How the Cucamonga Valley
IAAP Chapter came to be....

Sheets of rain plummeted the van as Ida Martinez drove cautiously on the 60 Freeway back to Rancho Cucamonga.  It was a great meeting, the speaker was inspiring, the food was good, but all five ladies in the van were still grumbling about NO PIE!  “How can we go to Marie Calendar’s and not have pie?”  Bonnie Tazza asked. 

The CVWD Car Pool Van was warm and cozy, but the 45-minute drive each way was a sacrifice every month to attend the Citrus Valley Chapter IAAP meetings in the City of Industry.  As the ladies discussed the pros and cons, co-pilot, Gloria Rivera said, “You know we should just start our own chapter.”  All five ladies cheered and a dream of Ida Martinez and Donna Kendrena was officially unleashed! 

It was August 2006, that Donna Kendrena, Kathy Scott, Debra Cabana, Melissa Morales and several other Rancho Cucamonga City Administrative Assistants met with Ellen Schultz, then President, and Ida Martinez, Recording Secretary, from the Citrus Valley Chapter, along with Lynn Palmer, President of the City of Hope Chapter to discuss the possibilities of starting a chapter in Rancho Cucamonga.  Ellen was most gracious sharing information about membership, certification program, and the 15-member requirement to start an IAAP Chapter. 

The Rancho Cucamonga ladies left the meeting excited and reluctant at the same time.  “There was a lot to consider, and we needed a few more people,” said Kathy Scott.  From that point, the unspoken consensus was to attend the Citrus Valley Chapter meetings for a year or two and learn more about IAAP before we took the leap; that rainy night, September 26, 2007 was the turning point.

With busy schedules, the holidays quickly approaching and lots of information to accumulate, Ida and Donna didn’t call a meeting until January 2008 to get the ball rolling.  Choosing a Chapter name was the first thing on the agenda, and Cucamonga Valley was a winner hands down!  Then selecting the Acting Board, assigning duties, choosing a meeting location, picking topics, and lining up speakers, filling out paperwork for headquarters, soliciting members,  composing an invitation, working on the website, newsletter, writing a press release, assembling a list of invitees, the list goes on and on were all dealt with as the weeks flew by.

Once the orientation meeting date was set for May 29th, the Acting Board’s lunch meetings were held regularly every Wednesday. Now, the final details are in place, and tonight we hope to have a good turnout and meet many new Administrative Professionals who are interested enough to become members and/or attend the monthly meetings.  The excitement is building, we’ve come a long way, and we have a lot more to do, but we’re doing it with enthusiasm close to home and you can be sure of one more thing. . . at our monthly meetings we’ll have PIE