Date: Monday, February 24

Time: 10:30 am Social; 11:00 am Program

Location: IWA Conference Room, 17 N State Street, Suite 1740

Program: It is 1992, and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is pondering how to handle turmoil in the royal family in the wake of some scandalous divorces and finger-wagging media reports. As she reflects on her struggles, she looks back on her life, from her happy childhood through the abdication of her uncle, her marriage to a navy officer named Philip, her coronation, and her ongoing walk to balance her roles as queen and mother. In this historical portrayal by scholar and actress Leslie Goddard, Ph.D., you'll get to know the woman behind the images, her sense of humor and the savvy intelligence with which she meets her demanding obligations. Note: This program is a historical portrayal, not a lecture.

Performer: Leslie Goddard is an award-winning actress and scholar who has been presenting history programs for more than fifteen years. She holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University specializing in American studies and U.S. history as well as a master’s degree in theater.

A former museum director, she is the author of three books on history and currently works full time as an author and public speaker.

What Leslie Goddard does - She portrays memorable women from the past and tell historical stories so that lessons from the past are more entertaining, educational and inspiring.

Light refreshments will be served

Members and guests welcome

Cost: $10 (Cash only)

Contacts: Nicola Crowe (Njtcrowe@aol.com),

Carolyn LeBlanc-Blatt (Clblatt@att.net)

Join your IWA friends in a fun and friendly game of Mah Jongg! There is nothing more exciting than when, with your heart racing, your adrenaline pumping, your palms sweating, and you call "Mah Jongg"!

ALL LEVELS ARE WELCOME! A refresher lesson will be given at the beginning of each meeting.

Enjoy a morning of coffee and conversation with IWA members.

Stop by for as little or as long as you'd like between 10:30am and 12pm.

All IWA members and potential new members are welcome!

Contact: Sunaina Kumar, Sunainapkumar@gmail.com, 708-856-6217

Date: Tuesday, March 4, 2025

Time: 10:30 am, social; 11 am program open to all members

Host: Carol Sommers in Wicker Park (The exact address will be given to you once you have registered)

Program: Come and join the French Language Group for an International Game. At the home of Carol Sommers, members will team up with others who speak their language to try to identify numbered objects such as craft items, furniture, clothing or artwork as their country of origin. French group teams will be speaking French but others can form groups who speak English, Spanish, Polish, and Turkish etc. Teams will be given a list in English of countries represented by more than 150 objects in four rooms and, at the end, the group with the most matches

will be the winner.

Refreshments are welcome!

RSVP by March 2, 2025 on the IWA website (www.iwachicago.org) or contact Nadej Mercier at nadej@letien.net

The IWA Philanthropy and Community Service committee invites you to take part in our Swift School Classroom Helpers volunteer program for the new school year, beginning Thursday, November 7th. 

Volunteers are needed to assist teachers in kindergarten through 8th grade in a variety of tasks, whether with small groups of students or in other supportive activities in the classroom. No special skills are required! 

A Chicago Public School with many immigrant and refugee students, George B. Swift Specialty School has a close and long-running relationship with IWA and is a major benefactor of our Philanthropy and Community Service efforts.

Sessions are available the first two Thursdays of each month throughout the school year from 8:45 - 10:45 a.m. Sign up for dates that work for your schedule. The kids will be happy to see you!

Please register by March 3rd.

Swift School is in the Edgewater neighborhood and easily accessible by public transportation. Street parking is also available.

Contact Dell Harmsen at Dellzee4@gmail.com or 312-515-0317 for more information. 

We hope you will join us for this important and meaningful volunteer opportunity!

The IWA Philanthropy and Community Service committee invites you to take part in our Swift School Classroom Helpers volunteer program for the new school year, beginning Thursday, November 7th. 

Volunteers are needed to assist teachers in kindergarten through 8th grade in a variety of tasks, whether with small groups of students or in other supportive activities in the classroom. No special skills are required! 

A Chicago Public School with many immigrant and refugee students, George B. Swift Specialty School has a close and long-running relationship with IWA and is a major benefactor of our Philanthropy and Community Service efforts.

Sessions are available the first two Thursdays of each month throughout the school year from 8:45 - 10:45 a.m. Sign up for dates that work for your schedule. The kids will be happy to see you!

Please register by March 10th.

Swift School is in the Edgewater neighborhood and easily accessible by public transportation. Street parking is also available.

Contact Dell Harmsen at Dellzee4@gmail.com or 312-515-0317 for more information. 

We hope you will join us for this important and meaningful volunteer opportunity!

This monthly event is for all interested Bridge players, and includes members who play Basic Social Bridge as well

as Intermediate/Advanced Bridge players.

(Please be aware that you need a basic knowledge of

Bridge in order to participate).

Join IWA members for an evening meet & greet!

We will be at Aster Hall Bar & Study from 4pm to 6pm - come for as little or as long as you like!

Please contact Ria Rörich with any questions.

Book: Abyss
Author: Pilar Quintana

Discussion Leader: Myra Balesi

Literature Discussion Chairs: Barbara Herzog and Teresa Kennedy

The Literature Group offers members an international perspective in literary fiction by introducing acclaimed, if sometimes lesser known, writers and books. Members are invited to attend by Zoom, although we request that only those who have read the book participate in discussion.

Join your IWA friends in a fun and friendly game of Mah Jongg! There is nothing more exciting than when, with your heart racing, your adrenaline pumping, your palms sweating, and you call "Mah Jongg"!

ALL LEVELS ARE WELCOME! A refresher lesson will be given at the beginning of each meeting.

Date: Tuesday, April 1st, 2025

Time: 10:30 social, 11am Program in English

Location: IWA Conference Room, 17 N State St, Suite 1740 

Program: “Paris when it Sizzles” Glenn Derringer, a well-traveled musical impresario will give a presentation on the birth of French Gypsy Jazz. He will guide us from the beginning -1920’s –through the war years, the period after WWII and Gypsy Jazz today. His presentation will be accompanied by several videos.

RSVP by March 30, 2025. Register on the IWA Website

Note: Refreshments are welcome.

Save the Date!

Pre-Gala Event: 

 British Afternoon Tea at the Fortnightly

Speaker: Soma Roy - Tea

Wednesday, April 2

1:00 - 3:30 pm

Fortnightly of Chicago

Contact: Ying Hirsh

The IWA Philanthropy and Community Service committee invites you to take part in our Swift School Classroom Helpers volunteer program for the new school year, beginning Thursday, November 7th. 

Volunteers are needed to assist teachers in kindergarten through 8th grade in a variety of tasks, whether with small groups of students or in other supportive activities in the classroom. No special skills are required! 

A Chicago Public School with many immigrant and refugee students, George B. Swift Specialty School has a close and long-running relationship with IWA and is a major benefactor of our Philanthropy and Community Service efforts.

Sessions are available the first two Thursdays of each month throughout the school year from 8:45 - 10:45 a.m. Sign up for dates that work for your schedule. The kids will be happy to see you!

Please register by March 31st.

Swift School is in the Edgewater neighborhood and easily accessible by public transportation. Street parking is also available.

Contact Dell Harmsen at Dellzee4@gmail.com or 312-515-0317 for more information. 

We hope you will join us for this important and meaningful volunteer opportunity!

Enjoy a morning of coffee and conversation with IWA members.

Stop by for as little or as long as you'd like between 10:30am and 12pm. 

All IWA members and potential new members are welcome!

Director for Membership: Ria Rörich

This Board Meeting will be held in person. If you are going to be out of town but plan to attend, please contact Celia for registration.

Date: Wednesday, April 9, 2025

Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Location: Zoom (link provided upon registration)

Program: In 1885, the jewelry house of Peter Carol Fabergé began what would become the ultimate last great commission of “objects d’art” in the world, The Imperial Easter Eggs. Fabergé received the coveted title, “Goldsmith by Special Appointment to the Imperial Crown” and began the remarkable collection of treasures forever associated with the tragic end of the Russian Imperial Family, the Romanovs. However, through photographs and the astonishing Fabergé Easter Eggs, we get a glimpse of who the Romanovs were as a people and how they lived.

Presenter: Ann Leslie is an instructor at Harper College, Barrington, and previously was a television producer and director. She has also written for various newspaper and magazine articles.

Contact: Nicola Crowe, njtcrowe@aol.com

The IWA Philanthropy and Community Service committee invites you to take part in our Swift School Classroom Helpers volunteer program for the new school year, beginning Thursday, November 7th. 

Volunteers are needed to assist teachers in kindergarten through 8th grade in a variety of tasks, whether with small groups of students or in other supportive activities in the classroom. No special skills are required! 

A Chicago Public School with many immigrant and refugee students, George B. Swift Specialty School has a close and long-running relationship with IWA and is a major benefactor of our Philanthropy and Community Service efforts.

Sessions are available the first two Thursdays of each month throughout the school year from 8:45 - 10:45 a.m. Sign up for dates that work for your schedule. The kids will be happy to see you!

Please register by April 7th.

Swift School is in the Edgewater neighborhood and easily accessible by public transportation. Street parking is also available.

Contact Dell Harmsen at Dellzee4@gmail.com or 312-515-0317 for more information. 

We hope you will join us for this important and meaningful volunteer opportunity!

Book: The Anthropologists
Author: Asyegul Savas

Discussion Leader: Yoko Kusama

Literature Discussion Chairs: Barbara Herzog and Teresa Kennedy

The Literature Group offers members an international perspective in literary fiction by introducing acclaimed, if sometimes lesser known, writers and books. Members are invited to attend by Zoom, although we request that only those who have read the book participate in discussion.

Join IWA members for an evening meet & greet!

We will be at Aster Hall Bar & Study from 4pm to 6pm - come for as little or as long as you like!

Please contact Ria Rörich with any questions.

This monthly event is for all interested Bridge players, and includes members who play Basic Social Bridge as well

as Intermediate/Advanced Bridge players.

(Please be aware that you need a basic knowledge of

Bridge in order to participate).

Join your IWA friends in a fun and friendly game of Mah Jongg! There is nothing more exciting than when, with your heart racing, your adrenaline pumping, your palms sweating, and you call "Mah Jongg"!

ALL LEVELS ARE WELCOME! A refresher lesson will be given at the beginning of each meeting.

Date: Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Time: 10:15 AM - 11:30 AM; tour starts promptly at 10:30 AM

Location: Lurie Garden - Millennium Park:

220 E Monroe St, Chicago, IL 60601

Experience springtime beauty while learning about Lurie Garden, Millennium Park’s naturalistic five-acre urban oasis, a place of rest and renewal for humans and wildlife.

See map below for the meeting place. We will meet in the plaza area of Millennium Park along the west side of Lurie Garden closest to the Monroe Street entrance - across the street from the Art Institute’s Modern Wing entrance.

This walking tour is just over one hour long. There are some stairs.

Registration required. Free tour for IWA members and

prospective members, one guest per member.

Registration closes Tuesday, April 22.

Maximum 30 Members and Guests

Address to enter into GPS: 210 E. Monroe Street, Chicago.

IWA Contacts: Judy Mischel, jsmischel@gmail.com (708-220-2503),

Dell Harmsen, dellzee4@gmail.com (312-515-0317)