About Our Chapter

NCL, Inc., Acalanes Area Chapter is a group of mothers and daughters who have come together in a commitment to community service, leadership development and cultural experiences.
Members shall reside in attendance areas of Acalanes, Campolindo, and Miramonte High Schools. Like all NCL, Inc. Chapters, Acalanes Area aims to foster the mother-daughter relationship by serving its communities together.

ACALANES AREA CHAPTER

Drawing from the cities of Lafayette, Moraga, and Orinda, the Acalanes Area Chapter puts the mother­/daughter bond at the center of its focus. Whether we are working together in the community, training our daughters to become leaders, or attending a cultural event or fine arts performance,we never forget that the mother­-daughter bond is the basis for what we do. Side by side, we share our six year NCL experience with hundreds of mothers and daughters in our Chapter.

Whether you call it “strength in numbers,” “networking” or “being a good citizen,” our mothers and daughters travel through the same programs together, making great memories and bonding. At the end of the six years, most of our daughters have contributed hundreds of hours to philanthropy work and are prepared to enter our community as thoughtful, strong women.

The NCL Experience changes lives by inspiring and empowering women to succeed as confident, well-rounded and socially aware contributors in their communities.

OUR HISTORY

The Acalanes Area Chapter was organized in 1991, chartered in 1994, and incorporated in 1995. The chapter is a part of NCL, Inc. District 12 Council-Region IV which includes the chartered chapters of Lamorinda, Sacramento, Diablo Valley, Chico, Oakland-Piedmont, Vista Oaks, Rolling Hills Granite Bay and Pleasanton. Acalanes Area is one of over 200 chapters nationwide. There are more than 50,000 National Charity League, Inc. members across the nation who are actively involved in the NCL, Inc. program supporting the needs of their local communities.

OUR MEMBERS

The NCL Experience is best told in the words and deeds of our members:

“In our busy lives it’s so critical to slow down and do something for others, I love this.  The opportunities to have those experiences with my daughter and discuss them afterward, has been extremely rewarding.” – Clare McDonald, Patroness

“NCL provides my daughters and I with the opportunity to spend time together serving our local community. It opens my daughters to a wider world. Our most valuable NCL experience thus far was serving lunch at the Bay Area Rescue Mission. Helping the men and women that BARM serves and seeing the work they’ve put into creating a solid foundation for their future was enlightening and very worth our time.” – Fiona Artiaga, Patroness

Join Our Chapter

Interested in joining our chapter? Membership opportunities are dependent on chapter openings.

If you know someone in our chapter, talk to her about getting started, membership obligations and our membership drive timeline.  If you do not know someone in NCL, you are invited to complete this Membership Inquiry Form.

Membership Inquiry Form

For any questions regarding Membership, requests for transfers or assistance with connecting as a Sustainer, email us.

Members are Patronesses (Mothers) and Ticktockers (Daughters) who typically join in the spring of their 6th grade year. Each new Provisional Ticktocker class generally consist of 27 mother-daughter pairs, balanced among the three towns and managed by elected Ticktocker officers who are coached by Patroness advisors. NCL, Inc. follows a 6-YEAR PLAN from 7th through 12th grade. It guides Patronesses and Ticktockers through their NCL Experience with a variety of age-appropriate and meaningful activities organized under the Three Pillars of NCL, Inc: Community Service, Leadership Development (professional and life skills) and Cultural Enrichment (social skills).

SERVICE REQUIREMENTS: The membership year runs from June 1 through May 31. During this time mothers and daughters must complete leadership and philanthropy hours while attending a minimum number of chapter and grade level meetings. Details can be found in the Prospective Member Packet.

MEETINGS AND EVENTS: Patronesses attend at least five regular meetings each year which we host at different locations around Lamorinda. Ticktockers attend at least six regular class meetings each year.All Patronesses and Ticktockers are required to attend the annual Mother-Daughter Tea/Recognition Event each May.

CHAPTER REQUIREMENTS: All Patronesses fill an organizational role within the chapter. This could be Board Member, Ticktocker Grade Level Advisor, Committee Chair or Committee Member. These positions rotate each year giving Patronesses ample opportunity to contribute to the organization in a variety of capacities.

We invite you to consider membership in the NCL, Inc., Acalanes Area Chapter. Some things to keep in mind about the membership process:

• Timeline: Applications for membership are accepted during the Annual Membership Drive from January-April each year for daughters in grades 6th-9th at the time of the Membership Drive.
• Residence: A Prospective Member shall reside in the attendance areas of Acalanes, Campolindo, and Miramonte High Schools (covering Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda, and parts of Walnut Creek).
• Application: A Prospective Member shall only apply to one Chapter.
  • There are two NCL chapters serving Lafayette, Orinda and Moraga- the Acalanes Chapter and the Lamorinda Chapter.  While all NCL, Inc. chapters share a common mission statement and are governed by the same National Bylaws, each has its own set of membership guidelines and philanthropies. A prospective member may only apply for membership to one chapter during any given year. 
  • Membership selection for the Acalanes Chapter is done by a blind draw with equal consideration being given to applicants from each community that we represent. Prospective members who have an older sibling in the Acalanes Chapter of NCL are considered legacies and are given priority consideration for membership.
  • If you are interested in joining Acalanes NCL please consider attending the prospective member informational meeting that will take place on January 23, 2024.
  • All applications will be due by no later than March 1st by 11:00 pm. Our New Member Draw will occur in March and notifications will be emailed to all applicants on April 1st via email.

Learn more about NCL and the Membership process by reading our NCL Acalanes Prospective Member Packet 2023-2024.

Click HERE for the 2022-2023 Prospective Member Draw Results.

Thank you again for your interest in our NCL, Inc., Acalanes Area Chapter.

Community Service

We understand and serve communities in partnership with local and national nonprofits. Each NCL, Inc. chapter promotes social awareness by considering the local community’s needs and selecting appropriate non-profit organizations to support through different volunteer activities.

We work with the following philanthropies:

• 10,000 Lunches
• AAAAA Rent-a-Space
• Aegis Senior Living
• Alzheimer’s Association
• American Cancer Society
• American Heart Association
• American Red Cross
• Bay Area Crisis Nursery
• Bay Area Rescue Mission
• Blue Star Moms
• California Revels
• California Shakespeare Festival
• Canine Companions for Independence
• Child Abuse Prevention Council of Contra Costa County
• Disaster Response
• Food Bank of Contra Costa County & Solano County
• Fourth of July Run for a Reason
• Friends of Wagner Ranch Nature Area
• Girls Crushing It
• Grateful Gatherings
• Hope Solutions (formerly CCIH)
• Juvenile Diabetes Foundation
• Lafayette Events
• Lafayette Library
• Lamorinda Arts Council
• Lamorinda CERT
• Lamorinda Village
• Monument Crisis Center
• Moraga Events
• National Day of Service – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service – January 15, 2024
• Oakland Zoo
• Operation Dignity
• Operation Gratitude
• Orinda Events
• Save the Bay
• Shelter, Inc.
• Special Olympics
• STAND Against Domestic Violence
• Students Rising Above
• Sydney Paige Foundation

As NCL members we cherish the time we spend with our daughters and our many friends that we meet along the way, but the heart of National Charity League is being a contributing part of our community.

The Acalanes Chapter is blessed with generous members who give of their time and talents to our many philanthropies.  We work diligently each year to serve and honor the NCL mission to be of service to our philanthropies. These range from feeding the homeless at the Bay Area Rescue Mission to ushering at California Shakespeare Theater. We work very hard to offer our members a wide variety of volunteering opportunities that allow us all to get out into our community and meet new people and expose our daughters to a variety of non-profit organizations to instill in them the values of NCL which include dedication, hard work and service.

Our chapter takes pride in the amount of time we spend each year working in our communities, but as they say, as we help others we often find we help ourselves. NCL creates well rounded young women who go on to continue the time honored tradition of compassion and service to those who are in need.  As mothers, we will forever cherish the memories of time spent working side by side with our growing daughters teaching them the values that we hold most dear.

From young to old, sick to healthy we support the following philanthropies: Aegis, Alta Bates Foundation, American Cancer Society, Bay Area Crisis Nursery, Bay Area Rescue Mission, Blue Star Moms, Cal Shakespeare Festival, California Revels, Child Abuse Prevention, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, Foster a Dream, Girls Crushing It, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, Lafayette Events, Lafayette Library and Learning Center, Lamorinda CERT, Oakland Zoo, Save the Bay, Shelter Inc, Special Olympics, Students Rising Above, Taylor Foundation, Tri-Valley Animal Rescue, Women’s Cancer Resource Center.

Leadership Development

We build capable, courageous leaders through opportunities to learn, reflect and develop. Our leaders become successful in their education, career and communities by learning the necessary skills during their NCL experience.

Examples of skills developed include:

• Confidence
• Consensus building
• Team building
• Conflict resolution
• Event planning
• Parliamentary procedure

Our Chapter Board of Directors:

• President: Clay Helm
• President Elect: Samona Taylor
• Secretary: Alexis Bernstein
• Treasurer: Carey Andre
• Parliamentarian: Stacie Schaffer
• Vice President Communications: Kim Hamill
• Vice President Membership: Amy Lewis
  Lisa Obertello
• Vice President Philanthropy: Lisa Hom
• Vice President New Members: Margaret (Meg) Wolpert
• Vice President Ticktockers: Stephanie Tomasco
• Vice President Chapter Engagement and Inclusion: Beth Chang

Our Chapter offers girls the opportunity to become leaders in a kind, supportive environment. With guidance of their Grade Level Advisers, each young woman takes a position in her class. Whether she is the President who calls the meeting to order and runs the meeting or she is the class Recording Secretary who prepares written “minutes” of the meeting, a young woman learns to get comfortable in leadership.  In fact, every young woman must serve as an officer in her class at least once during her six year experience as a Ticktocker.

The leadership opportunities are quite fun!  Every year the young women brainstorm, plan and host events like “Father-Daughter” outings, age-appropriate programs like “Auto Care for New Drivers” and “High School Prep for 8th Graders.” The opportunities are whatever the young women can imagine—Our Ticktockers have even toured the headquarters of Instagram and Facebook as part of the “Opportunities Beyond High School” program. As the mothers guide them, the daughters learn to lead the way.

Cultural Experiences

We preserve National Charity League traditions and core values, while appreciating the growth that comes from connecting with different communities and cultures. We continually strive to build stronger ties with our communities and the individuals within them. It is through this understanding that we grow and develop broader worldviews that will shape and support our lives.

• Traditions – We celebrate the richness of our history through traditions that honor the past while serving the future.
• Values – We embrace values that make us strong as an organization of mother-daughter leaders.
• Community Connections – We build connections through experiences that impact our communities.
• Etiquette – We encourage and mentor kind, respectful and gracious social conduct.

Activities of our Chapter include a wide range of the performing arts—theater, dance, choral arts, music & symphony, painting & sculpture. Our six-year “sampling” of the performing arts inspires our young women to have a life-long appreciation for art in our community.

Recent performing arts and cultural experiences have included:

• Attending a Bollywood dance performance at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall and eating an Indian dinner;
• Enjoying a guided tour of a museum’s sculpture exhibition and a hands-on opportunity to sculpt;
• Attending a musical or live theatre performance at Orinda’s Cal Shakes;
• Screening a documentary film and discussing it over dinner.
• …and much, much more!