The Soultown! Volume III: Issue 10 OCTOBER 2019 | страница 17

EXCLUSIVE
From left, Chillin, Ruby and Maribel photos are taken as they enter the Disneyland Park.
The McNeil Family Clubhouse in Menlo Park
(MP), The Moldaw-Zaffaroni Clubhouse in East Palo
Alto (EPA) and The Mervin G. Morris Clubhouse
in Redwood City (RC), California are where the
friendship of a group of coworkers, Maribel, Ruby, and
Chillin began. More than 10 years ago, Maribel was
the Middle School Director and Ruby was the High
School Director, both worked at the Menlo Park site.
Chillin was serving as the Intel Computer Clubhouse
Director at the EPA site. They call themselves the
GGs, meaning the Golden Girls.
These women are significantly older than the
traditional age of newcomers to the organization.
Their hobbies are different from one another, as well
as their nationalities; Ruby is Polynesian, Maribel is
Latina and Chillin is African American.
Many times a year, there are trainings, collaborative
events, and celebrations that unify the clubs. These
commemorative events are where the women often
worked together. The work they do at BGCP has
played an important role in growing their friendship.
“We model the same kind of friendship we hope to
see in the members. However, it wasn’t until Ruby
helped me to see my view on where I’d meet new
friends had to change,” says Chillin’. “Her reaction
to a comment -- ‘I didn’t come to California to make
friends’ -- helped me realize the error in my words.
Actually, what I meant was that I was single-focused
Disneyland Photos
when I relocated to California on my career, and not
personal friendships.”
“I believe working at BGCP makes it easy to form
strong friendships because of the nature of work we
do,” Ruby shares, “Maribel and I have spent a lot
of time together both in and outside of work. Chillin
and I became close by working the collaborative
events. One day we invited her to join us for dinner
that later led into some off-site adventures. We love
and appreciate that we all come from various cultural
backgrounds and we learned so much about each
other.”
YOLO is the acronym of the phrase “you only live
once”. Along the same lines as the Latin “carpe diem”
(“seize the day”), it is a call to live life to its fullest
extent, even embracing behavior which carries an
inherent risk. Research supports that taking a trip
with friends can actually improve your mental health
and long-term happiness, so in the spirit of YOLO,
the GGs have planned annual excursions that are
fun, but also very adventurous and risky. They have
packed their bags and got away -- for sanity’s sake.
The most recent was a trip to Disneyland.
Celebrating Ruby’s birthday and Chillin’s 50th
birthday, Maribel spontaneously planned the road
trip to never be forgotten. Maribel gassed up her
vehicle, Ruby purchased the tickets, and Chillin
JUMP TO PAGE 20
Courtesy Photo
The GGs pose for a picture at the Bulls game in Chicago,
at the United Center.
Photo by Chillin
Maribel and Ruby leaves Mickey Mouse at home to greet
his guests and take a spin in his car.
Oct. 2019 • The Soultown International Magazine • Celebrating 2 years • Connecting Our Cultures to Our Cyber & Conscious Communities • thesoultown.com
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