Living with Bears at the Contemporary Club Valentines Lunch

Members of the Contemporary Club of Redlands, a women's club that was founded in 1894, gathered on Feb. 10 at noon for a fun Valentine's luncheon in their Redlands-based clubhouse. Featured in the program for the luncheon was one of their very own, longtime club members Jean Hyman and her vintage collection of stuffed teddies. The Contemporary Club meets once a month for their social meetings, which is traditionally lunch at noon followed by tea at 1 p.m., and holds luncheons for members and guests throughout the year. The president of the club, Maxine Flater, was in attendance. She said the reason for having the event was to have, “a fun thing. It’s valentine’s luncheon!” The club's Valentine’s luncheon is just one of four they will have in the year. It was an event which brought together the Contemporary Club members, in light of Valentine’s Day, to celebrate and be enlightened by one of their very own established members who shared with them her remarkable collection of stuffed bears. The event program, “Living with Bears,” presented Jean, a 77-year-old well-known member, who has put together a wide collection of teddy bears, which she has been gathering since she was a baby. At just 5 months old, Jean received her first brown stuffed teddy bear, named Buster, as a Christmas gift from her older brothers. Ever since, she has been collecting stuffed bears and assembled a quite large assortment of teddies. The Contemporary Club is not only a social association for women, but an organization which participates in philanthropic activities such as giving back to the community through awarding scholarships in the high schools of Redlands and to organizations. Longtime member of the Contemporary Club, Linda Brook, strongly supports the idea of giving scholarships to schools and organizations in a time when cost of education is continuously increasing. Linda stated, raising money for scholarships is, “one of the most important things, especially with the costs of school nowadays.” Every year the Contemporary Club participates in fundraising activities to raise money and be able to give it back to their community. The club celebrated their 120th anniversary last month and all members share that they are looking forward to the many more celebrations to come.