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In Touch
Winter 2015 Vol. 3, number 3
The quarterly newsletter for Altrusa International - District Six
Governor’s Message Chris DeVlieger 2015-2017 District Six Governor Tis the season in District Six when snowflakes make their appearance. Each snowflake is different and beautiful in its own way – fragile and special. Yet when they accumulate, the strength in their unity is amazing. Each snowflake contributes to covering the earth in a blanket of white and the magic begins. Snowflakes are similar to membership. Each of us unique with our own talents; yet together we create and support so much within our Clubs, District and International organization. Take time this holiday season to enjoy and value the differences being an Altrusan has to offer. Now is a perfect time to ask someone to join Altrusa because annual dues change to half-year dues from December 1st through March 31st. The District Six Board met in September and will talk again during a phone conference call in January. One of the items we worked on was preparing for District Six Conference in April 2016. Conference Chair Linda Barb and her Committee Chairs have been working very hard to put on a wonderful Conference. I am looking forward to it and hope to see you there. To help you prepare for District Conference, here is some information for you and your club:
We are in need of individuals to serve at the District and International levels. Nominations are open for the following: (1) the District Six Nominating Committee; (2) the International Nominating Committee; and (3) the International Foundation Trustee. See next month’s District Six publication for information on candidate qualifications and nominations forms. District Six Conference will be held at the Renaissance Indianapolis North Hotel in Carmel, Indiana and the room rate will be $123 per night (not including taxes). Early registration discount for the full conference will be $170. After March 26th, the full registration will be $185. Start preparations by collecting information to submit entries for the Mamie L. Bass Service Award, the Letha H. Brown Literacy Award, and the Nina Fay Calhoun International Award. More information regarding this will be included in the next edition of InTouch.
Governor's Message continued on next page... Altrusa International District Six www.districtsix.altrusa.org Illinois - Indiana - Kentucky --- 32 clubs throughout our three states
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Governor's Message continued... I know everyone has been busy the past several months providing much appreciated support and service within your communities. In addition, thank you for completing your Annual Club Reports and finalizing your club’s name incorporation before December 31st. For those of you still working on incorporating your club, please note the International Office understands this is a slow process and no club will be penalized for not completing the incorporation process before December 31st. Pat Woodward, Legal Advisor, is trying her best to review incorporation paperwork as soon as possible. In addition, the International Office is a little shortstaffed for the time being so please let me know if you need any assistance. No matter how you celebrate the holidays, hopefully this time of year brings back memories. Whether it’s watching your favorite holiday movie, shopping while it’s snowing, decorating, or baking cookies – take time out to relax and enjoy a quiet moment. I know all of you are servant leaders and enjoy doing things for others, but give yourself a little present…peace and quiet. So go ahead…curl up in your favorite chair with a blanket, hot chocolate and a good book.
Inside this issue Governor’s Message District Six News Make-a-Difference Day in District Six Club News District Conference News
With Altrusa Love, Chris DeVlieger, Governor Altrusa International District Six
Altrusa International District Six www.districtsix.altrusa.org Illinois - Indiana - Kentucky --- 32 clubs throughout our three states
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District Six News Condolences Champaign-Urbana IL club announces with great sadness that Past Governor Helen Widick, 93, of Urbana (shown here at the 2015 District Six Conference) has passed away of natural causes on Nov. 15, 2015 at Meadowbrook Health Center in Urbana. She had been living in a nursing home for the past month after being hospitalized. Helen was born on March 4, 1922, in Monticello, and she was a proud member of the Altrusa Club of Champaign Urbana, serving as president from 1967-1969 and also as Governor of District Six of Altrusa International from 1981-1983. She was an active Altrusan to the end, never wanting to be an emeritus. Link to her obituary: http://www.news-gazette.com/obituaries/2015-11-18/helenmackey-widick.html The Lake County IL Club reports that Julie Lundquist, a former member passed away on Oct. 3, 2015. She was born in Waukegan on September 22, 1946. Julie did not merely join organizations, she whole-heartedly participated. She served as Vice President and was a founding member of the Association of Women Attorneys of Lake County. She served on the leadership of the Lake County Women’s Coalition. She was President of Junior Women’s League of Waukegan, Waukegan Women’s City Club, Altrusa International of Lake County, Illinois, Inc., Waukegan Public Library Board of Trustees, Waukegan Public Library Foundation Board, YWCA of Lake County and Secretary of the Vestry, Christ Episcopal Church. Altrusa granted her Emeritus status a few years ago. The Chillicothe club shares that club member Lois A. Pronga passed away on Nov. 11, 2015, at her home in Chillicothe, IL. She was 75 years old. Lois held various positions in nursing throughout her career: working for Proctor Hospital, Chillicothe Nursing Home, Caterpillar Inc. and the American Red Cross. A favorite quote of hers encapsulates how she lived: "In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you."
Congratulations Congratulations to the Bedford IN Club for receiving $1,200 from the International Foundation for their “Light a Fire” project! Congratulations to Altrusa International of Chillicothe IL member Ann Hoskins celebrating her 50-year-membership! Hats off to the Quincy IL Club! They held a coat drive that resulted in 969 coats, 685 hats, gloves and mittens! Congratulations to the Warsaw IN club - In October they raised over $8,000 at their largest annual service project Bingo for Beaman Home! Altrusa International District Six www.districtsix.altrusa.org Illinois - Indiana - Kentucky --- 32 clubs throughout our three states
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A message from our Foundation Liaison As 2015 comes to a close, the Altrusa International Foundation asks that you consider an End-of-the-Year gift to one of the four programs supported by the Foundation - Club 21, Grants, Disaster Relief, or the Endowment Fund. The mission of the Foundation is to aid Altrusans in providing effective service projects and to provide assistance in helping Altrusans improve lives in their communities. To that end, these programs can have a direct impact on Altrusa clubs and on Altrusans individually. Please consider a gift yet this year. All contributions are tax-deductible. Congratulations to the Bedford Club for receiving an Altrusa Foundation Grant of $1200 in the Fall 2015 grant cycle! Their project is "Light a Fire for Tomorrow". The deadline for applications for the spring cycle is March 15. Check out the Foundation webpage for criteria and application information. Your club could receive a grant from $250 to $2000.
Sarah Johnson
District Six Foundation Liaison
Altrusa International District Six www.districtsix.altrusa.org Illinois - Indiana - Kentucky --- 32 clubs throughout our three states
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Altrusa International District Six www.districtsix.altrusa.org Illinois - Indiana - Kentucky --- 32 clubs throughout our three states
Page 6 of 12 In Touch -the quarterly newsletter for Altrusa District Six Winter 2015 Vol. 3, number 3
Join The District Six Facebook Page
District Six page, click the “join” button. You’ll be added to the group. Add the site to your “Favorites” to make returning easy.
from Sue Creighton, District Six Facebook page manager
Stay in touch... join our District’s Facebook page. Joining the group makes it easy to immediately share your club’s happenings and learn what’s going on around District Six. It’s a site for members and friends of District Six of Altrusa International, Inc. Our group already has 235 members with more Altrusans joining every day. There’s room for all of us!
It’s easy to join.
Facebook members can simply type Altrusa District Six in the search box at the top of your own page. Once on the
You are encouraged to add your own Club’s pictures, post your activities and share your thoughts about postings made by others. Our District’s Facebook Administrator will help if you have trouble uploading photos.
Contact Sue Creighton at sscreighton44@gmail.com for any assistance. Join today!
Altrusa International District Six www.districtsix.altrusa.org Illinois - Indiana - Kentucky --- 32 clubs throughout our three states
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Make-A-Difference Day in District Six CANTON IL For Make a Difference Day 2014 our club set up a library in the Salvation Army. This space is also used for tutoring and studying. The original plan included a mural painted by a local artist. The funds were not there for the painting but we went ahead with the library. For Make a Difference Day 2015 members began the painting of the mural. They finished up last weekend. It really brightens up the room. Thank you, Sheila Huggins for creating the design and sharing your artistic talents.
WARSAW IN Our Warsaw Club decided to make a difference by participating in the Feed My Starving Children efforts in our community. People from all over the community signed up for a shift to pack meals to be shipped to starving children in many countries. Our Club signed up for a 2 hour shift on Saturday, October 17th. We were assigned to label the bags with the good-to date. We had to work fast to keep up with all the groups who were filling the bags and packing them in boxes behind us. But, we still had fun chatting while we worked. During our shift 141,000 meals were packed. During the entire event of a few days, 1,065,000 meals were packed. We saw a very moving video, showing how the meals impact the children who receive them.
MACOMB IL To thank local First Responders for serving our community - Macomb Altrusans baked cookies and other treats and delivered them to the fire station, police station, county jail and the hospital emergency room on Make-a-Difference Day.
BEDFORD IN Altrusans met at Sara Kern's to make laundry soap for the residents at Hauck House. It will be distributed during our luncheon and Bingo party which we will provide on Make-aDifference Day.
Altrusa International District Six www.districtsix.altrusa.org Illinois - Indiana - Kentucky --- 32 clubs throughout our three states
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Make-A-Difference Day in District Six LAFAYETTE IN The Lafayette IN club partnered with City Bus and Food Finders Food Bank at the West Lafayette Wal-Mart and the Lafayette WalMart on Commerce Drive to Stuff the Bus. People were encouraged to donate food at each location and the food was placed in the bus parked at the location. Enough food was collected to provide over 1,400 meals.
CHAMPAIGN-URBANA IL For MADD, Altrusa sewed and filled book buddy bags for the GOALS kids to encourage the moms to read to their children. GOALS (Going on Against Life's Struggles) is an organization that encourages teen moms to stay in school and teaches them parenting and life skills.
LEXINGTON KY The Make-a-Difference Day project for the Lexington Club was a Fall Fun Festival with the Women’s Hope Center.
SPRINGFIELD IL Springfield Altrusans made blankets for the Ronald McDonald House and presented them on Make A Difference Day.
Altrusa International District Six www.districtsix.altrusa.org Illinois - Indiana - Kentucky --- 32 clubs throughout our three states
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Club news
From around our district – Illinois Indiana Kentucky
Illinois CantonChampaign-UrbanaChillicotheDecaturDeKalb-SycamoreElgin Fox ValleyGalesburgLake CountyMacombParisPekinQuincySpringfield
Canton On Thursday, September 24th we were visited by Governor-Elect Dana Vierck and had our annual basket auction fundraiser (always a good time). During the meeting, Dana presented the club with a membership award received during International Conference.
Chillicothe Chillicothe emeritus member Fauntilla Marliere participated in the Honor Flight on September 29th! She was a WWII Navy hospital corpsman. She visited the WWII and Vietnam memorials and was able to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We are grateful for your service, Fauntilla!
DeKalb-Sycamore Sewing Kit Project -- An idea by Sue Guio became a reality this month when Altrusa members put together sewing kits to be distributed to residents of Safe Passage and Hope Haven. Shown here are Dianne Donaldson, Sue Guio, and Pat Conway working on the sewing kits.
Macomb We are celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Annual Altrusa Holiday Bazaar started in 1965. It is our biggest fundraiser - raising money to support our literacy projects. One of the members who started the Bazaar is still an active participating member - Alta Sargent - she is also an original charter member of our club from when it was founded in 1961. Alta is 94 years young and still comes to meetings regularly!
Altrusa International District Six www.districtsix.altrusa.org Illinois - Indiana - Kentucky --- 32 clubs throughout our three states
Page 10 of 12 In Touch -the quarterly newsletter for Altrusa District Six Winter 2015 Vol. 3, number 3
Club news
From around our district – Illinois Indiana Kentucky
Indiana BedfordConnersvilleEvansvilleHamilton County HuntingtonIndiana Dunes IndianapolisJeffersonvilleKokomoLafayetteMarionMuncieNew AlbanyNew Castle Terre HauteWarsaw
Evansville Evansville members recently visited the St. Vincent Center for Children & Families Pre-K students, read a story to them and each child was given a book to take home.
Bedford Mary Barnes was formally welcomed into the Bedford Club as our newest initiate. Pictured are, from left: Mary Barnes, New Initiate; Becky Bailey, Membership Chair; Peggy Buck, Sponsor bringing Mary to our meetings. Welcome to Mary who has already proven to be a hard working and dedicated member of our Club! Altrusa of Bedford, Indiana Welcomes YOU!
Marion Marion club members passed out books at the Sweetser Pumpkin Walk on Halloween night. Every year the Altrusa Club hands out free books for children. You have to get there early because the books go fast!
Warsaw Warsaw Club's big service project in October, Bingo for Beaman Home, was a huge success. The 250 tickets sold out 1 week prior to the event. Preliminary results indicate nearly $8,000 raised for the Shelter's programs and services. Altrusans collected over 100 bingo prizes, baked and decorated the cookies for desert, arranged volunteers from Kohl's and Zimmer Bioment Women's Network and the Beaman Home Board members. Standing room only!
Altrusa International District Six www.districtsix.altrusa.org Illinois - Indiana - Kentucky --- 32 clubs throughout our three states
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Club news
From around our district – Illinois Indiana Kentucky
Kentucky FrankfortLexington Lexington The Lexington Club held a Zumba event and in lieu of admission, participants were asked to bring a "HUGS" donation (Hats, Underwear, Gloves, Socks/Scarves). It was a great dance party and over $1300 in items and cash was collected! The items were then donated to Greenhouse17, a local crisis center and the cash will go towards creating a framed photo exhibit in the lobby of Greenhouse 17.
Frankfort Shown here are Club members at the downtown Frankfort Candlelight Tour that kicks off our Christmas season. This is one of our biggest fundraisers. We sell Russ Kennedy's famous Burgoo on opening night. We sell the burgoo in 16 oz. containers or by the gallon. We also sell hot dogs and drinks. Our goal is to see how fast we can sell out our 20 gallon pot. This year we were out in less than an hour. Thanks to the Frankfort community that came out to support our Altrusa fund raiser. Monies raised will go right back into our community! Shown are Frankfort members: Susan Kennedy in Santa apron, Vicki Cunigan, Vice President in Altrusa shirt and Zita Grayson, past president.
Altrusa International District Six www.districtsix.altrusa.org Illinois - Indiana - Kentucky --- 32 clubs throughout our three states
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District Conference news
Be sure to make plans to attend the 2016 District Conference April 15-17, 2016 in Carmel Indiana It’s going to be sweet!
Altrusa International District Six www.districtsix.altrusa.org Illinois - Indiana - Kentucky --- 32 clubs throughout our three states