AAUW Coastal-Georgetown Branch Newsletter
COASTAL TIDINGS
Sept/Oct 2014
Mission Statement:
AAUW advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research.
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President's Message from Penny Deiner
Reflecting on 2013/14 and looking forward to 2014/15
What a wonderful summer. Our company has come and gone and the children are getting ready to start school, and we are embarking on another AAUW journey. The members of the Diversity Book group got a jumpstart as they met in August and had a great discussion and pot luck (requests for recipes abound), and we are looking forward to another great year at Costal-Georgetown AAUW.
Last year we increased our membership by about 20 percent and added more members over the summer. Our website: http://georgetown-de.aauw.net/ is up and running and provides a great source of information. We developed a program “Find You Future – Make it Happen.” We sold a record number of geraniums to support our scholarships. We are making it happen.
Although we did not meet during July and August some committees met over the summer as we struggled to set dates when members could attend (when they were not on vacation or were deluged with company). The bylaws committee was active this summer under Rebecca Moscoso’s guidance. After some meetings we seem to have generated more questions that we answered but the work is progressing. National AAUW is requesting that our Board be “leaner.” The bylaws committee is working to figure out how we can be more efficient and continue to work effectively.
The meeting logistic committee has already faced challenges with our growing membership and the increase in audio/visual needs. This year we will meet in more central locations, at fewer restaurants, and only those we know can support our space and audio/visual needs.
We are still looking for one or two members who are willing to take leadership of the scholarship committee. Linda Lewis has agreed to chair the Fund Development Committee. When we talked she asked me an obvious question “What will you do with more money?” I think this year we need to set some goals for developing more sources of money and decide what we plan to do to support our mission for women and girls if we have more money. With a growing membership and so many members willing to be involved I think we need to Find Our Future and Make It Happen.
I am looking forward to seeing you all in September.
Penny
Find Your Future Kathleen Thompson
From the Find Your Future team!
The members of the Find Your Future team extend their appreciation for the enthusiasm and wonderful feedback we received from our members after the May luncheon presentation. We are also thrilled to add fifteen new volunteers to our list who will be contacted early this fall.
The excitement continues! Some members of the team are constructing a spreadsheet that includes an overall Roadmap for the program; a checklist of items that will simplify preparing for a presentation regardless of the audience; a budget; names of contacts; lists of materials; and a summary of volunteer jobs. We have plans to return to Cape Henlopen High School this fall to make presentations to members of the 10th grade class. In addition, we hope to contact Indian River High School, the Girl Scouts, community organizations, and parent groups to explore their interest in the program. Information about becoming involved in Find Your Future-->Make It Happen is on the branch website or contact Kathleen Thompson if you would like to become a part of the team.
Public Policy Marty Johnson
BECOME AN ADVOCATE!
AAUW continues to be in the forefront of informing our Congressional leaders and the general public about issues that affect women and girls. Based on AAUW’s extensive research on important issues such as gender pay inequality, sexual harassment and Title IX, the national AAUW lobby corps is well versed to educate, advocate and lobby our members of Congress on these issues.
However, as we all know, in order to be effective the voices of many are needed and this is where you come in. There are several ways that you can help advocate for AAUW priorities:
1) Learn of your representatives voting record through AAUW’s Action Fund website at www.aauwaction.org/votereducation/congressionalvoting-record. This website provides copies of current and past voting records that your senators and representatives have taken on AAUW’s federal legislative priorities.
2) Subscribe to AAUW’s weekly e-mail bulletin that offers the latest policy news.
3) Sign up for the AAUW Action Network which is the cornerstone of AAUW’s e-advocacy efforts. The Action Network will send you urgent e-mail notices when it is important to contact your members of Congress about specific legislative bills. Through the Two-Minute Activists tool you can quickly and easily send a message to your representatives. You can sign up for both the weekly e-mail bulletin and the Action Network at www.aauw.org/actionnetwork.
These web sites also are listed on the Coastal-Georgetown AAUW web under the Public Policy button along with other national web addresses that you may be interested in. You will find important policy issues there also.
Message from CG Branch Historian Mary Dickson
If you have been a member of C-G for 10 years or more, Mary Dickson, branch historian/archivist needs your help in identifying members in photos. Please contact Mary by using the email or phone information from the
membership directory.
Lewes Library 10a.m. to 12 noon 1st Thursday of the Month
For more information call Laurel Capodanno 226- 3773
Selbyville Library 1pm to 3pm the Second Tuesday of the month
For more information call Ada May 436-2981
The AAUW Diversity Group has made a gift donation of $240 which was used to purchase 2 goats for a woman and her family in a rural village in Nepal through Heifer International (http://www.heifer.org/).
Heifer empowerspeople to go from poverty to self reliance via gifts of livestock, seeds, trees & training.
Thank you to all of you who donated so generously!! ---- Sandy Dodson and the Diversity Book Group
Join us on Sept. 9 2014, at 10:00 to discuss, “Winter’s Bone”, by David Wordell. This discussion will be hosted and led by Pat Sheehy. We will meet on Oct. 7, 2014 at 10:00 to discuss “Dancing in Quicksand”, by our own Ceil Payne. She will also be hosting and leading the discussion. For more information contact Rose Mary Hendrix at 302-537-9417 or
Do you want to understand the economic issues in the news as well as the long term economic challenges facing this country? We will hold a monthly discussion usually on the 4th Wednesday from 1 – 3 pm for AAUW members interested in exploring economics. These discussions will continue from the ones that we had last spring. The main topics include: how markets work, money & monetary policy, the 2008 financial crisis, deficits & debt, and globalization. A book that gives a fairly accessible discussion of economic issues is Greg Ip, The Little Book of Economics: How the Economy Works in the Real World. We had talked about changing the format this year so JoAnn’s preparation is decreased, and those details still need to be worked out.
The sessions will be held at member’s homes, and all are welcome for any number that you would like to attend. The first meeting will be held at Sheri Borrin’s home in Rehoboth and since the 4th Wednesday in September is Rosh Hashanah, we will probably be meeting another day. Last spring’s discussions were fun and far from dismal!!!
Membership VP, Brenda Snyder and Linda Fischer have used every piece of information on hand to make our Membership Data Base and Directory Membership Pages as complete and correct as possible. Alas, we know that lists are very fluid! Please, each of you go to the branch web site and check BOTH of your listings. Let us know ASAP if you would prefer to use only your cell phone and ALL corrections to email, address or college listings.
The C-G-Branch will partner with Kaplan Test Prep to provide an SAT practice test at Cape Henlopen High School sometime this fall. We are currently looking at dates with Amber King, the college counselor at the high school. We will be providing this service to the students at Cape Henlopen HS, and it will be a fund-raiser for our branch. The students will pay $10 to take the SAT practice test, Kaplan will provide all of the test materials, C-G AAUW will proctor the test (if you can read, then you can proctor – no previous experience is required), and the branch will keep the entire $10 from each student. The students have always been the most wonderful test takers, especially when they are arriving at 8:00 am and testing until 12:30 pm. The funds will be used for our local scholarships. About 10 days later at Cape Henlopen HS, Kaplan will present a “Test Strategies” seminar to the students who took the practice test and their parents. The seminar topics will include: how to read your score results, strategies for taking the SAT, and understanding the role of standardized tests in providing much needed funds for the local scholarships from the C-G Branch. For more information, contact Sheri Borrin, .
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