*Monona AAUW Scope, May 2010 * *Organ Transplantation Program, May 25* Come to our May 25 general meeting and learn about organ transplants. Bev Fluckiger and her guest will discuss the process for donating and what the procedure entails. You can also learn how to support the organ donation program. Coffee and treats will be ready at 7:00 with hostesses: Lucy Bautz, Chr.; Jan DeVoe, Sharon Knoop, Sue Richter and Ethel Ziegler. Our program will begin at 7:30 followed by a short business meeting. *Highlights of the State Convention*, from Co-president, Sally Keyel Jan Robertson and I attended the State Convention in Sheboygan recently. It was interesting and exciting to be with so many AAUW members from all around the state. On Friday evening, we heard about special projects or programs that other branches have had over the last year, including projects spun off from the book Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. His mother has spoken at many branch meetings and will be coming to Watertown in June (details to follow). Several branches read the children's book about his experiences at libraries and schools and raised money (Pennies for Peace) for schools and supplies for Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Sheboygan AAUW branch hosts a house tour every other year as a fundraiser. Branches near UW colleges disseminate information about AAUW on the campuses and enlist students to help with activities. Our branch received an award for growth over the last ten years, in a time when many branches are declining in numbers. We should give ourselves a pat on the back, and keep up the great work! There is a new national AAUW website up and running. The address is: www.aauw.org . There is a 2-minute activist section which helps you contact your politicians easily and send messages concerning AAUW issues. You can find information about the changes going on too. Our Education Foundation (EF) and Legal Advocacy Fund (LAF) have been combined. The new names are Development and Educational Opportunities. They still have the same focus, and we'll continue to have two branch positions to cover the fundraising activities for both. Also, there will no longer be delegates to the National Conventions, held in odd-numbered years. All members will have an opportunity to vote, implemented through e-mail/fax, telephoning, or actual presence at the Conventions. Information will be provided in the Outlook (the national publication). Jerene Mortenson, a former principal at Westside Elementary school in River Falls, and mother of author Greg Mortenson (Three Cups of Tea), will be speaking in Watertown on Wednesday, June 9th at 7 pm in the Watertown High School Lecture Hall. She spearheaded a collection of pennies by elementary students, which started Pennies for Peace. In those early days, she collected $623.45 which went to help build schools and buy supplies for schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Now, Pennies for Peace has gathered more than 10 million dollars around the world and built 131 schools. Her program will focus on her son Greg's work. He built the first school in 1996. If you are interested in going, we can carpool from the east side of Madison (Arby's parking lot on N, just south of I-94) at 5:30. Please let Sally Keyel know if you'd like to go. There is no charge. It's sponsored by the Watertown AAUW branch. Their special project is donating and reading Listen to the Wind, the children’s version of Greg’s story, to area libraries and schools. *“A Taste of Spring”* The date of our Spring luncheon at Parkside Village in DeForest, WI is Saturday, June 5th, 2010. Social hour will begin at 11:15 a.m., lunch being served at 12:00 noon. You won’t have trouble parking and there are no stairs. The cost will be $12.00 which includes tax and tip. Wine and Bloody Marys will be available to purchase. The lunch will include coffee, tea, and milk. Rolls will be available at each table. Dessert will be included. Reservations are due by Friday, May 28th. Family and friends are welcome as guests Menu choices are: * Veggie Quiche with a side of fruit * Caesar Salad with grilled chicken with a side of fruit * Crab Salad on a Croissant with a side of fruit I hope this sounds good to you! Please let us know if there are any dietary needs with menu choices. Sign- up sheets will be passed around at the April and May meetings, but if you will not be at either meeting you may let Mary Pringle know at 221-0043. Directions to Parkside Village take about 22 minutes from Monona area. Take Stoughton Road/Hwy 51 north past the airport, under the I90 viaduct, past Hwy 19, past Windsor Road. Gray Road is the next intersection, less than half a mile, past Windsor Road. Turn left or west on Gray Road remembering to use your turn signal because of traffic on Hwy 51. Parkside Village is 1 mile west. Turn left into Parkside Village, then an immediate right to park in front of 6800 Parkside Circle. Committee: Mary Pringle, Dianne Whitaker, Wanda Nelson, Diane Walker *A Question from Georgene* Would anyone be interested in Gourmet Dining? You need to like cooking and fun conversation over a long meal! And, of course, have a table service for eight people in your home. It works like this: Four couples (eight people) meet four times a year (except summertime). There is a general menu planned for all groups (usually foreign meals). The host couple does the entrée and others do the appetizers, soups, salads, desserts, etc. AND all share the costs. I began this in Northern Virginia and in Stillwater, MN AAUW’s. We had 24 couples in each! (The in was only in my 40’s.) But I still like eating and good conversation with like-minded people! A ‘couple’ could be married or just two gal pals – and every year your ‘group’ would change. I still have old menus if needed and would be happy to start this next year –need only 4 couples. Think about it! *Announcements* Members and friends who are going to see /Billy Elliot/ in Chicago on May 19, here are your travel day instructions: Be at the Shopko South Towne parking lot at 8:15 a.m. on Wed., May 19th. The bus will leave at 8:30. Remind your friends who are going with you. We will have an early lunch at Pheasant Run and then leave for the 2:00 matinee. The *Afternoon Lit Group* will have its June meeting at the Elks Club. Lunch will be at 11:30 a.m. Call Marilyn Rindy, 222-4954 for reservations. *Two travel questions for members to ponder* – * Where have you been that other members might like to go? * Where would you like to go? * We will have an opportunity to discuss these questions and consider the ideas for fund raising trips in the future. *Treasurer’s Report*: The checkbook balance is $10,403.14. We have a number of Chicago related expenses coming up but also receipts for the Book Sale. We added $116 from the salad supper, $12 from the raffle, and $54 for calendar sales (thanks, Ethel!). Dues are due May 25. Send a check payable to Monona AAUW for $69 to me; Linda Hoelzel, 607 Greenway Rd, Monona WI 53716 or bring it to the next meeting. Some members were asking about documentation for the tax deductibility of $46 of the dues. Here is the link to AAUW.org where it is written: http://www.aauw.org/member_center/tools/MembershipToolkit/upload/Association-Dues-Fees-and-Tax-Deductibility-Table.pdf *Book Sale Update* - Great sale! We took in $1,527.05. After expenses, our net profit is $1,277.05. Great job everyone! *Bridge:* Jean Jamieson and Georgene Vitense were the first place winners in the bridge marathon. Thanks Ellie and Laurel for managing the yearly event. Congratulations. The *Evening Lit group* will meet on June 7 at 5:30 at the home of Dee Zimmerman for a potluck dinner and to select books for next year. Newcomers are welcome and anyone interested in joining the group should plan to attend so that you can help select books for next year. Call Dee, 222-3967, to let her know what you would like to bring for supper. *Attention members*! If you have any program ideas you'd like to share with the programming committee, please bring them to the June luncheon. Please provide any contact information you might have as well. It's always nice to have fresh ideas and to have input as to what is interesting to you. *Minutes of General Meeting April 27, 2010* The meeting was called to order by Sally Keyel, Co-President. She thanked our speaker, Ruth Shelly, who gave a presentation on the new Madison Children’s Museum. She also thanked the following meeting hostesses: Ann Thurber, Chair, Anne Becker, Lil Genskow, Joan Langdon, and Carrie Wurz. The minutes of the March 23, 2010 meeting were approved as printed in Scope. FINANCIAL REPORT: Linda Hoelzel, Treasurer, reported a balance of $10, 221.14. She reminded members that the annual dues of $69 are to be paid on or before the May meeting and that $46.00 of this amount is tax deductible. LAF: Gloria Simley, Chair, thanked the members who donated items for the auction held at the recent State Convention. She will inform members of the amount received via the next newsletter. EF: Sally Keyel, reporting for Phyllis Kenseth, Chair, informed members that the local high schools are now in the process of selecting the recipients for our scholarships. BOOKSALE: Ann Thurber, Chair, asked for volunteers to bring desserts for Friday evening, May 7th when there will be a charge of $10.00 for the public to have first chance to purchase books. Coffee will also be served at this event. Members are asked to bring their donated books to the Dean House starting next Monday, May 3rd. Members were also asked to take book sale signs if they have a good location to display them. They were asked to sign out for the signs and list their address so they can be picked up after the sale if they are not returned. The signs are not to be posted until Sunday, May 2nd. Book marks are also available to help spread the word regarding our annual book sale. TRIPS: Georgene Vitense, Chair, informed members that she would like to start a gourmet dining group if there is sufficient interest from our branch. She stated that other branches of AAUW have enjoyed this type of activity. There would be four evening dinners per year with four couples at each home. These dinners would be held every other month during the winter months. The dinners would be planned ahead of time. The couples could be 2 ladies or a married couple. She will write an article for our newsletter about the possibility of starting a dining group for our branch. FILM GROUP: Mary Boyd, Co-Chair, announced that the movie, “Feeding the Fish” has been selected for this month’s film. This movie is a romantic comedy that takes place in Door County. The group will meet tomorrow, April 28th, in the lobby of the Point Theater at 2:30 p.m. for the 2:40 movie. A stop will be made for coffee and/or a snack afterward. LIT GROUPS: Meetings will be held as listed in the Yearbook/Directory and as in Scope. NEWSLETTER: Newsletter submissions are due by the first Wednesday of the month which will be on May 5th. UPCOMING EVENTS: The AAUW Bridge Marathon play-off event will be held at 7:00 p.m. on May 11th at the Monona Community Center. All members of this group are expected to attend or to get a substitute to play in their behalf. One person from each couple is to pay $3.00 and the other person is to bring some snacks. A $10 per person participation fee for the past year is also payable at this event. Sally Keyel informed members that she will conduct Bridge learning/review sessions again this summer with a flexible schedule of about one time per week. The first session will be at Lois Hindhede’s home at 1:p.m. on June 7th. Mary Pringle asked members to sign up for the annual June Luncheon which will be held on June 5th. DONATIONS: A thank you letter has been received from past member Harriet Gregory’s family for our chapter’s donation to the Monona Public Library in her honor. STATE CONVENTION: Sally Keyel and Jan Robertson attended and Sally reported the following information: Our branch received a special recognition letter from Joyce Hoffman, State AAUW Membership Chair, for 10 years of continuous growth. We have had 18 new members during this time frame. There has been a name change for EF and LAF which have been combined and named “Development and Educational Opportunities,” however; our branch will keep the two positions. AAUW is no longer discouraging branches from providing local scholarships. Voting delegates will no longer be sent to the National Convention. Now all members can express their opinions via mail or fax up to one month before the convention which meets every two years. The new AAUW National website is more interactive. Member’s ID’s are listed on their “Outlook” publication. Members are encouraged to e-mail their opinions to Legislators Kohl and Feingold. The shorter the message, the more chance they will read it. On Friday evening at this convention, a good program on fundraising ideas was presented. Also, on June 9th, the Watertown branch of AAUW will have Greg Mortensen’s mother as the speaker regarding the “Pennies for Peace” program. NEW BUSINESS: The following branch officers were elected unanimously: Co-President – Carrie Wurz, Program Vice-President – Jan Robertson, Membership Vice-President – Sandy Knesting, and Corresponding Secretary – Diane Walker. The recently updated bylaws of our branch were also approved unanimously after the motion to do so by Ethel Ziegler and the second of Dee Zimmerman. Members were encouraged by Sally Keyel to check out the National Girl Collaboration information STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) website at aauw.org/education/ngcp . Sally Keyel also reported that the WI Women’s Health Policy Summit will be held at the Alliant Center on May 12th from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Per Reta Harring, the Odyssey Project’s graduation ceremony will be held on May 12th in the Great Hall at the Univ. of WI Union and our members are encouraged to attend. Mary Boyd stated that several of our members attended last year and found it to be very heartwarming. RAFFLE: The raffle was won by Jan Robertson. The prize was a red ceramic heart-shaped box filled with candy. The meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m. The next general meeting will be on May 25th. The program will be on Organ Transplants. Respectfully Submitted. Betty Schmidt, Recording Secretary Thank you: * Thank you to our outgoing officers for the year: Sally Keyel, Co-president; Mary Ann Fahl, Program VP, Membership VP, Ruth Knutson, * Thank you to the Monona UPS Store, Mark Kluis and Erik Spengler, for helping us cut costs for printing the newsletter. By doing so, we can support more scholarships for women. Note: They accept Styrofoam peanuts and strong mailing boxes. Thank them when you can. In principle and in practice, AAUW values and seeks a diverse membership. There shall be no barriers to full participation in this organization on the basis of gender, race, creed, age, sexual orientation, national origin, disability or class. *Calendar* May 20 Afternoon Lit Group at home of Susan Tait, Book Selection May 25 General Meeting; last of the year May 26 Film Group May 27 Morning Lit Group at Home of Judy Endle; Book: In Love with Jerzy Kosinski by Agate Nesaule; Leader: Sandy Knesting. June 2 Board Meeting at home of Mary Boyd, 7:00 p.m. June 5 Spring Luncheon at Parkside Village June 7 Evening Lit Group Pot Luck at Dee Zimmerman’s, 5:30; Book Selection for next year June 9 Watertown AAUW featuring Jerene Mortenson Summer Picnic info will be available in early summer. Stay tuned.