President-Elect Sidney Sandridge presided today. There were about 30 in attendance, counting guests and speakers. It was good to have Chaplain Burns back. He led us in prayer and the pledge to the flag which was back in the room. The Harvest, AKA the Ford's Chapel, mafia continues to grow. Al Renz introduced new member Glen Smith, guest Jeff Sandridge (son of Sidney), and Herb Robertson (Ford's Chapel's new minister).
Our 1st speaker today was from the 4-H organization which we recently supported with a $1,000 grant. There are over 1500 4-H members in Madison County. A show of hands revealed several of our club members have 4-H experience. The grant will provide for the development of communication skills, including procurement of audio-visual equipment.
Next, we had 3 speakers from Beta Pi chapter of Epsilon Sigma Alpha (a nonacademic sorority) that supports St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis. Louise Cooper, Charlotte Massey, and Judith Lundeen described how there are more than 1,000 chapters (2 in Alabama) dedicated to community service with emphasis on education related to providing needed medical service to children whether or not they can afford to pay. Epsilon Sigma Alpha is proud of the approximately 650,000 hours of volunteer service they provide in support of St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital each year. Marlo Thomas, a St. Jude board member and daughter of founder Danny Thomas, has a current book entitled "Right Words at the Right Time" that the speakers highly recommend.
Sidney said a complete report on the International Convention will be forthcoming at next week's business meeting. More than 2,000 were in attendance at the Nashville event; and Sidney offered that in addition to talk of child support he was impressed by the "fellowship" that was in evidence, and that this shouldn't be a forgotten element of our meetings. Ed Clark has talked with Fred Binner and reports that Fred is completing his scheduled treatment and looks forward to the day he'll be back with us. Keep Fred and Martha Sue in your good thoughts.
After SS instructed one of our speakers to pull his name out of the box for the attendance prize - she did as she was told - hmmm?
