A message from our North Atlantic Region Governor Diane Savidge:
While the festivities of the July 4th weekend are behind us, I do hope you were able to enjoy some time celebrating with family and friends this year. Most of our clubs have now taken a break for the summer months and members will be enjoying vacation or just getting some rest from the hectic year we just experienced. I do hope everyone has some fun this summer but at the same time please remain healthy and stay safe. Enjoy! You deserve it.
Remember as we wind down from the past year that many clubs did some fantastic things despite the circumstances. With that in mind, remember to send in your applications for the Soroptimist Celebrating Success Award activities your club accomplished. The normal deadline for these applications to be submitted to the region is July 1st, but I have reached out to SIA headquarters and asked if it was ok for us to extend the deadline for these applications to be submitted to the region and the response was “YES”, so long as the contents being submitted were completed during the 2020-2021 club year. So, if your club had an amazing activity during the past club year in any of the four pillar categories, you could submit an application to our region chairs, Patti Yuengling or Kathie Lang by no later than September 1st, 2021. The application is available on the SIA website, and the NAR website. And remember, you CAN submit more that one application as there are four categories (Program, Fundraising, Membership and Public Awareness). Applications can be submitted by clubs in one or each of these categories for judging.
Also, keep in mind is that this coming Spring Conference will be an election year for the positions on the region board. Nominations are open for all positions except that of Governor and since we will be fully merged, positions will be going back to the normal positions on the board. Those positions are Governor-Elect, Region Secretary, Region Treasurer, District I Director and Secretary, District II Director and Secretary, District III Director and Secretary, District IV Director and Secretary and District V Director and Secretary. Because we were not fully merged for 2020-2022, we had two Co-Administrative Officer positions on the 2020-2022 board and there was to be a runoff election between just those two for Governor for 2022-2024. However, Elizabeth Peterson has decided to withdraw her name for Governor which means your next Governor will be Patti Yuengling. According to our transition bylaws, no one else was able to submit their name for Governor for the 2022-2024 biennium. I ask that you look at all the members of the region and consider who you think might be a good candidate for any of the positions other than that of Governor and either submit a Candidate Application Form or talk to someone you think would be a good candidate and ask them to consider running for a specific position and submit their application. Applicants for all positions must be a member in good standing and she/he should have been a club president prior to sitting on the region board. Allowances of not having served as a club president are made for all positions, except that of Governor-Elect, so long as no one else applies for the same position, that has been a club president. Applications must be sent to our Region Chair, Peggy Gentile-VanMeter by no later than December 12th, 2021. The application is on the NAR website.
All clubs are reminded that your dues are due to SIA and to the NAR. Please be sure to get your dues paid timely to avoid any penalty charges and to keep your clubs in good standing.
The NAR board is in the process of getting everything in place to hold our Fall District Meetings (FDM). An agenda is being worked on and contracts for venues as well as budgets are being put in place. As of now, the FDM for Districts I, II and V will be held at the Holiday Inn, Johnstown/Gloversville, NY on October 15th and 16th. The logistics for the District III and IV FDM is being worked on and will be announced soon. I can tell you the host club for this meeting will be SI S.U.N. Counties so it will be somewhere in central PA. Plans are also being worked on to hold some type of leadership training for club Presidents, Treasurers and Secretaries. These will most likely be held by district and via zoom since we are limited in time to get anything else coordinated at this time.
I wish you all a wonderful summer and hope to see everyone soon at the Fall District
Meetings.
Fondly,
Governor Diane