District 8 President's Report
District 8 President's ReportFriends:
What a wonderful time of year. There is nothing better. First we have Thanksgiving with everyone pitching in to prepare the turkey and all the fixins. Many of us were glued to the television as we watched any number of football games while others visited and remembered past holiday seasons. The turkey is done and we sat down with family and friends to share in the feast. This is immediately followed up with the approaching Christmas and Hanukkah season. This is the season for traditions along with old and new memories.
Charity donations: This year the ACBL Charity Foundation bestowed District 8 with $30,000 to be equally distributed among our five units with instructions it must be given to a 502c(3) charity that isn’t connected with bridge. Each Unit President was given the assignment to select such a charity and arrange for the welcomed $6000 donation. Before selecting a charity, the unit presidents worked with their board members and when possible they solicited ideas from their unit members. It was an enjoyable task.
The following are the charities each unit selected:
Unit 143 – Steve Zenk, President. Charity selected: American Red Cross, Missouri Spring Storm 2011, St Louis
Unit 154 – Chuck Briggs, President. Charity selected: Community Harvest Food Bank in Ft Wayne
Unit 208 – Chuck Zalar, President. Charity selected: Salvation Army, Heartland Division in Peoria IL
Unit 223 – Marcia Darnell, President. Charity selected: St Louis Shriners’ Hospital
Unit 239 – Karl Dencker, President. Charity selected: Geneva Food Bank in Geneva IL
Regional tournaments: With 2012 just around the corner, we already have many District 8 volunteers gearing up for five upcoming regionals (Champaign IL, Metropolis IL, Crystal Lake IL, St. Louis MO and Fort Wayne IN). If you've never helped put a regional together, why don’t you volunteer this year? Thankfully, each unit has good leadership steering their regional ship -- but your help would be greatly appreciated.
Youth bridge: I want to extend special recognition to Karen Walker and Mary Beth and Chris Shaw. The Shaws have spent many hours working on various projects that revolve around “youth bridge”. Their latest involved Western Illinois University and an online bridge course designed for middle-school teachers. This is where Karen Walker comes in. Karen did a heroic job in writing well over 200 pages that have been loaded into the WIU STAR-Online system. District 8 is blessed to have folks like this in our midst. We thank each of you.
Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah.
With 2012 just around the corner, may we have good health, peace and our economy rebound.
A couple extra Grand Slams would also be nice.