Co-Presidents Carol Bowman and Ruth Wright

Our annual meeting and meal together again was great even though we held it a month earlier! If my memory serves me correctly I believe we had 13 members present. We want to thank Ronda Willhardt for making all the arrangements.

We are planning a garage sale for June. So please save all that "good stuff" for AAUW!

Our branch voted to provide Lila and Jan each $200 to help with expenses incurred as they attend the AAUW Association Convention in Washington DC. At this time we are hoping that both Jan and Lila will be voting delegates.

After seeking input as to what to do with all our copies of AAUW publications it was suggested I check if Monmouth College Library would be interested. I am so pleased to report that they wanted a copy of each and all the extra copies will go to the Monmouth College Education Department Curriculum Lab. The MC Library will catalogue all these books. A list of these publications is in this newsletter so you will know what is available and you may check them out at anytime. This made the president's stuff for Marilyn and Lila about 30 pounds (plus or minus) lighter!

Marilyn, Jan, and I attended State Convention on April 30^th. In attendance were 119 voting delegates. Lunch had 147 attending. For Donna Sproston's International Relations Committee we collected $188.17 which will go to IFUW's Bina Roy Partners in Development Fund. The Agent of Change Award was presented to Ruth Sweetser. The Convention Keynote Address Panel was entitled "Funding Public Education in Illinois". The presenters were: Ralph Martire, Executive Director, Center for Tax and Budget Accountability; Martha Bowman, Secretary-Treasurer of the Illinois Education Association – NEA; Barbara Holt, Education Director, Chicago Urban League; and Representative Daniel Brady, State of Illinois Congressional House Appropriations Committee. They were great. I will have copies at the May meeting of HB750/SB750 for all to have and read. We sold our stationery. I won a basket of materials about Lewis and Clark some of which I want to give to District 238.

I was a little premature in presenting our new officers in last month's newsletter for you see we officially elected them in April! And I can report Lila and Marilyn are very busy getting everything set up for next year. Carol and I want to say "thanks" for giving us the opportunity to be your co-presidents. We also want to thank everyone who served with us for these past two years. We couldn't have done it without each of you. If you missed our April meeting you didn't get to see the lovely AAUW brooches and the beautiful hanging baskets of impatiens the branch gave each of us. Again we say "thanks".

Please mark your calendar for Monday the 16^th and join us as we carpool to Oneida Presbyterian Church to hear our member Pastor Carolyn Weber's program. Our meeting will start at 7 p.m. You won't want to miss this meeting where we will announce the awards our branch received at convention!

Congratulations to our member
Trudi Peterson
elected the
2005 Senior Faculty Member of the Year
by the Monmouth College Student Body!

Incoming Co-Presidents Lila Blum and Marilyn Van Ausdall

We want to express our gratitude to Carol Bowman and Ruth Wright for their dedicated leadership and outstanding service as branch presidents these past years. We appreciate their tireless efforts in maintaining an active, informed, forward-looking branch that reflects the mission and purpose of AAUW. Congratulations on a job well-done, Carol and Ruth! We will do our best to follow in your footsteps.

We have inherited the "presidential files" and are busy preparing for the new year of programs and activities. In April we sent out a program questionnaire to all branch members. If you haven't yet responded, there is still time to do so. On Wednesday, June 8, 2005, we will hold a program planning meeting for '05 -'06 at Lila's house, 1511 East Broadway, 7 p.m.. We welcome your ideas for shaping a series of programs for next year that will be engaging and meaningful.

We look forward to working with all of you as we chart our course for the future!

Lila at blum@maplecity.com Marilyn at vanausd@maplecity.com