ECHO Alabama District North Civitan

Inside this issue

Past Governor’s Notes …………….2

Governor-Elect Message…………..3

Civitan International Convention 4

New Civitan Club ....................... 5

Club News ................................ 5

District Convention ................... 6

Governor’s Corner Hello Alabama North Civitans! It is hard to believe that we are in the last quarter of our centennial Civitan year. For the ones of you that attended the International Convention in Birmingham, I hope you had as much fun and fellowship as I did. It was great renewing friendships, attending workshops, business sessions, and learning about where our organization is and where it is going. As you probably know, John Rynearson, the longtime Executive Vice President of Civitan International, retired on July 1st. The new EVP is Scarlet Thompson. Scarlet comes to International from the ARC of Jefferson County. She also worked for the American Cancer Society and ten years in local television news. Scarlet has an autistic child and is very dedicated to the goals of Civitans. I had the opportunity of meeting and speaking with her during the convention. She has a lot of great ideas for Civitans and I am looking forward to see-ing her enthusiasm filter through the entire organization.

I know we talk about recruiting members a lot, but if we do not recruit, we do not survive. So, with that being said, please ask someone to join your club! We still have two and a half months in this year. As of the end of July, we are down 27 members. This number includes our new club in Blount County. Let’s finish strong and have an increase this year! Share the fun, fellowship, and knowledge of Civitans with your friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers.

Our district convention is August 18th and 19th in Decatur. Regis-tration forms have been emailed and one is included in this issue of the ECHO. Please plan on attending. Our International President Elect Kendyl Massey will be there. She will have an International update on Saturday morning, lead a training session on Saturday afternoon and in-stall the new officers on Saturday night.

Don’t forget to bring your NEW stuffed animals for our service project to the Civitan Sparks Center. Our Saturday speaker is from the Sparks Center and I hope we will send her back to Birmingham with a vehicle full of stuffed animals to be given to the clients when they come for sessions.

A couple of more small items: Duane Capps, International Presi-dent, made corn hole boards for our PR/Webmaster for her wedding gift. She is bringing these to the convention and there will be a corn hole tour-nament on Saturday afternoon. The cost is $5 per person and all pro-ceeds go to the CIRC. The first-place prize has not been decided at this time, but there will be one awarded. Don’t forget to bring items for door prizes and for the Silent Auction.

Remember to “Share your Why” and I hope to see you at the convention in Decatur. Donna Hill Grice Governor 2016-2017

August 2017 Volume 1, Issue 4

Notes from the Immediate Past Governor Walt Floyd

I would like to focus my last

message on the Civitan-at-

the-Helm Program. We

have two months left in this

Civitan Year so I encourage

all clubs within the District

to complete your plans for

supporting the Civitan-at-

the-Helm Program. All Clubs and Districts are

asked to support this great commitment by con-

tributing to this - Our Flagship Project. Every

dollar we provide for this grant is leveraged with

other outside funding sources. Your continued

support is critical to the organization’s success.

Banner Patches are presented to all clubs and

districts that qualify. Annual Supporting levels

are based on the October 1st membership rec-

ords and are as follows:

Helmsman $10 per member average

Navigator $25 per member average

Captain $50 per member average

Commodore $75 per member average

Admiral $100 per member average

Admiral of the Fleet $200 per member

Qualifying Contributions:

Any donation explicitly directed to sup-

port this project

The Annual Golf Benefit (held during the

Civitan International Convention)

Coin Box Proceeds

Personal Gifts (may also be provided in

the name of a special designee)

Contributions should be made by checks to Civi-

tan International, P. O. Box 130744, Birming-

ham, AL 35213-0744.

The second item I would like to mention is the

Alabama District North Nominating Committee.

As Immediate Past Governor, I have the honor

of serving as the Chairperson. The Committee is

comprised of all the Club Presidents within the

District. Our responsibility is to provide recom-

mendations of qualified candidates for the fol-

lowing District Offices: Governor Elect and Area

Directors for Area 1 ( Pisgah, Rainsville, and

Scottsboro), Area 3 (Decatur, Hartselle,

Moulton, Princeville and Somerville), Area 5

(Hamilton, Jasper, Addison, Double Springs and

Haleyville), Area 7 (Cullman, Hanceville and Hol-

ly Pond), Area 9 ( Arab, Blount County, Gun-

tersville and Lake City) and Area 11 (Athens La-

dies, Athens-Limestone, Birdie Thornton and

Rogersville). The Committee will meet at the

upcoming District Convention in Decatur on Fri-

day, August 18th at 3:30 PM. All members will

be given an opportunity to make recommenda-

2

Joann Walls

1932— 2017

GONE TOO SOON

Notes from the Governor-Elect,, Paul Emerson

3 3

Welcome

Paul

Emerson

Paul Emerson

will be

installed as the

new Governor

for Alabama

District North

at the

Convention in

Decatur on

August 18-19.

Plan to attend

to show him

and the new

officers your

support.

Hello Civitans I'm sure most of you are aware Ms. Joann Walls passed away Friday July 14th. Joann had been a leader in Civitan for as long as I have been in Civitan and will be greatly missed. Ms. Joann Walls was a lady working toward make this world a better place to live through Civitan and through her 16 years as Hanceville AL Town Council person where she lived. Joann always had Civitan and her local town at heart. When there was a Hanceville Pa-rade she would invite the Alabama District North Governor to ride in the parade. She was proud of both and wanted to support and did support anyway she could. I find it difficult to express my gratitude toward what Joann was to Civitan and I and many other thank her for efforts to make Civitan a better organization. (Joann we miss you already.) As the Alabama District North Governor-Elect I would like everyone be thinking of what we can do for Civitan in the years to come. We all will need to do a little more, work a little harder, walk the extra mile to get our Civitan District back to the 1600 members we once had. We can do it. We can't do it if we don't try. If each of us go out and ask 2 or 3 people to join and just one person joined our local Civitan Clubs we will reach our goal. Getting just one person to join does not sound like much but just think about it if everyone got One person we could double our Club membership locally as well as our District back to the strength it once was. Look around you for an area that needs help in their Community that only Civitan could provide. Civitan had a great International Convention in Birmingham, wish all of you could have been there. We were able to meet our new Executive Vice-President Mrs. Scarlet Thompson. She took over her new position on July 1st, 2017. I think she will be a great leader of Civitan. Our Alabama District North Convention is coming up in the near future August 18th and 19th at the Double Tree by Hilton in Decatur Al. by the River Hwys. US 31 and Alt 72, easy to get to and get out of. Come and be a part of electing new Area Directors for Area #1, #3, #5, #7, # 9 & #11 for years 2017-2018 through 2019-2020 and a New Governor-Elect for year 2018/2019. Get involved. Have a say at District level. Remember you vote counts. Support your Clubs, your Area Directors and your Governor. We will be stronger in numbers. Hope to see many of you at the Convention. Let's all get together and make the Ala-bama District North the best District in all Civitan. Paul Emerson Governor-elect 2927 Co. Hwy. 53 Hackleburg Al. 35564 paul586@centurytel.net H (205) 935-8306 C (205) 269-8071

Giving back is helping people less fortunate.

(People helping people is what we Civitan is all about)

Each member can help GROW

Civitan.

CIVITAN INTERNATIONAL

CONVENTION

ATTENDEES FROM AL NORTH

(Front Row) Paul Emerson, Nell

Emerson, Stanley Clark, Kathy

Clark, Randy Grice, Donna Grice,

Kayla Grice-Dobbins, Jerri Lawson,

Charles Lawson, Maria Young, Tere-

sa Glossner. (Back Row) Robert

McDowell, Elizabeth McDowell,

Willie Hamblen, Larry Cross, Betty

Hamblen, Janice Moebes, Nancy

Busby Solberg, Catherine Muir, Tina

Huang, Jayme Snyder, Nancy Hor-

ton, James Fields, Ed Higdon. Not

pictured but also attending: Julia

Floyd, Walt Floyd, Martha Camp,

Carolyn Stair, Tammy Baker, Brenda

Carter, Fay Gibson, Michael Ray,

Glenda Ray.

4

CIVITAN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION

June 24-27, 2017

This year’s Civitan International Convention celebrating Civitan’s 100 –

Year Anniversary was the best ever. More than 30 Civitans from Ala-

bama District North descended on Birmingham for the long weekend in

June and had a great time meeting new friends, renewing acquaintances

with old friends, learning more about our organization, meeting new

staff and visiting our own renovated headquarters and the Civitan Inter-

national Research Center.

Mr. Bob Jones from North Carolina was elected Civitan International

President-elect for 2017-2018. Amendments voted on: Amendment

#1—passed—changed from must be from different Regions to must be

from different Districts. Amendment #2—did not pass—(proposed

change) to the Immediate Past President shall preside at all meetings of

the Board of Directors..

SCOTTSBORO CIVITANS CELEBRATE THEIR

FIRST ANNIVERSARY

Scottsboro Civitans had a fab-

ulous 1st Anniversary meeting.

There were lots of people present

and a new member joined the club.

The slide show

of the year’s

events remind-

ed members

how much dif-

ference this

club is making

in the Scottsbo-

ro area.

Autumn

Ingram spoke

about her Searcy experience and it

was obvious that the trip to the Lead-

ership Forum changed her feelings

about leadership and reinforced her

patriotism.

The club members played

Bingo and won some nice prizes and

finished the evening with Anniversary

Cake.

TUSCUMBIA CIVITANS MAKE THEIR COMMUNITY

BETTER

Tuscumbia Civitan, Fernando Apari-cio and his brother Benito joined Civ-itan Cameron Kay in mulching the children’s playground at the United Cerebral Palsy of Northwest Ala-bama’s Care Center. The group picked up 75 bags of wood chip mulch and spread it around the play-ground to stop weed growth and help cushion falls.

Welcome to Alabama District North, Blount County Civitans!!! We are glad you are here. The Charter Date was June 13, 2017 with the Charter Celebration on July 25, 2017. Congratulations to the new club President, Richard Phillips and Club Build-ers, Donna Hill Grice, MST, Arab and Catherine Muir, MST, Somerville.

5

BLOUNT COUNTY CIVITAN CLUB CHARTER NUMBER 4179

6

Alabama District North Civitan Annual Convention

August 18-19, 2017

DoubleTree by Hilton

1101 6th Avenue NE, Decatur, AL 35601

256-355-3150

Group discount room rates:

Standard King - $89/night + tax; Standard 2 Double Room - $99/night + tax; Suites - $114/ night + tax

www.decaturriverfrontdoubletreecom

(Be sure to mention Civitan ALDN to receive the discount rate)

Discount Room Rate Cutoff is August 3, 2017

Convention Registration

Everyone attending must REGISTER! (Including Officers, Directors and chairpersons)

Send this form and a check made out to Alabama District North Civitan

To: Barbara Burhans, 2414 Henry Street, SW , Huntsville, AL 35801

barbaraburhans@comcast.net

District Officer (no check required)

Registration must be received by August 7, 2017!

Club ____________________________________________________________________________________

Name _______________________________________________________________ $75 ____ (incl meals)

Name _______________________________________________________________ $75 ____ (incl meals)

If you would like to reserve only certain meals, submit appropriate amount:

Name __________________________________________________________________________________

______Fri. night $30 _______Sat Lunch $20 _______Sat night $35

Total submitted $ _____Total number of Checks submitted ____

Be sure to bring your door prizes and items for Silent Auction!

Convention Memorial

The District Chaplain, James Fields will conduct a special memorial for all Civitans who have passed on since the last Convention in August, 2016. Please send names, their club name, and a few details about them to:

jamescfields@aol.com Please make the subject line Convention Memorial