All the Rage

Our meeting was a great one. Mary opened the meeting and proceeded to conduct the business portion. A reminders about our next meeting was given: our next meeting has been moved to February 14, St. Valentine's Day. This will be our "Red, White and Blue Luncheon. The cost will remain the same, $8.50 and will be catered by West Ashley High School's culinary class. The members present were asked to remember Shirley B. as she recovers from surgery, Theresa J.'s daughter as she is now in remission and keep Madeline V. in our prayers as she mourns the loss of her mother.
Joan Read the minutes from our November meeting and they were approved. Mary gave the treasurer's report for Judy. Maleeta told us that we now have 62 members with 28 present today. (Maybe the change of meeting place kept some people from attending.) Judy reminded us of our scholarship fund.Then Maleeta drew names for the door prizes and I did not win one this time, drat! Maybe next time?

 Our fashion show was next. I have included some pictures for you to enjoy. All the clothes were provided by Joan's daughter who is the owner of "Ellington" at 24 State Street.

Another Year, A New Beginning

It is hard to think that a new year is beginning. I am still trying to cope with 2016, aren't you?
This new year is coming like a freight train and as is said time and tide waits for no man or woman! But we will all "adjust and monitor" as we teachers know how to do. January 17, 2017 is proving to be an exciting meeting for the CCREA. We will be regaled with a fashion show thanks to Joan and her daughter. Don't forget that our meeting place has changed. We will be at the North Charleston Methodist church which is almost on the corner of Spruill and Montague, of course, in North Charleston. It is directly across the railroad tracks from the parking lot at North Charleston High School.  Or it is across from the restaurant Sesame's. This will be a great meeting. I am sure Team 3 (?) will provide wonderful teats for our lunch. I may not be there as I will be coming home from North Carolina. But I hope to see you there.
Happy New year!

November Meeting

I wish that more of our members had attended to hear our superintendent. She was a refreshing breath of air. She spoke about her background and then looked to the future to set goals: improve learning, be financially sound, and boost teacher morale. There were lots of concepts with each of the goals. I did not realize what a low percentage of our students were not ready to attend post high school centers of learning. She gave alarming statistics that only 10% of our graduates were ready to attend Trident Tech. 90% have to take remedial classes which the students pay for but get no credit. Such a sad commentary on our school systems. I think the thing that impressed me most was that Dr. Postelwait went around to each table and had each member present introduce herself and the school each had retired from.
The food prepared by the team was delicious. They could fix my lunch anytime. Door prizes were awarded. I forgot my camera but I did take a few with my phone which are usually not too clear but I shall see and I can add one or two later.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

November Meeting

I hope all of you are safe and well and dry. We are OK here...just a whole bunch of limbs down. But we are already cleaned up and awaiting pickup. Our next meeting should prove to be an interesting one. Our new super of schools will be here to entertain us. I wonder what she will tell us. Remember Team 2 will be providing the refreshments. Please remember to get to the hall early as we have to help set up. And then please stay after so we can get cleaned up. We may not be in the same place as before. I guess we will find out when we get there.

Our First Meeting

What a great meeting it must have been. I am sorry I missed this first one. Here are the notes sent to me by Sandy. Thanks, Sandy.
Association Business:
 We have 48 paid members with 30 in attendance. That is pretty good. Maleeta, our membership chair, provided floral arrangement for each table which were used as door prizes. Judy Jordan won the $50 gas card. Congrats!





Several of our members need our thoughts and prayers: Rebecca Jones has had gall bladder surgery. Theresa Johnson's daughter is in Atlanta fighting leukemia. Shirley Bledsoe is facing more surgeries. Paige Rumph fell and broke her pelvis. Ouch!! So drop them a card or a little note and add them to your prayers.
Volunteers are needed at Roper Hospital and Hospice of Charleston. Can we each set aside a little time to help out?
The treasurer gave a report and we look to be in fairly good shape. But we need more donations for a scholarship fund.

We now have teams instead of clusters. Oh well...different name but similar duties. Each new team will provide refreshments for one meeting. Each team will also be asked to show up a little early to help set up and stay after to clean up. Here is the schedule of dates and teams:

Team 1: September 20...done!
Team 2: November 17
Team 3: January 17
Team 4: April 18
Sounds like a plan to me.

Community events:
1.  Grace United Methodist Church is sponsoring a Senior Help Day in West Ashley on October 25 from 9:30 to 1:30. Lunch is included. Sounds like this will be interesting.
2. The North Charleston Methodist Church is holding their Fall Bazaar on November 11 and 12.  There will be loads of fun.

At the conclusion of the business part our guest speaker was introduced. Margie Willis Clary spoke to the members about her career of writing and storytelling.  She began constructing poems when she was in the third grade. This was a valentine to a boy she knew. She continued to write poems and later in life began writing stories. She taught first grade for 19 years. I imagine she had quite a few good stories from her students. She has served as an adjunct prof at the Citadel and CSU and later served as an "Artist in Residence" at different schools. Mrs. Clary has written several books with settings in the lowcountry: Sweet, Sweet Basket, Searching for Lights, and The Gullah Alphabet. She is currently working on her first novel set during the Civil War on a plantation on Johns' Island which will revolve around a coming home story following the war. Should be interesting.

Hope to see you all at our November meeting when Dr. Postelwait, CCSD super, will be our guest.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016, First Meeting

Our first meeting will take place on Tuesday, September 20. Our business meeting will begin at 11:00.The guest speaker is Margie Willis Clary. Mrs. Clary is a retired educator, author and Storyteller. We will partake of  a wonderful luncheon provided by Team 1. Yes, I said Team 1. Clusters are no longer part of our plan. So you get to select which team you want to join.  A gas card will be awarded among other door prizes. So be sure to get you membership forms into Judy quickly.
The programs for this year look quite interesting.  I mean we have the mayor of Charleston and the Super of CCSD schools. Should be exciting and very informative. Thanks Maleeta for a great program brochure!I am attaching a copy of the brochure.

Brochure Page 1

Brochure Page 2

Almost September

I hope you all are doing well in these "dog days of summer." It sure has been a sweltering one. But it is a tad cooler today. We like to be able to sit on our back screened porch and sip coffee and listen to the never-ending drone of traffic down Savannah Highway. I cannot tell you what our programs will be this year. The flyer has not been finalized. Hopefully it will be out soon. I am looking forward to our meetings this year. See you soon in September.