Dear Membership;
 
        I hope your summer has been as wonderful as mine has been. First a trip of a life-time to Newfoundland where we enjoyed every minute, to my first Canadian ACWW conference in Halifax, which was exciting to say the least. I offer you this update as a keeping in touch more so than a formal report and I trust the others who were also in Halifax might have input as to their own experiences during the conference.
        I felt very pleased at the recognition SOS received at every opportunity and overall, we had a great showing. We picked up a new member. Anne Innes of London Area paid her dues while in Halifax so was able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the SOS contingency.
        We had five members there in all. Myself, membership coordinator Annemarie McDonald, Cindi Rabstein, Hania White and of course our newest member, Anne Innes.
        I think I speak for everyone there when I say we were disappointed that our World President, May Kidd was due to her husbands illness, not able to attend. She did however treat us to not only a "welcome" message complete with a musical intro, but a message delivered via internet half way around the world. This not only reassures us that we have moved soundly into the next century and all that that entails, but we have a leader who is able and willing to jump forward without hesitation. Her message was inspiring.
        Of primary interest is the "Women Walk The World" effort which is to take place April 29th. We are to begin at 10:00 local time - we are to be creative in our walk choice - be it for exercise, sponsorship or awareness. This is to take place in every country (over 70) and involve as many ACWW members as possible. This could have as many as 9 million women walking on the same day at the same time.... truly women walking the world! What a great idea and it aligns well with the heart-healthy actions being initiated in many countries as well.
        I do hope SOS can offer a unique and creative method for our own walk, either by location or result (sponsorship and awareness). And I would like to see a lot of input as to how we could make that happen. This brings me to my next point of interest. As the tree selling idea has not been as friendly as we had originally hoped for and an alternative to that was a suggestion for a bookmark as a handout in malls or what have you, I am going to suggest we combine these two efforts and get our finalized bookmark ahead of where we may have and offer it as our handout on route during our walk the world event.
                    As a side-note, the idea for a bookmark came from Shirley Thaiss, our projects coordinator. She is looking into pricing for us however, we will need a final logo before we actually go to print. AGAIN, we may need to e-vote in order to expedite the process. Thank you Shirley for the idea as well as your efforts thus far.
       
        I have spoken with a lay-out designer and should have some initial samples (minus logo of course) to send via email by late October.
 
        A lot of contacts were made while at conference and I was particularly pleased to have spent time with U.S.A. President, Beverly Erchart and as soon as I find her card.... I will be in touch with her again.
 
        As your president I took it upon myself to offer a small gift to our Canadian President, Margaret Yetman, World President May Kidd, and Canadian W.I. President, Ruth Blenkhorn. These gifts contained a small clay pot of forget-me-nots (only for those staying in Canada), a bottle of maple syrup each and photographs (or newspapers) pertinent to each one, taken at the ACWW conference in Hot Springs.
 
        The meals were good, the company was excellent and the business, speakers etc. was kept very interesting. I hope to have a more formal report ready to send via email to all members by early October. 
 
         Nova Scotia did a great job and I look forward to the next conference.
 
        I trust you will all enjoy what is left of our summer and once home - in early Sept. I will be in closer contact working closely with you all to fulfill our objectives. For now, keep safe and keep in touch.  ~ Debbie