President’s Corner – January 2010:
Happy New Year! The Club will have many challenges facing
us this year. I asked David Lascherfor one more opportunity to write the
President’s Corner message. This will give me the opportunity to look back at
the successes in 2009.
The 2009 projects include Hug-a-Bears; Talking Books;
Save the Family; St. Charles School; Grand Canyon Games; Scholarship Awards;
supporting the visually challenged; Nursing home support; and Military support. We also support projects
that are initiated by the Chapter. It’s an impressive list of projects and many
hours were given by the Club members to work in each of the projects.
The largest project that the Club undertakes is
Hug-a-Bears with outstanding dedication and coordination by Roberta Behrens and
Joan Anciaux. I am impressed with the monthly workshops with 20 – 30 members
participating and enjoying the social interaction, food, coffee and occasional
potlucks. With the workshop and many dedicated home workers, the project
provides monthly deliveries of 230 bears to 5 hospitals. The bears provide much
comfort and support to many hospitalized children.
Each Christmas, the Papago Club sponsors Christmas gifts
for Save the Family Foundation. The event is coordinated by David and Donna
Lascher who see that every child will have a gift and a Christmas experience.
In November 319 gifts were purchased through Club member gifts and special
donations. With the large number of children this year, this project seemed
impossible from both an ability to raise the money for the gifts or energy to
provide the experience for the children. The members were very generous, buying
gifts, contributing needed money and wrapping presents. In the last few days of
buying gifts and still short money, a special angel came to our aid. The angel
was one of our honorary members, Stan Janesky, who sent a check for $1500! All
gifts were wrapped and ready for the Christmas event at the Mesa Convention
Center on December 11. Dave Lascher (Santa), Donna Lascher (Mrs. Claus) and
Kyle Kort (elf – grandson of Roberta Behrens) provided the Christmas experience with gift distribution,
candy and many hugs. Save the Family was founded in 1988 in response to the
need for a comprehensive community service dedicated to assisting homeless
families with children transition to self-sufficiency.
Many of our members participated in the Letter Buddy
Program with St. Charles School culminating with travel to San Carlos to meet
with our assigned student in May. This is a wonderful program of support for
4th grade students to improve their writing skills, learn cursive writing and
associate with adults who have many experiences to share. On this visit, the
Club donated $500 to the support of the school. Cora McKiernan coordinates this
project with unbelievable commitment and energy. I feel that this project makes
such an important difference in the lives and development of children. We were
told that the State test scores for St. Charles have improved with the letter
buddy project and Cora’s continued support. We can be very proud of Cora and
all who have helped with this project.
In addition to the Letter Buddy Program, Cora works tirelessly
recruiting members for support of the Grand Canyon State Games. Many volunteers are needed to assist
mailings; read and evaluate children’s essays; and help with other
coordination. The Grand Canyon State Games provides a year-round and statewide
showcase for the talents and aspirations of our amateur athletes, regardless of
age or ability, and an opportunity to celebrate and share many of the great
attributes of our state.
Peter Van Horn coordinated the Club support of VRATE
(Vision Rehabilitation and Technology Expo). This event provides workshops and
new technologies to the visually challenged. We were well represented helping
participants enroll, find conference rooms and, in general, coordinate whatever
was to be done. The management and organizers stated to me that the event could
not have happened without Papago support! They were also very complimentary of
the work done by David Clark who coordinates talking books. Talking books
provides a much needed service to the visually challenged and David has
coordinated this project for many years.
In 2009, we selected Victory Place as the location to
focus efforts to help homeless veterans. Victory Place has been recognized as
one of the outstanding model Homeless Veterans Reintegration Programs in the
country by the U.S. Department of Labor. Coordinator, Ray Youngberg, has done
an excellent job of encouraging Club participation. Papago donates food,
furniture and many items to help the veteran’s transition to housing and jobs.
Ray delivers the needed items and works with the management of Victory Place to
identify needs.
This is just a few of the accomplishments for 2009. These
are the projects that come to my mind when I identify the big projects for the
year. We have other projects that I have not recognized in this writing. I do
apologize to members that I have missed.
I would be remiss if I failed to mention two people who
will not continue on the Papago Board in 2010. Cora McKiernan has worked
diligently in many projects and provided leadership and support to the Club.
Cora has served on the board longer than I have been a member of Papago (18
years). Mary Jane Cullumber served capably as the Club’s newsletter editor for
the past five years. The Club would not have continued without MJ’s ability to
employ editing, computer skills and artistic ability, providing the newsletter
information to you. Please thank these people, they have given much to the
Club!
The Board and all
the Club members have been wonderful support to me. I appreciate your
willingness to volunteer to do jobs that must be done to keep the Club viable.
Please continue your strong support for David Lascher as he takes the
leadership position in 2010.
Yours in Pioneering,
Dave Anciaux
Dave Anciaux
Papago Club
480-895-9125
