MEMBERS OF THE DAUGHTERS of the American Revolution, Aleece McBay, left, Jonathan Hardin Chapter Regent and Marcy Carter-Lovick, right, State Organizing Secretary.
Jonathan Hardin Chapter Regent Aleece McBay opened the 10:30 a.m., November 9, 2016 meeting at the Mexia Gibbs Memorial Library and welcomed guests and new members followed by the DAR Ritual. Chapter members extended a special welcome to Judy Taylor, recently retired from the U.S. Navy, attending her first DAR meeting as the Chapter’s own veteran. She became a member of the chapter in May 2014 while stationed at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and recently left her final post in Guantanamo Bay to retire to Limestone County.
Chapter members were reminded by DAR Service to Veterans Chairman JoAnn Slauson that the December 7th meeting will be the completion of the chapter project to provide gift bags to almost 70 veterans in seven Freestone and Limestone nursing homes for the holiday season. After completing the gift bags and dividing for delivery by chapter members, there will be a potluck holiday luncheon at the library meeting room.
On this 75th anniversary of the Attack on Pearl Harbor, all veterans are invited to share lunch with Daughters of the chapter. If, as a veteran, you would like to attend or you know of a veteran to whom an invitation may be extended, please contact JoAnn Slauson at 254.385.6214 or Kathleen McKee at 903-389-3150 by December 1st.
Service to America Chairman Kathleen McKee urged the membership to enter individual volunteer service hours on the DAR website. NSDAR is not purely a lineage society but a society of service to the country’s communities. Over the 3-year period 2013-16, Daughters reached 14.5 million service hours in their local communities. The Jonathan Hardin Chapter contributed 5,000 hours toward that total.
The goal is to reach 19 million by 2019. This goal has been set to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Congressional approval of the 19th Amendment, giving women who are U.S. citizens the right to vote. Work began in 1878 and in 1919, 41 years later, women won the right to vote.
Following reports from chapter officers and other committees, Mrs. McBay welcomed Marcy Carter-Lovick, Organizing Secretary for the Texas Society, Daughters of the American Revolution as the program speaker. Mrs. Carter-Lovick is a member of the Elizabeth Crockett Chapter, NSDAR, in Granbury, TX, whose chapter is named after the wife of Davey Crockett.
Regarding new pathways for NSDAR, Mrs. Carter-Lovick reported on a new committee established to move forward in service to America. The Community Classroom Committee seeks to encourage Daughters to volunteer to provide additional support to teachers and children in classrooms and schools in their own communities throughout the nation.
Education makes the difference for all children and Daughters can provide a positive force for children who have difficult circumstances at home. Chapters can adopt a classroom and Mrs. Carter-Lovick discussed ideas for how to get started as well as specific ways a classroom volunteer can help.
Additionally, two new programs are being introduced to offer training opportunities for new members and budding DAR leaders—the New Members Course and the New Horizons Course. Each course has its own NSDAR Core Curriculum and is to be led and administered by a State Coordinator. Interested Daughters should contact the chapter regent or state Membership Chair.
Anyone interested in becoming a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution may contact the National Society at www.dar.org or the local Chapter Regent Aleece McBay, 254.729.5177 or Chapter Registrar Billie Bournias, 903-389-3592 for more information. Prospective members must be able to prove direct lineage to a Revolutionary War Patriot.
