LAMBDA SIGMA NEWS

The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International Texas State Organization Lambda Sigma Chapter Missouri City, Texas Volume 30, Number 2 September, 2011 Area IV, Number 282 President: Cathie Ritchie
critchie43@comcast.net

Editor: Barb Hansen

bjhansen@windstream.net

President's Message
Dear Lambda Sigma Sisters, Welcome back to another exciting school year! After sweating and being scorched all summer, the hint of cool weather greeted me this morning. I thought of you all on playground duty (elementary teachers) and know you are enjoying this reprieve from temperatures in the 100s. Our chapter has come up with some refreshing plans to keep us all involved and energetic. Our initiation meeting held at Christi Chrismans lovely home was well attended and enjoyed by all. We are thrilled to welcome six new members and two transfers. I know they each will contribute greatly to our chapter. Denise Loftin, Ceremonies Chair, introduced a new initiation ceremony provided by Alpha State. The members were pleased with the changes in this meaningful and cherished ceremony. In my last message I spoke about attending our State Convention in McAllen in June. I forgot to mention the convention Unifying Project (UP) which was Texas Treasure Boxes filled with toys and activities given to chronically ill children in hospitals in Area V (McAllen area). Each chapter brought at least one box to convention. Lambda Sigma brought 4 boxes filled with the educational and fun items you contributed. I am proud to say that Delta Kappa Gamma ladies are exceptionally generous. Over 1100 boxes were distributed to these ill children. We even had items left over to contribute to the Womens Shelter. I hope you will be able to attend our meeting at 4:30 on Wednesday, September 21, at Lexington Creek Elementary. Linda Russell has planned an informative and enjoyable program. Please bring school/art supplies for the Juvenile Detention Center. We would like to start collecting the items for our contribution to them. If you have not paid your dues, bring your checkbook. We have not raised our dues. Active members - $80. Reserve members - $30. We will also have a wonderful raffle that you will want to win. Fondly, Cathie Ritchie

The Delta Kappa Gamma Mission Statement The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International promotes professional and personal growth of women educators and excellence in education.

Birthday Girls!

Mary "Zooks" Campbell Joan Eubanks Martha Ewell Arlise Wilson Carolyn Hynes Paula Burns Amy Stoesser Peggy Wood Carla Meuth Vicki Delgado September Business Meeting Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 4:30 p.m. Lexington Creek Elementary Library
2335 Dulles Avenue, Missouri City 77459 Tel: 281-634-5007

9/1 9/10 9/14 9/23 10/3 10/8 10/9 10/11 10/12 10/14

Program: "Where Do You Fit in Delta Kappa Gamma's Picture?" Hostesses: Martha Ewell, Liz Ellis, Ann Thompson, Sheryl Lambert, Suzanne Neal Our Fundraiser Raffle will be be presented by the Professional Affairs, Personal Growth, Research, Finance and Inspiration Committees. Please pay $80.00 membership dues at this meeting.

Visit our chapter website

http://lambdasigma.weebly.com/
Or on Facebook search Lambda Sigma Chapter of DKG Society International

Two of our new members and their sponsors; Janienne Brown, Margaret Larson, Jennifer Johnson, and Debbie Reynolds

Supplies for Juvenile Detention Center Remember to bring school/art supplies for our Juvenile Detention Center project to our September meeting. We will take up your donation at each meeting. This facility looks forward to our contribution each year.

Mini Grants Is there a workshop, conference, training, or some sort of professional development you are dying to attend, but due to budget restraints you are unable to attend? Then apply for a mini-grant. The maximum amount available per member is $500. Applicants must have been a member of the Texas State Organization for a minimum of five years before June 1 of the application year. The application is available from Headquarters or on the Alpha State website www.alphastatetexas.org Applicants are encouraged to return all documentation in one envelope to State Scholarship Chairman Barbara Derrick, 4214 Bolton Ave, Santa Fe 77510. Mini-grants are given twice a year with an October 1 and March 1 deadline.

Dress for Success Lambda Sigma has a new project we are going to adopt this year. It is called Dress for Success. The mission of Dress for Success Houston is to promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. We will have a Suite Drive to collect businessappropriate attire for donation to Dress for Success. So please do not discard or donate your better clothes that you no longer wear. We want to help women in our area to be able to dress appropriately for their job interviews. Clothing accessories will also be appreciated. You will hear more about this at our meetings.

Everyone mark your calendar on December 8th (Thursday) for our Holiday Appetizer Party. Signup sheet for Party Committee, etc. will be at this meeting and then later e-mailed out for those not able to attend. Who would like to volunteer their home for our December Holiday Appetizer Party? Please let Linda Russell know by Oct. 1st at lrussel4@yahoo.com or call 281-499-5885 and leave a message.

donations, checking them to see if they need to be cleaned and/or repaired! This is our first time to have this and we are so happy to welcome them to our team. Thank you, My Cleaners! In the next couple of weeks, I will be sending a list of what help we need and we hope you will let us know what fits you best Lots of love and thanks to every single one of you, for the donations, for the hard work, the enthusiasm and dedication that you have always shown to our program To those of you who have had a rough year with health problems, and losses of dear ones, we love you and think of you. Big hug, Eva

Ladies, if you are involved in an activity, charity, or business that you'd like our members to be informed of, please send all information to Linda Russell at lrussel4@yahoo.com by October 1st. She'll write it all up on a flyer to be available at our October meeting for interested parties to take home

Cinderella/Cinderfella Project From Eva To all our CCP team. When you wonder where all the money, time and effort goes, look at Oumou. She has only been in the U.S. for a couple of years and yet, she is so eloquent. Van, her social worker, Oumou and I met last week, and we will continue to help her reach her goals. She is an exceptional student and wants to go to college, stay in touch and volunteer for us this coming year I have many more thank you notes to share with you and will do so in the next few weeks. Sorry about the delays - lots of computer problems and other priorities got in the way. But, this just came today and I wanted to make sure you got it right away!!!! Ready to get started again? We are still getting dresses and some of you have kindly volunteered to help. Many of the dress donations are now going to My Cleaners. They have 2 locations please visit our website for addresses and phone numbers. They are accepting the

Oumou at prom

Chapter News
Georgia Hicks has a new place to call "work home" Georgia Hicks 7th grade counselor Antoinette Reading Junior High/Lamar Consolidated ISD

gchicks@lcisd.org (yes, you are seeing the address correctly--g"chicks"--how about that? Shes still a "chick" at age 51!

Recovery at Mission Bend Elementary. She enjoys camping, reading, cruising, and motorcycle riding in her spare time.

Jennifer Johnson has been teaching at Lexington Creek Elementary for 10 years. She grew up in this area attending wonderful FBISD schools which in turn made me want to go into teaching. Jennifer went from high school to Blinn Junior College in Brenham graduating with her associates. She then transferred to Sam Houston and started studies toward her degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis on math and early childhood. Jennifer graduated from Sam in December of 2000. She is married to her high school sweetheart who also works in the district as a band director. They have two wonderful children, Nathan (8) and Andrew (5) and both are LCE lions. Jennifer feels honored to be apart of such a wonderful group of fellow women educators and looks forward to getting to know all of you.

Suzanne Neal is a native Texan from Arlington. She married her high school sweetheart at age 19 and has been married for 32 years. Vernon and Suzanne have 2 children that both graduated from college and no longer live at home. Suzanne has been an educator for 25 years. She received her Elementary Education degree from Texas Wesleyan College in Fort Worth. Her teaching career began in Grand Prairie in 1986. Vernon received a job transfer in 1992 and they moved to Richmond. Suzanne was honored at LCISD Frost Elementary Teacher of the Year in 2004. Suzanne currently teaches first grade and Reading

It took Janienne Brown awhile to figure out what she wanted to be when she grew up, but she finally found her dream job, and what she loves to do! Janienne started out working in psychiatric hospitals with behavior modification and supplementing with waitressing to pay the bills. She then went into teaching and got my teaching credentials from San Diego State University and worked for one month as a bilingual teacher. (She is not bilingual by the way!) She then moved to Texas where she worked for eight years as a third grade teacher in Dallas. Janienne was lucky to stay at home for five years and then went back to get her masters degree. She is now a librarian with Fort Bend and in love with her job. Janiennes work as a behavior modification counselor, teacher, and mom has contributed to who she is today and doing the job she believes she was born to do. Janienne says she can bore anyone silly talking about anything having to do with kids and books and technology. She finds herself going on and on, and realizing she may not be at all interesting, but passionate about what she does; just ask her family! Janiennes family is number one; with her husband of almost 25 years and her daughter Ayla, a senior this year, and her son a 7th grader. She would not have her journey any other way. Janienne has two notes by her computer with my kids professing their love for me, and of course her husband showing his love for her by putting up with her ranting, and emptying the dishwasher! She feels beyond blessed with the joy her family and job bring to her daily.

Janienne hopes to make a difference to her family and the kids she sees every day.

Business Opportunity On Saturday, September the 24th, at 11:00 am, Christie Chrisman will show a video of the Ignite Deregulated Energy Plan. Ignite is an opportunity for substantial income. The time could possibly change. She decided to be a part of this organization because she is a retired FBISD teacher and wanted extra income each month. The basic plan is to get a few people to use Stream as their electricity provider and teach others how to do the same thing. Stream has very competitive rates. Christie will be serving refreshments. If you're interested please email her and let her know you're coming. Christies address is 3511 Bassett Ct. in Sienna Plantation- Her cell # is 713-5608687. (Go hwy.6 south and turn at Sienna Blvd. Go several miles and turn right at Scanlan Trace, Go to the 3rd street and you'll see the sign Fairways at Waterslake. Take a right and then another right at Barrington Circle. Continue down to Bassett Ct. Her home is the red brick on the left.

We would like to recycle the 2010 Delta Kappa Gamma Meeting Date reminders that Debbie Reynolds made. They have a red bow and red rose on them and can be recycled to use again. Please bring your old reminder to the September meeting. The new 2011-2012 Meeting Date Reminders were passed out at the initiation meeting and will be available in September for those who were not able to join us for the first meeting.

The following pages contain the minutes to our August meeting.

Delta Kappa Gamma Lambda Sigma Chapter August 20, 2011, 1:00 p.m. At the home of Christi Chrisman President Cathie Ritchie called the meeting to order at 1:20.
I. II. III. IV. A. Initiation We would like to welcome our new members to Lambda Sigma. They are: Janienne Brown, Jennifer Johnson, Janet Lavong, Gwen Mead, Melissa Milligan, and Suzanne Neal. We would also like to welcome Charlotte Conner who has transferred to our chapter. Joan Eubanks read an inspirational story about being yourself and accepting who you are. The minutes of the last meeting were approved and accepted. Reports Ann Thompson (Finance Chair) delivered the Treasurers report and explained how our dues are allocated. The treasury currently has $1608.52. Dues are: $80 active, $30 reserve, $10 initiation i. An order form for Delta Kappa Gamma pins & badges will be sent to the new members. If you would like to place an order, please let Cathie Ritchie or Dale Araujo know. First-Vice-President, Linda Russell, highlighted the planned programs presented in newsletter. i. Votes were taken on the December holiday celebration. and the dates for the December get together and the Saturday, January 7 meeting. ii. Our holiday celebration will be an appetizer buffet on Thursday, December 8. If you would like to volunteer your home for the celebration, please contact Linda Russell. iii. The Saturday, January 7, program is health related. We will have a Zumba lesson followed by lunch at a restaurant. This would be a fun meeting to invite prospective new members. iv. Friday, March 2 is planned as Bunco Night. Second Vice-President, Sally Cain, reported there were 34 members and one guest in attendance. She also explained for those who have 100% attendance at all of the six business meetings will have their name put into a drawing. The winner will have her dues paid for the 2012-2013 year. Yearbook Chairman, Mary Crochet, asked for all members to review their information so it will be correct in the yearbook. Communications Chairman, Barb Hansen, asked for any news to go into our newsletter be sent to her at the beginning of each month. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the newsletter instead of receiving it electronically, please send Barb six self addressed, stamped envelopes. i. Our chapter now has a Facebook page. Please visit it. E. Jeannette Spain, Professional Affairs chair, read a Thank You letter from last years scholarship recipient. New Business Delta Kappa Gamma Song At our next meeting we will vote on how our chapter would like to sing the Delta Kappa Gamma song. Choices are: i. Entire song sung at each meeting ii. One verse sung at each meeting iii. Entire song sung at only Initiation and Spring Luncheon Raffles i. Five committees go together to provide raffles for meetings on September 21, October 18, and February 15 ii. The raffles are open to other members of your faculties. Carla Meuth discussed ways to raise money for our chapter. i. A vote was taken and passed on sewing Kindle/iPad/computer sleeves to be sold at various schools fundraisers. We will need volunteers for a Sewing committee. ii. The home in CO will also be auctioned off two times. Available times are Thanksgiving break, Spring break, some weeks in June, and some weeks in Aug. Look for the auction site soon. Projects our chapter are involved in: Cinderella/Cinderfella

B.

C. D. E.

V. A.

B.

C.

VI. A.

B. Juvenile Detention Center C. Dress for Success (new project) Discussion on this new project is scheduled for the Sept. meeting. VII. A Phone Tree is set. Officers contact committee chairs who contact members of their committee. VIII. Announcements A. A Thank you was extended to Linda Russell for earning our chapter the Annie Award for outstanding programs, Christi Chrisman for hosting the meeting at her home, Debbie Reynolds for making the meeting reminder cards, Margaret Larson, Mary Crochet, and Christi Chrisman for the refreshments, the Music committee for the entertaining song, and Denise Loftin and her committee for the initiation ceremony. B. Our next meeting is Wednesday, September 21, 4:30, at Lexington Creek Elem. C. All of the meeting dates were listed in the last newsletter. D. September raffle provided by: i. Professional Affairs ii. Personal Growth iii. Research iv. Finance v. Inspiration E. October raffle provided by: i. Music ii. Hospitality iii. Scholarship/World Fellowship iv. Nominations v. Constitution/Bylaws/Legislation F. February raffle provided by: i. Ceremonials ii. Yearbook iii. Communications iv. Achievement Awards v. Membership/Necrology IX. The Music committee presented a humorous song accompanied by pots, spoons, washboards, and other kitchen utensils about the ending of summer and the beginning of school. X. The meeting was closed with the singing of the Delta Kappa Gamma Song. Minutes submitted by Lana Petrizzo, Recording Secretary.