A Gathering of Elves

For a third year Altrusa of Carroll County assisted The Believe in Books Foundation in their efforts to raise funds to support literacy initiatives.  The Journey to the North Pole is a major fundraiser for this organization and we had a group of  9 members and friends act as Elves greeting children and families riding the train to the North Pole.  What a fun way to support literacy and join in the Magic of Christmas!

Fall Workshop

On November 5th the Altrusa Club of Greater Hartford hosted the 2016 District One Workshop.  Held at Dave & Busters, 66 Altrusans attended the workshop which focused on Inclusion & Embracing Change.  Some of the points emphasized by the speakers were:

• Work to make all, especially guests and millennials, feel included
• Use mentors
• Communicate about all events
• Have regular orientations
• Combine committee meetings

As with all Altrusa events, the consideration, caring and enthusiasm of the members energized all of us.

Lisa, Kathy S. and Kathy M. enjoying the Hartford Workshop.

Former Governors Susannah Leslie of Plymouth and Mary Faries of Bermuda enjoying an ice cream sundae.

Flatbread Company Fundraiser

Many thanks to all those who brought friends and family to our Flatbread's Fundraiser last night.  There was lots of laughter as many delicious pizzas were sold and consumed as we raised money for our literacy projects.  Thanks to Nancy, our raffle ticket seller extraordinaire, we raised an additional $214 in raffle sales and donations.  And thank you, Gayle, for donating your winnings to our Club!

Helping Hands for Halloween Town

It was a dark and stormy night..........but a group of us braved the elements and served drinks at the Halloween Town event at King Pine in Madison.  Many happy families came as well and toured the "haunted" cabins, played games and enjoyed the rides provided, all for donations to help The Laura Foundation for Autism and Epilepsy.  We were happy to help this worthwhile organization, and had fun dressing up in costume!

Hildi Halloween, Little Red Riding Hood, Minion, Cat in the Hat, Bird Watcher, Diane the Glamorous 

Diane the Glamorous!

Best Books for the Holidays, presented by Laura Cummings

At our Monday night meeting, our group enjoyed a presentation of "Best Books for the Holidays and Beyond" by Laura Cummings of White Birch Books in North Conway, giving us lots of great ideas for new books for ourselves and others.  After Laura's presentation we had a stampede to the table covered with new galley copies of some of the new books brought to share.  Thank you Laura!

Laura Cummings of White Birch Books and Kathy Somerville

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

We did it!  We put together a great team and raised money for American Cancer Society research at the annual Making Strides event in North Conway. There were a total of 32 teams participating and so far there is a grand total of $75,768 donated.  Pat Kehoe organized our group and we had 9 members walking, others at the registration table, and more donating - raising a total of $1,530 by the event and more donations are still coming.  Thank you to all who participated in this heart-felt event!

Altrusa of Carroll County Team

Registration crew

Community Service: 68 Hours of Hunger

Today a team of Altrusans helped pack food bags to be distributed to school children for 68-hours of Hunger.  With 6 of us working together we quickly got more than 100 bags filled for the area schools.

Art in the Park Display

Marsha Brown, Linda Armstrong, Kathy Laracy and Kathy Miller sharing information about our Club.

On August 6th, Altrusa of Carroll County joined other non-profits under the tent at Schouler Park in North Conway promoting our club and our service projects.  We gave away books to children, offered cookies for a donation and our wonderful members shared details of the work done by our club.  Thank you to all those who came out on a very warm day to share our stories.

Sip n'Paint Fun

Many thanks to our Altrusan Artist Gayle Kelley for hosting a Sip n'Paint class/party at her home.  We had 12 members arrive ready to learn, color, sip and munch.  Once we got into our art, trying different colors and mediums, we didn't want to stop.  Let's do this again!!

Fun at Wells Beach!

Over the weekend of July 24-25 ten of our members joined Nancy, Lorraine and Barbara at their RV Park across from Wells Beach.  What a great time we had, sitting by the pool, walking the beach and going out to dinner.  What wonderful memories we made and shared!

Helping Starting Point

  This morning 6 of our members arrived at the Starting Point Women's Shelter with brooms and dustpans ready to clean and organize.  Another donor provided a dumpster and in 2 hours, working with other volunteers, the Shelter manager and residents, we cleaned out, swept, sorted and organized, filling up the dumpster in that short time.  Everyone at the Shelter was very appreciative and provided snacks and lunch for us.  Job well done!

Ruth, Pat, April, Cindy, Sue, Lisa and Kathy sorted, cleaned and swept.

Lisa cleaning out storage units.

April, Shelter manager, directed and hauled out items to the dumpster.

Annual Dinner at Remick Farm

On Monday evening we met at the Remick Country Museum and Farm for a wonderful dinner in their Hearth Room.  The casual dinner of fresh and local foods was a great way to end the busy Altrusa season  A special guest was Adrienne Stevens of the Laconia Club who had provided so much help in the planning of our District One Spring Conference.  We concluded our evening with an auction of 2 of the cement plants made for the Plant Sale - a fun way to raise $100 for the Club!

Planters auctioned at the end of dinner.

Summer Fun Plans

Altrusa of Carroll County has some fun events planned for the summer.  Many thanks to Ruth and the Membership Committee for organizing these play dates.  Please contact Ruth for more details or
to confirm your attendance.

Sip n' Paint:  July 18th at Gayle's home at 5:30
Wells Beach:  July 24, 25, and 26
Barnstormers Play "A Murder is Announced":   Tuesday August 16th 7:30 pm
Distillery tasting before the play: Tuesday August 16th 6:00 pm ($15)

June 4th, Plant and Booksale Fundraiser at Tamworth Library

Be sure to save the date Saturday June 4th (set up on June 3rd) and come to our annual Plant and Book Sale at the Cook Memorial Library in Tamworth.  There is a calendar raffle with great prizes, beautiful perennial plants, special hand-crafted plant pots and lots of books all for sale a great prices with all proceeds being shared by the Library and Altrusa of Carroll County.  Many thanks to Diane Robinson for coordinating the event and teaching us how to make these cool plant pots.

Gibson Senior Center Support

Four of our Altrusa ladies helped at the Gibson Senior Center by volunteering to serve the volunteers.  Once a year the Gibson Center provides a special lunch to their volunteers who drive the Meals On Wheels deliveries and help seniors in many different ways.  This year Kathy, Ruth, Lisa and Cheryl poured drinks, served dinners and desserts and enjoyed helping those who spend hours assisting our senior citizens.

New Officers and Awards

Our May meeting was fun with new officers for Altrusa of Carroll County being installed and a celebration for those members who have participated for 5 and for 10 years.  Past Governor Ann Marie Snyer had assisted Cathy Baybutt in founding the Club in 2006 and together they awarded special 5 and 10 year pins to members.

Ann Marie Snyer awards Cathy her 10-year pin.

Charter members of Altrusa of Carroll County who each received a 10-year pin

Cathy awarded 5-year pins to Lisa and Evelyn.

Altrusa supports the HFH Women's Build

On Saturday, May 7th many members of our Club volunteered to help the local Habitat for Humanity with the annual Women's Build.  As in past years, we provided coffee, breakfast items and pizza and sandwiches for lunch, with the help of the Community Market in Madison.  The new homeowner and building crew were very appreciative of our contributions and enjoyed their lunch.  This year we also had the children from Kids Who Care helping to serve and picking up wood scraps.

Altrusa District One Conference

What a great time we had at our District One Spring Conference on April 29 & 30!  Our 3 New Hampshire Clubs served as hosts for the 60th Conference held at the White Mountain Hotel in North Conway.  Members helped by creating centerpieces, favors and welcome bags for the 113 attendees and helped to facilitate the presentations.  Our International President, Sylvia Silverman of Maryland joined us to share information about all the work Altrusa International is doing to streamline communication, the service projects done at the International level and Club 21.  Workshops were offered on Grant Writing and managing an Effective Meeting.  It was great getting to know some of our other Altrusa sisters from distant clubs.  Attendees had some free time to shop, hike and travel to the historic Mt. Washington Hotel for tea, guided by some of our own members.  Saturday night we laughed for over an hour as we were entertained by Rebecca Rule, noted New Hampshire storyteller.  We all agreed that we are looking forward to next year's Conference hosted by the Northeast Connecticut Club and to be held in Mystic, CT.

Judy Yeary, Flag bearer

Welcome sign created by Melinda Fallen.

A small group took a hike around Echo Lake.

John and Rebecca Rule, storyteller and entertainer for the evening.

Members of Altrusa of Carroll County gathered at the White Mountain Hotel.

Altrusa helps with Read Across America Week

Members of Altrusa of Carroll County worked with teachers and students at Madison Elementary School to help celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday and Read Across America Week.  Our members baked more than 100 cupcakes to be decorated by the children as part of the birthday celebration. Dorothy reported that she had lots of fun reading to the students.  Although several members had planned to read to the children, the snow and delayed opening of school shortened the story time. 

Pond Hockey Fund Raiser for the Laura Foundation

On Saturday, January 30th and Sunday, January 31st, The Laura Foundation for Autism and Epilepsy hosted a pond hockey competition on Purity Lake by the King Pine Ski Area.  The competition was a fund raiser to support the work by The Laura Foundation for the construction of an adaptive sports and recreation center in East Madison. The event raised more than $20,000 for the Laura Foundation with 24 teams with 150 players competing.  Altrusa of Carroll County was asked if we would help with the fund raiser by serving food to the hungry hockey players and their families.  We had members sign up for the 2-hour shifts for both days, selling soup and chili and mac & cheese and snacks to help fund the construction of the center.