Winter Meeting Update

 At our last meeting we discussed changing the time and day of our meetings. Winter is here and since many of our members travel a distance to attend our meeting it was decided to change to a noontime meeting. We have been meeting on Tuesdays but since the library has a minor conflict at noon, it was decided to meet the first Monday of the month for our January, February and March meetings We will assess at the March meeting whether or not to make this a permanent time change.

 January 3, February7, March 7. The Board will provide a pizza lunch for the January meeting.

 

Santa's Cookie Elves sharing their goodies

 Merry Merry to one and all. It is wonderful to be able to share our talents with our communities and and honor to be able to serve them in a variety of ways. 

Santa's cookie elves hard at work creating platters of home baked treats. Although tempting, not a cookie was taken by the elves. Platters were delivered to 

Conway Police Department, Conway Vet, Starting Point, White Mountain Community Health Center, Gibson Center, Mineral Springs, Merriman House, North Conway Fire Department, The Waystation, Adult Day Center, Ossipee nursing home and the Madison library. Everyone was so appreciative of our efforts.

 

Fall workshop focus on Membership

Members Diane, Nancy, Barb, Pat, Cathy and Ruth attended the District One Fall workshop to have fun and learn more about how to retain and gain new members. Our group had some terrific ideas such as new member gathering, fun activities during the summer  and inviting friends to help us in our volunteer events.

                               Members of Carroll County, Laconia and Meredith clubs invite their Altrusa sisters to come to April Conference which will be held in North Conway. Their jingle asking Altrusa to come help search for Bruce the moose who is on the loose was well received.

Take Note: Lot's of Ways to get involved.

 Fall is off to a quick start for our Altrusa group. Our last meeting, on October 5, was held at the Madison Public Library and it was terrific to see everyone in person. It was a brown bag affair although the Membership Committee brought drinks and desserts. At our November meeting we will have Crystal Sawyer as our guest speaker. Crystal is the director of Carroll Academy/Carroll Country Adult Ed.

Here are some dates to note:

                        October 28- 68 Hours of Hunger 10 AM Kennett Middle School

                        November 2 at 6 PM. Brown Bag with the board providing dessert and drinks.

                        November 5-6 District Workshop in Portland- the focus is on Membership 

                        Monday, November 22 - 68 hour of hunger packing ( this is due to Thanksgiving) 

Be on the lookout for DCYF Christmas party Saturday, December 11 at Madison Elementary School noon- 4. We will need help in a variety of ways.

 

Stuff it !! Help us support the End 68 Hours of Hunger program.

 Well, the author does not mean this in any derogatory way but literally can you help stuff it. The "it" are really about 100-120 bags for the End 68 hours of Hunger program that we, as a club, offer to fill each month.  We  meet the last Thursday of each month at 10:00am at Kennett Middle school to fill bags, organize  and restock food items. The bags are distributed to preschool and elementary children who are considered food insecure. Did you know that 1 in 5 children are food insecure; they do not have enough food on a regular basis, sometimes missing entire meals. If you want to help please contact Pat Kehoe, our program co-ordinator.

Altrusa sisters serving our community

 Summertime brought not only the fun events of Pirate's Cove Mini Golf but serving the local foster families with a summer fun day at Tin Mountain. In true Altrusan spirit, our sisters set up games, tables for pizza, provided a multitude of fun activities and made this a really fun time for local families to gather and socialize. 

Thank YouTrail's End for the awesome ice cream desserts!

Pat M, Pat K, Nancy S, Cathy B and Jan E prep art activity

Summer Fun Events

 We had fun golfing at Pirate's Cove, there were even a couple of holes in one! Check out what's in store for the next couple of months! Thanks to Kathy Somerville who captured our great putting techniques and Cathy Babutt who put together the calendar of events you see below.  There are opportunities for socializing as well as volunteer events at 68 Hours of Hunger and the DCYF summerfest at Tin Mountain.

                            

 

 

 

Summer Calendar of Events 2021

 Spending time together with fun activities increases our bonds and lets us enjoy each others company plus is a wonderful way to meet potential new members. Guests are always welcome!!

July Activities

Walk and Ice cream:
• July14th(Wed)with rain date July15th

Meet at the Pine Barrens parking lot Rte 41 at 2 PM (Dog friendly and handicap accessible). After the walk we’ll stop at Eldridge Family Sugar House & Ice Cream Shop at 183 Plains Road, Tamworth - Cathy Sholtanis contact

• End68hrsofHunger
• July 22nd (Thur) - Pack End 68hrs of Hunger - 10 AM - Kennett Middle School - Pat Kehoe contact

• Mini-Golf
• July22nd(Thur)-MiniGolf-PiratesCove-NorthConway. NOON Ice cream at Trails End

Diane Robinson contact

August Activities

Steel Magnolias - Play 

August5th-M&Dproductions-Nightout-Theater-PurchaseYOUROWNticketsonlineandjoinother

members for this local production. Diane Robinson contact

Foster Family Outing
  August 16th (Monday) (rain date August 23rd) Summer outing with Foster Families - location Tin Mountain -

(10:30 to 2:30) Sign up sheets have been sent to membership and many volunteers have signed up

Beth Wheatley Dyson contact

Tamworth Farmers Market - Booth
August21(Saturday)-TamworthFarmersMarketbooth-K.A.BrettSchool,Tamworth-8:30to12:30

Sale of member made goods. Sign ups will be sent around to members Nancy Spaulding - contact

• End 68hrs of Hunger
August 26th (Thursday) -Pack End 68hrs of Hunger - 10AM - Kennett Middle School - Pat Kehoe contact

SOS - Support Our Soldiers - Thank you Cards for Soldiers

• Write thank you cards for soldiers-Mailing date end of August-contact-CathyBaybutt

For More information send emails to altrusacarrollcounty@gmail.com Check for Blog updates. carrollcountyaltrusa.blogspot.com Facebook page - Altrusa International of Carroll County NH

Make Way for Readers Kicks Off

 Our newest literacy program make Way for Readers kicked off a couple of weeks ago with members delivering to local preschool programs over 500 bags  and a classroom book Tiny T .Rex and The Impossible Hug. The bags for preschoolers included a Dr. Seuss magnet, information about the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten Program, a list of local libraries and a tally sheet to get started reading. In addition, grants of $200 were given to local libraries to support their 1000 Books Before Kindergarten Program.  

Exciting June 1st meeting in person!

 Cathy Baybutt hosted our year-end celebration and meeting in her back yard (such beautiful gardens!) and 16 of our members were all vaccinated and able to attend in person.  We enjoyed a delicious cake, brought by Jan Estes, cookies, fruit, iced tea and lemonade while we chatted and shared stories.  Our charter members received a 15-year award pin and it was announced that our Club received a Distinguished Club Award from International for our enthusiasm and hard work.

Our "Make Way for Readers" new literacy program and grant monies have been warmly received by the local libraries and daycare centers.  And plans are in the works for a Foster Family Celebration coordinated with DCYF for August 16th aat Tin Mountain Conservation Center in Albany.  An outdoor day of games, crafts and pizza has been planned, with a special visit by the Trails End Ice Cream Truck!

This Saturday, June 5th, our Altrusa of Carroll County will be running a table at the Tamworth Farmer's Market and hosting a Plant Sale/Calendar Raffle in conjunction with the Cook Memorial Library as a fundraiser.  This event will be held at the Brett School in Tamworth from 9 am to 1 pm - stop by and check it out!

Recipients of the 15-year membership award

Membership Committee installing the new Board and officers.

Members of Altrusa of Carroll County celebrating a return to in-person meetings.

Recent Altrusa of Carroll County Activities

 

Three local community organizations worked together to obtain grants, written by Cathy Baybutt, for the Cook Memorial Library in Tamworth.  The Tamworth foundation granted $1,625.00 and Altrusa provided $625.00 to the Friends of the Cook Memorial Library to support local literacy programs.

Gail Marrone of the Tamworth Foundation, Cathy Baybutt of Altrusa, Jan Hamel of Friends of Cook  Memorial Library, and Annie Burke of Friends of Cook Memorial Library

Plant Sale and Calendar Raffle Preparations

 We are excited to go forward with our Plant Sale Raffle fundraiser in cooperation with the Friends of Cook Memorial Library in Tamworth on June 5, 2021 at the K. A. Brett School where there is room for social distancing.  We will be looking for perennial plants from your garden or a friend's garden that you can split and donate.  Cathy Baybutt and Diane Robinson from Altrusa met with Jan Hamel, Gail Marrone and Annie Burke of the Friends of Cook Memorial Library to plan our fundraising Plant and Book Sale.  The Calendar Raffle has also received many donations of beautiful items which will be raffled each day during the month of June.  Buy your raffle tickets now!

Conference 2021!

  🏆   Congratulations to Linda Ring and her team for presenting a remarkable and enjoyable District One Conference on Friday evening, April 23 and part of Saturday, April 24!  A Conference using Zoom to connect was new to all of us - and it worked well!  There were about 82 attendees at each session to hear and share new ideas and service projects.  The International Representative was Jenette Borrell, connecting from New Zealand and sharing an inspirational speech, and the Bermuda Club was also in attendance with one of their members connecting from England (it was after midnight there!)  Many of our friends from Quebec also joined us, and they appreciated the French language subtitles that Zoom can provide.

    A big shout out of Congratulations to our own Cathy Baybutt, recipient of the Governor's Award!  In addition, Altrusa of Carroll County received Third Place for the largest number of new members installed during the past year.  Linda Ring was recipient of the Gabrielle Crepeau Leadership Award for her work under the extra challenges presented by the Covid pandemic.

Make Way for Readers! Prep and program

We are still waiting to hear if we received the grant... but in the meantime we are preparing for our new program " Make Way for Readers".  Launching the program the first week in May, our members are contacting schools and daycare centers to provide book bags and books to encourage the "1000 books before Kindergarten".  A group met on April 21st to pack the bags and prepare for the next step.

Packing the bags to be delivered next week is Nancy Spaulding, Sue Battles, Pay McCoy, Cathy Sholtanis, Lisa Maggiolo.

Items included in the Dr. Seuss bags are a magnetic book mark, introduction letter, list of participating libraries and the 1000 Books tally sheet.

Final boxes all ready to deliver next week, packed by Pat McCoy, Cathy Sholtanis, Nancy Spaulding, Sue Battles, Lisa Maggiolo and Cathy Baybutt (photographer extraordinaire usually behind the camera)

District One Virtual Conference and Auction April 23 and 24

   Our Regional District One Spring Conference will be held virtually on Friday evening, April 23rd and on Saturday, April 24th.  The Zoom sessions will provide information on District activities, service projects, grant awards as well as a silent auction to raise funds for the Altrusa Foundation.  The item we provided for the auction is a Gift Card Extravaganza with a handmade book bag holding more than $250 in gift cards.  The high bidder can go shopping and dining in many wonderful shops!  It will be easy to look at all the items donated by the different clubs and bid from home.

  The Keynote speaker on Saturday at 11:00 am is Joanne Lannin, teacher, author and journalist who writes a monthly column for Maine Women magazine.  Hear her via Zoom.

Soldiers Care Package Outreach Program

 

New Literacy Initiative: Make Way for Readers!

 

 

  Altrusa of Carroll County announces a new literacy project: Make Way for Readers. Partnering with our local libraries and 19 childcare organizations in Carroll County, Altrusa will be distributing materials to promote the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten Program. During the month of May, Altrusa members will deliver over 500 cute Dr. Seuss book bags, each containing a magnetic bookmark as well as information about the 1000 Books before Kindergarten Program, library information and an initial tally sheet to help families get started reading.

Research has shown the importance of daily reading to children as young as newborns and while it might seem daunting to read 1000 books before Kindergarten, simply reading one book a day will easily attain this goal. Altrusa of Carroll County already supports baby book bags for newborns of Tamworth, a Mail for Me magazine subscription program for children in local schools and pre-Covid19, the club provided “libraries” at local Laundromats. This new venture was a next logical step in promoting one of the major aspects of Altrusa which is literacy.

Thanks to a grant received from Altrusa International our club will also present each daycare center with a class book and will provide $200 for each library to use to promote their program. 

Welcome New Members!

 At our Club Business meeting on Tuesday, April 6th, the Zoom attendees happily welcomed new members Marilyn Hughes and Shawn Flanagan-Rogers to Altrusa of Carroll County.  These enthusiastic women have already been helping with our service projects such as Packing for 68-Hours of Hunger and Make Way for Readers as we continue to implement our Community Service Projects.

As a reminder, if you are able to help pack bags of food for End 68-Hours of Hunger on the 4th Thursday of the month, please contact Pat Kehoe as more packers are needed.

Our Book Bin Donation box at Hannafords in North Conway earned our club over $300 for our literacy programs!  Many thanks to Barb and Nancy for keeping the box full and to Hannaford's for sponsoring our club.

Save the dates of June 5th, August 21st, and September 18th for our craft table at the Tamworth Farmers Market.  We will need members to create and sell crafts on those dates.

Upcoming Events

 Altrusa of Carroll County has planned several fundraising events for this spring.  Please get out your calendars and save the following dates:

• April 13th - a Dine to Donate evening at Flatbread Company in North Conway, NH
• April 23rd-24th - a "Gift Card Extravaganza" for the Foundation Fundraiser at the District One Spring Conference  (contact Diane for more details)
• June 5th - Plant Sale and Calendar Raffle in conjunction with the Tamworth Library (contact Peggy for more details)
• Summer date TBA - Tamworth Farmer's Market table of craft and gift items

Save the Date! Flatbread's Dine to Donate

 

Collection Cups and More...

 Cathy B. borrowed an idea from an Altrusa Club in Connecticut and devised  two kinds of Collection Cups - one for change and one for aluminum can tabs.  The Change Cup is a simple way to collect funds for our Altrusa Foundation - and clean out under the couch cushions and the car floor and remind family members.  The other cup for can tabs will help remind us to continue to support the Shriners Hospital by collecting these aluminum tabs.  If you would like one or more off these cups, let Cathy B. know and she will drop one off for you.  

Our Service for End 68-Hours of Hunger

 Our reliable group met again at Kennett Middle School on February 25th, the 4th Thursday of the month, to pack bags of food for children in Carroll County in the End 68-Hours of Hunger program.  Many thanks to our packing crew: Beth, Shawn, Barb, Betsy, Ruth and Cathy B.!

Save the Date! The Plant Sale is on for June 5, 2021!

 We are excited to go forward with our Plant Sale Raffle fundraiser in cooperation with the Friends of Cook Memorial Library in Tamworth on June 5, 2021 at the K. A. Brett School where there is room for social distancing.  We will be looking for perennial plants from your garden or a friend's garden that you can split and donate.  

We are also looking for a volunteer to work with the Friends group to help coordinate the Calendar Raffle and maintain a list of donations, such as gift certificates, homemade and craft items and more.  Diane is looking for some assistance, so contact her if you can help.

Spring is coming!

Helping our neighbors - even in a pandemic

With the Covid-19 restrictions, our club is happy to find ways to help our local community. On Thursday, January 28th, our Club members gathered to help the Ending 68-Hours of Hunger program and Starting Point.  Six of our members, Betsy, Barb, Shawn, Beth, Nancy and Cathy, met at Kennett Middle School and packed 160 bags of food to be distributed to needy children in our area.

Our Christmas project had been to collect personal items, cleaning supplies and monetary donations for Starting Point, which provides services for victims of domestic and sexual violence.  We collected $508 plus boxes of cleaning supplies, personal care items and school backpacks which Beth, Shawn and Barb dropped off on Thursday.  The backpacks were extras, left over from our Christmas Party for Foster Families in Carroll County.

We continue to collect cards for our SOS program, all to be sent to our soldiers serving overseas.  A big thank-you to all they do to protect us.

Christmas Charities

 Members of Altrusa of Carroll County have been collecting goods and cash donations for the three charities we are supporting during this past holiday season:

• The Laura Foundation for Autism and Epilepsy
• Starting Point
• Local Food Pantries

Our collections are going strong and we will continue to gather donations through the end of January.