The May 14, 2011 Branch meeting, held at the Ansley Golf Club, was a festive occasion. Stephanie Davis, Executive Director of Georgia Women for a Change, one of the community organizations with which we partner, reviewed accomplishments of our collaborative efforts and described some policy issues where our membership can be involved in upcoming months.

Members also heard updates from task force members working on our potential signature projects. Sharon Bevis-Hoover and Colleen D’Alessandro spoke about the CARE national conference. Tami Anderson described the work needed to focus a project on commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC). Barbara Buchanan and Susan Diffenderfer related work done with Habitat for Humanity.

AAUW of Georgia Co-President, Debbie Karvey, installed elected Branch officers for the coming year. They are: Mary Lynn Merkle and Ruth Yurchuck, interim Co-Presidents; Sharon Bevis-Hoover, President-elect; Pat Bevis, interim Program Chairman; Board secretary, Diana Witt; and General meeting secretaries, Blondie Chitunya-Wilson and Betty Slater. Lynn Fountain will chair the Nominating Committee, assisted by Huiping Du, Nikita Boston, and Blondie Chitunya-Wilson.

Plans for our 2011-2012 activities will be developed at the joint meeting of our current and incoming Board to be held on June 14.

Please join us in another year of progress in redefining our Branch!