News from the Greater Raleigh Alumnae Chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta
Fall 2019 Volume 72, Issue 1
THE ECHO PRESIDENT’S LETTER Dear Sisters, Congratulations to our chapter on achieving the highest level of Good Standing-“Living with Purpose” for the 2018-2019 year. We were fortunate to have such good leaders guiding the way for our chapter, and such a supportive collection of sisters helping the chapter reach its goals. Greater Raleigh Alumnae Chapter is a special group of women! I hope you each have had a summer that you can look back on with a smile. Fall comes so quickly, but I always look forward to our regular chapter meetings resuming and the bonds of sisterhood being renewed. Our new officers met in August to plan for a fun year ahead. We shared ideas for making our monthly activities impactful and made a goal of contributing monthly to Alpha Gam’s philanthropic mission of fighting hunger. This year we plan to explore new opportunities for helping at local food pantries and community gardens. We hope you will join us in contributing to the world’s work in our community. This summer I took some time to look through the history files for our alumnae chapter. In there was the very first edition of The Echo. It was published in May of 1948 by the undergraduate chapter at UNC-Chapel Hill. Our very own Jean Snyder Hicks (ΓE ’46) was the first co-editor of that edition! I was so impressed by the news and achievements of those members. They formed our alumnae chapter (then named Gamma Epsilon Alumnae Chapter) in September of 1948. It moved to the Raleigh area in 1950 because “so many sisters seemed to be settling there.” The Echo reported a slow but successful start that first year. At our Alpha Gam Always event this month we had sisters from 10 states representing 15 different universities! It’s great to see that their efforts have led to a chapter now over 50 years old and still growing.
Jacque Goodwin Burgess
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Sister News ........................... 2 Pecans ................................... 2
I am both honored and excited to once again be serving as GRAC’s president. A lot has changed in the 15 years since I was last your chapter president. We have many new technologies for communicating with each other and for exploring opportunities in our community. As we “study the perfecting of our friendships” as AGD sisters, I would like us all to pause and remember that the sister who perhaps kept the most in contact with each of us, Jacque Burgess, did not even use a computer. Her personal phone calls, notes of encouragement, and warm welcoming smile made each of us feel loved and helped unite us into the loving chapter that we have today. Let’s make use of the best of today’s technologies but also continue to take the time to give each other a call to catch up and to let our sisters know we care.
Ways & Means ...................... 3
Alpha Gamma Delta’s new branding uses three words to describe the fraternity: Loving, Leading, Lasting. GRAC has represented those ideals well for over 50 years now. I hope you will join us this year as we enjoy the loving bonds of sisterhood and help in the fight against hunger. Our website www.agdraleigh.org and Facebook will have listings of our planned activities. We look forward to seeing you soon!
Health & Vigor...................... 7
Chapter Grand ...................... 4 IRD ....................................... 4 Junior Circle ......................... 4 Adopt-A-Chapter. ................. 5 Remembrance ...................... 5 JDRF Walk ........................... 6 Contributing ......................... 6
SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST AmazonSmile
Loyally in Epsilon Pi, Jean Campbell Burroughs (ΓΦ ‘79)
Chapter calendar Alpha Gamma Delta book club Officers List
SISTER NEWS Carole Akerly (AO ‘76) retired from Duke University Hospital as Director of Accreditation & Regulatory Affairs after over 17 years of service.
Marianne Breneman, GEM recipient, and Lisa Poole at IRD
AMAZONSMILE AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon with the same products, prices, and shopping features as Amazon.com. Purchases made at AmazonSmile result in a 0.5% donation of your total purchase price to the charitable organization of your choice. On your first visit to amazon.com/smile , you will be prompted to select a charitable organization before you begin shopping. Selecting the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation is a great way give
back at no extra cost to you.
Erica Snell Ring at the North Pole (Alaska)
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Jean Campbell Burroughs (ΓΦ ‘79) celebrated the graduations of 3 of her 4 children. Her son, Matthew, was the 3rd of her children to graduate from NC State’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, the 3rd to receive the department’s Senior Award for Scholarly Achievement, and the 3rd to start a Ph.D. program in chemical engineering. Her eldest child, Mary, earned her PhD from Princeton University. Jean’s youngest child, Mason, graduated from high school and is in the honors program at NC State. Jean and her family also enjoyed a long holiday in Hawaii. Elsie Manny Eads (Η ‘49) celebrated her 90th birthday! Elsie stays active with volunteering for various food ministries
through her church, traveling and hosting GRAC meetings. Erica Snell Ring (AM ‘96) and her family did a 2 week cruise and land tour of Alaska. Diane Schmees Timoney’s (X ‘87) son, Graham, joined the US Marine Corps.
Jean Burroughs and her newly graduated children—Mary, Matthew & Mason
IT’S PECAN SEASON! The Greater Raleigh Alumnae Chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta is selling fresh picked southern mammoth pecan halves to fight hunger! The pecans are shelled in 1 lb packages and will be $11 per 1 lb. bag (much less than what you can get at the grocery store)! These pecans are great for baking, roasting,
or eating right out of the bag. They also make a great holiday gifts. Profits go to Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation as well as local charities and organizations who are fighting hunger in our area. Please let us know how many bags you’d like to sell! You can do so by filling out this online form: https://forms.gle/ ep3E34xLS7pEcgRRA or you can contact Ann Marie Nelson Taepke (ZΣ ’04) at nelson.annmarie@gmail.com or 248-719-1985. The sign-up sheet will be available at the October meeting as well. Deadline for reserving your pecans is Friday, October 18th. Approximate Delivery: week of November 4th
DIRTY DOLLARS Dirty Dollars help support GRAC sister activities and the newsletter. Recent contributors are: Barbara Thomas Horton (ΓE ‘49) Barbara Braxton Wilks (ΓE ‘52)
SUPPORT FEES
Alpha Gam Always - Milton’s Raleigh
WAYS & MEANS By Dawn Pasley Myers (ΘO ‘99) The Shop with Scrip program is an easy way for our chapter to earn money through the purchase of gift cards on ShopwithScrip.com. There are gift cards from a variety of retailers, restaurants, hotels, airlines, cruise lines, and much more. All you do is purchase gift cards and e-gift cards from over 750 brands at face value, and the chapter earns a rebate of between 2% and 16%. You can use the gift cards for your everyday shopping, vacations, and gift giving, and there is even a mobile website and app called MyScripWallet that allows you to purchase e-gift cards and make them instantly available to use. New this year - you can purchase Scrip cards with a credit card! To order Scrip, just create an account on ShopwithScrip.com or MyScripWallet.com and enter the enrollment code for our chapter: EF8L227738236, then follow the ordering instructions. If you would like to pay by check, please contact Dawn Myers at dawn84 @ me.com.
Our support fees are $35. Support fees are not required, but the money goes to support chapter activities as well as send a member to convention. You can pay your annual support fee at http:// www.greaterraleigh.alphagamm adelta.org/how-to-join A convenience charge is added for online payments. However, payments may also be by cash or check or credit card using GRAC’s new square at our meetings. In addition, checks may be mailed to Christa Rouse Beloskur at 407 Brook Creek Drive, Cary, NC 27519. GAMMA EPSILONS
All sisters from UNC, please check your file on the UNC Alumni Directory under “Activities & Interests” to make sure you have listed Alpha Gamma Delta. If it is not listed, all you have to do is call the alumni office at 919-962-1208. If you prefer to do this by mail, the address is: George Watts Hill Alumni Center, PO Box 660, Chapel Hill, NC 27514-0660.
I will be placing the next Scrip order on Thursday, October 3 so that physical gift cards will be available for pickup at the chapter meeting on Thursday, October 10.
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS
IRD 2019: BLOSSOMING SISTERHOOD
All meetings at 7:15 PM unless otherwise noted
October 26, 2019 JDRF One Walk Walnut Creek Amphitheatre, Raleigh, NC
On April 6th, GRAC sisters celebrated IRD with a brunch at the home of one of our sisters, Mary Ann Walsh Akin (ZI ’83), surrounded by her beautiful landscaping. Our speaker was Cydney DavisEnglish, third generation florist and co-owner of The English Garden Florist of Raleigh. Cydney created a number of onsite arrangements for us as she talked about different plant choices. She also borrowed some items from Mary Ann’s garden. She gave a number of helpful hints about home floral arranging as well as home gardens.
November 2019 Social TBD
GRAC honored Marianne Leitch Breneman (X ’90) with the GEM Award for her outstanding service. Lisa Pinyan Poole (ΓA ’91) was rec-
October 10, 2019 Business Meeting Host: Jean Burroughs Co-Host: Joyce Anne Porter Program: Medical by Elysia Mallon
December 12, 2019 Host: Charity Schuller Co-host: Lisa Poole Holiday Party
JUNIOR CIRCLE
GRAC sisters at IRD
By Sarah Elkins (ΘO ‘14)
January 9, 2020 Host: Elsie Eads Springmoor Retirement Community 1500 Sawmill Road, Raleigh Program: Updates in Veterinary Medicine by Mary Lou Szymkowski February 13, 2020 Host: Diane Timoney Co-host: Mary Ann Akin Program: TBD
Junior Circle now has a groupme! This is an easy way for the Junior Circle group to be able to plan hangouts and share pictures from the hangouts with ease! If you would like to be included in this, here is the link: https:// groupme.com/join_group/51600405/fcQnsLzM If you are reading this and are confused what Junior Circle is, let me help you out! Junior Circle is a branch off of our Alumnae chapter for the young and young at heart (no discrimination here). We plan more casual hang outs like dinner before meetings, going out for drinks, etc. Just good ol' fellowship. If you are reading this and are confused about what groupme is, it is a group message app where you can set up polls, events, etc. This will make it way easier to get in contact with each other! If you have any questions, feel free to message me!
CHAPTER GRAND
March 12, 2020 Host: Jan White Program: Preparedness by Christine (Mullarkey) Campbell April 2020 IRD May 14, 2020 Officer Installation/Potluck Host: Quinn Willard
Live With Purpose
ognized for her many years of service as chapter president.
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The following sisters entered Chapter Grand:
Mary Sue Tenney Noe (ΓE ‘51) December 21, 2018
Audrey Dearinger Akerly (XI ‘51) Martha Bridger Shipman (ΓE ‘53) May 2, 2018. Audrey was the mother January 10, 2019 of Carole Akerly (AO ‘76). Joan Leonard Sibley (ΓE ‘54) July Jacquelyn “Jacque” Goodwin Bur23, 2019 gess (ΓE ‘48) October 8, 2018 Ingrid Clay Stogner (ΓE ‘57) October Paulette Putzki Evans (ΓE ‘53) No5, 2018 vember 12, 2018 Dorothy Cameron Tringali (ΓE ‘47) Audrey Brown Johnson (ΓE ‘48) April 30, 2018 2014 Jacqueline Wilkins Upp (ΓE ‘55) JoAnne Armstrong-Jones (ΓE ‘49) March 5, 2019 December 3, 2018
ADDRESS CHANGE
ADOPT-A-CHAPTER GRAC has 3 adopted chapters—ΘM chapter at the University of North Carolina—Wilmington, ΘO chapter at Western Carolina University and NΓ at East Carolina University. GRAC sends the chapters support in terms of cards, letters, goodies and gifts. The ΘM and NΓ chapters joined together to celebrate IRD. ΘM Chapter
a consistent number this academic year, and are continuously looking for ways to strengthen our sisterhood. They celebrated their new members with a retreat at Camp Don-Lee. NΓ was recognized as a top chapter for donations to Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation for the 20182019 school year. They raised and donated $14,695 to the Foundation.
The sisters at our ΘM welcomed 29 new members. They started a nutty buddy program to pair new members with older members so that they can get to know more of the chapter as well.
ROAD TRIP
GRAC sisters are planning a Spring/Summer weekend trip to see the Richmond Flying Squirrels. The Richmond Flying Squirrels are a Minor League Baseball team based in Richmond, Virginia. The team is a Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants Major League Baseball team. Watch for information or reach out to Mary Ann Akin, who is coordinating the trip. Mary Ann can be reached via email at makin8080@aol.com.
NΓ Chapter NΓ completed informal recruitment with 51 new members. Over the next couple of weeks, Continuous Open Bidding will begin, and an additional dozen or more bids could be extended. Currently, chapter total is 151 sisters. We hope to maintain
If you have had an address change in the past year, please contact Jan Thorpe White with your updated details at jtwhite6@bellsouth.net.
Nu Gamma New Member Retreat at Camp Don-Lee
REMEMBRANCE OF GRAC SISTERS Jacquelyn “Jacque” Goodwin Burgess (ΓE ‘48) was a wearer of the ARC with Diamonds and a 50 year pin wearer. As a member of GRAC, Jacque was IRD co-chair, Telephone Committee Chair, Vice President, Corresponding Secretary and Recording Secretary. GRAC sisters celebrated her life with an Alpha Gamma Delta Memorial Service. Jacque’s family shared some of her squirrels which were “awarded” to GRAC sisters following the service. In honor of Jacque, GRAC purchased a tree which was planted at the NC Baptist Children’s Home in Thomasville, NC where Jacque served on the board and was a great advocate.
Joan Leonard Sibley (ΓE ‘54) was a wearer of the Arc with Diamond and also a 50 year pin recipient. She was very active in GRAC serving on the Epsilon Pi, IRD and Telephone Committees many years. Joan was also past President, Vice President, Editor, Treasurer and Secretary of GRAC. While at the University of North Carolina, she was President of the Panhellenic Council. In 2010, Joan and her late husband had moved to WinstonSalem, NC to be near their children and grandchildren. She still kept in touch with her sisters from GRAC. As with all of our GRAC members, we made memorial donations to the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation in memory of Jacque and Joan.
Joan Leonard Sibley
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ALPHA GAMMA DELTA BOOK CLUB For more information or to join Alpha Gamma Delta’s book club please go to www.facebook.com/groups/ alphagambookclub or search alphagambookclub on Facebook. October I Wish You All The Best—Mason Deaver
Date: Saturday, October 26 Check-in time: 9:00AM Start time: 10:30 AM Length of walk: 5K or 1 mile option Location: Walnut Creek Amphitheater, Raleigh, NC Our Team page to register or donate: http://www2.jdrf.org/goto/ AlphaGammaDelta Our goal is $1,000.
November/December All These Beautiful Strangers— Elizabeth Klehfoth
Watch for information on meeting up at the NC State Farmer’s Market Restaurant for carpooling. Kids, friends and family members (dogs too) are welcome! Cannot walk sign up as a virtual walker! All donations are tax deductible and help our chapter support a great cause. You can sign up or donate by going to our team page.
CONTRIBUTING TO THE WORLD’S WORK
January
By Carrie Wheeler (AO ‘94)
Girl Wash Your Face: Stop Be-
While we are striving to fight hunTo support Alpha Gamma Delta’s ger in the Triangle, we still want to philanthropic focus of fighting continue our longstanding support hunger, GRAC plans to increase for JDRF and its life-saving reour efforts in 2019-2020 by helpsearch. That is why we are once ing our local community partners again registered to walk in the decrease food scarcity in the TrianJDRF One Walk. Team Alpha gle area. Starting with Alpha Gam Gamma Delta is looking for walkAlways, our goal is to collect food ers – both the day of the event as at our get-togethers that can be well as virtually – it’s not too late to donated to various food-focused register! Currently, we have raised charities. As September is Hunger $300, but we hope to reach our Awareness Month and area students returned to school, the donations from Alpha Gam Always were given to the Athens Drive High School Backpack Buddies in Raleigh, NC. The organizations that will be receiving donations - as well as the list of recommended food items will be provided Alpha Gam Always donations for before each gatherBackpack Buddies for Athens Drive ing.
lieving The Lies—Rachel Hollis February The Moment of Lift—Melinda Gates March The Only Woman In the Room—Marie Benedict April The Affairs of The Falcons— Melissa Rivero May Dare to Lead—Brene Brown June On The Come Up—Angie Thomas
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Next, we will be searching for volunteer opportunities throughout the year where sisters can join together to fight hunger through community service. Potential activities and organizations are currently being identified, and we welcome
suggestions!
$1,000 fundraising goal by Walk day. Please visit our Team page at: http://www2.jdrf.org/goto/ AlphaGammaDelta. Additional information is available above.
TO DEVELOP AND PRIZE HEALTH AND VIGOR By Marianne Leitch Breneman, Master Certified Health Coach, Wellness Vision Health Coaching LLC (X ‘90) The Alpha Gamma Delta Purpose: we recited it for much of our college careers and we say it now, at alumnae meetings and conventions. It binds us together and reminds us of friends and places that are special to us. The words are beautiful, if not a little flowery and reflective of the time they were first written. As it usually is with mission statements that stand the test of time, these words mean something different to me now than they did when I was a sophomore pledge at Michigan State University’s Chi Chapter. “To develop and prize health and vigor of body” was not something I thought about much when I was 20. My body worked just fine, did what I needed it to do, and looked pretty good! Most 20-somethings don’t consider that they need to take care of their body for the future because they haven’t (hopefully) experienced a decline in their health yet. Since wisdom comes with age and hindsight is 20/20, the whole “developing and prizing health and vigor of body” was not on my college “to-do” list even though I repeated it out loud every Monday night at 333 Charles Street. Fast-forward to my late 20s and I heard myself saying things like “Gee, I don’t recover from these nights at the bar as well as I used to.” The 30s came and my friends who were having their first babies were sleep deprived, new jobs and climbing the corporate ladder had us stressed and eating on the run, fitting in exercise now became a chore so we did less, and somehow, we just accepted that we weren’t going to look or feel like we did when we were in college. While time marches on and bodies age and change from use, there are still things that we can and should do to take care of ourselves so that we can continue to live, give, and enjoy life! Most of them are incredibly simple and just involve adding a habit or two to our daily lives. While I hope to write in more specifics in the coming months, I’d like to pose a question to you today: How are you taking care of you? It’s absolutely true that you have to fill your cup first in order to be able to fill someone else’s and we all have “someone else” to take care of. You don’t have to make a ton of changes all at once and I actually prefer that you don’t try to do that! I suggest that you take a few changes that you think you could implement easily and start there. Here are some suggestions for your considerations:
Try to eat more “real” food instead of processed, packaged food
Start doing “Meatless Monday” to get more veggies into you and your family
Hydrate well by drinking half your body weight in ounces of water every day
Reduce your alcohol and/or caffeine consumption
Learn to say NO to activities you don’t really want or need to do! Your first responsibility is to your health so you can take care of you and your family.
Give yourself the gift of exercise, whether it is a walk around the block after dinner a certain number of times per week, a weekly yoga class, an adult soccer league, CrossFit, swimming, or Pure Barre. The best exercise is the one you will do consistently because you enjoy it!
Try to go to bed 30 minutes earlier than you are now and turn off your screens 30 minutes before you go to bed for a chance at better sleep quality.
This life is a fast and busy one, hopefully filled with the people and activities you love. We don’t always realize how our bodies are being negatively affected until the physical manifestation comes in the form of colds, arthritis, auto-immune disorders, cancer, and more. While a certain number of these things are completely out of our control, I choose to do the things that are within my capabilities to make myself as healthy as possible. Thank you for reading and hope to see you soon!
INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS: Alpha Gamma Delta Fraternity 8710 N. Meridian Street Indianapolis, IN 46260 ph: (317) 872-2655 fx: (317) 875-5824
2018-2019 OFFICERS President - Jean Campbell Burroughs Vice President - Lisa Pinyan Poole Treasurer - Christa Rouse Beloskur Secretary - Jamie Stiller Permanent Secretary - Jan Thorpe White Editor - Charity Metz Schuller Electronic Communications Co-chair - Ann Marie Nelson Taepke Electronic Communications Committee Member - Jeanette Drane Benjey Philanthropy Co-chair (Pecan Sale) - Ann Marie Taepke Philanthropy Co-chair (Service/Donations) - Carrie Wheeler IRD Chairman - Quinn Killough Willard IRD Committee Members - Elysia Mallon Smith, Jamie Stiller, Mary Ann Walsh Akin Telephone Communications Co-chair — Jean Snyder Hicks Junior Circle President - Sarah Elkins Adopt-a-Chapter Liaisons - Alexandra Olsen Manbeck, Jesa McNeil, Erica Snell Ring Honors of Epsilon Pi - Jan White, Jean Burroughs, Dawn Pasley Myers, Joyce Anne Braswell Porter Ways and Means Chair - Dawn Myers Remembrance Chair — Mary Ann Akin Finance committee — Diane Schmees Timoney, Dawn Myers, Joyce Anne Porter
Alpha Gamma Delta Greater Raleigh Alumnae Chapter Jan Thorpe White 208 Summerwinds Drive Cary, NC 27518
PLEASE PLACE STAMP HERE