President’s Message

By Betty Starzec President District 16

There is new enthusiasm and excitement coming from the ACBL and her name is Bronia Jenkins. At the Chicago NABC I attended three meetings where Bronia, ACBL’s new Executive Director, outlined current and possible future initiatives that the ACBL will be taking to enhance our bridge experience and increase membership.

For example, this past month each unit in the United States was sent a list of lapsed members and was asked to contact them in coordination with a postcard sent to them by the ACBL. This postcard offered $20 towards playing face-to-face at their local club if they rejoined. We should be seeing the results of this campaign shortly. Possible future initiatives include bridge and pickleball amongst others. It’s an exciting time for the ACBL and I wish Bronia much success in bringing these initiatives to successful fruition.

Speaking of the Chicago NABC, there were 8,343 tables in attendance. The beautiful location right on the river in downtown offered access to many great museums and sites as well as the Magnificent Mile. Lunching along the Riverwalk was one of my favorite activities during the visit to my hometown. Even more important, the table count signified a definite return to face-to-face-table play. It’s exciting and the camaraderie that is felt cannot be matched online. So if you have been on the fence about returning to F2F, please know you have been missed and your friends are excited about welcoming you back!

Also, kudos to Nancy Strohmer, who has been appointed the new chair of the Aileen Osofsky Goodwill Committee. Rebecca Brown joins her as an assistant chair along with others from across ACBL. Congratulations!

See you at the table.

Upcoming D16 Tournaments

President

Betty Starzec

District 16 Officers

First Vice-President Second Vice-President

Ken Monzingo

Dave Ticen

Secretary Executive Treasurer

Kristen Onsgard Tom Trudeau

Immediate Past President Nancy Strohmer

Committee Chairs

Awards Charity

Sandy Potts Nancy Strohmer

Disciplinary District Appellate

Rebecca Brown Jonathan Ernst Membership

STaC

Tomi

Financial Verifier Recorder

Jim Woodward

Jack LaVigne

Tournament / Sanction Applications

Scott Humphrey

Lecture Series

James Moody, Linda Griffith and Patricia Herrera (Spanish)