By Kathy Garfinkle

Fremont AAUW members gathered at Massimo’s on Monday evening and enjoyed a lovely slide show put together by John Skarpelos and Mary Lynn Pelican.  Attendees also had an opportunity to renew friendships and meet new friends before the brief general meeting began.

At the start of the meeting, Genevieve Angelides explained proposed changes to our Association’s Bylaws.  The minutes from the previous board meeting and Treasurer’s report were approved.

The program also included recognition of the contributions of all our members.  Women at the Helm were recognized and honored.  Everyone was given a surfboard floating candle favor as a symbol for our uplifting mission for this year:  “Charting the Course and Breaking Barriers as we Ride the Waves of Change”.

After dinner, certificates and awards were presented to honor and thank some of our very special members.

The Named Gift Honoree awards were presented to Genevieve Angelides and Sara Hinkel for their leadership of the One Book, One Community Read project and the Pennies For Peace (P4P) fundraiser.

A Named Gift Honoree is an individual who is recognized, usually by a branch or the state AAUW, for a gift to the Foundation of $750 or more in that individual’s name.   Fremont AAUW contributed approximately $1,686.95 to the Foundation for the 2008-2009 year.

This year, five Interim Presidents were installed by program chair Kathy Garfinkle:   Jeanne Delp, Mary Lynn Pelican, Carolyn Hedgecock, RoseMarie Everett and Kathy Garfinkle will take turns as branch presidents throughout the year and were presented with special folders and mini inner tube floats to help them carry on with the theme “Ride the Waves of Change”.

Also installed were:   Parliamentarian Jeanne Delp;  Membership Chairs RoseMarie Everett and Jeanne Delp;  Membership Treasurers Mary Lynn Pelican and Amy Cho;  Education Foundation Chairs Kathy Garfinkle and Caroline Hedgecock; and Interim Treasurer Luzmarie Vallejo.   Genevieve Angelides and Randy Fewel were recognized for becoming “The Waves Beneath Our Floats” as they mentor the executive board throughout the 2009-2010 year.

Mary Lynn Pelican presented a beautiful Past President’s Gift to our outgoing president, Randy Fewel.  We all marveled at the globe music box that played “To Dream the Impossible Dream”.  The gift was presented from the membership to Randy with much love and appreciation for a job well done.  Randy expressed her thanks for the gift and for the privilege of serving as president of Fremont AAUW.  Kathy Garfinkle thanked all those who both attended and helped make the evening such a great success.