Mt. Vernon

Business Women’s Club

2017 Carol Burk, Editor

August/Sept., 2017

1

A Letter from the President

Hello ladies! We have had such a

busy month! I want to start by saying thank you to

all of you that have given of your time and energy

time and again to help make our club a success. I

know we have had something nearly every

weekend, but we have done really well getting our

name in the community! There are more people

than ever aware of who we are and what we are

doing! Our picnic went well and our last Market

days booth was a great success! We have just

finished up our rummage sale, completely sold out

of our eclipse glasses. We are working on our Fall

Festival Ad book now, which is typically the

biggest fundraiser of the year! Also, we are going

to work the Cedarhurst gates again this year and

that is coming up next month. I know that August

can be a busy time, and that for us fall is definitely

our busiest time of year, but we are doing very well

and I am excited to see where our club is by the end

of all the craziness! We have gotten some really

good exposure, but please remember to take a

moment to share about our group any chance you

get so that we can attract potential new members

and keep our club a success so that we can continue

to help others in our community. I know I have

Officers 2017-2018

President………… Amanda Burk Phone: 316-2100 amthacker8@hotmail.com President-elect….…Patsy Timm Phone: 214-0206 capitolinsurance@att.net Recording Sec...Marsha Webb Phone: 237-1875 mwebb109@hotmail.com Treasurer………….……Carol Burk Phone: 246-6768 ceburk51@hotmail.com Corresponding Sec……….Eileen Williams Cell: 246-3012 taleeka912002@yahoo.com Board Members Tana Dehart Gwen Gross Crystal Webster Parliamentarian……Sharon

Costa

Website: www.mvnbwc.com

Mt. Vernon

Business Women’s Club

2017 Carol Burk, Editor

August/Sept., 2017

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asked for a lot of volunteer time lately, and you

ladies have been great. Thank you so much!

Amanda Burk

President 2017-2018

Mt. Vernon Business Women’s Club

SEPTEMBER MEETING TO FEATURE

MELANIE ANDREWS OF REGIONAL

OFFICE OF EDUCATION

With so much going on regarding the

funding of our local schools, we thought it only

appropriate to have our member Melanie Andrews,

Asst. Regional Supt. of School as our speaker.

Melanie currently serves as the Assistant

Regional Superintendent for ROE 13, providing

leadership for districts in Clinton, Jefferson,

Marion, and Washington Counties. This is her 7th

year in that position. Prior to joining the ROE,

Melanie worked one year as a building principal in

Johnston City and ten years as an English teacher

and Director of Student Services at Mt. Vernon

Township High School. Melanie also serves as an

adjunct faculty member at Rend Lake College

where she teaches English 1101 and 1102.

Melanie is a past president of the Mt.

Vernon Business Women's Club. She currently

leads the Ambassador Council and serves as a Vice

President of the Jefferson County Chamber of

Commerce. She has served on the Jefferson

County Credit Union board of directors, KARE

board of directors, and the United Way educational

committee. She volunteers in the annual Walk with

the Dogs for pancreatic cancer, Cedarhurst, and

other local civic organizations.

Melanie is a lifelong resident of Jefferson

County. She grew up in Ina and attended Rend

Lake College and SIU-C. She holds a master's and

specialist's degree in Educational Administration

from Eastern. She is currently completing her

doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from

McKendree. She and her husband Ryan reside in

Dix with their five cats and two dogs. In her spare

time, she enjoys traveling, reading, spending time

with family, and taking a good nap.

IN CONJUNCTION WITH OUR SPEAKER

ON EDUCATION OUR SEPTEMBER

COMMUNITY PROJECT WILL BE

DONATIONS TO THE ALTERNATIVE

SCHOOL

The Alternative School serves 6th

through 12th grade students and their superintendent

has requested donations of the following items:

basic calculators (cheaper the better – Dollar

General ones are great), loose leaf paper,

mechanical pencils, three ring binders (two-inch

size), socks for men and women, underwear for

men and women and men and women’s deodorant

(NO BODY SPRAY). We will also be passing the

donation can at our meeting if you don’t have time

August 11th – Nancy Sodders

August 14 – Patsy Timm September 4 – Eileen Williams September 19 – Sharon Costa

Mt. Vernon

Business Women’s Club

2017 Carol Burk, Editor

August/Sept., 2017

3

to purchase an item to donate or would just prefer

to make a cash donation for their use.

SEPTEMBER TREASURER’S REPORT

Beginning Balance – August 7, 2017 $2,301.25

Transfer from First Mid-Illinois $2,695.28

Income:

Brag $ 12.00

50/50 $ 6.00

Knife Sales $ 133.25

Dues – Amanda Burk/Sherry Meadows $ 100.00

Donation – Happy Feet $ 100.00

Fundraisers:

Eclipse Glasses $ 847.50

Dog Collars $ 0.00

Fidget Spinners $ 0.00

Garage Sale $ 339.35

Ad Book $ 2,462.00

TOTAL INCOME $ 4,000.10

Expenses:

Rada Knives - 124.70

Carol Burk – Reimb

Eclipse Glasses - 735.00

Stamps for Spinners - Eclipse - 27.20

Andrew Burk – Annual Internet Fee - 125.00

Carol Burk – Reimb

Chamber Meeting – A. Burk/

Tana Dehart - 20.00

Punch for Eclipse Spinners - 6.48

Poster Board & Circles –

Garage Sale - 14.01

Postage – Gazette - 4.76

Postage – State Info - 15.68

Market Days Booth – 8/5/17 - 20.00

Kingdom Seed Ministries – Happy

Feet Donation - 100.00

Garage Sale Ad - 11.50

IFBW – Dues Renewal – Sherry

Meadows - 35.00

TOTAL EXPENSES -$ 1,239.33

Ending Balance September 1, 2017 $ 7,757.30

DUES REMINDER

Nancy Sodders May 9, 2017

Jean Germann May 25, 2017

Crystal Webster September 20, 2017

Marilyn Konold September 28, 2017

Jacqueline Ross October 12, 2017

Gwen Gross October 20, 2017

MINUTES AUGUST 14, 2017

GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING

President Amanda Burk called the meeting

to order and the Collect and Pledge were

performed.

Amanda then introduced our scholarship

recipient Jaxon Helm and his mother. Melanie

presented the award and Jaxon thanked the club for

Beginning Balance –

Community First

August 7, 2017

$2,301.25

Mid-Illinois $2,695.28

Total Deposits $4,000.10

Total Disbursements -$1,239.33

Ending Balance

September 1, 2017 $7,757.30

Mt. Vernon

Business Women’s Club

2017 Carol Burk, Editor

August/Sept., 2017

4

it. After the presentation, the members and guest

enjoyed the refreshments for the evening.

Following the refreshments President Burk

introduced our guest speaker for the evening, Tina

Suarez, who program was entitled “Psycho-

Dynamics”. The program was very informative and

entertaining.

Melanie then spoke to the group concerning

the financial crisis that is affecting our school

systems in Illinois.

Carol and Tina then informed us concerning

the current events of our state organization. The

main goal is to get new working members.

The minutes from the previous meeting was

read and Carol made a motion to accept with Tina

seconding the motion. The treasurer’s report was

presented and will be filed for audit. At that time

Carol informed the group that the Executive Board

had decided to change the clubs checking account

to Community Bank.

President’s Report- Amanda stated that the

deadline for ads for our Fall Fest Ad book is Sept.

1,2017. The Fall Fest parade was discussed and it

was voted on by the members to not have a float or

walk in the parade. Carol made the motion and

Tina seconded it. We then discussed the Pumpkin

Contest and we decided that some of the rules made

need to altered and we will discuss this at the next

meeting. We will be doing the last Market Days on

Sept. 2. We have been asked by Cedar Hurst to

help with the parking and they asked us to do this

on Sat. instead of Sunday like last year. Also, the

audit committee will be meeting in the next month.

Program Report. Our speaker next month

will be Melanie Andrews talking to us about our

schools and their budget problems and what her

office does. Our Community project will be the

Mount Vernon Alternative School and we will

donate items that these students may need and a

donation can will be passed around.

We made $327.85 from or rummage sell

and sold all of our Eclipse glasses. We still have

Fidget Spinners for sell, we were reminded that the

Centralia Salad Luncheon is October 20th and

advance tickets are $5.00 and door tickets $6.00.

The next Chamber meeting is 08/17/17, and

we were asked to donate to a gift certificate for the

Golf Outing. It was voted on to give a $50.00 one,

Janeta made the motion and Marsha seconded it.

Patsy was the only Birthday and Marilyn

won the 50/50. It was also announced that Crystal’s

daughter was in the hospital.

Tina made a motion to adjourn and Carol

seconded it. Meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully Submitted by:

Marsha Webb

Recording Secretary

Mt. Vernon

Business Women’s Club

2017 Carol Burk, Editor

August/Sept., 2017

5

BWC AD BOOK SALES ARE FINAL AND

PRINTING PROCESS HAS BEGAN

The sale of ads for the Fall Festival Guide

Book have come to a very successful end. Mt.

Vernon BWC has had a very busy August and first

weeks in September but the membership should be

exceptionally proud.

As the Ad Sales Report shows, when

everyone has paid that has purchased an ad, our

total sales will amount to $3,501.00. Eileen

Williams has agreed to and is working on doing the

Guide Book layout with Mt. Vernon Tourism

printing the book for seven cents a page. This will

reduce our printing costs to around $500 leaving us

with a hefty profit of approximately $3,000 in

comparison to last year when we sold nearly $5,000

worth of ads and cleared less than $1,500.

Our ad sales were down some for this year

mainly due to the absence of political ad sales. Due

to the timing, it was not known exactly who would

running for offices.

Thank you to all who worked so hard to get

our ads sold and an extremely big thank you to

Eileen for taking on the layout and handling of the

printing of our books. We hope to have around 800

printed this year where last year we had 500. This

is a huge project and we appreciate all who bought

and sold ads. Eileen may need some help as the

book comes together. Please volunteer your time if

it is needed.

BWC RUMMAGE SALE

AUGUST 11TH & AUGUST 12TH

WAS A SUCCESS

With everything else we had going on we

managed to work in our garage sale on August 11th

and 12th. Thank you to everyone that donated and

worked at the sale. (A few of us might have bought

a few things too, haha!) A special thanks to

Marsha Webb who will soon be moving and

donated about half her house for us to sell, I think.

We made a total of $339.35 minus the cost of the

ad of $15.65 leaving us with a net profit of

$327.85. We also made several knife sales at the

garage sale so that money is an additional profit.

A special thank you needs to go to Patsy

Timm for securing our location for the sale and also

to the Southwest Christian Church for letting us use

their facility.

We also owe a big thank you to my

husband, Mike Burk who spent an entire day

picking up and delivering donations. It was hard

Mt. Vernon

Business Women’s Club

2017 Carol Burk, Editor

August/Sept., 2017

6

work but with everyone’s help we pulled it all

together.

A CHANGE OF BOARD MEETING AND

GENERAL MEMBERSHIP LOCATIONS TO

BE DISCUSSED

At tonight’s general membership meeting

the topic of changing locations for our Board

Meetings and General Membership Meetings will

be discussed.

It has been suggested that since Evelyn

Boswell is no longer a member of our Local and

she no longer lives at Rose Lane that we should

possibly look for a different location to hold our

regular monthly meetings. Amanda and I think we

have found a suitable location and will be bringing

up the matter for discussion tonight.

It had been discussed by the Executive

Board that we might want to relocate our meetings

because they sometimes overlap with the “Open

Mike” activity times at King City Bookstore and

since the room we meet in is open at the top our

discussions sometimes are not confidential and

interfere with Kendra’s business. Member Sharon

Costa has once again offered her conference room

for our Executive Board Meetings. This matter will

be discussed tonight also.

NEW SECRETARY TO BE ELECTED

It is with great sadness for our Local at least

that Marsha Webb had sold her home and will be

moving to St. Louis near her daughter. Marsha has

served as our Recording Secretary for nearly two

years now and she will be greatly missed! Thank

you, Marsha for not only your service as Secretary

but for all your contributions to the Mt. Vernon

BWC. We wish you the very best in your new

location and hope that you will be keep in touch

with our members and come back for a visit

anytime.

After Marsha’s announcement at Executive

Board, Tana Dehart agreed to accept the

nomination to fill the vacancy left by Marsha’s

resignation. She will need to be nominated and

voted on at tonight’s meeting. We appreciate Tana

stepping up and really becoming such an active

member of our Local as of late.

As was the case when Amanda stepped up

to be President, now we will need to fill Tana’s

place on the Executive Board as Member-at-Large.

Please consider throwing your hat in the ring and

taking this position. This position on the Board

does not require a lot of extra work but offers an

additional chance for you input in the decision-

making process.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO

WORKED AT THE CEDARHURST GATES

A special thank you goes out to the

members who volunteered their time to help fill the

shifts tending the three gates on Saturday for the

Cedarhurst Art and Craft Show.

It seemed it was going to be a bit

disorganized at first, but we should have given the

Cedarhurst Committee more credit---everything

worked out fine with only a few complaints here

and there.

We would also like to thank all the family

members who jumped in and helped to fill empty

positions where needed. Especially Crystal

Webster’s kids. What a great group of ambitious,

cooperative and wonderful kids!! Thanks to all of

you.

Mt. Vernon

Business Women’s Club

2017 Carol Burk, Editor

August/Sept., 2017

7

MT. VERNON BWC MAKES “PROJECT

HAPPY FEET” HAPPY

Pictured about Mt. Vernon Local BWC President

Presented Monte Jo Clark with our donation for the

“Happy Feet” Program.

The donations taken up at our August

meeting for the “Happy Feet” program amounted to

an even $100. The check was presented to Monte

Jo at the Kingdom Seed Ministries. The program

helps needy children receive shoes for each new

school year.

MEMBERS OF THE MT. VERNON

BUSINESS WOMEN’S CLUB DONATE TO

MENDED LITTLE HEARTS

Our Mt. Vernon Local was contacted

regarding donating a basket for the silent auction at

the above event. After sending out an email to you

all, I received several very nice Pioneer Woman

items and Easton’s Flowers arranged and wrapped

a very big basket for us. I didn’t get a picture

before I sent it to the auction, but I will WHEN I

WIN IT!!!! haha