President Roger Webb called the meeting of
the Amherst Club to order at noon on Tuesday, April 14th, 2015, and
welcomed us all. He especially welcomed the representatives of the
social service agencies to which we are donating support this year, who
were present to explain their work and receive their checks. Guest: Membership Chair Paul Bacon introduced Ruth Hazard, Claude Tellier’s wife, who will soon be joining us as a member. Paul and Jacqui Price addressed all our guests, explaining the Amherst Club social and charitable mission and the opportunity to join as an Associate Member if you are still working and not able to come to every meeting. They also passed out membership application forms. New Member: Susie Lowenstein and Rachel Hare Mustin introduced our new member, Eileen P. Kennedy, who moved to Amherst in 2012. Eileen is semi-retired faculty from the City University of New York, specializing in children’s literature and literary development. Her father is Irish, and she has dual citizenship, US and Irish. A practicing poet, she has just published a book of poems called Banshees, from which she read us two moving poems. (Banshees are the eerie female ghosts of Irish lore, who foretell death.) Welcome Eileen! Announcements: Amherst Club member Lois Barber is one of the finalists in the upcoming “The Best of Valley Voices” to be held at the Academy of Music, Saturday, April 18th, 7:30 pm. Lois will be telling a story that she shared with the Amherst Club last September. The show is a fundraiser for New England Public Radio. Nine other storytellers from the Valley who won preliminary rounds will also be telling their stories along with a story shared by seasoned raconteur Bob Reiser, and the unique sounds of the one-man-band, Matt Lorenz as The Suitcase Junket. Tickets at the Academy of Music website or box office. Raffle: Carolyn Holstein won the wine. Welcome back Carolyn! Nancy Pagano of the Amherst Senior Center won the $10. Event: Representatives from nearly all the agencies receiving largesse from the Club this year attended this meeting as our lunch guests, joining the members at our various tables so that we could chat. Allocations Committee Chair Andrea Battle greeted them all and invited them to come up to receive their check and inform us of their work, in a two-minute speech. Members then had an opportunity to question them about their agencies. The agencies’ representatives were both informative and very grateful for the Club’s support. Your scribe, Linda Honan |
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