The alum chapter has kept up our almost frantic pace we had in September. We dedicated October to our philanthropy focus. Lori Millsap organized our team for the Wilmington Arthritis Walk. The fund raising goal was $300 with a team of 5. Joined in the walk with some alums from the Port City Alum Chapter, a newly organized chapter in Wilmington, our team was staffed with seven (including two very supportive husbands), exceeding our goal of five walkers. To keep the “Exceeding Expectations” motto as our mantra, our team raised over $600 for the financial contribution
Others of our members assisted Zeta Psi chapter with their Chili Round-Up for Arthritis.
Our focus was not limited to the Arthritis Foundation. The October fundraising at East Carolina Music Academy also surpassed expectations. Our contributions should continue throughout the year. Their next yard sale/ craft show will be before Christmas. Take any contributions before Thanksgiving to the Music Academy. If this will be your first donation, enter the door on the side of the trailers. Cheryl Stephenson will be glad to give you the tax donation receipt if you would like one.
Sister Spotlight: Our Newest Members
Mallory Bosse
Mallory Millsap Bosse, the oldest daughter of our secretary, Lori Millsap, was our first alumnae initiate in an outdoor service on November 6. Originally from Biloxi, MS, her family has traveled often (her father was an officer in the Air Force) and then settled in Greenville. Home schooled for middle school and high school, she graduated with honors from East Carolina and was married shortly after to Mike whom she met in church. Now she is expecting her first child, Erin Mina, in January and is a full time customer service representative at Overton’s Corporate Office.
Years of hearing her mom's stories about her great experiences with her sisters and a desire to get back into a social network of women of similar interests helped her decide to become an alum initiate.
Susan C. Mizelle
Susan Mizelle is originally from Greensboro but has lived in eastern North Carolina long enough to call Pitt County home. She graduated from ECU with a BSN. After a few years in the operating room, she went back to school to Duke University’s School of Anesthesia for Nurses and was awarded a "diploma," their equivalent to a master's degree and has worked as a nurse anesthetist since her graduation from Duke.
She was married to a wonderful man for 30 years and had two great children, who are now grown and have homes of their own. Her husband died ten years ago after open heart surgery; she is now remarried, and has just celebrated her first anniversary. She and her husband live in Ayden.
Susan, a dear friend to Jeannie Arbegast for over thirty years, has listened to AOII stories. Now they can share in the friendships, laughter, and experiences only AOIIs can know.
Ann M. Windham
Ann Windham has known AOIIs (Myra Hamlet, Lydia Morgan, and Jeannie Arbegast) for years and has over the years carried sweet treats for the sisters at Zeta Psi. Originally from Chicago, she has earned multiple degrees from Pitt Community and in 2009, earned a degree from ECU, where she has worked since September 2006. Her husband Terry of seventeen years also is employed at East Carolina. Both are very active members of the Pirate Club and big supporters of Pirate athletics. Her “child” is a three year old Maltese named Dixie.
From long-term associations over the years to painting ceramics over a few hours, Ann has met and known members of the chapter and realized these women were ones she wanted as sisters.
November Initiation
Our November meeting, dedicated to initiation of three alumnae initiates, was presided over by Jerri Waller, Chapter President, and Jessica Carr, Ashley Billanti, Samantha Mandel, Kellie Smalling, were the Wardens.; Lori Millsap assumed the position of Herald.
Mary Phillips sponsored Susan Mizelle; Lori Millsap, Mallory Bosse; Jeannie Arbegast, Ann Windham in an outdoor ceremony.
After the ceremony, both collegians and alums celebrated the addition of three members and showed how AOII is for a lifetime. From newly initiated alums to alums with over forty years of AOII shared common and unusual experiences over the decades.
A business meeting followed the celebration to finalize activity plans for the year.
Tracy McLendon and Mallory Bosse are the T-shirt committee. After our sales of letter shirts for Homecoming, we are going to institute a regular schedule for T-shirts. The offerings for each fall semester will be traditional letters; the spring semester offerings will be a screened print design. As of now, the current members of the chapter will receive their shirts at cost; any non member of the alum chapter will be assessed a slight mark-up fee. Policy guidelines were discussed to minimize the extraneous pressures of individual demands.
One task for the committee is to get a PayPal account set up so payments to the alum chapter can be made easily on line. If we get this going, we might be able to pay our dues this way.
Want another letter shirt before the fall? Check out http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260843835839&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP%3Awatchlink%3Atop%3Aen
These iron on letters are available in a wide range of colors and prints for $1.50 each. We can get our own letters and shit and bring it to the January meeting at Julie’s so we can help each other !
Michele Whaley and Lori Millsap received information sheets that explained the Alum Initiate Process. This program is the alum level of recruitment when we can take an active roll in shaping the future of the alum chapter by sharing our AOII experiences with some of our non affiliated friends. The smoothest method for transitioning in new members is to invite them to our activities and let them see for themselves the value of bonding and networking. Guests are allowed (and encouraged) to come to all meetings except ritual. Since our business portions of our meetings are often handled as announcements during our activities, even our business portions should not discourage us from bringing in guests. If you are interested in the Alumnae Initiate program and would like to see more information about the program, please let Jeannie Arbegast know. We will schedule another initiation as the need arises, but the process takes a minimum of 3 months after the paperwork is completed and is given to the collegiate chapter for voting.
Cheryl Stephenson has volunteered to be on the nominations committee for the upcoming elections of President and Treasurer. By the bylaws, he needs two others to work with her.
The responsibilities of the committee are :
(1) The election of the President and Treasurer shall be held each even year prior to April 1 and installations shall be held prior to May 1. The election of any other officers shall be held each odd year prior to April 1 and installation prior to May 1.
(2) Elections shall be by ballot, except when there is only one nominee for an office, in which case the vote may be by voice. A majority vote is required to elect each officer. No member shall hold more than one elected office at a time. A vacancy in an office other than President shall be filled by selection of the Nomination Committee. An election must be held to fill a vacancy in the office of President.
Plans Finalized or Forming for next Meetings
November 21: Make sure you get Cindy Seymour your $20 before this date so Cindy can pre-pay for our tickets for the tour of Tryon Palace.
December 10:
3:00PM: Chinese Christmas and light refreshments at Cindy Seymour’s home (4503 Country Club Rd., New Bern, NC 28562). Bring a light finger food and a gift for the Chinese Christmas gift exchange. The gift value cannot exceed $15.
5:00PM: We will meet at the entrance for the tour. Small groups are then led in (~every 5-10 minutes) and given the guided tour through the house. We can then tour the grounds for however long we would like (open until 9pm).
January 22:
(Time to be announced)
Meeting for January will be at Julie Wilson’s (3106 Streamside Lane, Winterville) for a Wii Party. Julie has hunting and sports games, but bring any game that you have for the Wii and would like for us to play.
February 28: Founders’ Day
The Founders’ Day Committee of Ann Windham, Cindy Seymour, an unnamed collegian and Jeannie Arbegast will be responsible for organizing a joint celebration that includes the GGAC, Zeta Psi, and possibly the Port City Alum Chapter.
After speaking with Emily DeHaven, Chapter Adviser, it was agreed that the primary responsibility for planning the event will shift to the alum chapter.
Tentatively scheduled is a house tour, brunch at the house, possibly attending an ECU basketball game in our letter shirts, then a meal at a local restaurant where we can share our experiences and reflect on our AOII heritage.
A multi prong approach to communicating with the alums to inform them of the planned activities was discussed and the importance of more than an Evite was stressed. Invitations will go out explaining to the alums the plans for the day.
Ritual Refreshed:
To strengthen our knowledge of ritual and our bonds, Lori Millsap reviewed the policies for AOII jewelry.
She demonstrated the proper placement of the badge, showed a safety catch’s use for safeguarding a badge (very appropriate since we had three different badges fall/ drop), and enumerated the when’s and what not’s about our badge. By the Book of Policies of the Governing Documents, the rules are:
The Badge May Be Worn on:
(1) Formal clothing when the occasion is appropriate.
(2) All dressy clothing.
(3) The topmost garment, such as a sweater, vest, or business suit jacket, when multiple layers of clothing are worn, but not on skiwear, athletic apparel, overcoats, raincoats, or any other type of outerwear.
(4) A blouse with a skirt of any fabric, including denim.
(5) A blouse or sweater with slacks, pants, trousers, jeans, cropped pants, Capri pants, or dressy knee-length shorts.
(6) A bracelet, as a lavaliere on a chain, or as a ring on the special karat gold ring by alumnae only.
The Badge May Not Be Worn:
(1) On clothing that exposes front or rear cleavage, front and/or back midriffs, and/or stomachs.
(2) On tank tops or t-shirts.
(3) On swim apparel.
(4) On jerseys /sweatshirts.
(5) With cutoffs or short shorts.
It was pointed out that we only rent our badges. If we decide to break the bond with AOII or we die, our family is to return the badge to Headquarters. If you ever would like a replacement badge, Headquarters will re-sell a returned badge. There is also a group on Facebook that keeps an eye on eBay and rescues badges so they stay in the hands of sisters and do not go to collectors.
Life Loyal Program:
Jeannie Arbegast explained the mailing mix up about Life Loyals and assured everyone who was a current with their membership dues to the alum chapter would receive a To Dragma.
The Life Loyal Program was explained and questions were answered. There is now an application for Life Loyal on the groups Facebook page that explains the different payment options. You can also find this document on the AOII website on the public side.
In our chapter, the following are Life Loyals:
Ellen Angus, Jeannie Arbegast, Emily DeHaven, Tracy McLendon, Lucy Nicolaysen and Lydia Morgan..
AOII Foudation Receives Prestigious Honor
Brentwood, Tenn.—The Alpha Omicron Pi Foundation has been honored as the recipient of the Floyd B. Odlum Making a Difference Award by The Arthritis Foundation.
The Floyd B. Odlum Making a Difference Award honors an individual, organization, corporation or government agency that has helped to make a difference in the lives of people and families with arthritis. Representatives from the Alpha Omicron Pi Foundation will receive the award on November 18th in Beverly Hills, California due to the continued generous support of the Arthritis Foundation nationwide from AOII’s collegians, alumnae and donors.
As the philanthropic arm of the organization, the fraternity’s members exhibit their commitment to be servant leaders as they raise funds for arthritis research through the AOII Foundation. Since 1967, the Alpha Omicron Pi Foundation has raised more
to conquer arthritis once and for all. Much of these funds are raised through the foundation’s signature event, Strike Out Arthritis!, in which many of our collegiate and alumnae chapters and members work creatively to fundraise and create awareness about this devasting disease.
On behalf of Alpha Omicron Pi, we congratulate each of you for your contributions to The Arthritis Foundation.
Collegiate News
2011 Homecoming Skit Winners: AOII and Sigma Tau came in FIRST PLACE in the skit contest for Homecoming Wednesday night! You can watch the winning skit at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU70zwvNGko
The reviewers thought the group “ killed it. Props to Andrew Reynolds for the awesome script/ directing/ acting, Ashley Clark for her sweet directing skills, everybody in the skit, Emily for filming it, and all the ΑΟΠ's and Sig Tau's!!!”
2011 Intramural Volleyball Champs
The AOII volleyball team (4-3) of Alicia DiDomizio, Kellie Smalling, Sarah Strauss, Danielle Lograsso, Amber Brandon, and Kylie Davis defeated Kappa Delta (6-0) in an upset championship run with the scores of 21-7 in game one, 14-21 loss in game two, and a 15-12 win in the third match.
Keeping in the Know
Having a hard time remembering what, when or where we have things going on with the alum chapter? Here are some links you can use:
Our Blog: http://aoiiggaac.blogspot.com/
On Facebook: for any Zeta Psi Alum: (group) AOII Zeta Psi Alumnae
Our alum chapter: Greater Greenville Area: Alpha Omicron Pi Greater Greenville Area Alum Chapter
Or email the group at: ggreenvilleareaalumchapter@groups.facebook.com
We post upcoming activities on the Community Page in the Daily Reflector. If you have an email contact for your local paper, please send it to Michele Whaley at mwhaley@suddenlink.net so we can do all we can to keep you informed.
If you are not on Facebook, please make sure we have your correct email address. If you are receiving this in hard copy, we do not have a working email for you. Each email we send saves the chapter postage fees.
Would you like to help keep others in the know? Would you be willing to call sisters in your area to give them reminders and help them feel welcome in the chapter.
Sisters Supporting Sisters
Mojo's Boutique: Designer clothes for children to size 5. Appliques, embroidery, personalization (Amber Danielle Jones is owner)
Mary Kay: Candace Essick is representative
Music Academy of Eastern Carolina: Cheryl Swanson Stephenson is Executive Director
Pitt County Animal Control Shelter:( Michele Rickards Whaley) is the manager.
Morgan Printers: For your printing needs. (Lydia Morgan is owner.)
Contact
President:
Jeannie Arbegast: jarbegast@gmail.com
Vice President:
Michele Whaley mwhaley@suddenlink.net
Secretary:
Lori Millsap lwmillsap@gmail.com
Treasurer:
Mary McClellan marybear1@suddenlink.net
Posted by Tracy McLendon
