missala.com Blog

McComb Boys State and Girls State Delegates with Lou Wilkerson and Angela Kilcrease

This has been a busy week, thus far, but  most enjoyable one.  On Tuesday evening, my husband Jack and I were invited to attend a dinner for Boys and Girls State delegates (2009 sessions) at McComb Post 14.  Fortunately, Lou Wilkerson, our Girls State Director, was spending the night with me so we could go to Jackson the next day for a Finance Committee meeting.

Anyway, it was a nice crowd at McComb and great to see the young people who attended Boys State and Girls State.  The Post had a delicious meal, and Lou and I met with several ladies who were not members of the Auxiliary and talked to them about revitalizing their unit.  All in all, it was a good evening.

On Wednesday, we had a sucessful audit of last year’s financial records.  Finance Chairman Janice Crosby and members Shirley Turner and Lou Wilkerson poured over the figures and found most all in order.  Of course, this year, financial transactions have been moved to a new computerized system that will make things even easier next year to audit.  Many thanks go to the Finance Committee!  While they did figures, Nancy and I got the November newsletter in envelopes and in the mail.  It’s thick–chock full of good information for our units!

Angela Kilcrease
Dept. President

Members of Unit 146 in Petal look over Plans of Action before the meeting began.

We had our first fall area conference in Tylertown on Oct. 24.  What a great event!  I’m very thankful to my home Unit (56) for their hard work in decorating and making us feel so welcome.  The facility was all decked out in fall colors and flower arrangements.  The food, catered by Jimmy May of May’s Restaurant in Tylertown, was delicious.  We had 57 Auxiliary members, while the Legion had 58 present.  That’s a great crowd!

Our Dept. Program Chairmen did a great job, and I appreciate their efforts to be at the meeting to talk about their program.  Yes, these meetings do go long–much longer than the Legion (they were done by 2 p.m.), but these area conferences are intended to be our “School of Instruction,” a chance to talk about what we need to be doing during the year, ask questions, and tell of our success stories in the units.  You ladies in the Northern and Central Areas, please warn your husbands that we will meet longer than they–bring them a good book to read!

Anyway, our Membership Team of Mary Lyles and Mary Ried did a great job, and we appreciate their efforts to motivate us in sending our renewals and new members.  The Bee Pin was awarded to a couple of folks for recruiting three new members already.  These are limited edition pins that will surely be collectors items later.  Don’t let your chance go by in getting yours.  Just recruit three new senior members!!

Lastly, and most importantly, thanks to all the members who attended the conference. It is so important that we have our members participate in these events–this is how we learn about our organization and grow to appreciate what it stands for!  Hope to see you all at Northern and Central Area Conferences. Don’t miss your chance to “Make Some Buzz!”

Angela Kilcrease
Dept. President

Dept. Secretary Nancy Sanders and I attended the annual Presidents/Secretaries Conference Oct. 11-14 in Indianapolis, Indiana.  It was a great opportunity to meet other Department Presidents and to hear about all the wonderful things they are doing in their states.  I was able to get a lot of great ideas for things we can do here in Mississippi! 

I particularly bonded with the President and Secretary from Maine!  We first sat together at a session and enjoyed it so much that we looked for each other the rest of the conference.  We call ourselves M & M.  They were great ladies, with great a great sense of humor.  To Lois and Dora–we miss you already!

The conference was very informative.   My favorite part was the roundtable session when each National Program Chairman rotated around the room and talked to each table of participants about their program.  We were able to ask questions and learn more about the program objectives.  National President Rita and the entire group was treated to a great skit after the Tuesday night banquet.  It was very cute and so was our own Kathy Dungan (National AEF Chairman) who played a sweet little baby!   I do have photos to share very soon!

I appreciate so much our Dept. Secretary–Nancy!  She took such good care of me during our trip–she has a way of making one feel like a queen!  Thanks, Nancy, for everything and for being such a good friend.

Angela Kilcrease
Dept. President

Serving Up Chili Dogs

I finally got to attend Cruisin’ the Coast at the Biloxi VA on Tuesday, Oct. 6.  It was an inspiring event, but rather hot.  Not dressing correctly makes a big difference between fun and lots of fun!

I was able to meet up with State Commander Don Cabrol–always a pleasure to see him.  I took some photos of the volunteers who worked so hard!  There was one booth that gave out chili dogs and chips and another, mostly manned by the good folks at Post and Unit 139, Bay St. Louis, that gave out soda floats.  They all worked so hard, and I salute their efforts. 

Glenda and Jim Wheelis made their first trip down to volunteer.  Glenda is a member of Unit 1997 in Heidelberg, Miss.  I also saw our members from Unit 139 (Bay St. Louis), 160 (Pascagoula), 119 (Gulfport), 1992 (Gautier/Vancleave) and 243 (Moss Point).  It was a great day for volunteerism, and these ladies certainly worked hard for the cause.  Many thanks go out to them all. 

Oh, and there were lots of great cars…more photos are available on the Department’s Web Site (www.missala.com)!

Angela Kilcrease
Dept. President