Roosevelt Hotel, New York City, New York 

by Jane Indreland, FAUSA President

FAUSA FEVER infected New York City at our annual meeting September 27-29, 2007. Liz Hemminger with Pam Dahlgren did an outstanding job of organizing the activities for our group. Once again, it was such a pleasure to see our old FAUSA friends. There were a number of first-timers, too, and it was great fun meeting them.

Although a new Board was due to be elected at the conference, the currently serving Board members met before it began to discuss our business issues. This was the last board meeting for two members. We will miss First Vice President/Membership Chair Ginny Andersen's warm smile and diligence in regard to the membership database. Stevie Coppin will take her place, and we welcome her to the Board. Stevie is a past FAWCO president, so she is eminently well qualified for this job, and I am looking forward to working with her. We will also miss Liz Hemminger, who managed to keep those minutes in addition to planning the FAUSA conference! Nancy Thornley will take over as Secretary. She has done this job before, and we welcome her back. Serving on the FAUSA Board is a major commitment, and we are fortunate to have women like this working with the group.

Ginny and Liz aren't going away, though. Ginny and her husband Bill offered to organize the next FAUSA conference at Longboat Key, Florida, and so get your flowered shirts and start listening to Jimmy Buffet now to get into the mood.  Liz Hemminger did such a great job of raising money for our charities at her conference, that I asked her to take on the job of official charity fundraiser for FAUSA. Happily, she agreed.

Here are some highlights of the delegates' business meeting:

• There was an important reminder of past FAWCO conferences at this meeting. Norma Vogelweid sold trees for Valerie Garforth, and raised $120 to plant trees in the United States and abroad-helping to offset the environmental impact of our event.
• The delegates discussed the importance of the CEDAW (Convention to End Discrimination Against Women) treaty, which has not been passed by the US Congress. We sent a letter to Senator Joseph Biden, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee along with a petition of those who wished to sign urging ratification of the treaty. If you are interested in reading the letter, please email me, and I will send you a copy.
• FAUSA member, Charlotte Fox Zabusky educated us and shared her insights on the complex issue of immigration. She explained the documentation process and how some people slip through the process to become "undocumented" residents.
• Nancy Thornley brought us all up to date on FAUSA's charity efforts. During the following discussion, the delegates decided to donate to Estancia Fraternidad again.
• After a long discussion of FAUSA's Education Award, the group voted to open it up to include members' grandchildren as well as children and members themselves.
• Eve Miller and Norma Vogelweid are organizing an Online Book Club for our members. Everyone is invited to participate.
• The delegates, along with the mail-in ballots, elected the new Board, which will serve until Fall 2009. They are President Jane Indreland, First Vice President Stevie Coppin, Second Vice President Priscilla Dysart, Secretary Nancy Thornley, and Treasurer Dorothy Childers. I am looking forward to working with everyone!
• The delegates voted to put forth a bid to host the 2010 FAWCO Conference in Boston, MA. Our bid was accepted by the FAWCO Board, and we are beginning work immediately. Charlotte DeWitt and I are co-chairing for the time being with Nancy Thornley's help.
• The business meeting ended with a tribute to Caroline Newton, our historian. An inspiration to us all, Caroline has never let her physical issues stop her from actively participating as the FAWCO representative from the AWC of London and then as the MC for Seattle and FAUSA historian. The Board presented her with an Honorary Membership in FAUSA.

Our lunch speaker was Virginia Hazzard, who was awarded the Eleanor Schnurr Award for the United Nations Council of Organizations. She entertained us with stories about her experiences working throughout the world. We were shocked and saddened to hear that Virginia, shortly after, was hit by a car leaving a United Nations event and died several days later. She lived life to the fullest until the very end.

Our last night was a cooking and dining experience at Rustico Cooking Restaurant. Everyone got into the action, including our guests, and the food was delicious. The silent auction raised $1000 for our charity fund and $300 for the Kid's Help Project. Everyone was excited to see who would win the beautiful quilt created by Kay Miller to be raffled for the Education Award. The raffle raised $1200, and lucky Terrie Hostetter took it back to Ohio. Thank you to Kay for your dedication to this effort!