Central Illinois ABATE News D


We had our General Membership Meeting December 8th, at RJ's Pub with 16 
members and 4 guests, representing the Charities, present. We welcomed 
our Guests and they explained what they were doing with the money that 
we donate to them. We did not have a representative of Western IL 
Special Olympics, but it was a rough night for Kathy Betar to have to 
travel from Monmouth to Galesburg due to the ice/sleet storm. We took 
pictures and they should be up on the website.

We had our annual Member Appreciation Party after the meeting and 
certificates were handed out for those who helped this year. Bert and 
LeRoy provided spiral cut Hams and we had a potluck meal . Thanks to all 
who brought something to pass.

We took nominations and the vacant Membership Coordinator job went to 
Richard Gaines, as the only nominee, so we voted him in immediately. At 
the January 12th meeting, we will have the installation of Officers. No 
position is contested yet, with the Special Event Coordinator to be 
decided since no one was nominated.

The nominations are: State Board Delegate, 2 yr term, Bert McElroy, one 
of two Delegates; Legislative, 1 yr term, Bert McElroy; Safety & Ed, 1 
yr term, Willis Queen; Public Relations, 1 yr term, Scott Sornberger; 
Activities, 1 yr term, LeRoy Scooter Kitch; Special Events, 1 yr term, 
currently held by Swede, but no one was nominated, Swede probably was 
absent due to the weather ; Sgt at Arms, 1 yr term, Jim Matthews.

We want to thank Scott Sornberger, PR Coordinator, for getting the 
Trauma Toy Program working again. He has presented toys to the Galesburg 
Fire Dept, Galesburg Hospital Ambulance Service, and the Rio Fire Dept. 
We will soon be working on plans to get the program funded for more toy 
purchases and will let you know in the future. If any member would like 
to donate to the Trauma Toy Fund or know of a business that may be 
interested, send your check to the care of Central IL ABATE, PO Box 
1084, Galesburg, IL 61402-1084, and make the check payable to Central IL 
ABATE and write "Trauma Toy Fund" in the memo area of the check. As with 
other things we do, donations to this fund is not tax-deductible, as we 
are a 501C-4 organization. But the good that the donation will do, will 
be greatly appreciated. We also have a limited amount of ABATE Products 
to sell to the membership. We no longer have an ABATE Products 
Coordinator due to a membership vote to eliminate the position, but we 
will recoup some money from the products that are left. The Board of 
Directors is working on having a budget to present to the membership at 
an upcoming meeting.

One of the other things that came up at the meeting was our 2008 
Calendar of Events. A preliminary list was given out at the November 
meeting and it was accepted as is without any changes. Our first event 
will be the "Leap Day Party" on February 29th and LeRoy is working on that.
We didn't have an article in the paper last month due to a snafu in the 
changeover of the State News Coordinator to a new person, and she 
promised to run it this month for us, so it should be in here somewhere. 
Those things happen when people change jobs.

Our meetings are held at RJ's Pub, 2085 Grand Avenue, Galesburg, 7 PM. 
The Board will be meeting on January 9th, and the general membership on 
the 12th. If you need to verify a meeting or other information, Bert 
McElroy is the President and his Phone # is 309 344-4080. Keep in mind 
that he works most weekend days and call after 5:30 PM or anytime during 
the day to leave a message on the answer machine.