Dear Camp Confidence
Sertomans,
I attended the Great Plains Regional Convention over this past weekend in Fort Dodge Iowa. The weather was hot and so was the event. Much happened and a lot of it involved Camp Sertoma.
Shelia Reding from Sioux Falls, South Dakota was elected our new Great Plains Region International Director. Shelia is a former International President of LaSertoma and a former President of the Sertoma Foundation. She is very well qualified for her new role as our spokesperson to the International Board. Her husband Tom Reding is a member of our club and a member of a Sioux Falls Sertoma Club. He is working on getting a presence for Camp Sertoma established in South Dakota. They have several youth that they will be sponsoring to camp this summer.
Jon C. Haapajoki Camp Confidence Sertoma Memorial Fund was established and endorsed unanimously by the convention attendees. The goal is to raise $250,000 for a fund managed by the Sertoma Foundation with earnings going to camper fees and promotion of Camp Sertoma. A one year fund drive will be conducted to raise cash and pledges to reach the $250,000 goal. By the close of the convention over $74,000 had been pledged and over $54,000 raised. I am asking all Camp Confidence Sertoma members to make a donation to this worthwhile cause.
One way to do that is to purchase a special pin that was designed as a memorial pin for Jon Haapajoki and the fund. It combines Jon's theme pin from his term as International President along with the Memorial Fund in a very striking, attractive pin. Over 160 pins were sold at the convention. To order yours give me a call or make a donation of $200 or more to the Memorial Fund and receive a complimentary pin.
$5,000 was appropriated to Camp Sertoma from the Double Dollar raffle ticket sales. Gene Finger event chair, gave a report on the raffle sales. A little over 650 tickets were sold, a computer drawing has picked winners for the entire year. About 50% of the winning tickets have been sold. That left a profit of over $10,000 from which we received our portion of $5,000. It was proposed and approved that we run the raffle again next year. All members of
Camp Confidence Sertoma will be expected to purchase or sell 5 tickets next year as one of our major fundraisers.
Election of club officers was held at our meeting. Gene Finger was elected President, Debbie Larson is continuing as Secretary and Brenda Meech is continuing as Treasurer. I will be Chairman of the Board. We still need a Vice-President to serve as President in 2001-2002. If you are interested contact Gene Finger or myself.
Our next club meeting will be Friday evening June 16th at Camp
Confidence. On Friday and Saturday of that weekend, Confidence Learning Center hosts their annual Celebrity Golf and Fishing Classic Tournaments. It is their biggest fundraiser of the year and the Brainerd Noon Sertoma Club cooks the food for the Sertoma Marriuci Fiesta. All club members are welcome and encouraged to attend the event.
Four new members joined our club at the convention, they are Jeff Wilkes of Sioux Falls, SD, sponsored by Tom Reding. Then Jeff sponsored Diane Caine-Helwig from Hershey, PA who is the first Vice-President of Sertoma International. Bob Breffle from Fort Dodge, Iowa was sponsored by Tami Webb. And Sandy Thiel from Fargo, ND, was sponsored by Pam Johnson, which makes our membership count 84. This makes our net membership gain for the year at 20. We may make Gold Honor Club!!
Dave Burggraff
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