March 29, 2008 The last meeting was canceled due to snow. We now look forward to our Literacy Luncheon. This year we will meet at the Grecian Resturant at 11:30 and will honor our Literacy Award winners and recognize the accomplishments of our council. We have had a very successful year and I'm thrilled to have been a part of it. In other news, got a letter from the ARA Nominating Committee that the new state officers for 2008-2009 are: President, Tina Montgomery; President-Elect, Julie Huskey; Vice President, Linda Eilers; Secretary, Vanessa Hendrix; Treasurer, Jeannine Shirley; Historian, Paula Finley; Parliamentarian, Patricia Finch and Past President Glenda Nugent. Congratulations to all and we look forward working with these officers.

March 2, 2008 The paperwork has been filed and verified, we are once again being recognized as an HONOR COUNCIL. Thanks to all of you and the work you do. Our membership is at its highest with 57 members and 27 IRA members. WOW! This puts us in a new bracket. Our African American Read-In Chain had a large audience this year. I requested 150 chairs set up for this event and almost every one of them was filled. Our last regular meeting will be Saturday, March 8. Our program will be Newspapers in Education. Make plans to be there.

Jan. 12, 2008 Souper Saturday as we have come to call this meeting. This meeting included a crock pot luck of soups and chili along with some wonderful desserts and other goodies. ARA President Elect, Tina Montgomery, was our guest today. Our program was a sharing and refection of the IRA publication, Responses to Literature. Participation was great and there were several ideas and reading successes shared within the group.

We now have 54 members with 28 also being IRA members. This is great!! We have exceeded our goals in membership this year.

Linda Williams reported that plans for the African American Read-In Chain are under way. Materials and information will be distributed to area schools this coming week along with a press release calling for readers. This event will take place on Feb. 3 at 2:30 in the Blytheville Kindergarten/Primary Multi-Purpose Building 1105 Byrum Rd.

Viola Snow introduced us to the child we have sponsored through the Terri Clark Ministries. Viola also reported that civil unrest in Uganda continues and that we should pray for the safety of the children and Terri Clark Ministeries. Check out our new page, International Projects for updates and photos.

Officer elections will be coming up in March. Anyone interested in serving needs to contact Melisa Rutherford as soon as possible.

In other business, many of our members have been struck by tragedy in recent weeks. Prayer has been requested for Phyllis Bloodworth and her family as they grieve over the loss of her husband, Larry Bloodworth; Caroline Self whose mother passed this past week; Richard Atwill and family as they continue after the loss of Richard's daughter Alexis and Teresa Lawrence and her brother Brian who has entered into hospice with a rapid and terminal cancer. Please continue to remember these in your thoughts and prayers.

Make plans to be at the African American Read-In Chain on Sunday, Feb. 3 at 2:30 at the BKC/BPS Multi-Purpose Building. It's next door to the kindergarten center, 1105 Byrum Rd. Our next regular meeting will be Sat. March 8, this will be the last regular meeting for the year. Our Literacy Luncheon will be Sat. April 12 at 12:00 at the Grecian Resturant. This is a Dutch treat luncheon honoring our Celebrate Literacy honorees: St. Clare Parks, Community Leader Honoree; Mrs. Geneva A. Harris, Educator in Literacy Honoree and the Blytheville Rotary Club our Agency in Literacy Honoree.

Nov. 24, 2007 The Southwest Regional Conference is over and what a conference it was. The sessions were WONDERFUL. Many of our members were there and even volunteering. Check out the photo gallery. I attended all three general sessions and several sessions and workshops as well as volunteered at the registration desk and assisted with decorating for the book and author luncheon. Many thanks to those of you who volunteered, many of our NEARC family pitched in and assisted throughout the conference. Mark you calendars for January when we have our pot luck and book share. We will also have a special guest, Tina Montgomery.

Oct. 13, 2007 We had a small group attend today but we did a lot of great things. First Viola gave report of possible projects from the International Committee. The result is that we voted to adopt a child, that is provide the financial support for a child's education, through the Terri Clark Ministeries. More information will be provided later. But please start saving your change to bring at our next meeting. Next, Caroline reported on our magazine subscriptions to the Haven. We voted to continue to renew the subscriptions and Caroline will get an update as to how this meets needs of the shelter. Everyone received a copy of the Responses to Literature book from IRA. This book will be discussed at our January meeting. Members who did not make it can contact Melisa Rutherford and she will see that you get a copy. This IRA publication was made available through a ARA literacy grant. Speaking of the January meeting, officers will be bringing their crockpots with soup/chili and everyone else is asked to bring finger foods. Tina Montgomery, ARA Pres. Elect. will be joining us for this meeting. The Northeast Arkansas Pageant Association will be hosting a "Miss Black History" Pageant on Feb. 2. Winners of this pageant will be invited to the African American Read-in Chain to share a poem and be presented on stage. Linda Williams, chair of this event is planning to send out information in the near future and hopes to have guest readers secured by the end of December. We won't have a meeting until January 12. So make plans to meet at the Southwest Regional Conference in Little Rock Nov. 14-16. You can register online at www.reading.org. Finally, we selected our honorees for the Celebrate Literacy Awards. They are: Blytheville Rotary Club for agency. Their work with placing dictionaries and thesauruses to third/fourth graders is only the beginning of the list of projects they provide in support of literacy. Mr. Sinclair Lewis for community leader. Mr. Lewis' work with Boys and Girls Club is truly an act of love. And finally, Mrs. Geneva Harris as our educator in literacy. Mrs. Harris has several projects to create well-educated, well-rounded students. Our program this month was presented by Diana Holmes, Blytheville Rotary Club. Diana gave us insight into what Rotary does and has done for literacy as well as introduced us to some projects that we could participate in the future. Gregg Moore received an IRA membership courtesy of ARA. Marvel reported our membership is at 50 members. I hope to see you all in January.

Sept. 8, 2007 Our first meeting was held at the Blytheville Kindergarten Center. Mr. Loyd Harris, Perma Bound Representative and long time friend of the council, presented a review of the 2008 Arkansas Diamond and Charlie Mae Simon Award nominees. Loyd gave each of us a new book and presented us with some books to donate to the Wiley Headstart Center. In other business, Caroline Self, Chair of the Community Projects committee has asked that the renewal of magazine subscriptions be tabled until next meeting when she would like to bring in a representive of The Haven to let us know if the periodicals have been a positive and if there are other things we can do to promote literacy with their organization. Membership Director, Marvel Dickerson reports that membership is coming in but we still have several who need to renew there state and local dues for this year. We have approxiamiately 35 members to date. The goal the state sets for us is 47 for this year. Our next meeting is Sat. Oct. 13 at 10am. FCCLA will be providing child care at the kindergarten center.