December 2014 Bulletin

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Message from our President:

As we move from Thanksgiving to Christmas and the New Year, it’s a great time to reflect on the past year and look forward to the upcoming year. When I look back at the past year– from the completion of our third Field of Honor, to a fun community service project, to another successful “FunRaiser”, Philipsburg trip, and Spirit of Christmas– I’m amazed at all this club has accomplished and extremely grateful for all the club members and volunteers that made it all happen.  We also had a whopping 17 members join the club in 2014 and are on the verge of reaching the 100 member mark.  When we hit 100 members in 2015, we’ll be sure to celebrate! Looking forward to 2015, there are many great programs, projects, events, and fun times on the horizon.  In February, we’ll hold our annual Youth of the Year/ACE Banquet, which is always a special evening for the club and community.  April is child abuse prevention month and we will plan programs and activities to raise awareness and prevent the devastating effects of child abuse in our community. The new year will not be all so serious, as we are planning a number of evening socials aimed at orientating new members and providing all of us an opportunity to meet in a more social atmosphere. All in all, it looks like a fantastic 2015 ahead and I look forward to sharing it with all of you in Exchange! Leo

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Christmas Turkey Shoot and holiday message will be our program for December 23^rd.  Please plan to attend and participate in the raffle. You could be one of twenty lucky winners and take home a turkey for your Christmas dinner. Proceeds of our raffle will help support the Paul Clark Home. ** Please note there will be no meeting on December 30^th.

NEWS

FunRaiser – Red Carpet Gala – November 7, 2014

Despite a cold and snowy night the annual Butte Exchange Club FunRaiser was a huge success. The venue, food and drinks were excellent and the Butte Country Club did an outstanding job. Exchange Club members and guests enjoyed live and silent auctions, music, dancing, and lots of fun, laughter, and networking. Many came dressed for a “red carpet” evening including the cast of the Wizard of Oz and Mr. and Mrs. Santa. There were many more “characters” in attendance and lots of sparkle and glitz. Please look at the photographs and try to identify some of our colorful attendees. According to Leo Prigge, President of the Club, the Gala raised about $17,000. This money will be used by the club for community improvement projects and scholarships and will assist in funding other projects supported by the Butte Exchange Club. Jim Stilwell was the winner of the free one year club membership. Congratulations Jim! It was a beautiful event and many thanks to our FunRaiser Committee, the Butte Country Club, Cathy Ouellete for her decorations, and Angela Vidrich for the beautiful photographs. We also want to thank all who donated items for the auction. We could not do this event without your very generous contributions. Thank you all so much. A great time was had by all!

 

Spirit of Christmas – November 30, 2014

Club members, friends and family assisted Chairman Joann Bracco in the annual “Spirit of Christmas” shopping trip on November 30^th at the Butte Walmart. We shopped for 27 children this year and had names from the Salvation Army, the Butte 4 C’s and the Department of Family Services Foster Child Program. The gifts were delivered to the 3 agencies on December 2, 2014, and will be distributed to the families before Christmas. The budget for this event was $1,500.00 from the Exchange Club, $1,000.00 donation from Jeff Francis and a $32.00 cash donation from a customer, Ron Lowney, at Walmart. The total budget was $2,532.00. Assisting with the shopping were: Julie Crnich, Penny McElroy, Julie Brandon, Mary Gallardo, friend Karen Marquardt, Sandy Schonberg, Rhonda Celbalski, John Chioutsis, Angie Hasquet, Lauren Kippen and daughter Jamie Lynch. Seven employees from the Glacier Bank also helped. Very special thanks to Joann for her leadership and organization of this event. She has chaired the Spirit of Christmas shopping trip for the past 10 years. Also, the club would like to thank Lauren Kippen for allowing us to use the Marquis Vintage Suites recreation room to wrap all of the Christmas gifts and for delivering the packages on December 2^nd. We appreciate all you both do to make this a fun and rewarding experience. Photos

Turkey Shoot – November 25, 2014

Father Tom Haffey gave our Thanksgiving message this year followed by our Thanksgiving Turkey Turkey Shoot.  The proceeds from both the Thanksgiving and Christmas Turkey Shoots will help support the Butte Paul Clark Home.

  

COMMUNICATIONS

The Communications Committee would like to remind you that we rely on committee chairmen and all club members to send us meeting announcements, stories and photos when we cannot be present at Club events. Please use your cell phones and capture some fun photos to send us. Please send notices of upcoming events and meetings, past events and photos to info@ButteExchangeClub.org  . By doing so, the message will automatically be sent to the Club Secretary, Website Coordinator, Bulletin Editor and Public Relations Chairman.   The information will be picked up by the appropriate person and included in the weekly emails, monthly bulletin, and website.   If you can’t remember this email address, don’t worry! It is at the bottom of every page of the club website www.ButteExchangeClub.org . Here is how the information is used: Upcoming events:

• Brad gets event and meeting announcements quickly to everyone in the weekly email.
• Dan updates the “Tuesday Programs” and “Upcoming Events” sections on the website. The Speakers List comes from Holly of the Program Committee.
• Penny includes upcoming events in the monthly Bulletin.
• Elyse issues Press Releases to the local media if needed.

Past events:

•             Brad may include a short item in the weekly email if requested by the event organizer.
•         Penny will include photos and a story in the monthly Bulletin
•         Elyse writes up items for the “Featured Story” for the website Homepage and Dan posts them.

Regards, Elyse Lewis – Public Relations Chairman  Mobile:  406-565-0801  Home: 406-299-2186     E-mail:  lewis.exchange@bresnan.net

Bulletin Editor – Penny McElroy

Mobile: (406) 490-1946

Home: (406) 494-2731

E-mail: pamcelroy7@gmail.com

REMINDER

NO MEETING DECEMBER 30, 2014

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU ALL.