September in South Carolina is a beautiful transition from the hot, humid days of summer to the cooler, more comfortable days of fall. September is also a time to start enjoying more outdoor activities, local festivals, and football games. This month we will enjoy one more coffee in the park on September 1 at Gibson Pond Park. It is a beautiful setting, under a large, covered pavilion. If you haven’t experienced it, come on out September 1st.

As the year is coming to an end, we need to fill our open board positions for 2027 as soon as possible. We are down to needing just 3 positions filled. Kari will be stepping down as co-president after giving an extra year. We need someone to join Jenny as our 2nd co-president. We also need 1-2 co-1st VPs who are in charge of finding and booking speakers for our luncheons. We have an extensive list of possible speakers to reach out to, so the work is started for you. This is a good job for 2 friends to volunteer for and work together. The last position we need is 1 assistant treasurer. This person is solely responsible for the name tags at coffees and luncheons. Please consider helping the club continue to flourish by volunteering.

We have heard there is some confusion about the charity efforts of the club, so I want to take time to clarify that. As a club, we vote every 2 years (in odd numbered years) to support a charity with our monetary donations. Last year we voted to support Midlands Orphan Relief (MOR) for 2026 and 2027. We collect voluntary donations at each coffee and luncheon. All the money collected goes directly to MOR. We just gave them a check for $935 for our first half of the year donations. Good job! This year, we increased our charity efforts and added in collecting items for a variety of charities at each luncheon. This idea came from seeing a need in the Midlands and knew we could do more as a club to support multiple charities. All donations are completely voluntary! We do not want anyone to feel overwhelmed by the club asking for donations. If you can help, great, if not, that’s fine too. We are a large club, and philanthropy is a large part of our mission. We are always open to suggestions and solutions. We welcome your input.

Your 2026 Co-Presidents,
Kari & Jenny