By Janice Garry

I have great news! Two new members, Jennifer Hoover and Suzanna Smith, have stepped up to restart our Education Committee! It has been latent for over a year after the chair stepped down. As co-chairs, Jennifer and Suzanna will attend school board meetings and home in on local education issues to address. When they’re ready to begin committee meetings, we’ll spread the word!

More good news: Emmy Scott, a Santa Fe College chapter member, has stepped into the Hospitality Chair position. Emmy has organized and marketed a number of events, most recently her own wedding. Congratulations, Emmy! She’ll plan our Fall Luncheon, Holiday Party and Annual Meeting.

I have sad news. Ruth Angaran, a longtime and devoted League member, passed away on March 31. The celebration of her life took place on April 12. Her thoughtful sister, Rebecca Watson, has asked those who love her to donate to our League in lieu of flowers. We are grateful.

Now, here is our needs list:

• Sherry Steiner and Jeff Shapiro are a sterling team as our Membership Co-chairs. Jeff does the Zoom and video tech, Sherry runs the New Member Orientation discussion each month. This is a key function where we welcome new members and learn about their interests as League members. Due to health issues, we need a tech person to handle Zoom-host duties during the meetings, with a time commitment of 1-2 hours a month. Can you help?
• It’s time to put together our Budget Committee to review and revise the budget for 2025-26. Last year’s committee did an outstanding job and Anne D’Amico, our treasurer, has designed clear, helpful spreadsheets. We need a budget chair and another one or two people to help. How about you?
• We need a new president! Many of you have heard me say that being president is the best job I’ve ever had. It is rewarding and interesting. It has allowed me to use the League's outstanding brand to lend a strong voice to community issues. Much of the role is up to the individual president’s time and interests. Find a friend and be co-presidents!
• We need a new Communications Chair! Many thanks to Mickie Anderson who has stepped up to compose the Voter and Calendar each month. Now we need somebody(s) who can manage the website and social media. How about you? Or somebody you know? Let’s all recruit!
• If you can’t do any of the above, there’s something you can do. Take action every single day to object to the breakdown of our branches of government, the questionable firing of federal workers, the national security breach by officials using the unsecure Signal app and the breach of security at Social Security. Join our What You Can Do (WYCD) Campaign! info [at] lwv-alachua.org (subject: What%20You%20Can%20Do) (Send me an email) with “What You Can Do” in the subject line and about once a week, an email will come with topics, suggested questions and legislators' phone numbers. Info on local actions such as protests are also promoted. Our goal is that WYCD will take 10 minutes or less every day.