UPDATES!

The Newsletter for the North Fulton Business & Professional Women

I'm so looking forward to 2006. I just have this feeling that its going to be a great year for all of us! I'd love to see our membership double between now and the end of the year, so I continue my challenge from the beginning of my tenure as NFBPW President: I challenge each and everyone of us to each bring a guest to the next four meetings. Tell one--tell all about NFBPW. We have some excited programs ahead, beginning in January with our own Karen Bershad, who will talk to us about identity theft. This is a subject that touches all of us. I've heard some fairly horrific stories, even among my own networking chums. I'm looking forward to hearing what Karen has to tell us. See you all on January 3.

Warm regards,

   I enjoyed seeing all of you at the Holiday Dinner and missed the ones of you who could not make it. As always Debbie Sundal did an outstanding job and we all enjoyed it.

   Hope everyone had a very Happy Holidays and will have a very happy, safe and prosperous year in 2006. I will be leaving on January 2nd for our annual trip to Florida so I will miss our January meeting. We will be returning about the 28th or 29th of January and hopefully be able to attend the February meeting.

   Debbie Belz has agreed to complete the February Newsletter for me, please send any information for the February Newsletter to her at grandebbie@bellsouth.net. Hope to see all of you in February.

Identify Theft - January Program

Do you hand your credit card to servers at restaurants? Do you sign your credit cards? Do you supply personal information over the Internet? These are just a few actions that can put your identify as risk. Karen Bershad of Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc., will present some helpful information to help us protect ourselves from this important topic on Thursday, January 5. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. Click here to RVSP.

Christy Nilsson

Vice President-Programs

Important and Notable Dates

January 5 - NFBPW regular meeting at Integrity Bank
February 2-4 - Policy in Action Conference Interim, Washington, D.C.
April 25 – Equal Pay Day
April 28-30 – BPW/GA State Conference, Crown Plaza Perimeter, Atlanta
July 2006 – BPW/USA National Conference, Dallas, Texas
July 20-27, 2008 – BPW/USA National Conference, Atlanta Hilton, Atlanta

UPDATES! Submissions

Orientation - History of the Collect

   The Collect was written by Mary Stewart in Longmont, Colorado, in 1904, as a prayer for the day, not for any particular person or group. It was published as the Collect for Club Women because, at the time, she felt that women working together with wide interests for large ends was a new thing. She believed that women needed a special petition and meditation of their own.

   The first printing of the Collect was in an obscure paragraph in the body of a column of organization notes in the DELINEATOR, a nationally published woman's magazine. Later copies were struck off by a local printer. About 1909, Paul Elder and Company of San Francisco printed the Collect, as well as a wall card. This copy, together with other copies, was signed “Mary Stuart,” a spelling Miss Stewart used until 1910 as a pen name.

   The Prayer has been reprinted in many forms, in many lands, and in countless yearbooks throughout the United States, not only of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs and the National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, but also of many other national organizations.

BPW Foundation News

   NFBPW members have donated $150 to the National Foundation since July 1, 2005. This averages just over $8 per member. To receive a BPW/GA Foundation Award at BPW/GA State Conference on April 15, 2006, we need to contribute an average of $10 per member. We must submit our contributions to BPW/USA Foundation by March 31.

   The National Foundation will celebrate its 50 anniversary on February 27, 2006. The BPW Foundation plans a year of activities and research that will reflect its impressive past and its dynamic future as a grant-making, research, and educational institution. Details can be found on line at the Rawalt On Line Resource Center. For 2006 donations of $100 or more, donors will receive a commemorative 50th Anniversary Pin from BPW/USA Foundation.

   Please note that all donations made by BPW/GA members will also have a chance to win “Miss Roz Ruby,” a 30-inch crocheted Teddi Bear in honor of BPW/USA President Roslyn Ridgeway of the Atlanta Urban BPW. One (1) chance can be purchased for $10 or three (3) for $25. Donations from July 1, 2005 through to the time of the drawing at State Conference Awards presentation.

Birthdays and Anniversaries

Happy Birthday to Skip Gray 1/9
Happy Anniversary to Cathy Woods 1/26

Prayer Request

Please keep Mary and John Bennett in your prayers. John has very serious health problems.

Treasurer's Report

The NFBPW treasury balance as of 12-12-2005 is $1226.35.

Member Profile - Peg Titus-Hall

Peggy Titus-Hall has been a resident of Georgia for seven years. As a career transition coach, she guides individuals in career development and planning and she works closely with clients making life transitions.

   Originally from New Jersey, Peggy moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where she lived for 16 years. After finishing college there, she began teaching adults in written communications, human relations, and career development and management. She moved to the corporate sector as a training coordinator and ultimately with Ernst & Young as an instructional designer where she wrote and developed training for the classroom and the Internet.

    Peggy became a coach after an epiphany one day working with an employee on some career choices. "I felt like a new woman after talking with this young fellow on the phone for about an hour. I knew I had to do this kind of thing for a living!" She completed her coaching training in 2002 and her coaching certification training through the Coaches Training Institute (CTI) this past October.

   Peggy also speaks around the Atlanta area on such topics as coaching, career development, listening skills, and effective communications to a number of professional, jobseekers, and non-profit organizations.