The 49th Annual Used Book Sale held by the Houston-Peach Branch of AAUW will be held in just a few weeks.  This year, the location will be the Galleria Mall in Centerville, and for the first time, credit cards will be accepted! The dates of the sale are October 23 – 25.

On September 30, the Junior ROTC from Northside High School in Warner Robins again helped move sorted and priced books from the Old Houston Mall to the Galleria. With twelve strong young backs, about a half dozen adults, and a caravan of pick-ups, the task was accomplished in about an hour. Many thanks to ROTC members Skyla Crawford, Bill Pletcher, Ellie Vogh, Braylin Barns, Ariana Edwards, Eric Dallas, Steven Landreth, Keyshawn Green, Rachael Currier, Edward Henning, Ryan Stuerman, and Warren Johnson, under the leadership of Major Dennis J Jolissaint.

While the 2014 Used Book Sale will be help at the Galleria Mall (October 23 – 25), sorting and pricing is continuing at the Old Houston Mall, and on August 23, the first day of moving books was held. Eight branch members were on hand, but much of the heavy work was done by the young, strong backs of members of the Junior ROTC from Northside High School. With their help, the move of several hundred boxes of books, took only a little over an hour!  Thank you Northside!!

Northside Highschool Junior ROTC volunteers included:  L to R Ellie Vogh, Maj. Dennis Jolissaint, Keyshawn Green, Edward Henning, Bill Pletcher, and Steve Landreth.

 

Sorting and pricing is underway for the 2014 Used Book Sale (our 49th!!).  As usual, we are sorting and pricing in our Houston Mall Location. However, the sale itself will be held this year at the Galleria Mall in Centerville, due to renovation and construction at Houston Mall. Date for the sale are October 23 – 25.  Click on the Book Sale link above for more details.

Mrs. Barbara Asbell was  honored at the as a Lifetime Member of the Houston-Peach Branch of AAUW at its May 13 meeting.  Membership Vice President, Diane Lester, presented a National Certificate recognizing her 50+ Years of Service to the local branch.  She and Eleanor Granum, charter members, remain active in supporting American Association of University Women endeavors.

In 1990 the Houston-Peach branch of the American Association of University Women established the Eleanor Granum Award for Volunteerism to honor Charter Member/First President Eleanor Granum who gave untiringly to the community.  The award seeks to recognize each year a woman or man who continues that volunteer spirit.  This year’s recipient is Kathy Culpepper, manager and part-owner of Fit and Firm Fitness for Women , who contributes in myriad ways through her church, schools, civic organizations, and business.  Margaret Mathews, left, nominated Mrs. Culpepper, Jane Winston, EGA Chair presented her with an engraved clock symbolizing the countless hours she donate to the community, and Eleanor Granum, right, for whom the award is named, took part in the presentation.

The annual sorting and pricing of used books in preparation for the branch’s annual Used Book Sale is well under way. Under the leadership of Co-chairs Marlene Humphry and Chrissy Lutz (above), sorting and pricing sessions have been going on all summer on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings.  This should be a banner year for volume, as there have been large donations of books from several sources, such as the ABC Bookstore and the Friends of the Library. There are particularly large selections of science fiction and romance, both of which are always popular categories!  Carolyn Schomer also brought in a complete hard-back Zane Gray collection in mint condition. This year’s sale will be held October 24 – 26 at the Old Houston Mall.

Shirley Boan, Family Promise of Greater Houston County board member, was presented with the Eleanor Granum Award—2013 by the Houston Peach Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) at their May meeting. Each year the Houston Peach Branch, which has been serving Middle Georgia since 1962, solicits nominees for the Eleanor Granum Award. This recognition, named in honor of the founding president of the branch, honors an individual who has shared their time, energy, talent, and knowledge through volunteer service in the local community.

Shirley’s nomination, presented by Ronnie Shivers, FPGHC President, gives us some insight into Shirley’s passion to serve others. “Shirley had been a part of the national organization, Interfaith Hospitality Network (now Family Promise) while living in Dayton, Ohio. In 2011 she read an article about 311 homeless children in the Houston County school system and felt “the nudge” to try to do something about this alarming fact. She began by approaching her Pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church about her idea. He endorsed her dream as she made a presentation of the program to their church leaders, asking them to support her efforts to investigate whether such a network would be workable in Houston County. She gathered a small core group and invited every church in the area to an informational meeting. From that meeting a larger group became committed to the dream and an inter-denominational organization developed.

As the core group leader and interim-board president, Shirley led the group through the 501c3 status process, fund raising, obtained the donation of a 15 passenger van, the loan of a truck on Sundays to move beds and belongings, the opening of the Day Center—renovated by First Methodist Church, the hiring of the Network Director, and the development of the first official Board of Directors. Since May 26, host churches have been caring for homeless children and their families and support churches have joined the network to assist in various ways.

While Family Promise has been the focus of Shirley’s energy the past two years, it is not the sum of her volunteer efforts. She continued to cook and serve at Trinity’s Emmaus Table on Thursday evenings; she managed the church’s Agape Fund to arrange for food, medication, gas, housing, or other needs brought to the church; she organized Goodwill collection efforts in order to obtain clothing certificates to share with guests at the food pantry or Emmaus Table; as a part of the puppet ministry, she participated in puppet shows at the Trinity pre-school and at Cherished Children Education Center; and she drove the church van for mission trips, senior adult and youth outings. In addition to being a supportive wife, mother, and grandmother she serves as the ‘personal chauffer’ for a disabled lady at Memorial Terrace who has no family.

Shirley does indeed exemplify the giving, other-centered, volunteer character set forth by the Houston Peach Branch’s founding President, Eleanor Granum. It is an honor to add her to the list of recipients of this award.

This time each spring, our branch honors our founding president, Eleanor Granum and an outstanding local volunteer by honoring that volunteer with an award in Eleanor’s name.  If you would like to nominate someone for that award,  you can read more about the history of the award and the award process in the Eleanor Granum Award 2013.Cover Letter and and download an application here : Eleanor Granum Award 2013 Application.Revised.  Applications are due not later than Friday, April 5.

On January 15, Carolyn Schomer and Jane Gramley distributed RIF books to students at Cherished Children Day Care Center, and on January 23, Carrie Smith, Marlene Humphrey, Carolyn Schomer, and Margaret Mathews distributed books at LIndsey Elementary. Once again, the children were eager, and the teachers most appreciative. Because of lack of federal funding, books are being distributed at only one elementary school this year.

After deciding during the Spring of 1962 thatWarner Robins could support an AAUW branch of its own, and discussing with friends the possibility of organizing their own branch, several women interested in forming a local branch met at the home of Eleanor Granum on May 5, 1962. Then  on June 26, the National Association of AAUW issued a charter for the Warner Robins Branch, and officers were installed by Mrs. G.C. Hahn, President of the State AAUW.  Eleanor Granum was the first Branch President. The first Branch meeting was held on September 25, 1962 at the Flint Electric Building at 1962, at 8:00 PM. The guest speaker was Mr. Joe F. Smith, Principal of West Side Elementary School and recent president of the Houston County Education Association, who spoke on the prevalent problems of public school education on the local area.

Note:  These and other facts about the history of our branch are available due to the work done by editor Mathilde Dougan on the written history of our branch at its thirtieth anniversary in 1992. Thank you, Mathilde