President's Welcome
Region Five "Oktoberfest" Meeting, October, 2007. Pictured left to right are: Region 5 Chaplain Fr. Joseph D'Angelo, R5 2VP Frank DeResto, R5 Region Benefits Coordinator Steve Ryan, R5 Sgt. At Arms Arnie Rothenberg, R5 1VP Mike Circo, R5 Secretary Lou LaGois, R5 President Jeff Davis, US Section 2VP Larry Kiceina, R2 Member Joe Conway, R5 NDC Rep Steve Kear. Absent is R5 Treasurer Charles Mues due to a line of duty injury.
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Its hard to believe that we are more than half way through the summer already. As we progress through the year, 2008 is proving to be a successful year on many avenues. We continue to recruit new members at an aggressive pace. I stated to you going into 2008 that I wanted to make recruitment our top priority for this year. It is imperative to the health and future of the region that we continue to bring new members into the fold. I would like to thank all of you who recruited new members this year. Please continue your good work and spread the word about the IPA.
You will be receiving the applications for the 2008-2009 academic scholarships in your mailbox this week. The letter will also contain the raffle tickets for the drawing. The proceeds from this event go directly into the scholarships and are paid to the scholarship recipients. This is the only fund raiser we perform during the year. Please consider purchasing a raffle ticket or two to help support this important cause. I would also like to publicly thank the O'Connor family for their continued support of the Denis J. O'Connor Academic Scholarship. The O'Connors have funded the award entirely since its inception.
You will also notice that we are holding a children's summer party at White Post Farm September 6th. The flyer is being mailed this week, and was distributed via the region email system already. You can contact me directly for more information (R5President@yahoo.com). We expect this event t sell out fast, so please reserve early.
The next region 5 open meeting will be Thursday, October 16th at the North Bellmore Firehouse. Due to the success of last year's event, the theme will be "Oktoberfest". We will be serving authentic German food and beer, soda, and dessert. There will also be a 50/50 raffle, and we will select the winners of the 2008-2009 academic scholarships and raffle winners at this meeting.
I will be traveling to Colorado Springs in October to present the 2008 Service Through Friendship Award during the National Delegate's Conference. NDC Rep. Steve Kear will be reporting to the other delegates the status of our region, as well as voting on the by-law proposals on behalf of Region Five. Steve does a great job as a delegate. The NDC may be attended by any IPA member in good standing. If you are interested, please visit the National website for more details (www.ipa-usa.org).
In closing, I would just like to say that I am extremely pleased with the direction that our region is heading. We continue to make great strides in bringing newer, younger members into the region. We also continue to assist our fellow IPA brothers and sisters in need. I would like to thank all of you who actively lend help to those in need, those visiting our area for pleasure, and those in our very own area who request assistance. The IPA is a friendship organization. Service Through Friendship is alive and well in Region 5. We remain one of the largest and most active regions in the country and the future looks very bright for us at a time when other regions and organizations face great challenges. Your region 5 board continues to work hard on your behalf. Together, we will continue to grow and keep our region strong.
Servo Per Amikeco
-Jeff
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