Alpha Delta Kappa- PI chapter, Monroe NC

Today was a great day to visit Asheville and celebrate our anniversary. First stop was Grand Dad’s Apple orchard in Hendersonville ! There were so many varieties of apples and peaches right off the tree! Yum! Then we went to a favorite restaurant of ours, Apollo Flame! We enjoyed having lunch and a visit with Meril-Lee… thanks for the treat! Our next stop was at Lake Lure’s Flowering Garden. We have been visiting there since the brydge first started with the original plants. It’s amazing how much the they spread and filled in the area. Our final stop for supper was Alston Bridges BBQ in Shelby. We had a fun filled, beautiful sunny day!

The PI Chapter of ADK met Tuesday May 28th, 2024 at the Derby Restaurant in Monroe. Our new officers were installed and our outgoing president, Carol Blackwelder, was recognized for her service as president and then she was presented with the Sister of the Year recognition. She received a charcuterie pottery platter made by a local artisan. We also discussed our next altruistic project which is selling tickets for Belk Charity Days. The money received from the sale will be used to support our annual scholarship. Happy Summer to our ADK sisters!!!

The PI chapter of ADK hosted a free community safety program on April 13th at First Presbyterian Church in Monroe, NC. Eric Talerico, a fraud investigator, presented different examples of frauds and scams. Sgt. Megan Kimball from the Union County Sheriff’s Office followed with additional information and examples. Both gave good safety tips to avoid getting scammed. All monetary donations that were made will go towards our yearly $1,000.00 scholarship in the spring.

The PI Chapter of Alpha Delta Kappa met at the Derby on March 26. We had a great program on Chair Yoga presented by Janet Abel. We also inducted two new members, Lyndia Honeycutt and Amy Ellis. We ended our program finalizing our plans for our Community Safety Program that will be on Saturday, April 13th.

The Pi Chapter of Alpha Delta Kappa celebrated the Holiday Season at our December meeting on Tuesday, December 19, 2023. We met at The Derby and each member brought an ornament to exchange and had fun deciding whether to take a new ornament or go shopping for someone else’s ornament. We finished playing a game reviewing important information about ADK. We end each meeting with a silent auction to raise money for our annual scholarship which is given to a student who wishes to become a teacher. The PI Chapter sends wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

The PI Chapter of Alpha Delta Kappa met on November 28, 2023 at the Derby Restaurant. Our newest member, Patricia Murphy, was initiated. Carol Blackwelder, Teresa Broome, Linda Bell, and Saundra Whitley participated in the Initiation Ceremony. Welcome to our sisterhood of educators Patricia. We also received exciting news that we were awarded an Honorable Mention for our Community Safety Program! Congratulations to everyone that worked on this program!

We had fun celebrating Founders’ Day at our October 24th meeting. Sue Griffin presented our program with lots of good information about our founders and ended her presentation with a bingo activity. Also, each month we have an auction to raise money for our scholarship fund and Sue Griffin and Carol Blackwelder were the auction winners of two beautiful flower arrangements. We also brought several baked desserts for a bake sale the next day where all proceeds will help fund our scholarship for a future teacher. We ended our meeting with trying on our fun glasses to see which ones we liked the best. Lots of fun and good information was shared.

Our PI Chapter of Alpha Delta Kappa had a fun first meeting of the year on September 26th. We had a welcome activity where we divided into groups to find three things we had in common and then shared these areas with all the members. Our altruistic project this month was to honor our members who are still teaching with some of their favorite things. We then discussed our programs for the year and ended our meeting with a silent auction to raise money for our annual scholarship that benefits a prospective teacher.

Carol Blackwelder and Teresa Broome represented our PI Chapter of Alpha Delta Kappa at the Western Region State Council of Chapter Presidents’ conference in Hickory. They enjoyed networking with other ADK members in North Carolina.

We had a special treat at our PI chapter May meeting. We met at A Cause for Tea in a beautiful historic house in Monroe. Rhonda Griffin, the founder of A Cause For Tea, was our speaker. A Cause For Tea is a nonprofit and partners with New Life Nicaragua, The Help Pregnancy Center, and The House of Pearls to globally help women and children in poverty. We ended our meeting by congratulating Patti Jones as our Sister of the Year. Congratulations Patti for all you do for ADK.

Our Alpha Delta Kappa- PI chapter in Monroe, NC is a teacher sorority. Each year we raise funds for a teacher scholarship that will be given to a UCPS graduate pursuing an education degree. Can you help us support the future of education by purchasing a $5 Belk Charity ticket? Comment below if you’d like a ticket (or two). We will also be selling tickets at Belk in Monroe on May 5th and May 6th. Hope to see you there.

Judy Champion from Operation Reach-Out presented our program at our April meeting of Alpha Delta Kappa. Operation Reach-Out has been in business since 1987. They are a Christian nonprofit providing Help and Hope to those in need in Monroe and Union County. This organization offers a variety of services to people such as providing emergency funds for utilities, medicine, gasoline, and other qualified items. Our altruistic project was to bring items they can use at their organization to help with this assistance. Thanks Judy for presenting a wonderful program.

Carol Blackwelder and Teresa Broome represented our PI Chapter of Alpha Delta Kappa at the NC State Convention in Asheville where they gathered lots of information from the different sessions they visited. They also had fun attending a banquet centered around the 1920 flapper era. Carol received a Violet sister award for 10 years of membership. Congratulations Carol. Thanks Teresa and Carol for representing our chapter and making us proud.

The PI Chapter had a very fun and creative meeting in March. Scott York, owner and designer from Piedmont Flowers and Gifts, presented our program. He made three different table arrangements and shared his designer expertise. We then had a silent auction and three lucky winners went home with beautiful arrangements. Thanks Scott for presenting our program and sharing your talent. We ended our program by gathering our altruistic gifts of cards and magazines that will be delivered to a local nursing home.

Our guest speaker for our February meeting was Linda MacConnachie, a local author. She shared excerpts from her book, This Was Not on My Bucket List, which included lots of interesting information for educators, parents. and grandparents. Also, two of our sisters, Mary McClure and Carol Blackwelder, were awarded their Violet Sister certificates for 10 years of membership. Congratulations Mary and Carol.

The Pi Chapter recently held a free community event for the citizens of Union County at First Presbyterian Church. With the expertise of Deputy Tiffany Gouse with the Union County Sheriff’s Department and Sgt. Jeff Furr, Officer Kendal Aycoth and Officer Eubank with Monroe Police Department, we learned of many ways to keep everyone safe within our community. Everyone learned some new tips to help protect themselves. Refreshments were offered to all. A big thank you to three local Food Lion stores, Harris Teeter, Sam’s and some Sisters for donating refreshments. Extra snacks were donated to the Union County Homeless Shelter. A big thank you to the IB students from Marvin Ridge High School for volunteering their time with set up and clean up. We’d like to thank local radio stations 99.1 and WIXE for promoting our event. All monetary donations that were made will go towards our yearly $1,000.00 scholarship in the spring.

The ADK PI Chapter is sponsoring a community Safety program on Saturday, Feb 4th, 2023 in the Fellowship Hall at First Presbyterian Church, 302 East Windsor Street in Monroe from 11 am-noon. Representatives from the Monroe Police and the Union County Sheriff’s Department will present safety protocols. The event is free and any donations will help fund an annual scholarship for a high school senior aspiring to become a teacher. We hope to see you Saturday.

The PI Chapter of ADK had a a very interesting speaker tonight. Andrew Friend, Executive Director for Council on Aging, spoke about services offered in Union County for the aging population. This agency serves people that have home needs by providing in-home aides, Medicare Counseling, home safety repairs, home safety equipment and incontinence supplies. Anyone interested in volunteering was encouraged to contact Andrew.

We also celebrated one of our sisters, Sue Griffin, for being an ADK member for 50 years! She was presented with a violet ADK pin, yellow roses and a certificate. Congratulations to Sue and thank you for all you do for our chapter!

We got in the Christmas spirit at our ADK December meeting of the PI Chapter. We had an ornament exchange and all went home with beautiful ornaments. Our altruistic project was to bring Christmas cards for nursing home patients and gifts for Social Services to deliver. We also continued discussing a community project for February. Lots of sisterly love and fun!!!

Our October meeting of the PI chapter of Alpha Delta Kappa was a busy meeting. We began planning a community event that will take place in February. Also, we collected 114 pounds of food to take to our local food pantry for our altruistic project. We ended our meeting with a delicious pot luck salad dinner.

The PI Chapter of ADK had a wonderful beginning of the year meeting. Our altruistic project was to bring school supplies for our active teachers. We also had a silent auction to raise money for the scholarship we give each year to a student majoring in education. The special treat was the cute ADK cookie that were from Nan C’s bakery in Indian Trail. We also celebrated getting a Cardinal Award for our support to our organization.

Pi Chapter held the last meeting for this year at the Union County Public Library. We had two guest speakers sharing information about a local women’s ministry, House of Pearls. This program is a one year program for women transitioning from drug addiction or prison back into everyday life. We learned so much from Delois Carpenter and Hannah Wilson. A donation was made to the program as our Altruistic project for May.

We were fortunate that our newly named scholarship winner was able to stop by so we could meet her. We look forward to supporting Scarlett Goodson as she will be attending UNC-C majoring in Special Education.

We were thrilled to initiate a new sister, April Phillips Helms. April is an elementary teacher and we welcome her into our chapter!

During the meeting we recognized our Sister of the Year! Swaim Strong recognized a very active Sister in our chapter. Teresa Broome, we all appreciate everything you do for Pi Chapter!

Lastly we had our installation of officers for 2022-2023. Our officers will be:
President- Carol Blackwelder
Vice President- Teresa Broome
Treasurer- Mary Woytisek King
Corresponding Sec.- Patti Strong Jones
Recording Sec.- Sue Griffin
Chaplain- Saundra Whitley
Historian- Linda Baucom Bell
The new officers will be meeting in June to plan our upcoming year.

The Pi Chapter from Monroe,NC is proud to announce our 2021-2022 $1,000.00 scholarship recipient. Scarlett Goodson is graduating from Sun Valley High School and plans on pursuing a degree in Special Education while attending UNC-C in the Fall. Our chapter looks forward to meeting Scarlett in the future to hear how her college experience is going.

Carol Blackwelder and Teresa Broome attended the NC Alpha Delta Kappa Convention in Durham, NC this past weekend. They watched the installation of the NC ADK 2022-2024 Executive Board and the NC ADK State Officers. They attended the Memorial Omega Service which Kay Spittle was recognized. They enjoyed networking with NC sisters from all over NC.

All of the Pi sisters look forward to hearing about your trip!

The Pi Chapter of Alpha Delta Kappa held their April meeting at the newly renovated Dowd Center Theatre in downtown Monroe. The center was formerly the Center Theatre where many of our members attended movies in years past. The guided tour was enjoyed by everyone. Everyone is looking forward to attending a show/performance at the new asset to downtown Monroe. After the tour the sisters enjoyed a dinner at a local restaurant. The next meeting will be in May at Napoli’s.