District President's Report

  by Martha Leary, Urbana IL 

  President, the District 8 Board of Directors

My two-year tenure as president of District 8 is coming to an end. I will be passing the gavel on to Bob Carteaux on January 1, 2007. Bob resides in Fort Wayne, Indiana and has been a long-time volunteer, running tournaments, beng involved in Unit 154 leadership, serving as 2nd alternate to the ACBL Board of Directors and member of the ACBL Board of Governors. Bob will bring a lot of experience and commitment to bridge in his role as president of District 8. Congratulations also to Bob who recently attained the rank of Grand Life Master (the first for District 8).

I have enjoyed the opportunity to lead our District. It has been very rewarding and, I would have to say, a smooth journey. Our District seems to run very smoothly with very few negative factors. Must be the great Midwest ethic.

District finances: Financially, our District is doing very well. Our secretary-treasurer, Debbie Avery, does an excellent job of monitoring our income and expenditures. She will be secretary-treasurer under Bob's leadership, also. A big thanks goes out to her for all the work she does.

At the annual meting in St. Louis in August, the District 8 Board voted to return to each Unit the $1.00 per person fee that had been charged each year to help cover the cost of publishing the Advocate. With the onset of the electronic publication, the cost for the Advocate has been drastically reduced and this money is no longer needed. We are confident that the Units will find good use to their members for this money.

St. Louis Spring NABC: Having the Spring Nationals in St. Louis in March 2007 is very exciting. We may be one of the smallest Districts in membership, but we are powerful in action. Chairmen Mike Carmen and Glenn Smith continue to work to make this a wonderfully successful event. Their Unit 143 committee chairmen and members are all hard at work.

Each of our five Units will have a "Unit Day" at the NABC. The designated Unit Day will give members of that Unit the opportunity to volunteer where needed. More information will be coming after the first of the year, and your Unit Presidents will be coordinating with volunteer chairman Mary Lu Weyerich. If you'd like to volunteer now to help out at the tournament, contact information is on this page:
    http://www.unit143.org/Nationalscommitteechairs.html

Charity funds: Disbursement of ACBL Charity Foundation funds to District 8 will occur in the Spring of 2007. Our five Units will equally divide the $20,000 and each Unit will decide what charities will receive the donations.

2007 Regionals: I look forward to seeing loads of District 8 members at the Spring Nationals and at our tremendous District regionals in 2007. Champaign will have a brand new site -- the Hilton Gardens and Homewood Suites - for its Memorial Day regional. In June, Rockford will have its second year at the Clock Tower Inn and Paducah is moving its regional to a riverboat casino hotel in Metropolis IL. St. Louis will be back at the always-great Renaissance Hotel in August, and Fort Wayne will continue at the beautiful new Convention Center in September. How lucky we are to have such attractive sites for all our regionals. Please check the tournament schedules in this edition of the Advocate.

From the club games to the StaCs, NAPs, GNTs , sectionals, regionals and NATIONALS, our District stands out as a great place to enjoy the game of bridge.