PRESIDENTS’ MESSAGE: Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope that you will do something heart-healthy for yourself today – take a walk, eat an extra helping of fresh fruit or vegetables, or reach out to a friend or neighbor who may need to hear a friendly voice or a few words of encouragement. I am looking forward to our meeting this month! Our guest speaker, Julia Morrow, is coming from ECU. Julia applied for a Community Action Grant from AAUW. She is going to describe her project and tell us how she will use the grant money. She is also interested in restarting the Greenville branch of AAUW. I hope to see many of you at our meeting on Saturday – yes, Saturday – 21 February. We will be meeting at 11:00 a.m. in the Education Bldg. at Onslow Memorial Hospital. Lunch will be served! There will be a special door prize drawing, too!

JoAnn, Co-President
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OUR NEXT MEETING: SATURDAY, February 21, 11 a.m.; Onslow Memorial Hospital Education Bldg. Speaker: Julia Morrow. Lunch will be provided. Please contact JoAnn (910-577-1890 or coachjo@embarqmail.com ) if you can attend. She needs a head count.
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SCHOOL SUPPLIES PROJECT UPDATE:

The school supply project went well. Heather took items such as rulers, notebook paper, 1 -subject notebooks, flash cards, and books, to five area Onslow County Schools: Northwoods Elementary, Parkwood Elementary, Clyde Erwin Elementary, Morton Elementary and Blue Creek Elementary. Using our state grant monies on top of Kathryn Thayer’s donation, we definitely accomplished our mission. Thank you to everyone who helped make this possible.
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CELEBRATE 100 YEARS OF AAUW IN NC! AAUW Wilmington hosts this event March 27 at the Blockade Runner, Wrightsville Beach. Complete details and registration form will be in the Spring issue of the Tar Heel News in the next few days. Plan to bring a carload of people. Convention is a special time to reconnect with friends from across the state.
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CALENDAR

February 21, 2009; 11 a.m. – Branch meeting, Onslow Memorial Hospital Education Bldg. Lunch will be provided. Speaker: Julia Morrow. RSVP JoAnn – 577-1890 or coachjo@embarqmail.com

March 8: International Women’s Day. Women divided by geography, politics, language, culture, economics, and ethnicity come together to celebrate the historic struggles for equality, justice and advancement that unite us. It is also a day to acknowledge the gaps that persist and the opportunities that remain for women.

March 27: Celebrate 100 years of AAUW in North Carolina at the beach at the Blockade Runner, Wrightsville Beach, NC. You won’t want to miss it! Complete details and registration form are in the Spring 2009 Tar Heel News and at aauwnc.org. (No regular branch meeting in March.)
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PLAN NOW: To attend the 2009 AAUW Convention is St. Louis, MO, June 26-28, 2009.
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PAST AAUW Jacksonville Regional Branch newsletters and articles about our branch can be viewed on our web site: www.jacksonville.aauwnc.org.
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Heather F. Ochse, Editor, hksalc@yahoo.com
*AAUW advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education and research.*