FFRW: FEBRUARY 2023 Newsletter

February 2023 Newsletter

Dear FFRW Members and Friends:

Ladies, our way of life, along with normal traditional Western European teachings is being assaulted with ever increasing vitriol. Religion, nuclear families, belief in country and respect for our history are routinely attacked as Racist or Sexist or Homophobic or Ageist or Misogynistic or Able-ist or Imperialist or whatever. Freedom is under attack in our schools and universities and on our public airwaves and our social media platforms.

Our goal, Our duty, Our pledge as members of the Federation of Republican Women is to hold the line and repulse these attacks on America and our way of life. We stand behind our Republican leaders as they bring common sense back to Washington and the classrooms. We support all Republican candidates who have the courage to stand up to the Woke Mob and their dangerous ideology.

We are here to ensure our values are being passed down to the next generation of conservatives and ensure that the American message of hope and freedom is thriving in the younger generation, and how there is hope for the future.

We look forward to seeing you in Tallahassee for our Spring Conference. We have an exciting array of speakers and guests that you don’t want to miss.

Thank you for your commitment to our freedoms and God Bless America.

For Florida, For Our Country,

Maricel Cobitz

President FFRW

FFRWPresidentMaricel@gmail.com

786-290-4333

CARING FOR AMERICA EQUINE THERAPY

CARING FOR AMERICA PROJECTS

February 2023

We Republican women care deeply for our country and our citizens. The NFRW asks “What can we do to make a difference”? The Caring for America Program demonstrates that Republican women care about our communities by being a giving and loving organization.

Brevard Federated Republican Women members Dorothy Kiernan Walsh Pearsall and her husband Don Pearsall, with the Support of the BFRW, stepped up to the challenge by continuing to Twenty-three veterans commit suicide each day help veterans with military PTSD transition into civilian life through their Veterans’ Connections services and their revolutionary Veterans Equine Therapy Program.

Horses are well known as soothing and empathetic companions, and good listeners who will not gossip or betray a confidence. Studies find that equine-assisted therapy promotes spiritual, physical, psychological, and occupational healing in post-traumatic stress disorder suffers.

Dorothy and Don provide a non-threatening, trusting, and open relationship with horses that create positive feelings of patience, love, respect, and empathy in veterans with their equine friends. Dorothy is an experienced and trained veterans advocate and advocate for victims of sexual assault. Don is also an experience advocate of veterans with PTSD through training and personal experience. Don is a Vietnam veteran and helicopter crew chief. He was a member of the United States Army 1^st Cavalry Division and was raised with horses in upstate New York. Quite naturally PTSD military veterans in their program like to call themselves the Veterans Equine Therapeutic Cavalry.

This is more than a riding program or a getaway out to the country where veterans can experience fresh air, quiet, and peace. Veterans learn about being horsemen (and women) from the ground up. They learn to take responsibility for the basics of farm work by cleaning stalls, baling hay, shoveling manure, and repairing fencing. Most importantly they learn how to care for their horse companions through feeding, grooming, exercising, and of course safely tacking up and riding. A veteran and their horse build a mutual bond of trust and love which promotes healing in a very positive way. It's a fact that at least 23 veterans commit suicide each day. But, as one program veteran put it, “What a fabulous day! A day of bonding with just a horse, makes a person forget about committing suicide.”

Jill Gentis, President

Brevard Federated Republican Women

Chairperson, FFRW Caring for American

jilgentis@sbcglobal.net

PLANT CITY FEDERATED

REPUBLICANS WOMEN'S CLUB

LOVE THEIR POLICE!

On our recent meeting on February 16th, my wonderful club completed our We Love Our Police project. We filled Red White and Blessed patriotic bags for 100 police officers and staff with microfiber cloths, hand sanitizer, stress balls, spiral notebooks, patriotic pens and pencils, and various snacks. Our 91 and 93 year old members sat at table and folded the microfiber cloths.

The stuffed bags including personal thank you notes were delivered to the squad room at the police station on February 19th, 2023. The police officers were so surprised at our kindness. There were many oohs and aahs as the officers peeked into the bags and found a favorite treat plus realizing that they were so positively thought about. Eyes were a little teary when the thank you cards from us were read aloud. Such a great project. We received many hugs and smiles that morning.

Thank you,

Wendy Brown

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

Their Good Experience is Your Good Experience

Putting care into every relationship is key to creating a positive member experience that affects your retention metrics. But remember: your membership is a living, breathing organism that will go through changes and shifts. Continue to improve the member experience at your club by keeping your finger on the pulse of what your members want and adjusting accordingly.

What is member experience?

Member experience is defined as how members feel about your club, how they interact with it, and then the value they attribute to it. A positive member experience promotes membership retention and expands your club’s reach to new members, often via referrals. It directly impacts the success and revenue of your club.

Why does member experience matter?

The emotions your club elicits frames how members see you—and how likely they are to join or renew. Create a position for a member experience ambassador, member experience is crucial.

It’s the golden ticket to improved member retention, via:

Ensuring you’re adding value
Solidifying club and member relationships
Creating a foundation for growth and furthering your mission.

I hope I’ve given you helpful insights on membership retention and I wish you great success with growing your clubs. Please feel free to reach out to me at 407-450-6736 or vanessahorgan1029@gmail.com

Also, I look forward to seeing all of you at our FFRW Conference. If you haven’t registered, please do. It’s always a great experience and worth the trip.

Keep Florida RED!

Vanessa Horgan

vaneessahorgan1029@gmail.com

407-877-1199

Membership Chair

WIN ONE FOR THE GIPPER!

Ronald Reagan, our 40^th President of the United States, born February 6^th, 1911, was a leader who would not back down from a fight. He loved America. Reagan was a fervent anti-communist, and during his acting career he became President of the Screen Actors Guild because he could see how Hollywood was being infiltrated by communism post WW11. He fought back and changed his Party affiliation in 1962 to Republican, and won the Gubernatorial of California. He inherited a huge budget deficit and brought it under control. He supported Richard Nixon who won the Presidency in 1968, but thought that Nixon and later, President Ford, were too soft on the Soviets. President Carter, running against Reagan in 1980, left America with high inflation, a prime lending rate of 21 ½%, and a weakened position against the USSR(Russia).

When Ronald Reagan was elected President in 1980, he was faced with the Iranian hostage situation which was solved after he was inaugurated. Tax cuts of 25%, across the board were passed and the economy became prosperous. Our 40^th President had dealings with Russia. He did not like détente but kickstarted SDI (Strategic Defense Initiatives) which triggered debate with Russia and fellow Americans.

Ultimately, the Berlin Wall came down and freedom reigned, in addition to the Cold War finally ending. “Winning one for the Gipper” was from the movie” Knute Rockne: All American”. Reagan starred as George Gipp who really was a star football player at Notre Dame and died at the age of 25 years of pneumonia. Winning one for the Gipper in Reagan’s mind meant winning one for America, and indeed, he did.

Pam McAloon

President Pinellas Federated Republican Women