Volume 96 - Issue 7 | January 2024

Cathy Tenney, Editor

A Message From

OSO President Melodie McGee

Greetings. . .It's a beautiful day today in our OSO Delta Kappa Gamma Society neighborhood!

As we welcome in the New Year of 2024 together, we are experiencing some cold weather, some fluffy snowflakes, some glistening icicles, some New Year resolutions, and some possibilities for our OSO chapter communities. Even though it’s cold outside, we can keep things warm and glowing inside each of our OSO chapters by staying close together checking in on each other through phone calls, facetime calls, Zoom meetings, mailing card communications, emails, and text messages too! This January let’s ring in some possibilities in our hearts. Let’s ring in the words of the song of Peter, Paul, and Mary (and change them just a little bit) which said…

If I had a bell, I'd ring it in the morning

I'd ring it in the evening all over this OSO land

I'd ring out the danger of OSO dissolving

I'd ring in a plan of action to work together

I'd ring in love and unity between my chapter officers and my sisters

All over this OSO land!

Continue reading OSO President Melodie McGee's message.

Lois Evelyn Younkin-Silver

Beta

Barbara Eunice Shahan

Gamma Iota

Chapter Rededication

Zeta Chapter celebrated a personal rededication of their membership with a candlelight ceremony. Members were recognized by the decade in which they joined Zeta Chapter.

Promoting DKG Membership

DKG Eclipses the Rest!

Thank you to Angie Stokes and her students at Wayne Trace for this display at Putnam County Library Christmas Tree Festival. The sign reads: Delta Kappa Gamma is an International Society for Professional Women Educators. The Beta Eta Chapter includes teachers from Putnam, Paulding and Van Wert counties. To learn more, please check out www.dkgohio.org.

Membership Treasures

S.H.I.N.E!

Let the Treasures of Delta Kappa Gamma Ohio State Organization S.H.I.N.E!

Our DKG OSO Chests are overflowing with treasures! In the future months our OSO Membership Committee will share some ideas focused around the S.H.I.N.E. acronym. These ideas will help chapters showcase the wondrous gifts they have to offer new members.

The H in S.H.I.N.E. stands for helpful hearts. Delta Kappa Gamma's sisters are true leaders. They are generous with their time, energy, and talents. The abundance of community projects our chapters support are truly amazing and inspiring! Do you celebrate the good deeds of your chapter and individual members publicly? The helpful hearts of your chapter members are a beacon for our organization and should be celebrated. Do not be afraid to boast publicly on news outlets, local newspapers, or on social media.

In addition to sharing the helpful hearts of our members seek out those women in your community who also are giving of their time, energy, and talents. Lift them up with praise through personal notes from your chapter. Another possibility is to create a local award for citizens with generous spirits and give it out at a local event for the community. You will honor other leaders in your community, your members, and help promote the spirit of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society.

Read more Membership S.H.I.N.E.

New Members

Gamma Pi

Riley Merritt

Laura Dedo-Spencer

Reinstated Member

Phi

Mary Lyon

The Spirit of Giving

Alpha Iota Chapter members brought towels, pillows, laundry baskets, and paper products to donate to the Christina House. The Christina House is a domestic abuse shelter for women and children in Columbiana County.

Belinda Dixon, Treasurer of Delta Epsilon presented a $200 donation to Ashley Durst, Square One Director, of a women's domestic violence shelter.

Darlene Malaska, Mu Chapter Second Vice President presented checks along with boxes of Christmas gifts to Jennifer Koehler, Program Coordinator of the Mahoning County Children's Services Board offices.

DKG Ohio Membership and Chapter Update

Active Members	2,271
Collegiate Members	4
Reserve Members	305
Total Membership	2,580
Ohio Chapters	70

Statement of Financial Activity

Revenue	$42,927.00
Expenses	$19,516.00
Epsilon Alpha Expenses*	$ 424.00
Net Income	$22,987.00

Statement of Financial Position

Assets	$236,446.00
Board Designated*	$ 1,076.00
Total Assets	$237,522.00
Liabilities	$ 76.00
Total Equity	$237,446.00

Board Designated Assets

The Executive Board voted to commit $1,500 during 2023 – 2024 to fund the orientation and chartering expenses of Epsilon Alpha Chapter. The vote ensures that funding up to $1,500 is available for these expenses. The expenses are shown in the Statement of Financial Activity. The remaining funds are shown as a Board Designated asset in the Statement of Financial Position.

Approaching Conflict with Grace

Seek first to understand, then to be understood. -Stephen Covey

Are you ready to learn effective conflict resolution strategies to use in your personal and professional life? Kerry Black, a DKG member from Canada, will provide a deep dive into conflict and help you build a personal conflict resolution tool kit. Mark your calendar for Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Grove City. Watch for an email in January to register.

Treasurer Talk

Chapter budgets are planning tools for the future. Treasurers are members of the Finance Committee. This team uses input from chapter officers and committees to develop the budget which is then in the hands of the chapter members.

A Zoom meeting for chapter treasurers, finance committees and other interested members on this topic is scheduled on Saturday, January 6, 2024, from 10:00 – 11:00 am. Chapter treasurers will receive a Zoom invitation from Ohio treasurer, Diana Haskell, about a week prior to the meeting.

Diana Haskell, OSO Treasurer

New Year, New Perspectives and New Aspirations

We are officially in 2024 and many people choose to kick start the new year making resolutions. I am not in that category. I prefer to have specific goals that include timelines and mile markers along the way. These mile markers assist me in keeping an accurate accounting of where I am in achieving the established goals. The pathways in achieving the goals are fluid but are target specific in terms of destination. I do not wander aimless but am purposeful in my approaches that enable me to stay focused.

What goals are you aspiring to achieve in 2024? Often goals develop from having new perspectives on certain areas in our lives. Since being elected as Second Vice President of OSO in April 2023, I have expanded my perspectives as it applies to OSO. How can I as an individual be a positive force? What avenues can the Admin Team pursue to assist chapters in reaching new heights? How does the Educational Excellence Committee fit into this picture? What needs to be accomplished to provide opportunities to build valid leadership capacity at the local, regional, and state levels of OSO?

The start of the new year always brings with it the hope of better things to come. How does that hope manifest in each of us? My hope is that we discover ways to build stronger and more meaningful relationships with our chapters. It is at each of the 70 chapters where it begins and ends. It is in our willingness to work collaboratively that we shall achieve President Melodie McGee’s Biennium theme of Renew. Recapture. Respond.

Dr. Molly Helmlinger, Beta Kappa

Second Vice-President

Educational Excellence Committee Chair

News From Around Ohio

DKG Akron Chapters, Gamma Lambda and Phi gathered for a Christmas Brunch. The Happy Flutes, Gamma Lambda members Susan Chunn and Michelle Worthing, entertained the group with a medley of Christmas tunes. Members donated to two service projects: Blessings in A BackPack and The Ronald McDonald House. A Christmas Basket was raffled with proceeds going to our joint scholarship fund.

Beta Kappa Chapter gathered for a little bit of holiday fun playing holiday themed games. Each table received a printed sheet with holiday related items found at Walmart. The table coming closest to the actual cost of the items won holiday glasses!

Linda Beaver of Alpha Phi modeling one of the items that was included in our auction which is a big money maker for the year.

Linda Kallmeyer of Beta Nu is pictured with guest speaker, Greg Hand, former U.C. Vice President who shared Untold Tales of UC’s First Ladies.

Alpha Upsilon Chapter awarded two Educational Grants to chapter members. Rebecca Doak, chapter president, presented the checks to Terri Peltier, Springcreek Elementary school librarian, who was awarded a $300 grant for social emotional books. Jackie Thase Burch, bus driver and retired PCS teacher, was awarded a $300 grant for incentives bus drivers may use to keep students focused on their ride or to award students for following the district-wide behavior plan. Lougena Hodges, PCS Transportation Supervisor, was present to receive the check.

Zeta Chapter held their annual auction for the Encouragement Grants Project. Items included were Christmas decorations, themed baskets, fudge, pies, and pumpkin rolls. The auction raised over $1,500.

Beth James, Beta Alpha Second Vice President presented a donation to Kevin Dennis, founder and CEO of Field of Hope. Field of Hope is faith based program that provides services for drug, alcohol and gambling addiction recovery and mental health care.