Hello Sebastian Fishin’ Chics!

Well, the New Year is well underway, and it’s time to get back to business!  I hope everyone had a wonderfully blessed holiday season!

CHRISTMAS CHARITY EVENT

By Nan Burke

I can’t thank all of you enough for the overwhelming success of our Christmas Holiday Campaign for charity.  You all are to be commended for your selflessness and caring hearts.  2009 was a tough year for many of you, and everyone sacrificed and came up LARGE for others in need!  Those of you who came up early on with cash and gift cards enabled me to start the wish list for Dasie Hope.  Then followed lots of new hoodie jackets, jewelry for teens and nice smelly stuff.  The toys, gifts for teens and gift cards kept coming, and we were able to donate to all 3 of our charities (DASIE HOPE CENTER, ECUMENICAL COUNCIL OF INDIAN RIVER, & OPERATION HOPE ) for the year in a BIG way.  Special thanks to Sharon Mills for her generous cash donation at the end of our campaign which allowed us to donate cash money as well as gifts for the children to these charities.

As I’ve ended my year as Charity Coordinator for SFC, I want to express my thanks to all of you wonderful ladies!  You are indeed the BEST of the BEST!  You made this past year a successful and rewarding year for all our charity drives.  I am so pleased to know all of you and call you my friends.  Best wishes to NETTIE BUNTON as she assumes the position of Charity Coordinator for the coming year.  I know she will receive your support in her endeavors and hope she finds this to be a wonderful & rewarding opportunity.

NEW VOLUNTEERS FOR 2010

Kudos go out to the gals who volunteered for positions for our fast-growing Fishin’ Chics organization!  What a great team we hope to have this year!  We all sincerely appreciate their enthusiasm and commitment!  Thanks so much for being the backbone of our group – keeping us focused, having our meetings run as smoothly as possible, researching and implementing our charitable goals, and creating lots of fun activities.  Best wishes to you all for the best year ever!

SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE – Carole Balicki, Elaine Florence, Cindy Fulton, Claudine Maliglowka, Karen Schuster

HOSPITALITY COMMITTEE – Barbara Carpenter, Patti Goins, Linda Jubito

ASSISTANT TO EVENT COORDINATOR (Karen Herndon) – Linda Jubito

COOK BOOK COMMITTEE – Elaine Florence, Paula Wiley (NOTE:  They will be responsible for forming their own committee.)

CHARITY COORDINATOR – Nettie Bunton

We still have openings for GUEST SPEAKER COORDINATOR, ASSISTANT TO COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR (assist with newsletter & website), and 2010 TOURNAMENT ADVERTISING/PR COORDINATOR.

If you are interested or know someone who might be interested in either of these, please email sebfishinchics@aol.com.  LADIES, THIS IS YOUR CLUB AND WE NEED EVERYONE’S HELP!

UPCOMING ELECTIONS

by Michelle Barkley, Executive Director

Pursuant to our By-Laws, it is time to nominate and elect a new President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer.  If you would like to serve in one of these positions, please email your bio to me at sebfishinchics@aol.com along with the position for which you would like to serve and your name will then be added to the ballot.  If you have someone whom you would like to nominate for a position, send that as well.  We will then contact that individual to see if they are interested.  This is a very serious matter and is made for those willing to serve for a three-year period.  There is a monthly Board Meeting and duties that each position is responsible for.  A full description of each position is published at the end of this newsletter.

Because the Sebastian Fishin’ Chics is a Not-for-Profit 501(c)(3) corporation, we are required to uphold these obligations.  Our group is growing by leaps and bounds, and it is only to our advantage that we have a strong sense of leadership to carry this organization on to bigger and better things in the future.  We truly need every member’s help!

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

For the last two years, Karen Herndon and several ladies have helped Bob Maxwell with his fishing day for the girls at Hacienda Girls Ranch.  He provides everything from food to rods/reels/bait…and the boat.  He needs approximately 4-5 volunteers and, if you are interested, please respond to sebfishinchics@aol.com. 

Pelican Island Preservation Society needs help selling beer at this year’s event which will be held in March.  If you are interested, please contact Kristen Beck at kayaksetc@msn.com.

ITEMS TO BE COLLECTED

SFC Member Claudine Maliglowka is a teacher at Treasure Coast Elementary School and has asked that we save our aluminum can pop tops for her school along with boxtops off cereal and other General Mills foods for the “Boxtops for Education” program.  Bring these items with you to the monthly meeting – Claudine will have a collection container.  Also, remember to bring in your used print cartridges to Nancy Johnson – Sebastian Office Supply recycles them and gives us the proceeds  for these cartridges.  Thanks for doing your part to “keep it green”!!!

We also need raffle items to be used at our monthly meetings, so if you want to regift last year’s Christmas presents, bring them to the monthly meeting.  (Remember the old saying:  “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!”  Or shall we say “One woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure”)?

2009 SFC IN-SHORE TOURNAMENT SPONSORS

$1,000.00        DR. CONNIE LAWRENCE WILLIS

$   500.00        AFFORDABLE WATER & COFFEE SERVICE, AT & T, BEEF ‘O’ BRADY’S – SEBASTIAN,  CHILBERG CONSTRUCTION,

                        COMMUNICATIONS INTERNATIONAL, HOOKED CARPE DIEM, JACK REGAN MASONRY, RUSSELL CONCRETE,

MONNETT EYE AND LASER SURGERY CENTER, SEBASTIAN OFFICE SUPPLY, SENEGENCE/PAMELA BENNETT

$   250.00        BAY STREET PHARMACY & HOME HEALTH CARE, BILLY’S AUTO & TOWING SERVICES, CABINET MATTERS,

CHIC LOUISE & JOHN HIRST, COMPLETE ELECTRIC  AND ALARM, FOX MARINE, HEADS UP SPRINKLER, INC.,

HERNDON CONSTRUCTION, LA TILE, PLAN B BUSINESS SOLUTIONS, RANGER CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRIES,

SEBASTIAN INLET MARINA, SEBASTIAN RIVER MEDICAL CENTER, SUN AG, TECH ART DESIGN & ENGINEERING,

TOP NOTCH MARINE.COM

$   150.00        ARNOLD AIR, PAUL DRITENBAS, ROSI STUBBS – AVON, SLM CONSULTING, LLC

$     50.00        SPECTRUM INTERIOR DESIGN

PLEASE NOTE:  We have a sponsor table at our monthly meeting with brochures and business cards of our Tournament sponsors.  Please take the time to browse the table, and, if you choose a sponsor to call for services, please let them know you heard about them at the Fishin’ Chics meeting.  This table for business promotion is for tournament sponsors ONLY!  So, if you represent a business and wish to be a sponsor for next year’s tournament, please let us know.  We’d love to have you!!!!

GENERAL INFORMATION

Ladies, WE NEED YOUR HELP & SUPPORT!  Put on your thinking caps to come up with some ideas for jewelry designs as well as recipes for the upcoming cookbook.  Send these to Elaine Florence at elaineflorence@earthlink.net.  We need to get these projects going NOW!

CALLING ALL HANDYMEN:  If anyone can or knows someone who can assist us in making a couple of raffle ticket baskets (you know, the wire cage with the turn handle on the outside?!?), or know where we might get them, please contact Michelle Barkley.  Thanks!!!

Sign on to www.boatspace.org and support Jim Sabia (webmaster) – great website – especially for those who have boats.  Jim was a sponsor for our recent tournament and we need to support each other!

Please go to www.barrierislandcenter.com to view their latest calendar of events.  They always have so many exciting events planned!

A special thank-you to our SFC Food Coordinator – Karen Clark – and her Refreshment Committee – for always providing such wonderful treats at our meetings. 

Out of courtesy and respect to our members, guests, and guest speakers, please remember to turn off cell phones at all SFC meetings.  If your cell phone rings during a meeting, you will be asked to pay a $5 “fish fine” to donate to our Charity of the Month.

During our meetings, please be mindful of those around you and our guest speakers and keep chatting to a minimum.  The accoustics (or lack thereof) in our meeting room cause sound to bounce off the walls throughout the room.  You may think you’re whispering, but sometimes can be heard across the room.

For all new SFC members or those who are interested in joining, our meetings are held the last Thursday of the month beginning at 5:45pm.  We ask all attendees to sign in at the door on the sign-in sheet.  Raffle tickets are sold for door prizes and we ask that if you have something to donate or “regift”, feel free to bring it for the raffle.  We have a prearranged Food Committee with members signing up each month to bring food.  We offer beer, wine, sodas & water with our dinners, at no additional cost to members.  After our “social hour”, we go through announcements, have guest speakers, then draw raffle tickets.  Our meetings normally end around 8:30pm.

If you are a new member or a member who has recently re-signed and have not received your club t-shirt, be sure to see Michelle Barkley at the next meeting.

The Fishin’ Chics policy adopted by the Board of Directors is that NO items can be sold at our monthly meetings – unless you make prior arrangements with Michelle Barkley, Executive Director, and agree on a percentage of sales required to be filtered back to the Sebastian Fishin’ Chics.  We need to protect our 501(c)(3) non-profit status.  Thanks for your understanding!

FISH TALES

We would love for members to bring in pictures of their “fish stories” and share “fish tales” at our monthly meetings.  Also, email the Press Journal with pictures of your catch to edward.killer@scripps.com.  In order to make this website as meaningful as possible, I must request that if you have an article, pictures, stories, recipes or anything that might be of interest to the club, please email it to me (prior to the 7^th of the month) so that I can include it in the next edition.  (Contact me at ddarlette@yahoo.com or 772.559.8028.)  Remember, Ladies, this is YOUR website!