Happy Holidays one and All This will be my last President’s message. First, I want to say thank you to each GMRW member, who by way of your presence, participation, and leadership made this club a wonderful place to be for the last three years. Additionally, we cannot thank the Centennial servers enough, who provided a wonderful atmosphere, incredible food, and the sweetest service a person could ask for. We as a club will be giving a small gift to each or our servers for Christmas as a small token of our appreciation for their work supporting and serving us.
I have so appreciated the fall we are experiencing and that is quickly coming to a close. It IS my favorite season of the year. The fall smells of decaying leaves, fresh, crisp air, blue skies, and sunshine just make me feel alive and happy to be here in this world. When there is so much around us on the political stage, impacting so much of our lives to include escalating cost for everything, it is these small things of the season that give me moments to refocus my attention and attitude to purposeful gratitude. I find state of mind, that is directed by gratitude and thankfulness, helps me get thru the hard times. Now looking forward to the December holiday season, I am ready to enjoy friends, fellowship, blessings and looking for opportunities to be a blessing to others as well. No doubt there will be new challenges, but what GMRW leadership has taught me as I stepped up to new challenges is that I was never alone. I so appreciate Pat and DJ who kept me on course as I did not know all the rules and still do not know all the rules for managing a federated club. I appreciate their patience, experience and guidance and wish them the very best in their new paths of life. I appreciate Debbie Sweet for her faithfulness with managing our monies and her kind approach to guiding us in a fashion that we remained in good standing with the rules governing our finances. I appreciate Jan Baron who willingly stepped into the secretarial role and kept accurate records of our meetings. I am thankful for Lisa Slater who came back to our club and agreed to bless us with her prayers and guidance. I am thankful for Claudia who cheerfully stepped into managing the Caring For America program and faithfully brought the envelopes and bucket that we could contribute to our three agencies that we supported this year. And finally, I so appreciate Carol McManus for her inspirational and informative Americanism features of amazing patriots who did their small part of laying the foundation for our culture with which we have been blessed. Thank you, ladies, for your kindness, your support, and words of encouragement. Although we will not be meeting monthly, I am secure in the special friendships that we have forged thru our service to GMRW.
I am also reminded of the previous leadership to GMRW who had the vision and drive to develop all that went into obtaining our charter as a club. There were bumps along the way as is a common experience with growing clubs, but I am reminded of the high achievements GMRW has obtained from the very beginning. In record time, our founders developed our bylaws, our vision, our mission statement, met all the deadlines for every marker that is required for a new Republican Women’s club to become Federated. At the end of the first year, we were blessed with certificates of achievement in just about every category, to include the Diamond award from NFRW, Gold award and 1st place from AZFRW along with many other recognitions of excellence. THEN if that was not enough, at the end of our third year we again received the Diamond award from NFRW and a host of other recognitions for communications, Caring for America, another Gold award from both NFRW and AZFRW. We have much to be both thankful of and proud of as a club.
Looking outside of our local circle I am so appreciative of the women of AZFRW and NFRW who have led at that level and are preparing to lead a new term for our Conservative impact on not just our state politics but also on the national level. Until I had the opportunity to attend both NFRW and AZFRW conventions, I had no idea how powerful our women groups were on the political stage. WOW! what a force….and what amazing strength these women’s groups are in moving forward conservative, common sense and purposeful initiatives for the common good our county, state, and nation. Thank you for letting me represent our club on those two larger stages. I could not have been happier or prouder to represent GMRW. On a high-level view of where we are as a club, GMRW will be dissolved December 31, 2023, returning our charter back to AZFRW. This was done with a quorum of membership and was a unanimous vote. The details of that process were sent out in a recent Constant Contact.
I guess the question is “what next”? We know what some of our members are doing and will be doing in the future. Personally, I am grateful that AZFRW will be going forward led by Pat Lorenzen, as President. I can’t think of a more competent person to lead the way with the awesome passion she shared with GMRW for the last 3 years. We are blessed and fortunate for her leadership. I do not know what each of you will do going forward but I want to take a moment to encourage you to join one of the five Republican Women Clubs in the area. 2024 campaign and election year needs you and needs your full participation. There are many campaigns you can support and many other conservative organizations you can join where you can find fulfillment, meaning and be appreciated for your presence, participation, and gifts. You are unique, you are gifted, and you have been blessed to be a blessing to our county, state and nation. Please find your place and purpose and give it your all.
God Bless you and keep you, may he make His face to shine on you and give you peace, now and always. Remaining your faithful friend in service Kristena Ewing-Herrera Granite Mountain Republican Women President