Club Updates & Latest News

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January Meeting Recap

January Meeting Recap
It was good to gather again after not having a formal meeting in December in lieu of our America First Christmas Celebration. There were many new faces in the audience with four new members joining. The meeting began with Judge Shaun Babeu introducing each of our seven elected officers and swearing them in for the 2023 – 2024 term:

  • Kaye Feller, President
  • Gayle Peters, 1st VP – Program
  • Arlene Stassinos – 2nd VP – Membership
  • Gail DeMario and Pamela Brandis – co-3rd VP – Ways and Means
  • Recording Secretary – Rosalynn Gorski
  • Treasurer – Kathleen Leaman

Following the installation of officers, our Club presented Judge Babeu with a Certificate of Appreciation for allowing our fledging Club to meet at the Justice Center for the first two years. At the time our club was formed in October 2020, was during Covid and there were no local meeting venues large enough to accommodate our growing club. Without the Justice Center growing our club would have been nearly impossible at that time.

We announced our February meeting is Tuesday. February 7 as we are having a very special speaker, Nick Adams with FLAGusa. FLAG is Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness.

FLAG is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating American children about the values and principles that make our nation exceptional. To achieve this mission, FLAG promotes and provides high-quality civics education to K-12 student across the country and impact American culture in a way that preserves our exceptional American value system for the generation to come.

Nick is a well-known author with many books to his credit. He is President Trump's favorite author.

Darla Gonzales was our speaker for the evening. Darla works for AZ Free Enterprise Club and is the Grassroots Director. She may be reached by phone or text (text being faster response time) regarding getting signed up to be part of the Request to Speak (RTS) process. RTS allows a registered member to directly contact your state senator and/or representatives or in some cases all representatives and senators and the governor to let them know if you support or object to a current piece of legislation. We have proven over the last two years that there is power in numbers and the legislators do look at what their constituents want them to do.

Darla hosts a weekly call at 3 PM each Friday afternoon. The meeting includes updates on legislation during the legislative sessions. She also will provide training for using the RTS system, and provides information on current events as they pertain to actions that may be needed to help support or fight ballot issues during election seasons.

AZ Free Enterprise Club is a valuable part of our Arizona government activities, initiatives, and source of information. If you were not at the meeting, please join and get involved.

Approval of Club By-Laws
The members in attendance voted on behalf of the total membership to approve QC – STV RWF's updated by-laws for the next two years. Thank you to the members in attendance who participated in the discussion and voted.

Don't forget the upcoming AzFRW Winter BOD meeting, on February 9, 10, 11 in Lake Havasu City, AZ. There will be a lot going on at the meeting with exciting speakers, a Riverboat cruise on Thursday evening, and catching up with good friends from across the state.

Gayle Peters provided updated information for our Caring For America partner, Compassion Connect of AZ. The annual fundraising Gala for Compassion is February 4. The event is being held at Encanterra in Queen Creek. Your club has purchased one table for 10 seats. Those seats are then given to members that would like to attend the event. Unfortunately, all the tickets were spoken for by the end of our meeting.

Treasurer Kathleen Leaman provided an update on the ending bank balance for 2022, the income from the Christmas Gala and our beginning balance for 2023. She also discussed the budget approved for 2023. If you would like to review any or all of the documents please contact Kathleen Leaman and she will be happy to provide them to you and answer any questions you may have.

Membership VP Arlene Stassinos gave her report for membership as of the end of 2022 which included 93 Primary Members and 43 Associate Members. Renewals for 2023 are being accepted until February 15. You may renew online or by mailing a check to:

Arlene Stassinos
8 W. Combs Road, Suite 101, #160
San Tan Valley, AZ 85140

Hope to see you all on Tuesday, February 7, for our exciting Speaker, Nick Adams.

Kaye Feller, President
February President's Message
January Membership Update
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