Skidaway Abigails l June 2021

In This Issue

President's Message

Upcoming Events

Monthly Program Recap

n This Issue

President's Message

Upcoming Events

Member Spotlight

Communications Update

Activities

Announcements: The Glorias

A Message from your Board of Directors

Membership

Mission Statement

Contact Information

President's Message

Hello,

Summer is truly here and the Savannah heat and humidity are setting in. Some of us are making plans to travel to cooler climes for part of the summer, and some of us are planning how to stay cool and enjoy our southern summer. Whatever your plans this year, hopefully they will be much more joyful and carefree than they were a year ago, now that the fear and threat of Covid-19 is receding. They are not gone, we do still need to be cautious and on guard, yet they are definitely receding. Family visits and hugs are part of our reality once again and that is a truly happy thing.

Our new board is working diligently to bring you the caliber of programs to which you have become accustomed from the Skidaway Abigails and our WAG advocacy group. In addition, our creative members have come up with, and have organized, the different activities we offer each month. We welcome your suggestions and your participation in all programs and activities, and would be happy to have you host any new activity you might like to offer.

We are still working on the optimal meeting format for the fall and will keep you informed of our decision-making and the options available to us as we know more. In the meantime, enjoy your summers, here in Savannah or wherever you may roam, and I look forward to seeing each and every one of you in September.

Happy Summer!

Betsy Beekman

Upcoming Events

Have a wonderful Summer! Our next presentation will be in September 2021!

Recap of May Events

Voter Suppression: How the Savannah Chapter of NAACP is fighting voter suppression

Coordinated by Betsey Andersen and Pat Wallace

Unfortunately, our May Zoom call with the Savannah chapter of the NAACP did not take place. Our speaker, Chad Mance, was otherwise detained. We look forward to hearing about how the NAACP was instrumental in getting out the votes locally. At this time, we don’t have an exact date when the NAACP will speak with the Abigails but our plan is to reschedule the program. Thanks to all of you who were waiting on the Zoom call and we apologize for the delayed program.

Member Spotlight

Adele Packert

Adele Packert was born in Yonkers, NY. Her parents moved to a small town in the Hudson Valley just north of Poughkeepsie that had a one-room school house Adele attended from first to sixth grade.

She went to Katherine Gibbs in Manhattan where she lived at the Barbizon Hotel for Women for a brief time, then went to the University of Bridgeport and graduated with a BS degree in Business Education. During her college years, she worked on an ocean liner as a waitress for a month cruising to South America.

In Brooklyn and then Queens, Adele taught in two all-girls Catholic High Schools, while commuting to Manhattan to get her Masters from Hunter College. She moved to Long Island where her husband was a professor at Dowling College. She became an Assistant Professor and Associate Dean of the Business Department at New York Institute of Technology on Long Island. Adele got a Masters in Counseling which led her to various private schools where she served as Director of College Counseling and eventually Head of Upper School. A highlight of her time in NY was when her husband, an opera buff, managed to get tickets to Luciano Pavarotti at the Met and to meet him backstage.

Adele and her husband recently moved to The Landings from Las Vegas to be closer to family and long-time friends from Long Island who have been here for over 20 years. She has served as Membership Chair on the Board of Skidaway Abigails, is a docent at the Davenport House, and is an avid canasta and mahjong player.

Thank you, Adele, for your service to Skidaway Abigails.

Membership

Well, Abigails. This is our last Newsletter for the year. I must say that you have been a faithful “crew” during these trying times! I will not be the Membership Chair next year, so thank you for heeding my pleas to join and/or renew. Thanks to your efforts, we have 38 new members for a total of 262 total members.

I hope you have enjoyed the programs that the Abigails have offered. I know you will all be anxious to attend next year’s meetings in person.

With that said, I hope you have a safe and enjoyable summer. Now that we are able, I’m sure we’ll all be on the road again.

Adele Packert

Membership Chair

702-445-5790

apackert@aol.com

Click to Join or Renew

Activities

Abigails Video Chat

June 1, 8, 15, 22, 29

3 PM Zoom Meetings

Coordinated by Sheila Grossman

Are you missing being able to connect with other like-minded women? Please consider joining us for our next Abigails Video Chat. With the issues we care about constantly under attack, and the pandemic that is slowly resolving as many of us have been vaccinated, our lives have been vastly altered. It's great to be able to talk freely about what we are learning and how we are feeling. The group continues to explore how we are dealing with the unique and stressful time in which we are living.

If you have a specific topic you would like to discuss, please email sheilagrossman@comcast.net.

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, 2016

by Matthew Desmond

The America We Need Discussion Group

Friday, June 25

9:30 am

Sandi Parshall's home

11 Bluff Oak Retreat

Led by Susan Terrio

Matthew Desmond is the Maurice P. During Professor of Sociology at Princeton University. His book Evicted won many prizes including a Pulitzer, a National Book Critics Circle Award, a Carnegie Medal for Nonfiction and a PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction. It was named a Best Book of 2016 by the New York Times, the New Yorker, the Washington Post and the Boston Globe. Matthew Desmond is the author of the award winning book, On the Fireline and the co-author of two books on race. In 2015 he was awarded a MacArthur “Genius” grant.

Our next discussion meeting will be Friday, June 25 at 9:30 a.m. at the home of Sandi Parshall, 11 Bluff Oak Retreat in Palmetto. Please read and be prepared to discuss Part II (chapters 9-16) of the book. If you are unable or not yet prepared to meet in person we can connect you to the discussion by phone or Zoom.

If you have any questions, contact Susan Terrio at terrio.susan@gmail.com.

Amend: The Fight for America

Reel Time

Wednesday, June 23

4 PM Zoom Meeting

Coordinated by Annette Carnow

While the Civil War was won by the Union, much of our knowledge and understanding of the Reconstruction reflects attitudes that the Jim Crow South wished to promote. The new Netflix documentary series Amend, seeks to re-examine our knowledge of that period through the lens of the all important 14th amendment which codified who was to be considered a Citizen, and afforded the hope of a more just society for all. Watch the episodes 5 & 6 at your convenience and join our Zoom conversation.

We welcome your suggestions for relevant films. Please contact: annettecarnow@gmail.com if you have any recommendations.

Canasta

Coordinated by Sue Kantor

We are continuing to meet in-person Abigails Canasta in June.

We will be taking the following precautions.

Everyone who wants to play must have had both of their COVID-19 vaccines.
If there are more than 4, the second table must be spaced away from the other table---let’s stick to a max of 2 tables for now.
There will be no snacks unless they are pre wrapped. BYO drink. Hand sanitizer will be provided by the host.
We can decide about wearing or not wearing masks

If you have any questions, please contact Sue Kantor at suegkantor@gmail.com.

WAG is happy to announce the addition of three new members to the Steering Committee who will bring their talents and ideas to our planning this coming year:

Sandi Parshall will be heading up the Steering Committee. She is joined by new Abigails member, Susan Tauster; and Shanti Stone, who is also serving as Co-Chair for Abigail programs. We welcome them and thank the WAG members who stepped away from the Steering Committee after years of wonderful service: Linda Huntoon, Rosemary Mackey, Betsy McCullar, and Cubby Plonchak. They will be honored at a dinner on May 26.

Book Clubs

While the AM Book Group is still meeting via Zoom, the PM Book Group is meeting in person now.

The AM Book Group is reading Hidden Valley: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker.

The PM Book Group is reading The Doctors Blackwell by Janice P. Nimura on June 16. Reviewer and hostess is Phyllis Aaron.

The Abigails book clubs are currently full. We would be happy to start a new one if there is member interest. If you would like to participate in a book club, please email us at chair@skidawayabigails.org.

Message From Your Board of Directors

Your 2021-2022 Board of Directors, like you, are proud Abigails members. We are committed to serving the mission, and the members, of Skidaway Abigails. We look forward to a great year with our Abigail friends and sisters in action!

President

Betsy Beekman

elizbeek@gmail.com

Vice-President

Susan Terrio

terrio.susan@gmail.com

Secretary

Susan Kurtain

skurtain@aol.com

Treasurer

Betsey Andersen

betsey.andersen@gmail.com

Programming Co-Chairs

Shanti Stone

shantiherman@gmail.com

Susan Terrio

terrio.susan@gmail.com

Social Co-Chairs

Nikki Berdy

nberdy@aol.com

Sue Kantor

suegkantor@gmail.com

Membership

Elizabeth Cowell

elizcowe@gmail.com

Activities Chair

Pat Wallace

patwall831@gmail.com

Communications Co-Chairs

Anne Boynton

boyntonstudios@comcast.net

Sheila Stallings

cookiestallings@gmail.com

IT Chair

Sheila Grossman

sheilagrossman@comcast.net

IT in training

Susan Kurtain

skurtain@aol.com

Advocacy Chair

Sandi Parshall

sandiparshall@yahoo.com

Ex-Officio/Advisor

Sheila Grossman

sheilagrossman@comcast.net

Mission Statement

The Skidaway Abigails is a nonpartisan organization of progressive, liberal women whose purpose is to provide engagement opportunities for social, educational and advocacy activities to its members. We welcome women who support our values to join us, regardless of residence, race, ethnicity, age, religion or gender identification.

What We Value

A strong commitment to women's health and safety including family planning; health education, screening and research; and protection from domestic abuse and the full range of offenses against women, from harassment in the workplace to sex trafficking.

A society that provides services for its poor and its children including basic shelter, food, physical and mental healthcare, quality fact-based education, childcare, pre-K development and college opportunity.

Fair and equitable treatment for the working class including a livable minimum wage; pay equity for women; reducing the gap between the average employee's compensation and corporate executives'; affordable health care; a future in our country for working immigrants; and equitable treatment under the criminal justice system.

Fair and equitable treatment for our Lesbian/Gay/Bi-sexual/ Transgender population in all aspects of our society. We support their right to marry and create a family,

Regulation that respects individual freedom while protecting the community including the licensing and control of firearms; and eliminating unwarranted surveillance, personal data collection and criminal profiling.

Protecting our planet from mankind's impact on earth's climate and precious natural resources ranging from fresh water to the honey bee. We want to better understand opportunities to enhance sustainability.

Being informed and represented on political issues related to our values including voter registration and the right of citizens to vote; the stated positions of local, state and federal candidates; and access to articles and subject-matter-experts on value-related issues.