TDW of Ellis County
April 21, 2026 Meeting
The meeting was called to order by President Kathryn Mossom at 6:06 p.m. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. 17 members and 2 guests were in attendance.
Meeting Minutes and Treasurer Report:
The March meeting minutes are available online. Mary Lou Shipley made a motion to approve minutes. Nancy Post seconded. All ayes.
Treasurer Joanne Hunt reported a PAC account balance of $5350.00 and a Scholarship balance of $7175.42. $1,275.00 has been collected for the Candidate Fund. Nancy Post made a motion to approve report. Carol Young seconded. All ayes.
Vice President Nomination
Kathryn Mossom made the announcement of Deborah Hairston as a candidate for VP. Flo Miles made a motion to accept Deborah as VP. Rebecca Cockerham seconded. All ayes.
Committee Reports:
Audit – Linda Baker
No report
Advocacy – Mary Lou Shipley
Mary Lou provided an example of an Advocacy Action Form which will be used to help identify and clarify political issues for TDW members. For any upcoming issues (for example such as the proposed SAVE Act) this form can be filled out and sent to all members who can then take action such as writing to their elected representatives. The form can also be used to help other groups (Midlothian Dems, Young Democrats and others) to coordinate with their efforts and avoid duplication of work. If a member has an issue they would like to discriminate to the rest of the group, fill out the form and send to any member of the Advocacy Committee: Mary Lou Shipley, Kathleen Bowen, Kathryn Mossom or Lynda Begnaud.
Community Outreach – Julie Mendenhall
Julie stated that the Community Outreach committee will be collecting essential items for CARE Services beginning now through the June meeting. CARE Services (formerly Waxahachie CARE) provides Ellis County residents with thousands of pounds of food each week, partners with multiple utility companies, offers financial assistance, and connects neighbors with medical, spiritual, and personal growth resources. See careservicestx.org for more information.
CARE Services is in need of baby diapers (sizes 3-6), baby wipes, pull ups (sizes 2T-6T), baby and toddler snacks, toddler good nights (XS-M) as well as toothbrushes, travel size soap, washcloths, travel size toothpaste, travel size bug spray and travel size mouthwash. You can bring these items to the Democratic HQ on weekdays when it is open (Contact Terri Crouch) or to the TDW-EC meetings on May 19 and June 16th.
Finance – Linda Baker
No report.
Fundraising – Nancy Post
The fundraising letter has gone out to help raise funds for local candidates.
Membership – OPEN
No report.
Program – Nancy Post
May speakers will be Kim Simmons and Dunja Hunt who will discuss the topic of attacks on our libraries.
Refreshments – Carol Young
Thank you to Rebecca Cockerham and Lynda Begnaud for April refreshments. May will be Mary Brooks and Cathy Hennington.
Scholarship – Kathleen Bowen
Kathleen reported that the Scholarship Committee met and selected the 2 recipients – 1 from Midlothian HS and 1 from Midlothian Heritage HS – for the two $1,500.00 scholarships. A total of 17 applications were received. The recipients will be notified during Awards Night which is May 12 for MHS. May 13 for Heritage. In each recipient’s Award letter, they will be asked to come to an upcoming TDW meeting to read their essays. The Committee will meet again late Summer to discuss 2027 plans. 2027 Scholarship will be given to Waxahachie ISD students. If interested in attending Awards Night or being involved with the Scholarship Committee for next year, let Kathleen know.
Voter Registration – Mary Brooks
No report.
Communications/PR/Marketing – Ginger Cole
No report.
Old Business
Kathryn asked that everyone vote for the TDW-EC business card from 3 possible options. These cards will be used to help identify and give TDW-EC more exposure.
New Business
Save the Date: May 1st there will be Indivisible Bridge protests. Waxahachie, Midlothian and Ennis have planned events. Stay tuned for more information from the Ellis County Democratic Party.
Ellis County Democratic Party Chair Report
Kelly Blackburn stated that early voting has started for municipal elections. Runoffs for State elections will begin mid-May. She discussed having a mixer for all Democratic groups in the area. She stated that Ellis County is growing so much and that she needs more help and more boots on the ground. Contact Kelly if you can help.
Presentation
Chris Robey, regional advocacy director for the Greater Fort Worth area Raise Your Hand Texas organization, gave a presentation on how his organization advocates for local schools and neighborhoods.
Highlights:
- Raise Your Hand Texas is a non-profit advocacy group that has 2 main functions: 1) School Funding and 2) Accountability
- The Texas State legislature’s main function is to fund public schools
- Even though HB2 passed giving $8.3B to public schools over 2 years, it is not enough
- The way Texas school funding works, it gives more control to the State and less control to local school districts
- Raise Your Hand Texas is against vouchers and is now monitoring the situation. There were 275,000 voucher applications: 25% were for public schools; 75% were for private schools. This shows that people love public schools.
- Disables and those in poverty are given priority for vouchers
- STAAR was not really eliminated rather there are 3 tests given throughout the year and only the last one counts
- Basic allotment for each student needs to increase
- Texas ranks in the bottom 5 of state school funding basic allotment per student
- Streams of revenue for school funding are: Recapture payments, available school fund, lottery proceeds, State General Revenue and Local Property taxes.
- Raise Your Hand Texas proposes the creation of a Legacy Education Fund which would create a new public education endowment investment. Other states, like Michigan, do this and it funds their entire basic allotment. The current Rainy Day fund has $27B that is not being invested – it just sits there. They want to use $10B of the Rainy Day fund for the Legacy Education Fund investment. This would require a 2/3 vote in Texas House and Senate – one vote to use the Rainy Day fund money and another vote to change the constitution to ensure this money is permanently placed in the Legacy Education Fund.
How can you help:
Raise Your Hand Texas needs endorsements from elected officials, business owners, and clergy. Go to raiseyourhandtexas.org to fill out a form. Get the word out. Get endorsements.
Special Guest Presentation
Katrina Keever from Mentors Care spoke about her organization which connects struggling high school students with mentors, tools, and resources to help lead them towards graduation and purposeful lives. She discussed how people who are interested in volunteering can become involved. She stressed that 1 hour per week can make a huge difference in the lives of a high school student. They have volunteers on high school campuses throughout Ellis County. There is a great need for men to volunteer. Consider volunteering for Mentors Care. Contact Katrina at 214.236.4863. Visit: www.mentors.care for more information.
Announcements
Kathryn announced new members and April birthdays.
Julie Mendenhall stated there will be a Spring Clean Up day and Dumpster Day on Saturday, April 25th in Waxahachie.
Kathryn stated that the Voter Registration effort led by Mary Brooks was recently featured in the State Democratic newsletter. Be thinking of other articles that TDW-EC can submit.
4th of July is just around the corner. TDW-EC plans to do activities. Becky LeBreton is leading.
Adjournment
Nancy Post made a motion to adjourn the meeting. It was seconded by Mary Lou Shipley. All ayes. Meeting adjourned at 7:47 p.m.