Texas Democratic Women Monthly Meeting Minutes
July 20, 2019
The meeting was called to order at 4:01 p.m. followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. ShariaLassiter – May, 2019 Treasurer’s report was read and accepted.
Lana Turner –the May, 2019 Secretary’s meeting minutes were read and accepted.
Scholarship winner, Madeline Shepherd (Midlothian High) was introduced to the TDW members at the beginning of the meeting. Shepherd later read her winning essay, and provided a couple of facts about herself: • Graduated in the top10% of her class • Accepted to Liberty University and will be attending in the fall Samantha Harris, the 2nd TDW scholarship winner was unable to attend the monthly TDW meeting. Ms. Harris will be attending Texas Tech in the fall.
Old Business:
Several TDW members (Vivian Gibson, Pat Paige and Lynda Begnaud) attended the Award Ceremonies for Midlothian High School and Midlothian Heritage High School in May.
TDW participated in the Polka parade. We had 3 booths decorated, and decorated trailer.
One exciting highlight of the day at the Polka Parade booths; registered a person that just earned his US Citizenship, which took him 20 years to obtain.
As stated in previous meetings TDW can no longer afford the maintenance of the trailer and plans to move forward with donating it to the Ellis County Democratic Party.
It was decided moving forward, beginning with the July TDW meeting, members would provide refreshments/snacks and not meals.
New Business:
Scholarship Committee: Chair, Vivian Gibson, no updates to report.
Outreach Committee: Chair, Pat Paige, absent, and no update by proxy.
Fundraiser Committee: Chair, Sharia Lassiter. Presented 3 fundraising ideas: Dinner or night out in Democratic office Sale Democratic items (inexpensive) Bakeless bake sale (inSeptember or October)
TDW participating in Waxahachie 4th of July parade.
College professor, Haley Kayzen writing article on recent TDW scholarship winners.
6/26/19: Remember to watch the Democratic Presidential Debates
7/15/19: Brown bag lunch from 11 a.m.–1 p.m. in the Democratic Office. Ellis County Democratic T-shirts available for purchase($12each). GuestSpeaker:ChrisTackett The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.
TDW of Ellis County Meeting April 20, 2019
The meeting was called to order at 4;06 followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Emma Wilson read the minutes in Lana Turner’s absence and they were accepted. Lynda Begnaud read the Treasury Report in Sharia’s absence. Treasury report was accepted. Lynda asked those who wanted to be members to see her after the meeting.
Old Business: Blue Ribbon Lobby Day-Two of our members went, Lynda Begnaud and Emma Wilson. It was a very good experience. There was a rally for equal pay and several female legislators spoke about different women’s issues. Jeanetta Flores went to the Washington DC for Women in Blue Day.
Thanks to Joe Gatlin for selling tickets for the Fish Fry. Thanks to Sharia Lassiter for collecting the money. Lynda asked if we wanted to use the Fish Fry money for the scholarship fund. Barbara Fudge thought we should keep the money for campaigns.
New Business: The Scholarship Committee chair, Vivian Gibson reported that the committee met twice since the last meeting. There were six candidates in total from both Midlothian high schools. The winner from Midlothian Heritage was Samantha Harris. We will present the scholarship to her on May 23, 2019 at 6:30. The winner for Midlothian High was Madeline Shepherd and her scholarship will be presented on May 21, 2019 at 6:30. Each winner will receive $500. There is $900 left over for next year.
Pat Paige reported about the Outreach Committee. The North Ellis County Outreach in Red Oak received help for their organization from us. They didn’t seem to have had as much help as the other towns to whom we have donated. Pat suggested that we donate to them the next time also and then go to the other towns afterward. Barbara moved to do this and Emma seconded. This will occur in July 2019. We will include food and personal items.
Lynda reported that Rebecca Cockerham’s daughter has volunteered to be TDW’s publicity person. She will be setting up Instagram.
A check was mailed from TDW to the Cook County Illinois Alzheimer Association chapter in memory of Verlie Cambric, Verlie Mc Broom’s mother.
Rebecca Cockerham’s father, Von Gene Stanford, passed away on March 25, 2019. Rebecca said that he was a lifelong Democrat so she asked that the donation go to the Ellis County Democratic Party.
Early voting begins April 22, 2019. May 4th is election day. Things on the ballot include Proposition A, having to do with annexation. Edith Finley is running for the WISD School Board and Chuck Beatty and Mary Lou Shipley are running for Waxahachie City Council.
We now have a TDW website, www.elliscounty.tdw.org
It was suggested that we limit refreshments to snacks instead of meals.
On May 25, 2019, JR Phillips is planning a big showing for the democrats at the Ennis Polka Festival. We will have three booths. One is for voter registration, another for LULAC and for membership opportunity. We will be trying to be in the parade. JR also said that Cat Sanders talked at the CEC meeting about how to reach out to rural communities. He had lunch with Lupe Valdez in reference to the homeless situation.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:45.
Speaker was Chuck Beatty.
ELLIS COUNTY TDW MINUTES March 16, 2019
The meeting was called to order at 4:00 p.m., by President, Lynda Begnaud and was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. All board members were present, except for Treasurer, Sharia Lassiter. Lana Turner – February 2019 Secretary meeting minutes were read and accepted. Lynda Begnaud – February 2019 Treasurer’s report was read and accepted.
Old Business
Texas Democratic Women State Convention (2/22-2/24): Several TDW members attended, including Barbara Fudge, Lynda & Jerome Begnaud. March 6, 2019: Several TDW members met for lunch at “Reservations”, the restaurant operated by the culinary student program at Waxahachie High School.
New Business
April 18, 2019: Roundtable Meeting at Democratic Office, Waxahachie. Ruthie Self, reported the loss of TDW family members: Barbara Turner (sister) and Verlie McBroom(mother). Ruthie Self moved for TDW to donate $50 to an organization selected by the family member, 2nd by Emma Wilson. Verlie selected Illinois Alzheimer Association, Cook County, Barbara Turner’s donation is pending her choice. Reminders April 13, 2019: Fish Fry Fundraiser, held at Sardis Point Cafe April 2, 2019: Blue Ribbon Lobby Day New Business Scholarship Committee: Chair, Vivian Gibson, reported that we have a balance of $1,900 earned through fundraising and individual donation efforts. Outreach Committee: Chair, Pat Paige. Still accepting donations. Christmas Party Nancy and Tommy Cannady volunteered to chair the Christmas Party. Training J.R. Phillips, beginning to train volunteers (i.e., walkers and phone representative). Working on the Democratic t-shirts to wear while performing volunteer duties. The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
ELLIS COUNTY TDW MINUTES February 16, 2019
ELLIS COUNTY TDW MINUTES January 19, 2019
ELLIS COUNTY TDW MINUTES November 17, 2018
The meeting was called to order at 4:06 followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Kathy Kincaid spoke to us and pointed out that this is the last meeting of the year and her last year altogether. Jana Lynn Sanchez spoke to us about the election. We had a large amount of candidates this year and were quite visible. We dramatically changed the future of elections and learned a lot from this experience. The minutes were read and accepted. Linda Begnaud read the treasury report and she acknowledged that Larry Wilson gave TDW a generous donation. She also mentioned the need for scholarship donations. The treasury report was accepted.
Linda Begnaud with the Christmas committee had a sign up sheet to see what food people could bring to avoid duplications. The Christmas party will have a dessert contest and a silent auction. We will have a guest speaker, Jana Lynn Sanchez.
Vivian Gibson with the Scholarship committee announced the Linda Begnaud has joined the committee along with Pat Paige, Francine Jackson, Emma Wilson, and Kathryn Mossom. The next meeting will occur after the holiday. This year we gave two scholarships to Ennis High School students and in 2017, we gave one scholarship to a Waxahachie High School student. This coming year the scholarships will be awarded to high school students in Midlothian. There are two high schools there so our goal is to award a $500 scholarship per school in May. Pat Paige from the Service and Outreach committee told us that we should be proud of TDW accomplishments serving the different communities. We started with Waxahachie Care, then the Ennis Food Pantry and then Manna House in Midlothian. We will return to service Waxahachie Care in 2019. We may go with serving Red Oak after that.
There was a request for $100 worth of stamps for the Bakeless Bake Sale and funds that could be used to pay for twenty tickets to the Christmas Party for people selected by the Christmas committee. Each of those requests were accepted.
The Election Committee which includes Ruthie Self, Verlie McBroom, and Jerome Begnaud gave the 2019 Nomination Report. The nominations include:
Linda Begnaud-President
Cathy Mitchell and Emma Wilson-Vice President
Sharia Lassiter-Treasurer
Lana Turner-Secretary
There was a vote for Vice-President and Emma Wilson will serve in that capacity in 2019.
The speaker was Jim Schermbeck who is the director of Downwinders At Risk which is a non-profit, volunteer-run, grassroots group who is fighting for cleaner air in our area since 1994. The meeting was adjourned at 5:01.
ELLIS COUNTY TDW MINUTES
October 20, 2018
The meeting was called to order at 4:09 followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Kathy KinKaid gave thanks to all those who are helping with the elections. The minutes and treasury reports were read and accepted. Lynda let people know about the dues, that it is better to pay after November 1st so it's effective through next year.
Old Business:
The TDW Christmas party will be held on December 1, 2018 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. There is a sign-in sheet created to help with the party. We need a committee. We couldn't get information from the Woodmen of the World, so went ahead and booked the Woman's Building.
TDW headquarters will be open during the Bob Phillips Texas Country Reporter event since the Beto people will be at headquarters. There are no other plans concerning the event. Kathryn Mossom informed us that a petition to stop involuntary annexations by Ellis County cities received enough signatures to put forth the referendum on the May 2019 ballot. On the May ballot, voters can decide if they wish cities to be required to call a vote that will determine if an area will be annexed.
New Business:
Ruthie Self is the head of the Elections Committee along with Verlie McBroom and Jerome Begnaud. The election of the officers will be held during the November meeting. The nominees are Lynda Begnaud for President, Cathy Mitchell for Vice-President, and Sharia Lassiter for Treasurer. There was no nomination for secretary.
Pat Paige spoke about starting the cycle for food donations with Waxahachie Care. We need to get a time frame for when to give Thanksgiving dinner items. There was a discussion about other towns that could be included in the cycle. It will be a quarterly cycle. At the next meeting, we can look at the framework as to what towns would receive help.
The refreshment sign-up sheet is going around for next year.
Vivian Gibson brought up the scholarship committee so we can get started for 2019. Midlothian will be the next town to receive our scholarship. They have two high schools. Lynda Begnaud volunteered for the committee as she had an idea for fundraising.
Nancy Cannaday informed us about Beto's rally at the Midlothian Conference Center on Thursday, October 25, 2018. The event will be at 5:30. Meeting was closed at 4:50.
The speaker was Jody LaFleur, an attorney with Winborne & LaFleur attorneys & counselors at law.
ELLIS COUNTY TDW MINUTES
September 15, 2018
The meeting was called to order at 4:06 followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Kathy KinKaid opened the meeting with words of encouragement. The minutes were read and accepted. The treasury report was read and accepted. We have $586 in our Scholarship Fund.
Old Business:
A member, Lynne Wilson died. A motion was made and accepted to donate $50 as a memorial to her. After discussion, it was decided to send the donation to Ann Richard’s School for Young Women Leaders in Austin.
Barbara Fudge shared how the campaign money TDWEC allocated to candidates was distributed. A $100 donation was allocated to Jana Lynne Sanchez, Lupe Valdez, Kim Olson, Justin Nelson, Joi Chevalier, Curtis Polk Jr., and Sharon Levingston. Beto wouldn’t accept our donation because we are a PAC. The campaign Donations Committee decided to split the funds allocated for Beto to J.R. Phillips and Vicki Spaniel making the donation to each of them $200.
National Voter Registration Day is September 25.
Beto’s mother and sister were at Ellis County Democratic headquarters on Friday, September 14.
New Business:
Mike Collier will be here on Monday, October 15 at Ellis County Democratic headquarters for the Ellis County Young Democrats meeting. Kathy, Lynda, and Gayla will help prepare for the meeting. An article needs to be sent to local papers to announce his coming.
t’s time to elect new TDW officers. TDW elections chair is Ruthie Self. Not all officers are leaving. Existing officers can serve again.
Beto and Cruz will have their first debate on Friday, September 21 at 6 pm. It will be on domestic policy and will be held at SMU. There will be a debate watch party at headquarters.
Gayla reminded us the Hillary Clinton will be on the Rachel Maddow show on Tuesday, September 18.
The Bob Phillips festival is October 27. We decided to postpone discussion of whether to open headquarters during that until the next meeting.
We discussed where to have the Christmas party this year. Ruthie will find out about the Woodman of the World location.
Kathy KinKaid suggested setting up a mock voting booth to help people feel more comfortable about voting.
Becky Folse talked to the group about being a poll greeter, and asked for volunteers on election day and for early voting at all locations.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:52 PM.
Gladys Burns with Meals on Wheels of Johnson and Ellis County spoke to us about their mission and told us about volunteer opportunities.
ELLIS COUNTY TDW MINUTES
August 18, 2018
The meeting was called to order at 4:03 followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. The treasury report was read and accepted. We have $556 in the scholarship fund as of today. Thirty- seven members have paid their dues.
Nancy Cannaday spoke about the Vote by Mail program. Over 2,000 people would qualify in Ellis County. Because it’s something new, the recipients will need to be called to have it explained. We need volunteers to sign up to make phone calls.
Old Business: Scholarship recipients, Emma Howard and Marissa Feller received their money. Pat Paige gave a report of the TDW food donation on July 23rd at Manna House in Midlothian. We were asked what organization we represented multiple times and they were very pleased with the donations. Manna House works with the police and fire departments and with churches. We are donating $1200 to candidates. A committee was formed to make the decisions as to how to distribute. The committee includes Barbara Fudge, Kathy Mitchell, Ruthie Self, and Nancy Cannaday. Women’s Equality Day is August 22nd in Dallas at City Hall at 12:00 pm on the 6th floor. Turning the Page is the theme. Wear white.
Tommy Cannaday announced that Lynn Wilson has been very ill. She is in hospice care and is not responding.
New Business: Donations are needed for the Hope Clinic, like diapers and other baby things. Nancy suggested that we have a “baby shower” in the next meeting to collect the donations. We could name it Baby Shower for Hope Clinic.
Our speaker was Robert Ray Smith who spoke to us about the two main ways to get your Medicare coverage. Those are the original Medicare and the Medicare Advantage Plan.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:43.
Ellis County TDW Miinutes
July 21, 2018
The meeting was called to order at 4:05 followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. The treasury report was read and accepted. Lynda Begnaud conducted the meeting in Kathy KinKaid's absence.
The $510.00 made from the fish fry was given to 8 candidates per Jana Sanchez. Each candidate received $56.00. The Scholarship Fund now has $1536.00. We asked for more donations and discussed membership dues.
Old Business: Food donations will be for Manna House in Midlothian. Pat Paige will be taking the food there soon. TDW summer retreat will be in Dallas. Many speakers will be there August 3rd and 4th.
New Business: We need new committees and the volunteers to head them. Committees could meet once a month. For the Get Out the Vote fundraiser, see Lynda Begnaud after the meeting. Kathy KinKaid suggested we make banners indicating things for which liberals stand. For example, liberals support DACA. This can be discussed in the next meeting. TDW has a new website. Each chapter has the ability to have one also. Lynda showed everyone the different pages of the website. Photos could be included. It was asked if the minutes of the meeting could be included in the websites and we agreed to do that. Also, we discussed if the bylaws and committees should be included and we decided not to include those. We discussed a possible mission statement.
Per the upcoming election, a list of judges were needed by Jana Onion by July 31st. Gayla Gatling provided those. On August 13 and 14, Jana will be having input to modernize the voting equipment. They have had difficulties getting parts.
The speaker is Barbara Clark, the CEO of the Hope Clinic. Kevin Crouch was her co-speaker.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:30.
Ellis County TDW Miinutes
June 16, 2018
The meeting was called to order at 4:10 followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
The minutes and the treasury report were read and accepted.
Kathy KinKaid's introduction concerned the DACA program and the situation on the border with children being separated from their parents.
Marissa Feller, the second scholarship recipient, spoke about her college plans and answered questions from the members.
Our speakers, Juana Ayala and Yuridia Salazar, spoke to the members about their experience with DACA. They informed us about the process to apply for DACA, the costs involved and how it has to be renewed every two years. Each time it's renewed, they have to do the full application process anew, and they have to pay once again. They have to give quite a bit of information and they have to be fingerprinted so they are easier to track. Therefore, they worry they would be more easy to deport.
Old business: Slate cards which have the information about the Democratic candidates could be helpful when doing block walks. Ruthie Self suggested that TDW donate the money from the Fish Fry to Jana Sanchez in order to contribute toward the slate cards. Barbara Fudge suggested that we earmark the money for the slate cards and figure out to whom the check would be given. It was decided that Lynda Begnaud will do what will be appropriate after talking to Jana. Beto signs and bumper stickers are at headquarters. The July 4th parade's theme is Ride the Blue Wave with the Young Democrats working on that. Kathryn Mossum asked for information about the state convention and whether or not we would be meeting and going together. The answer to that was no. The SD22 caucus is mandatory for delegates and they should sit together in order to vote. Juneteenth information was given.
New Business: It is time to start thinking about the Christmas party. The city council meets July 2nd in was anyone wants to attend. Liberal Lunch will be July 14th. We will try to have on in Red Oak at that time along with Waxahachie and Ennis.
Meeting adjourned at 5:40.