CISV Atlanta Newsletter – Fall 2005
Atlanta Area CISV made its second annual pilgrimage to Cincinnati (Fort Mitchell, Kentucky) for the CISV National Board Meeting (NBM), National Adult Meeting (NAM), National Junior Branch Board of Trustees Meeting (NJBOT), and National Local Leadership Training Session (LLT) to train the trainers. On board were Tait Anberg and Lisa Howe (NBM), Hilary Leland, Bill Howe, Thletha Yates and Anitra Brooks (NAM), Laura Aday, Tim Banning, Kaitlyn Banning, and Maayan Schecter (NJBOT), Garry Banning (NJBOT Chaperone), and Melissa Ribeiro (LLT). What a great showing for our second year! We had participants in every activity and some of our members caught the CISV bug and volunteered to work on different national committees.
Tait and I participated in the business end of CISV. Reports were read, motions were discussed and voted on, elections were held, and a budget was approved. Sharon Lipps, the past National President is now our International Representative. Mary Brophy, past Vice-President, is now the National President. The new Vice-President is Justin Sitron. A change in training procedures will allow for more flexibility with leader training dates. Hopefully this will make life a bit easier for the national chapters.
The focus of NAM was the new format for Local Work. MOSAIC is now the term used for CISV projects done by a local chapter. MOSAIC differs from the old format in that it involves an educational component. This makes for a better connection to the CISV education cycle. MOSAIC has already been adopted at the international level, and was formally adopted by the USA at the National Board Meeting. Our NAM participants discussed and developed possible MOSAIC projects, then taught everyone about MOSAIC through a skit. We didn’t know just how theatrical some of our members were (Anitra Brooks & Thletha Yates). Do I smell talent show????? After the skit, others led the chapters through the steps of developing, carrying out, and evaluating a MOSAIC project. We were very proud of our representatives – they were outstanding.
Training the Local Leadership Trainers kept Melissa Ribeiro busy the entire weekend. She and a select few from across the USA were developing strategies to help not only our Village and Interchange leaders, but our local officers and chairs as well. We will get to see the fruits of her labor in early January at our Executive Board retreat.
As for the youth, what can I say? They were in constant motion. They too worked on changing local work to the MOSAIC format. However, it seems the most fun was the development of national CISV projects that focus on the perceived stereotypes of the different regions of the United States, and of course – making and renewing friendships.
When we weren’t working, we were playing hard. Dinner Friday night was a movie theme. Appearances were made by the Ghost Busters, the Wizard of Oz characters, the Spice Girls, James Bond, and many more. After hours were filled with chit-chat and sing-a-longs, and every meal time was a social gathering. What a hectic, yet great weekend we had. Our minds were filled with new facts and ideas, and our hearts were warmed by friendship. I wish you all could have been there. Maybe next year!