Newcomers of San Antonio

News from The President

News from the President

It’s October, and excitement is in the air! Not because of ghosts and goblins but because of so many wonderful happenings within Newcomers of San Antonio!

Did you hear we turn 40 this year!?! See the teaser article in this October Newsletter giving you a sneak peek at our 40th Anniversary Celebration plans for December 2nd. Be sure to mark your calendars and remember to reserve your luncheon early for that 12/2/21 Fortieth Anniversary Celebration Luncheon.

Our November Luncheon will be open for reservations on October 7th, and I will be first in line as I already peeked at our Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen menu, and I can’t decide between two of the entrees!

Speaking of luncheons: You probably noticed my excitement for the October Interest Group Luncheon, and now it is just days away! I cannot wait to see all of our Interest Groups on display and will have a blast watching so many of you go home with the amazing drawing prizes! BUY YOUR OPPORTUNITY DRAWING TICKETS – you’ll love all the amazing drawing prizes! I want to give a shout-out to the Corporations who donated gifts: Academy, Ancestry.com, Chicken N Pickle, REI, StoneWerks, Top Golf, and Whiskey Cake. Remember to thank them if you visit and thank your Interest Group Leaders who organize and host such fun things for us to do each month. Many leaders also donated AMAZING gift baskets for this luncheon. Thank you all! And, If you have an interest you’d like to lead or if you cannot participate in it on the day(s) offered or because its full, please find the What Group Do You Want to Start? table on October 7th as we will assist you in starting your very own group!

We have a new Board Member! Please join me in welcoming Susi Baylis-Powell to our Newcomers Board! She joined Newcomers and jumped right in. Check out her Bio in the Oct Newsletter. On that note, we still have two board vacancies: 2 Coffee Chairs. You can email, call, text, or send a message in a bottle if you’d like to join our board!! I think we’re rather fun!

I’ve never received so many positive comments, emails and texts thanking me for the final note in my September message, so I will reprint below as it certainly still applies:

While some of us have decided to stay away from gatherings, many are finding the need to make new friends and be active again. I support each group leader deciding how to run their groups in this difficult time and ask that we all respect each other’s decisions on gathering safely. When gathering in a private residence, it is up to the host to set the guidelines for their home. When we enter a restaurant, it is up to the restaurant owner. No one should feel pressured into participating, and I ask that no one ostracize those making decisions different from their own. My goal is to encourage you to bloom where you are planted in a friendly environment as you continue to make San Antonio your home.

Blessings,

Cindy Richards

News from the President

Welcome to Fall in San Antonio Y’all! While the weather doesn’t feel anything like Fall to me, seeing the kids go back to school sure does! And did you notice we are growing? I have met more new members this month than I met all last year. I applaud all who make our newest members feel welcome to our fabulous group. After a wonderful Interest Group Leader meeting led by our Coordinator, Michelle Plazek, I am bursting with excitement to spill the beans regarding our October 7th Luncheon highlighting our 30+ Interest Groups. (NOTE: our Interest Group Luncheon is a month later than in previous years) For the first time in 18 months, we will have a cocktail hour from 11 a.m. to noon as you stroll around the venue chatting, playing, munching and interactively getting to experience the activities each group has to offer. You can fill your complimentary bag with handouts and/or goodies from each table as you sip your drink of choice from the cash bar! Your leaders are so excited to share their activities with you that many are generously donating an Opportunity Drawing gift for this special occasion! Be sure to purchase those Opportunity Drawing tickets! At least 15 of you will go home with a prize! So, if choosing to gather, I hope you will make it a priority to join us for this October 7th Luncheon. By the time you read this, our Sept 2nd Luncheon at Silo will be upon us. Kudos to Jill & Christine for negotiating such an amazing menu even though food prices have skyrocketed this year!! It’s been no small feat finding restaurants within our budget and that require no minimums! Our brand new directories are hot off the presses and being given out at September 2nd Silo Luncheon and the September 16th coffee at Carol Palazzo’s home this month! Have someone attending pick yours up if you cannot attend.

A final note: While some of us have decided to stay away from gatherings, there are many that are finding the need to make new friends and be active again. I support each group leader deciding how to run their groups in this difficult time and ask that we all respect each other’s decisions on how to safely gather. When gathering in a private residence, it is up to the host to set the guidelines for their home. When we enter a restaurant, it is up to the restaurant owner. No one should feel pressured into participating, and I ask that no one ostracize those who are making decisions different than their own. My goal is to encourage each of you to bloom where you are planted in a friendly environment as you continue to make San Antonio your home.

Blessings,
Cindy Richards

News from the President

Happy August everyone! I hope you all are enjoying visiting family and friends this summer. I just returned from my mid-west roots visiting everyone I could. What a whirlwind! I missed Line Dancing and Pickleball while I was gone but cannot wait to get right back at it! I hope you are checking out our interest groups again and joining new ones. It is in these smaller settings we can make friendships that last. And remember, you can always start a new group that interests you – FORM IT AND THEY WILL COME! Michelle Plazek, our Interest Group Coordinator, is here to show you how. Huge applause to Christine Martin who is keeping Wine & Spirits Tasting alive! Stay tuned to hear more on when that will start-up as well as Learn the Arts with Shiny a brand new group starting later this Fall!

After no monthly luncheon last month, I am looking forward to seeing you at Luce’s on August 5th. I have never been, but hear it is delicious. Thank you Christine & Jill for arranging our wonderful Luncheons! Soon after our August Luncheon at Luce’s, be sure to make your September Luncheon reservation at Silo for our September 2nd monthly luncheon where we receive our NEW DIRECTORIES!! Thank you Carol Palazzo for all your hard work in getting our directories published this month. I so appreciate our Board and all the hard work they do to keep these activities going strong for us. We have a few board positions still open, so please call me if you’d like to know more about these openings to co-chair with Sheila on Coffees or with Suzy on Reservations. We’d love to have you join us!  Have a blessed rest of your summer and keep on blooming where you are planted! 

Cindy Richards

News from the President

On July 4th, our nation is 245 years old! Have a safe and wonderful time traveling and celebrating with your family and friends. That is why there is no luncheon in July. Newcomers of San Antonio turns 40 this year! WOW! That is remarkable! Let’s find ways to celebrate our wonderful club all year long!!

I’d first like to thank our past NOSA leaders who birthed and nurtured this club to become what it is today. I especially want to acknowledge Sue Ellen Smith and Margaret Kidd for keeping this club up and running throughout the pandemic – not an easy task! Likewise, I’d like to thank and encourage our newly elected/appointed board and over 25 Interest Groups and their leaders who are hitting the ground running to keep our wonderfully diverse activities going strong. Six brand new Interest Groups were started DURING the pandemic!! Interest Groups are the backbone of our club and I believe you bettered the mental wellness for those needing to meet whether on Zoom or in person.

As your president, I am determined we welcome each newcomer as she joins us for fun and friendship. I humbly ask you to reach out and do so whenever possible. Together we can do great things to serve our community, support and welcome newcomers, and form lasting friendships as we explore, play and eat our way through San Antonio. I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together in this 40th year of Newcomers of San Antonio. Let the celebrations begin!!

Cindy Richards

News from the President

It is said that all good things must come to an end. And this past year has been good, in spite of the pandemic, and this is the end of my monthly messages to you. It was good because our board met every month and continued with the work of Newcomers. Our interest groups continued to meet, some virtually, some face to face, and we added six new groups this year that are very active! We held luncheons each month, save one, and coffees each month except when snowmageddon interfered! So I think we had a good year as a group. A big thank you to the Board who worked tirelessly, to the Interest Group Leaders, to the Luncheon Chairs, to the Coffee Chairs, and to those who opened their homes for the coffees, and a huge thank you to all of you who have been participating all year. We could have thrown up our hands and quit everything, but we are stronger than that so we grew and flourished this year!

It is time to renew your membership for next year. You will find the form on our website. This year we are asking everyone to fill out the long-form so the interest groups membership will be correct. Dues have been held to $30 for the year. Renewal continues through June 30th. After that, dues will increase and there is a possibility that your information will not get included in the directory. Next year will be fabulous as there is an enthusiastic board who are full of ideas and energy. Please give them the same level of support you have given me!

So, the good year has come to an end for me but it is just the beginning of another good year for Newcomers! Have fun and enjoy each other!!!

Margaret Kidd

News from the President

Welcome to the merry month of May! For those of you new to south Texas, the difference between spring and summer is that it doesn’t get to 100 degrees in the spring, only 90!

It looks like we are finally coming out of the pandemic. More and more interest groups are meeting in person and we are getting back to normal numbers for luncheons. It’s wonderful to see each other in person!

The May luncheon will be a symbol of a return to normalcy. It is at the Tower of the Americas, a fabulous restaurant if you have not had a chance to eat there. All of the ladies are encouraged to wear their loveliest spring hat in deference to the Kentucky Derby and Mothers Day! Don’t forget your pearls, either! Prizes will be awarded for the best hats!

May is the time for membership renewal! This year we are asking you to fill out the complete form again. Since this was done in 2018, there are many more interest groups and some have outlived their purpose. A current version of who belongs to which interest group is needed. Also, some people neglect to notify NOSA when they move so we need current addresses and phone numbers.

To Renew, go to the Newcomers’ Website, newcomersofsanantonio.org and Membership is on the top right. Under that tab, you will find the form to fill out and Submit. Then the PayPal button is below that. You do not need PayPal to pay, but all of the choices are found there. Remember, you have to click on two buttons in order to renew!

The June luncheon will be at Meadows in the Alley, another wonderful restaurant. At that luncheon, the Board for 2021-2022 will be installed. However, we will not have coffees starting in July unless two people step up to be coffee chairs. We will also be discussing and voting on an amendment to the bylaws. This amendment would be to remove the three-year requirement to become a member. This requirement was included when there was a sister organization ladies joined after five years. Now that that organization is no longer in existence, ladies are staying as members for as long as thirty years, so of course, they are no longer new to the city like they were during the first five years.

I look forward to seeing more and more of you at Newcomers functions…especially in your hats and pearls!

Margaret

News from the President

Welcome to April! And I hope you have a very Happy Easter!

It is nice to have pleasant weather and to have restaurants and bars fully open! Vaccines are more readily available and it seems more and more of us are fully protected. So much different than the past year!

With that in mind, I’m hoping more and more of you will be able to attend our luncheons, at Tower of the Americas on May 6th and Meadow on June 3rd! Both establishments are extraordinary and we are fortunate that Pink has been able to secure them.

As for our coffees…we will have a redo of the snowed out February coffee at Sharon Gehr’s on April 15th and will be at Carole Palazzo’s on May 20th.

It’s difficult to believe we have survived and thrived this past year and it is almost time for our new year to start. Renewals will start May 1st and continue through June. The board is almost set for the new year, two chairwomen for the coffees are all that are needed.

Have a gorgeous spring and hopefully get out and enjoy the beautiful weather!

Margaret

News from the President

Whoever would imagine the circumstances we are still in! Almost a year ago we were told to isolate for two weeks and we would be fine! What a year it has been. Hopefully, with vaccines in greater supply and more readily available, businesses reopening we will be out of this soon. So, let’s look forward to next year. We will start renewing memberships the first of May and continue through June. Our new board will be elected in May and installed in June

Membership and Interest Groups continue to grow and meet, both virtually and in person. We continue to offer opportunities to our members including luncheons, coffees, girlfriends, bridge, walking, Pickleball, and an occasional On On The Road Again adventure! Everything is voluntary for those who are ready to get out and smell our springtime flowers!

Now that snowtopia is passed, we can look forward to nice warmer weather. I hope no one has any lasting damage from that terrible week!

We can look forward to Easter as a new beginning!

Stay safe and get vaccinated!

Margaret

News from the President

Welcome to February! The month of hearts and love. I am sending all of you lots of love this month.

With more of us receiving the Covid vaccination, hopefully, we will be able to get out more and finally give our friends a big hug!! It’s been a long time.

Newcomers of San Antonio is still having activities for those who are comfortable going out. None of our events are mandatory but are offered to those who need human contact. The reports of increasing depression demonstrate one of the results of the lockdown. Please reach out to any of the board members, if you just want to talk or hear a friendly voice. We are always here for you.

Speaking of the Board, it is time to start planning for next year. Cindy Richards, the 1st Vice-President, will be holding a nominating committee on February 18th. Please let her know if you would like to be a part of this fun and hard-working group next year prior to that time. Elsewhere in this newsletter is a list and description of the various offices. These are also found in the bylaws at the back of your directory. Being on the board is a great way to meet fellow newcomers in a smaller setting.

We are looking forward to lunch at Basil Mediterranean this Thursday and at Pappadeux Seafood Kitchen on March 4th. This month’s coffee will be held at Sharon Gehr’s lovely home on February 18th.

Stay safe, stay well, and spread lots of love this month!

Margaret

News from the President

Welcome, 2021! May you treat us better than 2020!

I hope you had an enjoyable, if low key, Christmas. With the new vaccines, we will hopefully be able to get out more soon!

Looking ahead, it is getting close to the time to select next year’s board. It’s hard to believe this year has gone by so fast!  Being a board member offers unique opportunities to get to know other members in a small group setting while doing the important work of keeping this organization going. The Nominating Committee will meet in February, so please let Cindy Richards know if you are interested in a position or willing to be on the Nominating Committee. The description of each position can be found elsewhere in this newsletter!

If you have seen any minor changes in the ByLaws, please contact Sue Ellen Smith. The ByLaws committee will be meeting in January.

Our next coffee will be on January 21 at Carole Laubach’s home.  Remember, all activities are voluntary, and all COVID guidelines will be in place. No one will be offended if you are still not going out. We want to stay as vibrant and inviting as we can!  We are looking forward to our coffees and luncheons growing again.

Until then, stay safe and keep well!

Margaret