Bloomington High School North's Holly Greene Hoover won the Altrusa of Bloomington scholarship for high school students for 2007. The club presented the $500 award at the May 10 meeting.
Altrusa selects area high school senior who is pursuing further education and who has displayed a commitment to community service as well as academic and extracurricular performance.
During high school, Hoover was involved in fundraisers for Habitat for Humanity and Riley Children's Hospital as well as school activities. She also was on the varsity swim team, worked part time during high school and traveled around the world as a People to People Ambassador.
Hoover plans to attend Xavier University this fall and continue her volunteer interests. She is pictured with (from left) Altrusans Jane Kennedy, Amal Altoma and Joann Eberly.
Altrusa of Bloomington initiated new officers May 10 at the general membership meeting.
For 2007-2009, officers are: Glenda Chestnut, president; Joann Eberly, vice-president; Dawna Petersen, treasurer; and Barbara Edwards, secretary. New board members are Judy Hall and Norma Roper. Current board members are Mary Ann Wampler and Susie Voelkel.
These officers begin their terms in May and plan to continue to lead the local chapter in finding new ways to serve literacy needs in the community.
Pictured above are Mary Ann Wampler, Glenda Chestnut, Joann Eberly, Barbara Edwards, Dawna Peterson and outgoing secretary Jane Kennedy, who installed the new officers.
Pictured right are outgoing vice-president Amal Altoma, who has led the group in recent months, and new president Glenda Chestnut.
Altrusa of Bloomington visited the Bedford Altrusa club March 12, where members of both chapters welcomed District Six Governor Phyllis Syers.
"We were very impressed with the Bedford club," said Bloomington vice-president Amal Altoma. "Their Hoosier hospitality and enthusiasm and dedication to Altrusa aims is impressive."
This year, Altrusa Bloomington is offering a $1,000 scholarship to any area high school student. The deadline is April 1 and a winner will be notified by May 1.
Any high school senior residing in Monroe County is eligible for the award, which may be used to further formal education at two- or four-year colleges or vocational training at an established institution. Scholarship funds will be paid directly to the institution of choice on behalf of the winner.
Applicants must complete a form, compose an essay on the Value of Participating in Community Service and provide verification of service hours to a non-profit agency within Monroe County in the past year.
Area high school counselors have received forms application materials and will distribute to interested students.
For more information, contact Cindy Gray, (812)349-3050.
At the March 8 meeting, Altrusa Bloomington elected new officers for 2007-2009. They are: Glenda Chestnut, president; Joann Eberly, vice-president; Dawna Petersen, treasurer; and Barbara Edwards, secretary. New board members are Judy Hall and Norma Roper. Current board members are Mary Ann Wampler and Susie Voelkel.
These officers begin their terms in May and plan to continue to lead the local chapter in finding new ways to serve literacy needs in the community.
At the same meeting, members heard Leila Voyles of Middle Way House and The Rise discuss the needs of those organizations. The Rise, a part of Middle Way House, is an apartment facility for people fleeing domestic abuse. It provides living space for families as well as education or training to enable its clients to re-enter the workforce and become self sufficient.
Voyles said The Rise needs supplies such as furniture and toiletries as well as support for educational programs. For example, residents studying for their GEDs at The Rise have had to share just one GED Study Guide. Altrusa Bloomington already has donated several GED Study Guides and plans to monitor the literacy needs of The Rise to guide future donations and support.
The annual Fall Tea and Style Show Oct. 21 at St. Mark's Methodist Church in Bloomington was a big success, raising more than $1,700 for Altrusa's literacy programs.
All members participated, from catering to modeling to planning for this main fundraiser. Thanks to all of our members as well as to the over 115 people who attended and helped make this event a big success.
Pictured are president Cathy Rogers modeling a new fall outfit (right) and Altrusan Mary Ann Wampler greets her table of guests (below).
Altrusa of Bloomington was second runner up in the Leatha Brown Awards given at the Sixth District conference May 5-7 in Elgin, Ill. The club entered its 2005 project, Warmth and Wisdom, in the competition, which honors Altrusa chapters' literacy projects.
The Warmth and Wisdom project supplied families of newborns with blankets and books to encourage parents to start a reading habit with their children. Area Girl Scouts helped sew the blankets and Bloomington Hospital helped identify families who would most benefit from the packets.
Local Altrusans (from left) Cathy Rogers, Glenda Chestnut and Amal Altoma attended the conference and accepted the award on behalf of the Bloomington members.
Altrusa of Bloomington installed new officers and welcomed new members at the May 11 meeting at the Indiana Memorial Union.
New officers and board members are (pictured from left) Susie Voelkel, board member; Amal Altoma, vice-president; Cathy Rogers, president; Amal Altoma, vice-president; Glenda Chestnut, treasurer; Jane Kennedy, secretary; and Mary Ann Wampler, board member.
New members are Judy Hall and Cynthia Gray (pictured from left, with Cathy Rogers). Hall had been a former member of this chapter, while Gray is transferring her membership from a Texas club.
Altrusans helped with Quiz Bowl April 13 by preparing for the party at the end of the four-day trivia quiz competition. Quiz Bowl raised over $11,000 for the Volunteers In Tutoring Adult Learners literacy program at the Monroe County Public Library. Altrusa president Cathy Rogers is the director of VITAL.
VITAL also won the Civic Engagement Award at the O'Bannon Institute April 28. The award is given by Ivy Tech's Center for Civic Engagement for excellence in community involvement.
At the March general meeting, IU School of Medicine professor Tony Mescher discussed stem cell research to the members and several guests. Mescher teaches pre-med students and specializes in cellular biology. He talked about how stem cells could be used to treat diseases such as Parkinson's disease, the state of legislation affecting research using stem cells.
His discussion is an example of Altrusa members' continued efforts to invite area professionals to share their knowledge with us and to stay abreast of issues, both locally and globally.
Pictured are Mescher and his wife, Trina, speaking with Altrusan Margit Ruppe (right).
In December, Bloomington Altrusa donated books and blankets to Bloomington Hospital as part of the Warmth and Wisdom program to supply these items to newborns and their families. Altrusans feel this is a way to introduce children and their parents to good reading habits as well as offer a cozy blanket to celebrate these family additions.
Altrusa has organized this multigenerational service project for the last year. Area Girl Scouts helped make the blankets in a year-long project, coordinated by an Altrusan who also is a Girl Scout leader. Several Altrusans helped the girls work on the blankets. Altrusa of Bloomington purchased the books from funds raised on other projects during the year.
Pictured are (from left) hospital volunteer Bev Stark, Altrusans Amal Altoma and Betsy Whitehead, and Jim Myers, chief financial officer at Bloomington Hospital.
Altrusans volunteered for a whole day of bell ringing for the Salvation Army Dec. 3 at College Mall. From 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., members collected donations from shoppers in the area. Pictured are Dee Holtman (left) and Caroline Clay.
Monroe County Public Library director Cindy Gray talked to Altrusans at the regular meeting Nov. 10. After 10 months on the job, Gray has determined that outreach is one of the chief goals for the library. She said more Bookmobile routes, programming in neighborhoods and possibly a new branch on the south side of the county are on her "wish list."
Gray was a member of Altrusa in Texas, where she lived and worked in a library. Bloomington chapter president Cathy Rogers is working to convince Gray to transfer her membership to our local club.
Local members brought mittens and gloves to the December meeting. Warm winter gear was donated to Salvation Army, which also will receive our volunteer efforts at bell ringing Dec. 10 at College Mall. Member Jane Kennedy is overseeing both these projects.
WTIU, the local public television station, begins a membership drive in December, and Altrusans have volunteered to staff the phone banks during the call-in portion of the drive Dec. 7. Vice-president Amal Altoma is arranging volunteers for this effort.
By a simple click of a mouse, you can support literacy and help get books to readers all over the country. Click The Literacy Site to participate. The site is sponsored by the same organization that brought you The Hunger Site.
Over 100 people attended the Bloomington Altrusa Tea and Fashion Show Sept. 24 at St. Mark's Methodist Church in Bloomington. Altrusans cooked, brewed, served, cleaned and even modeled to make the afternoon a successful fundraiser. It raised over $1,000.
In addition to all the attendees, Altrusans especially want to thank the store owners who supplied the fashions, Cathy McIntyre of Washington Avenue Collections in Bedford and Cheryl Nichoalds of Tivoli in Bloomington. We appreciate the church's hospitality as well. (from October, 2005)
Final figures aren't in yet, but Altrusa's yard sale Aug. 20 at Sherwood Green earned about $250 in funds toward literacy programs. Local Altrusans staffed the sale from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., when United Way volunteers collected all the leftover merchandise.
The sale, at the home of Barbara Light, was part of a Sherwood Green neighborhood-wide sale.
Several guests attended the Altrusa outing at Oliver Winery Aug. 31.
Food provided by Amal Altoma and Margit Ruppe, wine-tasting compliments of the winery staff, and a white elephant auction led by member Glenda Chestnut rounded out the evening.
Regular meetings resume Sept. 8. (From August, 2005)
Salih J. Altoma, professor emeritus, Indiana University, spoke about the "Faces of Iraq" at the June 9 meeting. Altoma, husband of Altrusan Amal Altoma, shared his personal experience growing up in Iraq as well as described Iraq's evolution through the ages.
Officers and board members were installed May 12 at the last meeting of the Altrusa year. Cathy Rogers is the new president.
The 2005 District Six Conference was in the Evansville, Ind., Altrusa Club April 15-17. Co-chairs were Bernice Bickel and Mary Alice Bertram. Check out the District 6 conference page. for details. (from June, 2005)
In April, Altrusans volunteered for various tasks during the Monroe County Public Library Quiz Bowl, which benefits the VITAL (Volunteers in Tutoring Adult Learners) program. Altrusa sponsored a team and members helped out with the party at the end of the week.
Amal Altoma (right) made use of her Altrusa apron as she organized the food and party for participants at the end of the four-day event. Altrusan Cathy Rogers is the director of the VITAL program, and literacy is one of Altrusa's chief concerns. (from May, 2005)
Young adults who "graduate" the foster care system often end up homeless, or without guidance on 
their tough paths to adulthood.
As social worker Sheri Benham (right) became aware of this fate of many older teens, she took action by creating Stepping Stones, a transitional housing program for this population. The program is just getting off the ground after securing grants, Benham told Altrusans during the regular meeting March 10, and several apartments will be available soon to shelter these young people.
Benham said the apartments will be fully stocked, with an adult living nearby to offer help and guidance, but the young residents will be expected to share responsibilities as they try to achieve independence.
Benham is looking for volunteer help on the board, to move people into the apartments and to donate household goods and furniture to outfit the apartments. For details, call her at (812) 336-7196. (from March, 2005)
The Altrusa International Foundation, Inc. is making a contribution of $45,000 to the disaster relief efforts in southeast Asia to assist the victims of the recent tsunami. This contribution is being made directly to the Red Cross Response Fund.
The International Foundation will gladly accept any additional donations for these efforts. Any contributions received, earmarked for this specific fund, also will be forwarded to the Red Cross Response Fund.
You may read more about this on the Altrusa International home page. (from February, 2005)
Sherry Dick, director of Monroe County Community School Corp. Adult Education, spoke to Bloomington club members at the Jan. 13 meeting about the challenges facing the program.
Currently funded through grants as a state program, Adult Education coaches those studying for the GED, supports a teen learning center and helps those for whom English is a new language attain basic literacy in their new country. It also offers other classes to help adults brush up on their skills or learn new ones, such as computing.
Sherry explained that MCCSC Adult Education program is the only organization of its type with a psychologist on hand to test adults in the program for learning disabilities. The programs also rely on volunteers, community and legislative support.
For more information, check out the Adult Education Web site.(from January, 2005)
Bloomington Altrusans partnered with Girl Scouts to stage a "quilting bee" in observance of Martin Luther King's birthday Jan. 17. "A Day On, Not a Day Off," has become the slogan for MLK Day, and Girl Scouts quilted and sewed blankets for their service badges and Altrusa's literacy project that presents new parents with quilts and books. Read more on the Projects page. (from January, 2005)
About Altrusa International, Inc., of Bloomington