The annual business meeting of the League of Women Voters of Elkhart County was called to order on May 17th at 11:.50 a.m. by our league president, Sharon Schafer. The budget was approved after an addition of $1000 for expenses for the national league convention. Officers elected for the 2017-2018 year are :
President—-Sharon Schafer
Second Vice President /Membership—–Sally LaRocca
Secretary—–Carol Wiegner
Treasurer—–Dan Kmitta
All above officers as well as Karen Carter and Beverly Wiemeri are on the board of directors. Our social media consultant is Tanzie Nielsen. Board meetings are at 1 p.m. the 2nd Thursday of the month at Greenleaf Health Campus, 1201 E. Beardsley Ave. Members are welcome to attend board meetings.
Dues for the 2017-2018 year are $45 and are being collected now. Send dues checks and additional donations to: Fran Fraser 22784 Chestnut Lane, Goshen, In. 46528.
Education fund donations this year will be tax deductible. Next year dues and donations will both be deductible since we will be a 501c3 organization.
One of the main goals of the LWVIN for the coming year will be REDISTRICTING. Gerrymandering is so bad in most states that voting districts are set up to favor one party over the other, not the interest of that area. Representation now does not cover certain school districts, cities, or townships with a common concern, but swatch areas that sometimes have nothing in common.
House-Map-for-Directory Senate-Maps-for-Directory
The May luncheon speaker was Pete McCown, president of The Elkhart Community Foundation 101 S. Main St., Elkhart, IN. 46514 
The Community Foundation has a donors’ fund worth of $256 million. $150 Million of that was donated by Dave Gundlach. ( click bar) As you can see from the article, he left quite an assortment of houses, art, and cars.
68% of the Community Foundation’s budget goes to a fund for Elkhart Co., 7% for scholarships, 18% for caps campaign (public library, boys & girls clubs etc.) and 7% for donor advised funds (matching grants to donations). Some of grants went to the: 100+ Women Who Care, the Pumpkin Vine Trail, Lerner restoration, Maple City Health Clinic, Elkhart Health and Fitness Aquatic center, Math incentive project, play ground and other projects.
There was a discussion about the quality of the Tolson Center programs and venue. The city of Elkhart runs and maintains the center now. The recommendation was to have Lifeline lease the Tolson Center from the city and work with the city on programs. As a non profit they can apply for grants from The Community Foundation which will help the center succeed.
Our next League of Women Voters of Elkhart County program, on June 21, will be about ALEC : American Legislative Exchange Council. Please read up on this conservative group that writes up legislation. Will they be our policy makers? We want to have great questions for our speaker. Please come and be informed about what is going on in your democracy.
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The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, works to increase understanding of major public issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
