Back Together Again(!) for Executive Week!

All 12 of your executive officers gathered at National Headquarters to conduct our June deliberations – the first time that we had been fully together since February 2020! Though we had completed all of our responsibilities during those 16 months, we had often used technology in order to do so. Let me say how wonderful it was to be back together in person!

Reports were provided by the Finance and Audit committee chairs, as well as the Administrator and the department heads for Genealogy, Human Resources and Development. Much business was considered during our week-long meeting, which culminated in 44 motions adopted during the formal Executive Session on Friday morning. Among the highlights, we:

- Established a six-month 2022 observance of the 250^th anniversary of the “Committees of Correspondence,” which began with the Boston Committee in 1772. The goal is to raise awareness of how these committees led to the spread of Revolutionary War information and fervor. They were an early and key element of the Patriots’ ability to unite the Colonies in a shared quest for independence. (What challenges they faced as compared our instantaneous methods today!)

- Provided $239,617 to the DAR Schools through the DAR School Committee. Thank you for the continuing support that makes this financial aid possible to help students at these institutions. When you donate to the Friends of the DAR Schools Fund, you allow us to make the most meaningful impact possible on these campuses.

- Provided a $15,000 donation to the George Washington Foundation to support an exterior renovation project at Kenmore, the Georgian-style brick mansion built by George Washington’s sister, Betty Washington Lewis, and her husband, Fredericksburg, Va., merchant Fielding Lewis.

- Established a one-time contest to encourage participation in the New Horizons course – watch for details as to how graduates will be entered into a drawing to receive a $100 DAR gift certificate, an invitation to sit the President General’s Box at Congress next year and to afford me the honor of having my picture taken with the lucky winner!

- Dedicated a new conference room soon to be constructed on the second floor of the Administration Building as the Cabell Executive Conference Room in memory of Mary Virginia Ellet Cabell, who served as Vice President General Presiding during the term of First President General Caroline Scott Harrison. The Kemper Executive Conference Room will continue as much-needed gathering place for meetings of committee, staff and other functions at the headquarters.