Thank you for your interest in learning more about AAUW. Our mission is: To empower women through education and career development. One important way we do this is through our scholarship program. To raise funds, we will be collecting and selling used books and accepting cash donations. To help provide educational opportunities to more women in our community, please make your tax-deductible donation now.
FEBRUARY LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
By Roxann King
2026 New Year’s Greeting to all of you!
I am writing from my son, Jimmy’s, guest room, as it sleets outside. I thought I was all ready for the big storm and the cold temperatures. I had my heater inspected. When I awoke yesterday, I could not get it to hit a temperature indoors above 60 degrees, too cold for working on the newsletter, reading a book, or knitting, so I accepted the invitation to stay in Glenn Dale with the grandkids and their parents. Much better. I hope you all fared as well as I did during the winter event.
January was busy despite the cold. We had a great visit to the National Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, followed by a splendid lunch. Many thanks to Susan Crawford, our solo Program V.P., for making the arrangements. We need a few fun people to join Susan on the committee; she needs your help and ideas. Please contact Susan (shoycrawford@icloud.com) and sign up. If no one volunteers, I will be calling everyone (not an idle threat!)
Recently, a bunch of worker bees gathered for dinner at Julep to celebrate another successful book sale. It was great fun! The book sale produced a net profit of $14,787. Our book sale is still thwarting the doomsday prediction that traditional books would go the way of the dinosaur. The sale continues to fund our most important activities: our scholarship programs. During winter and spring our funding focus shifts to finding scholarship recipients.
From January to early April, we put a lot of work into supporting our legislative agenda during the 2026 Maryland General Assembly. Please find details on these activities and on ongoing advocacy in the Public Policy update article. On Tuesday, February 3, at 7:30 p.m., following the MLAW briefing, we will have a short discussion of the MLAW and Safe Staffing bills on Zoom, determining which bills we should most enthusiastically support. The link for this meeting will be sent to branch members several days prior to the event.
We are concerned that most of our branch members do not participate in meetings. We are hoping that changing the format may increase participation. We will also, whenever possible, try to include Zoom for members unable to be present or to share recordings of special presentations after the meeting. Please let me know if you need transportation to attend any live events. We can arrange it for you.
I am looking forward to spring already. I hope to see all of you soon! Happy Valentine’s Day!
For information about the branch’s Special Interest Groups and activities, please browse our website and contact us using the link above.
In accordance with its bylaws: AAUW is not affiliated with and does not support any other non-profit organizations; AAUW does not support the campaigns of any candidates for public office; but AAUW does support public policy initiatives related to education and equity for women and families that have been approved by the bi-annual voting of the AAUW members.