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| Setma Maddox, DTM |
When you become a member of Afterburners, you become a member of a family that loves to get together and celebrate life. Toastmasters International rules do not allow clubs to have parties. In fact, the rule, loosely stated, implies that if a club meets, it must have an educational component for its members. With this rule in mind, Afterburners budgets for and schedules three (3) "educational retreats" around the annual celebrations of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve.
Our Thanksgiving retreat is usually held during our regularly scheduled meeting in November each year. Brenda Daniels has historically prepared the turkey and dressing and the rest of the food is provided as pot luck by each club member. The Christmas Retreat held in a club members' home -- someone who volunteers to host the retreat. The host prepares the main dish and opens their home to the club members. Each attending member provides a side-dish and/or desert and brings a $10 gift for the fun-filled Chinese Gift Exchange. This year, Tammy Bailey, hosted the retreat in her beautiful home and we all had a great time as usual. Pat Quick and Antoniette Silas gave manual speeches -- the educational side of things.
For the last three (3) years, I have had the honor of hosting the New Year's Eve Retreat. My dining room table is large enough to get 10-12 people around it family style and I have extra dining and seating. Most times the feeding of the multitudes begins around 7 p.m. but if someone is running late or decides to just drop-in for a visit that works too. Everyone brings a dish and their favorite board game.
After dinner we check out the games and select one or two games to play. This year the game Brenda developed for the Fall Conference was chosen. Brenda served as MC. The ladies vs. the men. (I'll leave to your imagination as which group won!) It was fun watching how everyone came to the conclusion that something was fact or fiction about District 25 Toastmasters -- uh huh, that educational thing again. At 11 p.m. we always watch the ball drop in Time Square in New York City and then continue to celebrate until the clock strikes 12 in the Central Time zone.
It sounds as though there would be a lot of work involved in hosting one of these retreats but that's not true. You just provide the place and the main dish -- for which the club will reimburse you up to $25 -- and the club members provide the rest. I am a very laid back hostess in that I don't wait on people hand-and-foot. I treat them like family. If you want more to eat, it's in the kitchen. If you want something out of the refrigerator, help yourself. I believe it helps everyone feel at home and that is what I want. There is a satisfaction that comes from having my Toastmasters family in my home. I see us have fun together outside the club and I get to see everyone relax and interact as family.
We will have three educational retreats again next year. Consider hosting one of them in your home or preparing the main dish. You don't need a huge house or table, as we have been known to sit on the floor instead of chairs. You don't need a lot of parking space; the neighbors won't mind as long as you let them know you have several people coming. If you don't think you can cook the main dish, let someone know and you might just be surprised who will volunteer to help you by cooking it for you. If you think no one will come because you live out of the way, think again. We have been known to drive to Ponder, Texas -- east of Denton -- for a retreat. This is Texas, after all, so we are used to going a little distance to have fun -- and fun we do have!
Happy New Year, everyone! Be safe and keep smiling.
