While enjoying a delicious baked chicken dinner, those members attending the meeting were able to get a firsthand look at the Oakland Church Community Life Center in Chuckatuck. The facility is being considered as a potential venue for chapter meetings. Four new members were sworn in by President Chris Ferguson. Pictured here from left to right are James Lacey, Ryan Blake, Shawn Bailes and Kenton Givens. Welcome to the chapter gentlemen.
Aron Zielezinski and Terry Nienaber were the guest speakers for the evening. Aron pictured here to the right (in the red shirt), is a member of the Board of Directors of the Tidewater Turners. Terry is the current President of the Tidewater Woodworkers Guild. Their presentation included details of their respective wood craft organizations, a short history of the wood lathe as well as their purple heart veterans’ program. They also brought examples of their wood working skills. For those interested in learning more about various forms of woodworking, Aron can be reached at Roughcraftllc@gmail.com. Terry can be reached at twwguild@gmail.com.
Scholarship Awards:
Chapter awards committee chair David Purdue presented Ava Gonzales, pictured below left, with one of the two $1,000.00 scholarship awards for 2024. Ava is a local Suffolk resident and plans to attend George Mason University where she will major in Environmental Science. She aspires to become an environmental protection specialist in either the US Department of the Interior or the Environmental Protection Agency. David had also presented the chapter’s second $1,000.00 award earlier in the week to Claire Conner at her home in Chesapeake, pictured below right. Claire is currently considering notifications from other colleges but has been accepted at Stony Brook University. She intends to study environmental policy and plans to go on to law school after obtaining her bachelor’s degree.
