May 4 - 2nd Quarter General Meeting - Cinco de Mayo Theme
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Our general membership meeting for the 2nd quarter of the year was primarily a social time on a Sunday afternoon at the home of Joy Rich. Members brought a delectable variety of Latin-themed dishes along with obligatory margaritas. Only some of us wore festive outfits, but Sheila Melancon and Karen Vingiello took home miniature cactus plants as door prizes for the most appropriate attire. A brief business period included a few announcements and some remarks regarding our recent inbound visit from San Diego last month, our outbound journey coming up in August to Northern Colorado, and another inbound group from Milwaukee in November. Members also signed up for shifts monitoring the entrance to the annual Gonzales Jambalaya Festival coming up on Memorial Day weekend at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center. Most importantly was the free flow of conversation, camaraderie, and learning about each other.
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March 20 - Meet & Greet - Albasha Greek & Lebanese Restaurant
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March 17 - 1st Quarter General Meeting - St. Patrick's Day
The chow line!
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FFBR President Trudy Ivy Welcomes Everyone
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EBRP Library Asst Director Mary Stein gives remarks
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Clip in The Advocate newspaper announcing the meeting and speaker
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FFBR held its 1st quarter general membership meeting at the library on Goodwood Blvd with 42 people in attendance including 30 FFBR members and 12 guests. FFBR President Trudy Ivy welcomed everyone and invited them to serve themselves at the buffet tables of beverages, entrees, sides, and desserts. The St. Patrick's Day theme was obvious with green tablecloths, shamrock decorations, most folks wearing green, and food such as Irish stew, cabbage and sausage dishes, potatoes, etc. Throughout the event, displayed on the large screen was a slide show assembled by FFBR Member Thornton Cofield from pictures taken by members who went on the journey to Alajuela, Costa Rica, last month. Mary Stein, Assistant Director of East Baton Rouge Parish Libraries, spoke briefly about the library system, its services and events, and the current compromise on its proposed property tax funding renewal. FFBR Vice-President Art Vingiello introduced our featured speaker, Jay Dardenne, who is a former state legislator, Secretary of State, Lt. Governor, and Commissioner of Administration. He gave an entertaining talk on the influence of the Long family in Louisiana government and particularly on the benefits initiated, iron-fisted governance, populist agenda, and assassination of Huey Long, a Public Service Commissioner, Governor, and U.S. Senator in the 1920s and 1930s. Of particular interest were details of several illustrative examples that probably are not widely known.
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March 8 - Table at Women's Wellness Summit
Members of FFBR manned an information table at the annual Women's Wellness Summit at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center to publicize Friendship Force and to interest potential prospective members.
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February 20 - Meet & Greet - Pho Cafe
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January 16 - Meet & Greet - The Little Big Cup - Arnaudville, LA
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We changed up a little for our first monthly Meet & Greet lunch of the new year. Instead of dining in the Baton Rouge area, we drove about an hour across the Atchafalaya Basic to Arnaudville, old stomping ground of our genuine Cajun member Mike Wyble. The venue was The Little Big Cup restaurant in the middle of town on the banks of Bayou Fusilier just before its junction into Bayou Teche. Drawing 23 FFBR members, the trip was a popular hit with lots of good fun and great fellowship. Afterwards, before getting back on I-10, many of us stopped by Louisiana Marketshops at the 115 to peruse and pick up Louisiana themed items to use as gifts for our hosts on future journeys (and maybe something for ourselves).