Riverwind February 2006

riverwind February, 2006 Volume 6 Issue 1

Riverwind Storytellers Co. 3322 West A St. Belleville, IL 62226

2005 - Reflections of a Blessed Year

	2005 was a busy year for Riverwind. We started the year off by organizing not one but two benefits for the Tsunami that hit SE Asia as part of the national effort "Story Tsunami." We told stories at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville, IL and at the Christian Church in Edwardsville. Collections, donations and selling CD's of the event netted over $1000.00 that was sent to the missions in SE Asia and to the Red Cross.
	Our Riverwind Weekend at Pere Marquette was a "scary one" with Steve Otto who divulged some his secrets in telling ghost stories. A great time was had by all, but RW decided that Pere Marquette was just too costly. We lost more money than our little budget could handle. New measures were taken for 2006.
	Many of our members told at the St. Louis Storytelling Festival under the Arch. It has become a spring ritual to tell stories at one of the many venues.
	Our picnic this year was held at Phyllis Hostmeyer's home in Breese. We discussed ways to improve attendance and yet cut costs of the Riverwind weekend. In August we took a "field trip" to see Stephanie Rhein in Bullshot Crummond.
	As a group, RW told at the Art on the Square in Belleville, SWIC Family Reading Night, Haynor Children's Library and the Edwardsville Public Library. Tellabration was held at Edwardsville as well. Money from Tellabration was split between the Hurricane Katrina Victims and the Glen/Ed Pantry. Next year the venue will change to spread the event around the metro area. We also told at First Night in Godfrey. These events helped to re-establish our treasury.
	There was a changing of the guard this year, as Ron Adams took over as president and Mary Lu Bretsch took on the treasurer's job. Newsletter editor, Marilyn Kinsella, announced that the Riverwind now has a home on her website. There is a short history of the club, announcements of up and coming events - including meeting times, and links to the member biographies and current RWWW brochure.
	Yes, our year was blessed and ended with our meeting at Lady Christmas's Home...Gwen Dake. Not only did we break pizza together, we gave thanks that our RW members were in good health. Stories of Christmas past and stories of joy were the main entree for the evening. Thanks again Gwen for reminding us of our blessings. We had some tragic news that our Lynne Beetner lost her lovely home to a fire. Her and Emmett are thankfully okay and they plan on rebuilding. We gathered a small token from the members to give to Lynne.

NSN Conference - 2007

Mary Lu Bretsch, our RW rep, is still looking for Riverwinders who will serve as volunteers and for others to work on various committees.

Contact Information

Ron Adams 618/345-7880 President mythmaker1@charter.net

Mary Lu Bretsch dmlbr@charter.net 618/234-9698 Treasurer

Marilyn Kinsella 618/397-1377 markinsella19@hotmail.com Editor

HOME

Looking to 2006 - A Year of Change

In January, RW held their last meeting at Ravanelli's Restaurant. Rules for using the room changed and RW will not be able to fulfill the number of meals that must be purchased to use it. So, we are out looking for a new place to hold our meetings. Several members are going to be on the look-out for a new place. This month we will meet in Hartford, IL (see below for directions). The Newsletter Editor had to leave early in January and missed all the great tellings.

We also found a new home for our RWWW in March, 2006. It will be at the new Lewis and Clark Museum (Camp Dubois) near Hartford. The entire brochure is on line. Just click HERE to find out more specifics. Members volunteered to help with registration, hospitality, emceeing, and publicity.

We need our members to become "pro-active" and recruit more people to come to our weekend on marketing. This is not only a good workshop for storytellers, it is a much needed workshop for any edu-entertainer. So, if you know a juggler, a vent, a puppeteer, etc. Pass on this info!

The Riverwind Whirlwind Weekend

will be on March 3-4, 2006, at the Lewis and Clark Historic Museum. There is no charge for the room and it is handicap accessible.

Dianne de Las Casas will be our workshop leader. She will do her highly acclaimed marketing workshop called "Storyt Biz". Here is what she has to say:

Story Biz – Manage your career with panache and pizzazz. Dianne gives great tips on office organization, time management, optimizing office function with the use of technology, and how to run your performance career smoothly.

For more information on Dianne and her workshop just click on her name. Dianne and her family were victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita! We hope to get Dianne jobs while she is in this area. If you have any contacts for schools or libraries, please let Marilyn Kinsella know. Several of the dates have been spoken for...so call soon!

DATES

February Meeting Night - February 8 at The Rendezvous across the street from Bob's Rib Shack in Hartford. Bob will cater our food ($8.00 for buffet, dessert, drink, tax and tip - such a deal!

Directions:

	Take I-270 across the bridge to Illinois.
	Turn at the first Exit - Rt 3 going NORTH.
	Approx. 4 miles there will be a light and a sign for Hartford.
	Turn Right at this light onto Hawthorne.
	Go to the first 4-way stop and turn right. Rendezvous (yellow building) is on the corner. Go to the south end for parking. It is handicap accessible.

This is our first time to do this. Please come and bring a friend so, it will be worth Bob's time to do this for us. Bob's cell is 618/530-6922

Riverwind Whirlwind Weekend - March 3-6, at the Lewis and Clark Museum near Hartford. For more info, click HERE

Dues are officially past due. If you haven't paid, the newsletter editor will cull your name from the active members list.

Return to Previous Issues:

December, 2005

Click on I'll. Tell Newsletter - Winter/spring for the latest news on what's happenin' in storytelling in and around Illinois.