ALMA of Wichita News

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Dear ALMA members and friends.

I hope you are enjoying your summer and soaking in some sun, and having lots of fun.

The meeting of May 21, at the Marriott, was a smashing success. It was greatly attended (43 people) and the membership is growing steadily.
The current roster of paid ALMA members is as follows:

Mike J. Baba,
Jerry Cohlmia,
Shaker Dakhil,
Ron Elkhouri,
Kassem Hammoud,
Nizar Kibar,
Glenn Kubina,
Bassam Maalouf,
Bassam Mattar,
Nassim Nabbout,
Zach and Hana Razek
George F. Saghbene
Tony Wakim,
George Zakharia,
Joe Steven,
Jerry Laham,
and Estephan Zayat.

I know many more want to join the fun and this great group of people. So hurry and send your check of $100.00 to: ALMA : 33 Rolling Hills Wichita, KS. 67212.

With EVERYONE'S help, PARTICIPATION and OUR good work, we can keep growing. Our main cause which is health care professionals with humanitarian interest in the people of Lebanon is so great and noble we have no where to go but up. So let’s keep working together, stay involved, active, recruit your friends, and contribute anyway you can to the success of this chapter. IF IT IS TO BE, IT IS UP TO US!!!       

The big happening now is the national meeting in Lebanon, August 11-14 at the Portomilio. It is a big undertaking and a lot of work, but the moral uplifting that it brings to the people of Lebanon is tremendous. I know firsthand the hard work and the man hours being put in by our national representatives to make sure it is a successful meeting. Despite the disruptive actions that occur occasionally, the meeting will go on in Lebanon! Hats off to their work and sacrifices. A flier was handed at the May meeting and can also be seen at www.almamater.org .I wished a lot more members of Wichita could have attended, perhaps the next one.

For now our activities are mainly social and could go into educational and other projects as we see fit. Propose your ideas, I would love to hear from you and will share them at the next meeting. We will meet about 3 times a year.

The Labor Day Convention is being hosted by the fine city of Wichita this year. It also rotates between OKC and Tulsa. The convention intentions (to keep our heritage alive and well in our new home), goes along   with what ALMA is about. By having a strong, involved and well attended convention we would have strengthened our ALMA   chapter  too. If you have felt that past conventions in Wichita could have been better, I would agree. The way to help is to step up and get involved.

You can help by attending first, then you can volunteer your time, donate prizes or whatever you see fit. It looks more likely that we will sponsor the Sunday night program following dinner. We will make an ALMA gathering out of it. So make sure to attend the Sunday night sahria, starting at 6:00 P.M. September 3^rd (It is best to register for the whole convention).

The officers are Nassim Nabbout: Treasurer, Nizar Kibar Secretary, and Tony Wakim: President. Many others are also helping and look forward to everyone’s involvement. It is such a pleasure to be part of such a great group.

A Big Thank You to Farid Abboud from Chicago IL for his excellent work on our website. You can go to www.almamater.org and look at photos of the party and other news. Our chapter is one of the first ones being published on the web. Looking forward to hearing from you and seeing you soon at the Labor Day Convention for our next gathering.
 

Yours truly,
Tony Wakim