June 2025
We tried a new venue for our June meeting. We had just the right number of attendees for the sunroom at Dalt's American Grill on White Bridge Road. Good service, good food which we ordered when we registered, and the bonus of a heart-felt presentation from Trish Cronin. She didn't cover all she prepared. Her slides are here and she'd be delighted to talk with you. See the "chance encounter thoughts" from slide 5 in her presentation near the pictures.
The survey was discussed, not the one that had only a few responses at Christmas time, but a fresh one to learn what will make the League great for you and potential members. You can take it online here: https://forms.gle/PzAVTbTdkFpBprdz6.
July is new, too!
We will take a guided tour of Room in the Inn on Drexel Street July 15, not at night, not on Wednesday.
The business meeting included reports including:
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the group read of "33 Days to Morning Glory" with Jennie Guinn on the screen and
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our commitment to the Diocese's ACE (Advancement of Catholic Education Dinner) November 6. The League recognized attendees are there with a dollar amount to spend, so we're going to have enticing live and silent auction items for their purchase. All funds from the live and silent "Pearls of Wisdom" auction will flow into the Aurelia Varallo Mariani scholarship fund. In addition, all sponsorships we secure and sales of seats and tables will roll to the AVM Fund, Patricia asked that we start making lists now of our contacts with trips, vacation homes, landscaping services, dog grooming ... all the creative ideas we have.
Life is grace-filled
When pandemic was lifting in 2021, I attended a day’s women retreat at St. Philip, in part to meet women at my relatively-new parish. There were two especially impactful moments at the retreat (outside of stunningly inspirational speakers):
1- I learned about the NCBWL from Terry Hanson at a table in the lobby, and I signed up!
2 - In discussions during a break, I met a woman Missy who had come from my same town/neighborhood in NJ, many years prior. When I told her my name, she had an expression of recognition and asked if I might possibly be the Trish Cronin who responded about eight months (!) earlier to a LinkedIn opportunity for Board member or volunteer at Children’s Kindness Network (CKN) nonprofit. She said had seen my name scribbled on a piece of paper sitting on her husband Bob’s desk, and she had heard from him that several of his fellow CKN Board members were supposed to have called me
to follow up on my LinkedIn resume submission, but had either rolled off or otherwise neglected to follow up. (I had reached out on this LI posting as the connection with children and kindness seemed to match exactly where my heart/mind wanted me to center next, in light of the kindness our children had developed thanks to their surroundings and the lack of kindness I’d seen on NY subways where raging moms were mistreating troubled young children). Missy said Bob was very embarrassed that no-one had contacted me after many months and was going to find the right person to connect as they thought my profile could be helpful to CKN. When Missy returned home that evening she told Bob about meeting me, and - right away - Bob called CKN’s Founder, “Farmer Ted” who called me that next day. Ted and I quickly developed an awesome friendship (an interesting story in itself) and the rest is history. :) Life is grace-filled.