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Introducing.. your new 2007-2009 Douglass Alumni Association Board Officers!
As is standard procedure after every Douglass Reunion, the Alumni Committee meets during a regularly-called gathering to install new officers for the new term.
Douglass Releford returns to the post he held a few years ago as President of the Douglass Alumni Association. Andra (Puddin) Waterson is the Vice President of the Association.
Other officers are Sandy Wilmer, Treasurer, and our Recording Secretary is Thelma Watterson. Corresponding Secretary is Vicky Woods Smith, and Ethel Ruth Russell returns as our Chaplain. Although not an officer (and always behind the scenes), Calvin Sneed will continue to host and operate the Douglass Association's website www.sonsanddaughtersofdouglass.org to distribute news and information for the alumni, the citizens, neighbors and the descendants of Riverview and South Central Kingsport.
At the meeting, the outgoing officers received a standing ovation from the committee, for a job well done the past two years. In her final financial report, outgoing Treasurer Virginia Hankins told the group that after all deposits were made into the Association account, and all expenses were paid, the Douglass Alumni Association ended the term $2,210.44 in the black, which was acknowledged with applause from the group.
During old business discussed at the meeting, the subject of our future new offices was updated. The Douglass Alumni Association will still have its new base within the halls of our Douglass High School in the near future when that building is renovated as part of the HOPE VI program. We will also have new computers, a copier, furniture and a conference room to conduct business from. Also discussed was the proposal to get federal non-profit status for the Association; President Releford is pursuing that at an accelerated pace. The non-profit status would be a designation of the Douglass Alumni Association under the 501-3C Section of the IRS Code, which allows tax-free donations from individuals and Kingsport businesses. We welcome this designation so that our friends and neighbors in the Kingsport Community can help our neighborhood programs grow.
As a group, the committee also wants to encourage participation by Alumni and also residents of Riverview and South Central Kingsport in the activities of the Association. We and our descendants are all "The Sons And Daughters Of Douglass" and the family values we were all taught, serve as a model for future generations.
