FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
Let’s talk Delegates! Over the next few months, we shall be speaking about Delegates quite a bit. The months of April and May will be filled with Delegate duties for both District and State Conventions. And, as one of the most important and needed aspects of our Federation, Delegates is a subject that needs to be brought into the light now!
What exactly is a Delegate? A Delegate is the voice of the body it represents…Club Delegates represent the Club voice; District Delegates represent the District voice, and State Delegates represent the State voice.
When we are the voice of the body we represent, the obligation is upon us to make sure the rights, opinions and votes we represent are honest and true. Now that is a lot of responsibility, and rightly so because when you choose a Delegate to attend a meeting to be one voice in a sea of many, their job is to make sure that the voice of your Club, District, and State are heard and counted.
Many of our Delegates are chosen for Conventions by the written word of our Bylaws and Standing Rules. You may, on examination, of your Club and District Bylaws read who the Delegates are. But, what about the others, those that are chosen to fulfill the roster of Delegates at Convention? CFWC Districts, and State levels have placed in the written word of their Bylaws and Standing Rules, a ratio of how many Delegates a Club may send to a Convention.
There are also many permanent Delegates to a District and State Convention as mentioned in the same source: Bylaws and Standing Rules, (what I like to call the written word). It is up to You, the Member, to know who your Delegates are as stated by the written word, and further: it is up to You, the Member to send the appropriate number of additional Delegates to these Conventions.
How do you choose a Delegate? Is it by Popularity, is it the friend of the Executive body, is it whoever is missing from the meeting and you can nominate in their absence, (that will teach them for not being in attendance)? NO, NO, NO! Do not laugh…I have seen that happen; truth is we all have.
When we choose a Delegate, we are choosing our voice to represent us at the level they come from. Let’s talk State Level for a moment: there are approximately 117 Delegates currently as according to the CFWC Bylaws and Standing Rules for our upcoming May 2021 Convention. Well, that seems like a hearty number, but there are over 1,100 Delegates from the Clubs yet to be nominated and elected by the Clubs and their Memberships.
It is not a surprise but, we are not meeting in person this May for our 118th CFWC State Convention in May, but we are having a Convention on May 13, 14, and 15, 2021. As according to our Bylaws, the CALL to Convention will go out on or before March 12, 2021. Registration will ask for Delegates. So why do we need Delegates to attend…we have business for Delegates to work on! There are proposed Resolutions, Bylaws and Standing Rules. Additionally, we do have 8 elections in this Convention year, as each CFWC Area will be responsible for electing a member and two alternates to serve on both the 2020 – 2022 Nominating Committee and Election Committee.
Our Convention Delegates, chosen to represent the voice of the Clubs, Districts and State will be tasked with a job: to be the voice of the body they are representing. I am passionate about this next statement: our CFWC Delegates have an especially important job: they must represent what their Club and District decide together as a collective vote on every Resolution, every Bylaw, every Standing Rule, and every Candidate put forward. Our Delegates Decide!
So, when you get your CALL to Convention, we will let you know how many Club Delegates you can send to represent your Club’s voice. We expect that there will be discussion on proposed items and at the District level, there should be the same treatment and care given, as well as nominations for the Committees needed for CFWC.
There is no cost to attend Convention this year, there is no travel, it is all on Zoom and we are opening it to everyone in CFWC to be there. But consider becoming a Delegate and really working with your club and district on what they want. Be the voice they need at this moment in time.
Luv, Pam
