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Contents
Message from National President, Susie Lewis
Treasurer's Workshops
Van Riper Lecture Series
Theta Zeta Update
Another Way to Support Riley
Indiana State Association
Camp About Face
Updating Chapter and National Bylaws
Chapter Highlights From Sigma
Message from National Editor, Heather Mitchell
Presidents Directory
Newsletter Archive
Fallen Petals
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I Love Both My Jobs
Five days a week I am behind the counter selling Verizon Wireless products and doing a HUGE amount of customer service. That is the job that "brings home the paycheck." I have said many times that my favorite part of the job is getting to work with positive customers and building rapport and referral business. Often, on my two days off I am travelling for my "other" job, as National President of Psi Iota Xi (the job I am very passionate about). This past month was especially busy, with the treasurer's workshops, the Van Riper lecture, several chapter social visits and a special invitation thrown in for fun.
 I was invited to Omega, Lebanon, for the dedication of a beautiful mural in their newly renovated high school. It is in the central, most highly visible location and was painted by a Lebanon H.S. alumna. Omega used some of the proceeds of their convention, when Diana Lamb was National President, as "seed" money to begin this project.  The next Monday I visited Brownsburg, but forgot to take a picture...
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| | On Thursday night that same week, Brenda, Beth, Andrea and I visited Chi, in Brookston, where they own an old church, which is now their community building. |
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| | I also traveled to Illinois to visit Theta Psi, Bethany |
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| | The next night found me in Lafayette, visiting Delta Zeta, with Brenda Bonner. |
This month, I already have a few chapter visits planned, National Council heads to French Lick for our Winter Council meeting and Pat and I will travel to just north of Chicago so we can personally deliver a check and congratulate the second place winner at the Metropolitan Opera Central Region Auditions.
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 National Council would like to thank all the ladies who took time out of their busy schedules to attend one of the Treasurer's Workshops last month.
The workshops received much positive feedback. Just under 40 chapters were represented (not including National Council members in attendance) during the three Saturday morning sessions.
Special thanks to Kaye Robison, who conducted all three sessions. Each treasurer in attendance was given an 8GB thumb drive with a few documents on it, including a blank copy of the electronic "treasurer's ledger." This ledger is laid out to use to create monthly financial reports to Psi Ote chapters and easily transfer figures to the pre-convention report at the end of the PIX fiscal year.
Topics and ideas coming out of the workshops include:
* Chapters are encouraged to have an assistant treasurer, or "treasurer-in-training" so more than one member has access to the chapter's financials.
* Dues should all be deposited in the General Fund, to keep the chapter healthy.
* Project Fund fees can be paid from the Project Fund.
* Either 10% of the TOTAL PROFIT from a chapter project, OR the profit (only) from member purchases may be transferred from the project fund to the general fund.
* Treasurers should begin "closing the books" in plenty of time to balance and be able to begin the pre-convention report before April 30th.
The last workshop, on the 17th, was held in the larger "classroom" at the national office. Ladies came from ALL over the state; from LaPorte and Angola, to Austin; Parker City and Farmland, to Crawfordsville.
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| | Pat presenting the check to Kathy Hillenbrand. |
On Friday, October 16th, National Project Chair, Pat Menge, and National President, Susie Lewis attended a luncheon in honor of Psi Iota Xi, prior to Pat presenting the check to Kathy Hillenbrand at the beginning of the afternoon session. These sessions were on Dysphagia. The guest presenter was Dr. Cathy Lazarus, from a hospital in New York City.
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| | L to R: Pat Menge, Nat Project Chr, Ann Tyler, previous Dept Chair, Linda Shuster, Interim Dept Chair, Susie Lewis, Nat Pres, Cathy Lazarus, Guest Lecturer |
 Kaye Robison is always a gracious hostess and chauffeur to the national officers attending. She attends as a representative of the Eta Omicron, Kalamazoo chapter, who sponsors the national project, as well as a scholarship to a student in the Speech and Hearing program at WMU. Pictured is Kaye Robison, Eta Omicron and Alyssa Muller, their scholarship recipient.
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Theta Zeta Chapter of Fort Recovery, OH would like to thank all the chapters for their donations, raffle purchases and attendance at the 2015 National Convention in Fort Wayne, IN.
We owe a huge thank you to our local community as many donations were made to help us be very successful. We wanted to communicate to all of you where our Convention profits will be "giving cheer to those about us."
We made donations to the following:
1. Finished a commitment to our Local Park Program
2. Finished a commitment to a new building in our school system.
3. Donation to our 225th Anniversary Celebration Committee. (for our town next summer) (Art + Music)
4. Donation to Mural Painting Fund in our town for the 225th Celebration (3 historical murals to be painted on sides of buildings. (Art)
5. Donation to Jubilee Committee (Our Summer Festival)
6. Donation for a Park Bench - engraved from Theta Zeta
We made the following National Donations:
1. Donation to Long Term Project from out Painting Raffle. (Speech and Hearing)
2. Donation to Each of the 8 National Projects voted on at this last Convention. (All our areas)
3. Donation to Alpha Chi - Hosts of 2016 National Convention
We also kept a small fund in our General so more members can attend future National Conventions.
Thank you again.
Theta Zeta - Fort Recovery, OH
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Under Barbara Mitchell's leadership, and in preparation for our 100th Anniversary celebration, Psi Iota Xi created the Richard T. Miyamoto / Psi Iota Xi Endowment in Speech and Hearing to support audiology and speech / language pathology services at Riley Hospital for Children. This was our first Long Term Project.
An additional fund also exists called the Psi Iota Xi Cochlear Implant Fund. Psi Iota Xi began supporting Dr. Miyamoto's efforts financially in the 1970's, providing him with the seed money that made his groundbreaking cochlear implant work possible. We were reminded of how the Zeta Beta, Anderson chapter led this effort when Melody Hunt spoke at Convention 2015.
Many chapters around the state still send donations to Riley Hospital for Children specifically to support children with speech and hearing needs. When a chapter sends a gift for one of these areas, the chapter needs to include a note that the gift should be directed to the cochlear implant fund or the otolaryngology fund. Chapters also may support Camp Riley or designate funds toward a more general direction of Riley Hospital for Children's most urgent needs.
Chapters or individuals wishing to make a donation through our national organization, can make the check out to the National Project Fund, and send it to: 
Pat Menge
11109 Old Oak Trail
Ft Wayne, IN 46845
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Have you visited our Indiana State Association website? It's easy to find and maneuver. Just go to www.indianapsiotes.org. You will see a section for the Indiana State Board, with their contact information. The current Indiana State Projects Proposal letter and forms are available if you have mis- placed them. Indiana Projects voted on at the 2015 State Meeting are listed with the amounts awarded. There is information on the date and location of the 2016 Indiana State Meeting. Sales items you'd like to share with other Sisters. These would be items like we have in the Sales Room at State and National Convention. If you have a Psi Ote Event, we can post it in our Psi Ote Event section. The current Indiana State By-laws are posted. The minutes from the previous Indiana State Meeting are available. We also have a link to our National Website.
If you have items you'd like to list for PIX Sale or a Psi Ote event, click the link to the Webmaster and give all the information you have. Our Webmaster is Diane Sanders, Past State President. We can't thank her enough for her time in keeping our website up and running.
Important Reminders: Indiana State Fees were due November 1, 2015 and IN State Project Proposals are due November 15. President Mickie Hansen sent a Celebration Questionnaire to each Chapter President; those are needed back by November 30. Our Past State Presidents will be voting on those at our Brunch on December 5th. Winners will be announced at the 2016 IN State Meeting in Greenfield.
April 23, 2016, "Celebrating Psi Ote Success," Greenfield, Indiana, hosted by Upsilon, Greenfield
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By Caitlin Church, Camp About Face Co-Sponsor and Former Camper
Do you remember the lyrics to the quintessential '80s song "Time After Time"? This Cyndi Lauper hit is a great one to belt out at the top of your lungs: "If you're lost, you can look and you will find me, time after time. If you fall, I will catch you, I will be waiting, time after time."
I'm reminded of Camp About Face every time I hear those lyrics, because our camp counselors deemed "Time After Time" the unofficial theme song of Camp About Face during the camp's 15th summer in 2003. It was also my seventh year as a camper at this incredible summer camp, and the song represented something that can only be appreciated as time goes by: deep, lasting friendship that stands the test of time and distance. To understand the unique friendships formed at this camp, it's important to first understand what Camp About Face strives to achieve.
Camp About Face was born in 1989 out of a desire to bring adolescent cleft and craniofacial patients together. Roughly 35 campers, ages eight to 18, attend the camp for one week each summer. It is a traditional camp in the sense that campers go swimming, horseback riding, hiking and canoeing, but it stands in a class of its own when it comes to building confidence and self-esteem. It is a place where children with cleft and craniofacial anomalies can interact with others who also face the unique circumstance of growing up with a facial difference. Many times, Camp About Face offers the first opportunity a child has ever had to meet another child with the same condition.
As I am sure you can imagine, having a cleft or craniofacial anomaly presents a unique set of challenges. The very nature of these conditions can affect a person's eating, breathing, hearing, vision, speech, facial structure and expressions. And as I am sure you can further imagine, society responds to these conditions in various (sometimes unkind) ways. Camp About Face is the antithesis to a sometimes-unpleasant society: it is a place where kids and teens with craniofacial anomalies can go to be themselves without questioning stares or comments from others.
That being said, Camp About Face is not simply a safe haven. It's one thing to receive shelter from the storm; it's another entirely to be built up, loved, accepted and recognized by those who know you best. I've had the great honor of watching many a camper come out of their shell, bare their soul to their new best friends (whom, by the way, they just met for the first time three days earlier), and return home with a confidence they've never had before. I'm not exaggerating when I say that it's life-changing. Very few things in life affect your soul as deeply as a week in the woods with best friends who can honestly sing the chorus to "Time After Time" and truly, honestly mean it.
Campers return home each year to find that they have found new family members (albeit spread out among several cities and states) that will be there when they fall, and that they will likewise catch whenever the need arises. And did I mention that two former campers, who met as teenagers at Camp About Face, were married last summer? Life-changing, indeed. (And yes, they were married at Bradford Woods, the beautiful property where camp is held each year.)
The Camp About Face family has been enhanced by several other things that have taken shape throughout the years: The Camp About Face Leadership Academy, which is a three-day experience for campers 16-18 years old that helps develop the older campers into mentors for the younger campers; a clothing and accessory fundraising campaign for camp initiated and sustained solely by campers that's focused around the theme "What makes you different, makes you beautiful;" and a network of camp alumni who still stay in touch and gather once a year at Partner Day to reconnect and celebrate the continued success of this remarkable summer camp.
We are getting ready to begin planning for our 28th season of Camp About Face. I now work at Riley Hospital for Children (due in large part to my experiences at camp) and have the joy of seeing 8- and 9-year-olds begin their own Camp About Face journeys in our Cleft & Craniofacial Anomalies Clinic on Monday mornings. If you ever question the good that comes from a donation to Camp About Face, look no further than the smile on a camper's face. Or better yet, allow them to tell you about it in the video on our website. On behalf of the Camp About Face family: Thank you, Psi Iota Xi. Your support allows us to provide life-changing experiences, time after time.
Caitlin Church is the Cleft & Craniofacial Program Coordinator at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health. Born with a cleft lip and cleft palate, she attended Camp About Face for 10 summers as a youth, has served as an adult mentor for the Camp About Face Leadership Academy and now helps coordinate both programs as a team member. She has presented on her personal experiences with craniofacial anomalies to young adults, parents and healthcare personnel.
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Updating Chapter and National Bylaws
In an effort to maintain IRS regulatory compliance, National Council is asking that all chapters send a copy of their current bylaws to us (if you have not already done so). National Council also continues to encourage all chapters, in an effort to simplify guidance and communication, to move toward only having "Standing Rules" for your chapter and adopting our organization's National Bylaws as Chapter Bylaws. Standing Rule # 1 would be, "_____________ chapter of Psi Iota Xi has adopted the organization's National Bylaws as our Chapter Bylaws." If your chapter cannot approve this, and has any changes to bylaws this year, please get them to me for approval by April 1st of 2016.
Please submit any recommendations for changes in our National Bylaws to Brenda Bonner, National Vice President, prior to November 1st. These need to be a recommendation from your chapter. The National Bylaw Committee will be meeting to consider these and any other amendment considerations, in mid-November as a part of our Winter Council meeting.
How to Be a Bigger Part of Psi Iota Xi
We are looking for District Officers! If you are interested in a District Officer position please let me know of your interest before November 1st. The sooner the better as Council meets mid-November and will be voting on the slate of officers at that time. Not sure? Call me or send me an email to discuss your thoughts. If your District's officer position is not "vacant" this year, I would be glad to pass your name on to officers following me on National Council. Please submit your letter of interest, ALONG WITH a letter of support from your chapter, to:
Brenda Bonner, National Vice President
990 E 50 N Flora, IN 46929
You can also send information electronically, to Nationalvicepresident@psiiotaxi.org.
Your National Vice President also names those who will serve on national committees next year. Please let me know if you would like to serve on any of the following committees:
*Future Planning (meets in August)
*Project Screening (meets in January)
*Nominating (email communication only)
If you submitted a survey at National Convention, I already have your name and interest, but please feel free to contact me again to confirm.
Brenda Bonner,
National Vice President |
SEDO Sandy Johnson visits Sigma Chapter
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From the Editor's Desk 
Updated Bylaws can be found on the website. Click here to go there now.
I would like to thank everyone who signed up for
YourChapter@psiiotaxi.org during our National convention.
In case you missed it:
Now Available - Chapter email addresses
Why should YOUR chapter have its own email address?
- All PIX communications will be centralized into one mailbox. ONE dedicated email account for all communications instead of multiple personal email addresses.
- Address will stay the same even when the president and/or treasurer changes. No communications will be lost because National was not made aware of an address change or update.
- Chapter controls password and access so only the president, treasurer and whomever they choose can have access to the chapter's email. The password can be changed when officers change to protect access.
- Streamlines communications from National to all chapters. Nothing will be missed because someone did not read her email.
Contact Heather Mitchell, National Editor, for details about establishing your chapter's new email address.
Each chapter will receive two Helicons. If your chapter would like to purchase more please let me know by November 1, 2015. The cost will be $4 per Helicon.
Thank you to those of you who have supplied me chapter member email addresses to update. If your chapter members are not registered on the website please send me their email addresses and I will get them their log in credentials.
Heather Mitchell, National Editor
Zeta Theta, Niles, Michgan
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Please Keep us updated
We know changes are always happening. People move, get new phones, change email, etc. Please forward any changes to the Presidents Directory to the National Editor so the directory is always current. Log in and visit the "Member's Only" section on the website for the most current version of our Presidents' Directory. |
Have you missed previous issues of our electronic newsletter? If so, click below and find a complete listing of our archived issues. Be sure to share this link with your other sisters who may not be opening their newsletters.
Are you on Facebook? If so, stop by and say "Hello."
We have two pages with two different purposes. Main Page (accessible by this icon), is public and has posts from Psi Iota Xi that you may comment on. The Group Page is where you can opt in and post questions or ideas and get input from your sisters. It's currently public but, if you prefer, it can be made a private/closed group for members only. On this page, you can also announce events and activities with all of us there as well as recap the fun with photos! Don't forget that you can also add images to your comments!
Let us know what's going on in your chapter. Post images from chapter meetings and events. Let us know about significant happenings in your life - new baby/grandchild, new job, promotion, retirement, marriage, engagement, or whatever you'd like to share with your Psi Iota Xi sisters. We'd love to celebrate with you!
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Claudia Rae Coomer, 71, of Frankfort, passed away Friday, October 16, 2015, at her home.
Claudia had two daughters, Stacy Gephart and Mandi Mitchell, and a
granddaughter, Brooke Jackson in Beta Tau. Her granddaughter, Raelyn (7th grader), placed the roses into the crest during the Psi Iota Xi memorial service. Claudia joined Beta Tau in 2004.
She was born April 16, 1944, in Frankfort, to Robert and Berniece Brandt Bitner. On August 25, 1962, she married Bill Coomer; he preceded her in death on May 7, 1998.
Claudia was a 1962 graduate of Frankfort Senior High School. She retired in 2004 from Wesley Manor Retirement Community. Claudia was a member of First Christian Church, Women of the Moose, Elks Auxiliary, American Legion Ladies Auxiliary, Eagles Auxiliary, Psi Iota Xi, and Business and Professional Women. She enjoyed spending her winters in Florida with her sisters and being a devoted "Nanny" to her grandchildren.
Surviving are a son, Rob Coomer of Westfield; three daughters, Stacy Gephart of Frankfort, Robin (Jon) Zwinski of Carmel, and Mandi (Mark) Mitchell of Frankfort; two sisters, Shirley (Ron) Rosen of Frankfort, and Donna Denton of Florida; grandchildren, Brooke (Chris) Jackson, Allyson and Sydney Zwinski, Ramsey, Reece, and Raelyn Mitchell, and Benjamin and Ryan Coomer; aunts, Bernadine Ward and Ruth Brandt; nephew, Jason (Kelly) Stroup; and niece, Brenda Hamm.
In addition to her husband, Claudia is preceded in death by her parents and one nephew, Greg Rogers.
A gathering of family and friends was held October 19, 2015, at Genda Funeral Home in Frankfort, including a Psi Iota Xi service. Memorial service was on Tuesday, October 20, 2015, at the funeral home with Pastor Pam Ditson-McCall officiating. Inurnment followed in Green Lawn Cemetery in Frankfort. Memorials in Claudia's name may be made to the Clinton County Boys and Girls Club.
Past National President
Gladys Gardner 1918-2015  Long time resident and honored volunteer dies at age 97.
Liddie Gladys Gardner was born in Edmonson County (cave country) Kentucky April 3rd, 1918. She moved to Portland when Tandy and Velma Ferguson brought their six kids north during the depression.
She married Don Gardner, who later owned Elberson Auto Parts. With the exception of working in Chicago and Boston, when she followed Don during his war years in the Navy, she spent most of her life here. Staying close to sisters Lois Councilman and Nellie Ashcraft, and brothers William Clyde, Charles and Hamilton Ferguson.
Gladys was inducted into the Jay County Hall of Fame for Community Service. She founded Widow-to-Widow, was the national president of Psi Iota Xi women's philanthropic sorority, volunteered at the Jay County Mental Health Board, Arts Council and food bank, as well as being an active member of the First Presbyterian Church for over fifty years. And, she still found time with her pals for golf and bowling.
She had been living at Horizon Bay Senior Independent Living Center in Louisville, KY where she was fondly known simply as GG. Gladys passed in the Episcopal Church Home in Louisville, KY on October 19th and is survived by her son Steve and daughter-in-law Carol, granddaughters Kristen, Brittney, Laura and Liz and great grandchildren Elaine, Ethan, Kate, Carson, Ruby, Lucy and Finley, and great-great grandson Will.
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