National Board of Management (October 12, 2019)

Each October, February, and twice during the week of Continental Congress, the National Board of Management (NBM) meets in DC at our national headquarters. Made up of the National Executive Committee, all State Regents and the 21 Vice Presidents General, the NBM meets to make decisions for the national society. Yesterday began the October NBM weekend and State Regents, Vice

Presidents General and National Chairs were given the opportunity yesterday morning to have their official photograph made with President General Denise VanBuren. Afterward, attendees began a series of workshops where we learned about changes to DAR Good Citizens, Junior Membership and America 250!

State Regents were then given the opportunity to go to a delightful viewing of George Washington‘s papers at the George Washington Library located on Mount Vernon campus with a dinner to follow at the Mount Vernon Inn. After a lovely meal and a lecture on the papers of Washington and the notable French figure Marquis de Chastellux, we were bused back to the hotel.

We started bright and early this morning with tours of the mobile Wreaths Across America unit. DAR has begun a partnership with the organization, and we were given the opportunity to learn about the wonderful wreaths they place in honor of our deceased veterans. Following the tour Honorary President General Lynn Young conducted a session on the United States Semiquincentennial Commission projects goals and aims.

We then broke for a delightful lunch in the banquet hall upstairs which was followed by more workshops on various national committee work. In the coming weeks, I’ll share some of the ideas from our national chairs on ways we can implement their suggested committee work in Tennessee. If that weren’t enough, the afternoon sessions also included a workshop on how to create Wikipedia pages for our patriot ancestors.

Afterwards we walked to the John Paul Jones Memorial and President General VanBuren placed a wreath in his memory. The evening concluded with a wonderful dinner in the O’Byrne Gallery, certainly a treat that I will never forget. Saturday morning we will have our official NBM meeting with votes and then we will proceed to our buses for the national schools tour. I hope to be able to share our stops with you so that you can experience the schools along with me.

In Service,

Cecile