President’s Pen – December 2022
What an amazing year 2022 has been. As TFRW President, I am honored and thrilled to travel our great state and get to know YOU our members, make new friends and learn what YOUR clubs are doing. It also gives me the opportunity to share YOUR excellent ideas with other clubs. Whether your club has 10 or 400+ members, and whether your club is brand new or has been going strong for over 60 years, YOU are crucial to our success, and I am humbled to serve as YOUR president.
With 2023 approaching at light speed, TFRW is preparing for the next year and 2024. Planning, setting goals and evaluating progress are crucial to the success of an organization. That is why on Nov.11-12th your elected officers met to review what was accomplished in 2022, what needed to be tweaked, and what needed to be planned for 2023.
My overriding goal is that TRFW is no longer the best kept secret in Texas. TFRW is made up of informed, hardworking, politically astute women who love Texas and are willing to use their talents to campaign tirelessly for our Republican candidates, promote Republican principles, and educate our members and the community. It is fabulous that we have 12,000 members, but we need more as we move toward 2024.
We are rolling out a new TFRW push-card and testing methods of communicating with women who are not TFRW members. It is our 2023 goal to do everything we can to put Texas in the best possible position we can be in for the 2024 election.
At the retreat, we discussed sending out a short member survey to help plan for 2023. I hope many of you completed the survey. If you did not, please click HERE. 200+ women have responded but we hope to receive more input.
The 88th legislative session will begin on January 10th and our TFRW Red Heels will hit the Capitol halls soon after. With hundreds of bills already filed, it promises to be a very exciting, lively session. To prepare TFRW members for the session, our biennial Legislative Day will be held on Friday, February 3rd, at the AT&T Conference Center. The day will be structured like our 2021 Legislative Day, full of exceptional training on how to follow a bill, how to testify, and how to contact your elected official. Elected officials will join us and you’ll have an opportunity to visit with them.
I hope you can also stay for our 1st Quarter Board meeting on Saturday, February 4th. In addition to excellent networking and learning more about TFRW, we will elect the Nominating Committee that will determine our 2024-25 TFRW Officers Slate. Please click HERE to learn more if you are interested in running for the Nominating Committee.
How to help members take the next step in TFRW Leadership was an important discussion at our officer retreat. The current Board wants all members to be provided the information needed about leadership positions so you can make educated, informed decisions when considering moving into new roles. Zenia Warren’s upcoming newsletter articles will provide important information about running for office, District Director, or seeking appointment as a Deputy President, standing or special committee Chair. Thank you Zenia for sharing this information over the next few issues of the TFRW Today newsletter.
We also have several informative guest speakers scheduled to speak at the Board meeting so please join us. YOU, our members are a source of information to friends and family, and it is our Board’s goal to ensure you are informed on all topics impacting Texas and our country.
I wish you Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah and pray you and yours are filled with peace and joy this holiday season and in the New Year.
Kit Whitehill
TFRW President