Our focus for the year will be on communication & education in all levels of council.  We believe more women will want to be involved if they know more about the Council.  We urge every Council to purchase the NCCW Guidance & Resource Manual.  You will find helpful information from job descriptions to committee updates and MUCH more!

Your Leadership Commission Chair has sent letters to the Deanery Presidents with the Scholarship information and a complete scholarship application which is due back to each President by March 1st.

We continue to update the Grand Island DCCW Facebook page and the website as information is provided.   The tri-folds are available in both English and Spanish.  Information flows from the parishes to the deaneries to the diocese and onto national.  National wants to hear from you and what your parish is working on in the trenches.  We ALL need to write more articles for the West NE Register and specifically the Commission Chairs, Deanery Presidents and Executive Officers.  All articles draw attention to what is happening in Council.

We are encouraging  EACH parish representative to create an email list to inform the women what the upcoming current events are, such as the Lenten Retreats, Deanery Meetings, and Spring Assembly details. If email is not being used, then perhaps a calling list, or whatever means of communication they use in their area.  Just use some method to involve the young & old!

Currently there’s a membership drive for NCCW Individual Memberships which are only $50/year.  For every new member that you register, your name and the new member’s name will be entered to win 2019 Convention registration and 5 nights (Tuesday – Saturday) at the Renaissance Waverly hotel in Atlanta! There will be two second prize winners who will receive $100 toward items from our NCCW Store. By becoming an Individual Member you gain many benefits, i.e.

· Collaborate with Catholic Relief Services, Food for the Poor, Madonna Plan, Cross Catholic Outreach, Catholic Charities, Catholic Mobilizing Network, Center of Concern’s Education for Justice, Human Trafficking, Boxes of Joy, and many more organizations

·  Join women across the country in monthly membership calls on current topics, such as new programs to serve the poor and vulnerable, leadership development, parliamentary procedures and much more

·  Join with women across the country in leadership, spirituality and service and attend the NCCW Annual Convention, and participate in events such as the March for Life.

·  New resource to foster vocations is on the homepage of website (www.nccw.org). Soon NCCW will have another resource that will assist us in one of the areas most crucial to the future of our Church here in the US. With the title, Calling all Catholics, this resource is designed to assist families to keep their children in the Church and to bring those who have left, “back home.”

· Also on NCCW website the new “Water for Life” video is available.  Get a lap top & show it at to your next meeting and go to our website and click on ABOUT US, then click on NCCW PARTNERS and you will see it. The video is only about 10 minutes long but it is a very informative and powerful video. Show it often on all rings of Council.

We’re sisters in Christ and need to remember where two or three are gathered together, Jesus is in their midst.

Sherry Weatherly, Leadership Chairwoman, sherry.weatherly@gmail.com  308-530-1474

Christine Lousias, Co-Chairwoman, clousias@hotmail.com   319-850-0846