Service from the Heart: Operation Homefront

At our January meeting, NCL ticktockers geared up for Valentine's Day by creating nearly 1000 unique Valentines to sent to Utah Army National Guard troops and their families. Each Valentine comes in a packet with candy and other decorations the girls also packed themselves.

Some of the Valentines were shipped to Afghanistan to reach soldiers by Valentine's Day, while others are going to be handed out at the homecoming celebrations of 400 soldiers returning from overseas, and still more will be handed out at the local Utah Army National Guard office.

Thanks to all who participated! While we had fun preparing the packages, it took a lot of hands to make it possible. You've made Valentine's Day special for these soldiers!

What's Happening in NCL Salt Lake?

What do valentines, voting on the 2013-14 slate, and human trafficking have in common? Well…NCL for one. Really? Our chapter made Valentines for the U.S. troops and families as part of “Service from the Heart—Operation HomeFront”, and at the Feb. 11th NCL general meeting active patronesses will vote on new officers and one of our ticktockers, Maddi Palmer (class of 2014) will give an informative presentation on human trafficking in Utah.

Thanks to everyone who participated in “Service from the Heart—Operation HomeFront”. All chapters were asked to plan and implement a service project that would benefit the families of our deployed troops. Since “Operation HomeFront” is not currently operating in Utah our chapter selected to work with the Utah Army National Guard.

“Service from the Heart—Operation HomeFront” was held on Sat. Jan. 12 and Mon. Jan. 14th. Thanks to Therese Stangl--who planned and implemented the event for our chapter.

 A member recently asked me why there is a survey after every patroness meeting. At District Training in October. Joanne Cameron (a former SLC chapter President) gave a presentation on the importance of holding well-organized, quality meetings. Chapters need to be mindful of our members’ time and make meetings count.

Improving our general meetings has been one of my personal goals this year as your Chapter President. Including the ticktockers in various ways helped our chapter meetings in September, November and January succeed in many ways but there is always room for improvement. Surveying our members gives everyone a “safe” place to have their voice heard. Thanks for taking the time to fill out the surveys.

Another thing that I feel benefits our chapter is to increase our profile within the community. For an organization that has been around for nearly 40 years in the SLC area—not many people have heard of NCL. It benefits our chapter to get the word out what National Charity is and what we do.

I am excited to announce that our chapter will participate in “Nonprofit Day on the Hill” on Feb. 14th for the first time. We will have a table with informational materials and chapter representatives will speak to our legislators about NCL and how we help our community. If there is enough interest--Teresa Larsen will organize a tour of the capitol that same day. Please contact Teresa at larsenteresa@msn.com.

Good things are happening in our chapter, in our community and in our world.
Thanks for making them happen! That is how you can help.

-Charlene Johnson, Utah chapter President 2012-13

Backyard Broadcast

Did you know that there are 100,000 American children enslaved every year? This includes kids as young as eight, up to young adults and the kids our own age who are forced to sell their bodies for someone else's gain. The average age for entry into prostitution is 13 years old. This underground network is the country's second largest crime, and the fastest growing.

However, 95% of the population has no idea that this is happening. I'm part of a group called Backyard Broadcast, which consists of about 20 different high schools who are trying to raise awareness about this issue, as well as fundraise for police trainings about the issue. I'm going to be presenting on this issue at the February meeting, so I hope to see everyone there to become educated about this issue and what you can to do help!

-Madi Palmer, Station Chief

For more info, please visit backyardbroadcast.org, and 'like' Backyard Broadcast Cottonwood Station on Facebook!