President's Message

This will be my last message as I complete my 2 years as President of SFMS. Next month a new team will take over. President Elect Danny Griffin will be calling members to fill all the vacant positions. Without volunteers the Federation would not exist. As Heather French Henry said long ago, volunteerism is at the very core of being a human,no one has made it through life without someone else's help.

During the past 2 years we "The Federation" have accomplished many things. We moved from the old website to a new website that follows the bylaws of the Federation. We moved from a printed directory that was always out of date to the new contact list.If the local clubs do their job, the contact list will always be up to date. The format of our newsletter "The Lodestar" was improved. Three new clubs were added and membership increased by almost 900 members. New committees were added, Communications,Youth,and inventory. Several temporary committees were added to improve how the Federation conducts business. These include: Audit Review, Education Review Guidelines and Sexual Harassment.We are still working on the revision of the Officers and Committee handbook from 1978.

I could not have accomplished anything without the help of a very supportive Board. I would like to thank our 1st Vice President Danny Griffin for his help during the illness and passing of my wife. To Secretary Jerri Herr for keeping me organized for our meetings. To our 2nd Vice President Vonda Echols for working with our State Directors to improve communications between the Federation and the local clubs.To Barbi Beatty for her help in trying to get a handle on our workshops. To Rick Marshal "Membership" for picking up membership operations and doing a fantastic job. To Mike Harrison and Nancy Roberts for implementing the youth programs.across the Federation. To Cindy Reed for her help as Editor of The Lodestar and other responsibilities. And a very special thank you to Lori Carter "Webmaster" for her help in getting the new website up and operating. And a big thank you to all of the other committee volunteers and other miscellaneous volunteers during the past 2 years. 

It has been my privilege and honor to have served as President of the Southeast Federation of Mineralogical Societies during the past 2 years.  I have made a lot of new friends during this time. Now I leave the Federation in good hands as the new Officers take over in January.

Dennis Buchanan, SFMS President