Our annual school parties are behind us. As they always do, the days with the kids put all of our volunteers in the holiday mood.

A big thank you to everyone who played a part in making these parties so special. Some gave of their time; some made donations of coats, gloves or money; some baked goodies and some pitched in extra at work so others could be at the parties. To everyone, THANK YOU!

“An extra candy cane in your stocking” for Mark Massey, Bruce Chadwick, Vince Heimann, Sheleah Hughes, Terrie Johnson, Kathie Wood, Raymond Shands, J.D. Shipp, Rita Dexter, Walter Furnace and all the guys who carried the games!

I have hundreds of pictures and only so much space to post them on the site. A few will go up in the coming days, but more may have to wait until after the holidays.

The Fort Worth ISD is also requiring checks on volunteers for the Sam Rosen party. I just got this from Raymond:

Attached is the criminal background form for Ft Worth ISD. Please note that the form requires a valid picture ID. I have talked with Mr.. Charles McCarty at Fort Worth ISD and he verified they have to have the picture ID. They do accept a copy of the ID, cut out and attached to the form. He also stated that he had to have the SSN in order to do the check but that before the approved forms are forwarded to Sam Rosen for their files it will be blocked out by his office.

• UPDATED 11/17/2005! Completed forms should be faxed directly to FWISD at 817-871-2839

Thanks for all of you help. If you have additional questions, please call.

Raymond Shands 817-882-0141

Ever wonder why you’re hit up for a donation for door prize tickets when you show up to a chapter dinner?

Besides having a fun way to keep everyone involved to the end of the meeting, the Chapter uses the funds raised from these drawings to meet our annual contribution pledge to the Texas Credit Union Foundation .

Those funds are earmarked for the newspapers in education program in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. During the fall, for ten consecutive Wednesdays, the Star-Telegram runs a full page financial education lesson that is used in schools throughout our area. In fact, credit union employees often go out in to the classrooms as part of the program.

Please check out a Wednesday edition of the Star-Telegram, you’ll see a lesson as well as the recognition the chapter and foundation are getting every week.

To maximize our donations, member credit unions take turns donating prizes for the drawings and our preferred partners also often contribute door prizes. If you’d like more information contributing door prizes, contact Terrie Johnson.

On the web: National Endowment for Financial Education and

Star-Telegram Newpapers In Eduction

Our annual holiday parties at Sam Rosen Elementary in Fort Worth and Webb Elementary in Arlington are fast approaching. The chapter always gets great support from our members and partners in putting together these events.

Here’s the schedule:

• Dec 6 (morning) Party Prep at Sam Rosen
• Dec 7 (all day) Party at Sam Rosen
• Dec 13 (morning) Party Prep at Webb
• Dec 14 (all day) Party at Webb

We would really appreciate your support this year. Kathie Wood is in charge of gathering cash donations. Rita Dexter is coordinating the collection of tooth brushes and tooth paste. Vince Heimann is coordinating the donation of coats.

If you are interested in volunteering, Raymond Shands is scheduling voluteers for Sam Rosen and Sheleah Hughes is scheduling volunteers for Webb.

All volunteers for Webb must be approved in advance by the Arlington ISD. Click here for a copy of the volunteer form. The form has 3 pages, and the 3rd page is all that is required to be filled out. Please fill out the form and forward it to Sheleah Hughes. Her fax number is 817-273-5990. Turnaround time on the approvals is about two weeks so please get them in soon. You may also want to plan in advance for substitute volunteers by having them fill out the form as well.

Lastly, check the comments to this post for any subsequent information from the committees.