| Dallas 2010 Report |
| Written by Eno Udo |
|
It was yet another fabulous weekend at the 2010 reunion held at the Marriott Suites Market Center, 2493 Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, Texas from Friday, July 2 - Sunday, July 4, 2010 hosted by HWOSA-NA members in the Dallas area. All three major events were very well attended by members and guests, beginning with the Yabis night on Friday to the business meeting and culminating with the Gala on Saturday night.
At the business meeting the following actions were taken: · It was moved by Nyambi Nyambi, seconded by Sonni Aribiah and unanimously adopted that we create a Constitution Review Committee and set a dateline and charge the committee with reviewing the composition and roles between the standing Board and Executive Committee The following members volunteered and were accepted as members of the Constitution Review Committee and were given a dateline of October 30, 2010 to report. o Nyambi Nyambi o Ekopimo Ibia o Edinam Oton · It was agreed that the Think Tank continues the work assigned at the last reunion. The following are members of the Think Tank: · Sonni Aribiah, · Edinam Oton, · Asuquo Ukpong, · Kalada Harry, and · Nyambi Nyambi · The Association sees the need to engage a CPA to ensure that our records with the Federal and State of Maryland Tax Authorities are maintained - working in conjunction with the Treasurer. Bassey Ekanem and Ekeng Henshaw to report to the Executive on possible CPA's and the Executive to approve appropriate compensation for the CPA. · The Executive Committee should consider making available copies of reports and end of year financial statements to members before or at the meeting for a more productive discussion. · It was moved by Tunde Obazee, seconded by Edinam Oton and unanimously adopted that we suspend discussion to implement Group Insurance and have the next Executive Committee revisit the issue towards actualizing the group benefit. · Nyambi Nyambi expressed thanks to the Kitchen Committee and The Liaison Team for their tenacity in completing the installation of the kitchen equipment at the HWTI kitchen. He, also, added that all the members should pat themselves on the back for all the contributions and support on this our marquee project. · The current executive was dissolved and the following members were unanimously elected into office: o Bassey Ekanem President o Ndukwe Akwari Vice-President o Edinam Oton Secretary o Asikong Eni Treasurer o Tunde Obazee Public Relations Officer · It was agreed that the next reunion will be hosted by members in the Houston, Texas area during the weekend of July 04 2011. The Gala night was an evening of fun and fundraising. Efiok Otudor delivered the keynote address on The HOWAD factor in changing times. Through generous donations by members and guests, we raised over $7k in cash, checks and pledges for the project fund. Thank you to everyone who made it to Dallas and hope that many more of us will make the trip to Houston Texas next year.. We will communicate the exact location as soon as we know it. Hope, Hope, Hope Forever! Eno Udo |