Gamma Gamma Ray
Newsletter of the Gamma Gamma Chapter
March 2026
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:
*Tuesday, March 10 – Native American presentation at Our Redeemers Methodist Church
*Tuesday, April 7 – Painting Night at Pinot’s Palette in South Barrington
*Thursday, April 16 – New member info meeting and Executive Board meeting at Madelynn’s
Brossard’s home
*Thursday, May 7 – Spring banquet at Bridges of Poplar Creek in Hoffman Estates
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
*At this time, some of our committees are looking for new leadership. Please consider saying yes to help out with this important role in keeping our organization viable. It is only a 2 year commitment and your committee members would be very helpful.
*We are working on a way to access our website with password protection for any pages that have personal information. In the meantime, we will not be putting email addresses or phone numbers on the newsletter that is available to the public on our website. We will keep you posted about this.
*PLEASE read Joan Gazdic’s paragraph about the rules revisions we need to vote on and then look at the revisions! (They are attached to this email.) We will be voting on this at our March 10 meeting.
Book Club News
*March 24 – The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict – Zoom Meeting
*April 28 – The Well Lived Life by Gladys McGarey (in person meeting)
*May 26 – The Girls in the Stilt House by Kelly Mustian
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
COMMITTEE REPORTING:
Society Business (Finance, Rules, Research)- Joan Gazdic
*A proposed revision of Gamma Gamma Chapter Rules has been updated as required every biennium. Please review the attached as approval of membership will be voted upon at our March 10 meeting. Although Gamma Gamma has been consistently in compliance with ILSO and DKG on a regular basis, ILSO has recently requested that particular items be stated in all
chapter rules. These proposed revisions have been brought up to date based upon a sequence of steps to assure accuracy and clarity: revisions based upon Executive Board suggestions (since our last approved revision in 2024); review of current ILSO and DKG International Standing Rules or By-laws; incorporation of Revised Checklist for Chapter Rules, suggestions by our immediate past president of ILSO, Linda Adcock; member review for clarity.
Thank you for your consideration.
Membership – Madelynn Brossard
*Please start thinking about who you might like to invite to join the Gamma Gamma chapter of DKG. Since the new member info session is April 16, those nominations should be in by the end of March.
*If you need a name tag (or a new name tag) please let Madelynn know.
Educational Excellence-Scholarship -Denise Pawelczyk
*Just a few gentle reminders:
*If you know of any graduating female H.S. seniors planning on an education related field, please steer them in the direction of our Gamma Gamma Recruitment Grant and Nancy J. Harmon Memorial Scholarship application. It is found on our chapter website (gammagamma75.org). Remember: Our chapter voted to change the by-laws several years ago; allowing members to recommend applicants outside of D211. Applications for the Gamma Gamma Recruitment Grant and Nancy J. Harmon Memorial Scholarship are due April 6th.
*We are always looking for DKG sisters who would like to join our mentor community! Please contact me if you are interested in joining us for the 2026-2027 school year. We’d LOVE to have you!!!
*Don’t forget: If you’ve taken a class for fun or for professional purposes, you can qualify for up to $100.00 reimbursement if you are selected as our Chapter Scholarship or Love of Learning Stipend recipient. (Applications are found on our chapter website. The deadline for submitting your application is April 1st.) Selection of recipient(s) takes place at our Gamma Gamma spring celebration. (You need not be in attendance to receive the award.)
*Last, but not least: I am proud to share that I was contacted by the IL Partners for Teacher Leadership to be a “critical teacher” for a team wishing to start a mentoring program. Word of Gamma Gamma’s initiatives have gotten around! We should all be very proud of our chapter and its commitment to supporting future and young educators, and furthering the success of our beloved profession!!!
Programs– Kris Beaudette/Marcy Dubinsky
*Tuesday, March 10 at 4:00 – Program about Native Americans from the Mitchell Museum of American Indians. Josie Starr from the Mitchell Museum will talk to us about the museum and its displays.
Hostesses: Membership
Arrangements: Barbara Riske (Speaker), Mary Balk (Room arrangements)
3:15 Setup and Social time
4:00 Business Meeting
4:30 Program
Location: Our Redeemers United Methodist Church, 1600 W. Schaumburg Rd., Schaumburg, IL
Service Project: Donations to the Marion Medical Mission, an organization helping poor rural communities in digging wells for clean water. This organization is promoted by DKG ILSO International projects.
*Coming next month!! April 7 at 5:00 – Paint Night at Pinot’s Palette
We will have a sign-up sheet at the March meeting. The cost will bet $40-45. We will also have a sign-up for snacks, desserts, and non-alcoholic beverages. NO adult beverages can be brought in. Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages can be purchased on-site. Pinot’s Palette is located at 100 W. Higgins Rd., Suite H in South Barrington. If you will not be at the March meeting, but are interested in attending this fun event, walk-ins will be welcome. Feel free to bring friends!
Communication, Deb Hopp
*If you have any changes in your information, please send it to Pat Rielly. Her
email address is in the directory. These are the things you may need to update: any changes in address, phone number, cell phone number, email address, home address, where you work, your position at your job, and name change.
*If you have not filled out the media permission form, please go to the dkgil.com website and fill out the form.
Service and Special Projects– Cindy Sheely
*This month’s special project is collecting donations for the Marion Medical Mission located in Marion, Illinois. This mission seeks to share the love of Christ with the extreme poor in Africa by providing a source of clean and safe drinking water. They are an ecumenical, Christian, front-line, hands-on volunteer non-profit answering God’s call to serve. The mission ‘s focus is to provide clean water to the extreme poor in parts of Africa. They are also involved with providing education and medical projects in these areas. The projects are done in partnership with sister churches there. A donation of $475 towards a well will provide safe, clean water for approximately 100 people. This is our chapter’s international project this year. This organization is promoted by DKG ILSO International projects. PLEASE NOTE NEW DIRECTIONS: Checks should be made out to Marion Medical Mission. Cash will also be accepted.
*Also, our committee is looking for ideas of who should win the literacy award this May. Any suggestions?
CARE TEAM NEWS:
Please contact Glenda Klein-Mali (and Rose Marie Mincey) if you have any news for the Care Team. (Email addresses and phone numbers are in the directory.)We also love to hear your good news and celebrations! Let us know what you would like shared with your Gamma Gamma sisters.
Many of our chapter sisters have health issues or other situations they are dealing with which prevent them from coming to meetings. If you haven’t heard from a Gamma Gamma sister in a while, please take a moment to call or email her. We can all do our part to check on our members and support them when they need us most.
To all our Gamma Gamma sisters, don’t forget to let us know if you need our support-
The Care Team
OPPORTUNITIES:
*To our Gamma Gamma members who are in need of Professional Development credits (PDs), check out the “What’s Happening in DKG Illinois the Week of…” that is forwarded from Bev Johns! There has been, and will continue to be, opportunities to acquire PD credits by Zooming in on some of the programs listed.
ROSE MARIE’S NOTES:
*Thanks for reading all of this! Please consider a leadership role of some kind this next biennium.
WEBSITES TO REMEMBER:
(Hold down control key and click to activate link)
Gamma Gamma chapter: http://www.gammagamma75.org
Illinois State Organization: http://www.deltakappagamma.org/IL
International: http://www.dkg.org
Zoom links for DKG-ISO programs: http://www.ilsozoom.weebly.com (Note: this is a change.)
http://www.YouTube.com. Subscribe to this channel: Delta Kappa Gamma, Illinois, Key Women Educators. Many/most of the slide shows from Zoom programs are saved to this channel. The Zoom sessions are not recorded, but the slides that the presenters used are all saved here, for your convenient viewing.
Facebook Pages to visit:
DKG-Gamma Gamma Chapter
DKG-Illinois Key Women Educators
The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International
DKG-ILSOWIACAR- This is the Facebook page for the Illinois State Organization Women in the Arts Creative Arts Retreat (virtual.)
Gamma Gamma Chapter 