Gamma Gamma Ray
Newsletter of the Gamma Gamma Chapter
May 2026
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:
*Thursday, May 7 – Spring banquet (new officers installation, new members induction, and grant/scholarships awarded) We will begin promptly at 4:00 pm.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
*Please bring your next year’s dues check to the May banquet. It is $84, made out to Delta Kappa Gamma. If you won’t be attending the banquet, please mail your dues check by June 30 to Linda Stolt.
*An email from the state DKG about the Marion Medical Mission collection:
Dear Gamma Gamma,
The ILSO International Projects Committee of Delta Kappa Gamma would like to express our gratitude for your support and very generous donation in the amount of $600. Your donation to Marion Medical Mission will help improve the health and quality of life of African villages in Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia by providing a sustainable source of safe drinking water. Thank you for your donation to provide wells for safe drinking water.
Again, we thank you, DKG ILSO recognizes and appreciates your kindness.
Sincerely,
Rosie Wolf – ILSO International Projects Committee Chair
Karen Zimmerman – ILSO International Projects Committee Member
*Committees will be meeting over the next couple of months to plan our next year!
Book Club News
*Here’s the schedule of books to be read and discussed for the remainder of 2026. Meetings are on Zoom at 7:00, with the Zoom link provided the week before.
May 26 The Girls in the Stilt House by Kelly Mustian
June 23 Culpability by Bruce Hollsinger
July 28 Saul and Patsy by Charles Baxter
August 25 The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
September 22 The Names by Florence Knapp
October 27 The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester
November 17 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
December no book club meeting
January 26 The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
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COMMITTEE REPORTING:
Society Business (Finance, Rules, Research)- Joan Gazdic
*Attached please find the tentative proposed chapter budget for 2026-27 as prepared by Society Business members and approved at our April Executive Board Meeting. This budget is tentative until the end of the fiscal year when the financial records are updated as of June 30, 2026, and we have received 26-27 dues.
The Excel program template, designed by ILSO, is used to perform calculations, and then being emailed via .pdf.
Please review the proposed budget before our May 7 celebration at which time it will be presented for approval.
Membership – Madelynn Brossard
*Please welcome our new members Cyndee Fralick and Nicole Williams.
*The Membership committee will be holding their summer meeting on Tuesday, June 9th.
*The slate of officers for the next two years:
President: Madelynn Brossard
1st Vice President/Membership: Mary Wrobel
2nd Vice Presidents/Programs: Kris Beaudette and Marcy Dubinsky
Recording Secretary: Linda Szymkowiak
Corresponding Secretary: Cindy Sheely
Treasurer: Linda Stolt
Parliamentarian: Joann Bechtold
Society Business: Nancie Watkins
Communications: Linda Wright
Educational Excellence/Scholarships – Denise Pawelczyk
Special Projects/Service: Dayna Prochaska
Educational Excellence-Scholarship -Denise Pawelczyk
*The EE Committee will be holding their annual meeting on Tuesday, June 2nd, at 9:00am via Zoom. The agenda and Zoom invitation will be sent out to committee members closer to the meeting date. If you are not a member of the committee, and wish to attend: Please contact me.
*The Application Selection Team met at the end of April to choose grant/scholarship recipients. It was a difficult task. We had 6 incredibly qualified applicants. Many thanks to Cammy Basak, Carol McHale, Giselle Menjivar. and Sandy Cook for working alongside me; reading; rereading; grading rubrics; discussing candidates; narrowing down the field!
*I am happy to introduce you to this year’s grant/scholarship recipients! They are Klaudia Malski and Makenna McCluskey. Both young women are seniors at William Fremd High School.
–Klaudia Malski is our Gamma Gamma Recruitment Grant recipient. She will be attending the University of IL Urbana-Champaign. Klaudia plans on majoring in Early Education. She will be mentored by Marcy Dubinsky.
–Makenna McCluskey is our Nancy J. Harmon Memorial Scholarship recipient. She will be attending the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse. Makenna has been admitted to UWL’s School of Education. She will be mentored by Glenda Klein-Mali.
Programs– Kris Beaudette/Marcy Dubinsky
*Thursday, May 7, 2026 – Gamma Gamma Annual Spring Celebration of Membership
Please join us in celebrating another great year! The afternoon will begin with the induction of new members and Chapter recognitions. Next will be the awarding of recruitment grants, Literacy Award, and Chapter scholarships. This is the final celebration of the year and a wonderful opportunity for everyone to spend time together while celebrating Chapter successes and accomplishments.
3:15: Setup/social, 4:00: Program begins, 5:15: Dinner
Reflection – Char Weber
Location: Bridges of Poplar Creek, 1400 Poplar Creek Dr.,Hoffman Estates
Service Project: Donations to the Kenneth Young Center.
We will receive your meal payment at the door. Thank you for your RSVP’s.
Please also bring your dues payment of $84, and make your check payable to Delta Kappa
Gamma. Please also consider donating to our service project, cash or checks payable to the Kenneth Young Center.
*June 16-18, 2026 – DKG ILSO Creative Arts Retreat in Bloomington, IL
Watch the DKG ILSO Newscaster for information. Book your hotel room now! A few of us have attended the Creative Arts Retreat in past years and we had a ton of fun. A few of us are going this year, so join the fun! Creative activities have included music, ukulele, Zentangle, making charcuterie boards, painting on glass, mandalas, and the list goes on.
Communication, Deb Hopp
*Summer is just around the corner, and the communication committee will be working on the yearbook/directory. If you have any changes in your information, please send it to Pat Rielly. 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.
*Also, if you have not filled out the media permission form, please go to the
dkgil.com website and fill out the form. The link to do this is down at the bottom of the page and is very easy to do.
Service and Special Projects– Cindy Sheely
*At our May 7 spring banquet, Gamma Gamma will be collecting funds for the Kenneth Young Center in Elk Grove Village. Kenneth Young sees itself as a “safety net” for people of all ages who are in of need assistance in their daily living. There are youth programs for ages 10-17, services for older adults which include transportation and meals, and mental health services for support and linkage to additional help. The center’s annual fundraiser, the Hustle for Health, will be on May 30th at Grove 37 in Busse Woods. Beside the walk/run, there will be entertainment, a family fun zone, food trucks, and a hospitality tent. Please bring cash or checks made out to Kenneth Young Center. An envelope will be passed.
CARE TEAM NEWS:
Please contact Glenda Klein-Mali (and Rose Marie Mincey) if you have any news for the Care Team. 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:
*I’m looking forward to seeing you at our May banquet! It has been my great honor and privilege to serve as president this past 2 years. Thank you to everyone who helped me bumble through. I know you will be in very capable hands with Madelynn at the helm for the next 2 years.
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 