Irondale, AL-More than 25 ADEC members and guests gathered at Jubilee Ministry in Irondale, AL for the 2025 ADEC Mid-Winter Conference. The Exchange Club of Irondale kindly served as the host club for the fun, fellowship, food, and educational event! With unusually cold weather in Alabama this winter, ADEC Treasurer John Schoen cooked up the most delicious and heart-warming Beef and Cabbage Soup for us all while ADEC President-Elect Linda Schoen provided a tasty Mediterranean chicken Caser salad from Tazikis. ADEC Secretary Maureen Murphy brought a large cake and ice cream for dessert.
     Our conference  was led by ADEC President-Elect Linda Scheon who was excellent leading us in the absence of our President. The conference opened with a warn welcome from Cindy Cuellar, Irondale City Councilwoman. Following Cindy's welcome, NEC Region 9 VP Joe Walsh taught us some important ideas to think about and implement when our clubs work on "Retention of Members." He provided fresh new ideas to use IMMEDIATELY in our own clubs and in the district! Linda then spoke about "Grouper," a new partnership with Exchange that rewards members for social interaction with other people. Handouts from Grouper with details how to enroll in this FREE benefit were distributed to all by ADEC Secretary Maureen Murphy. Consult the NEC website at www.nationalexchangeclub.org for more info!
     Maureen then spoke about the ADEC sponsoring a Wetumpka High School scholarship memorial fund-The Marilyn (Lisa) Crenshaw Memorial Scholarship Fund, in honor of our beloved and very active Exchange Club of Montgomery member.  Maureen gave a $1000 check made out to the XCIF (Exchange Club of Irondale Foundation to ADEC Treasurer John Schoen to start the fund.  We are shooting for a $10,000 total amount to fund the scholarship for years. If you wish to contribute, please make the check out to XCIF sent to ADEC Treasurer John Schoen, PO Box 100192, Irondale, AL  35210. We hope to award the first scholarship ($1000) at our 2025 ADEC Convention in June 2025. 
     Bev Leigh from the Exchange of Tuscaloosa updated us on their club's activities and distributed free tickets to the upcoming 2025 Chili Cook-Off (see left). Division1 Director Carolyn Chandler reported on programs of service from the Florence, Colllegiate NWSCC, and Shoals clubs.
      The highlight of the day was a 45-miute talk by Niki Sepsas, world travel guide, writer, and historian on  "The Panama Canal-The World 's Greatest Shortcut-The Panama Canal Today." It was a most excellent talk, with slides, videos of the ocean waves around Cape Horn, as well as facts and history of the building of the canal and how it is operated today.  More on Niki's talk in later pages of this newsletter!