A Letter From The President

Omaha PFLAGers Are a Family

 Bob Dorr, PFLAG Omaha

 Posted on November 27, 2007

The holidays are both happy and sad. There can be much happiness when families come together for meals and religious observances. But as PFLAGers we know that the holidays can be an especially sad time for those who feel alone and estranged from their family members.

Omaha PFLAGers are a family. Come to our Dec. 13 meeting to receive support, or to give support. Come for our program. Two Omaha PFLAG members who attended the recent National PFLAG convention—Carrie Spencer and Deb Kobler—will report on some fascinating things that happened at the convention and things they learned that could help us.

Bring two dozen cookies to share with others. Come at 6:30 p.m. for coffee, cookies and socializing. The meeting will start at 7 p.m. in Mead Hall at the west end of First United Methodist Church, 7020 Cass St.

SAVE THE DATE: Save Friday night, Feb. 1, for the annual Pride Players benefit performance for PFLAG, GLSEN and Proud Horizons. The 7 p.m. performance will be in the usual place—the intimate Hitchcock Theater at Rose Blumkin Performing Arts Center, 20th and Farnam Sts. The Pride Players are Omaha-area high school students. Through short skits and monologues they tell stories of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and ally youth. Watch for ticket purchase information in an email or postal mailing in early January.

NEW VICE-PRESIDENT: Omaha PFLAG’s newly elected vice-president is Gay Biga, a board member who is a bundle of enthusiasm and energy and has become an effective spokesperson for our cause. Gay serves as a telephone Help Line volunteer and a Speakers Bureau panel member, and she has written letters to The World-Herald’s Public Pulse. As vice-president, Gay will take responsibility for arranging the programs at our monthly meetings.

Gay is married with two daughters and a gay son. Her husband is a high school teacher. She is an owner of Fun Services of Nebraska & Iowa and Arizona Fun Services, which are party-planning services. When her work takes her to Arizona, she uses her cell phone to take her usual day on the Help Line.

Gay succeeds Carrie Spencer, who has chosen to leave the board after six years but won’t be any less active in PFLAG. Carrie serves as a Speakers Bureau panel member and is the administrator of Omaha PFLAG’s web site. She takes care of stuff that requires technical expertise and artistic ingenuity.

Two other valued and experienced board members were re-elected: Tom Johnson as treasurer and Sharon Landreth as secretary.

The board re-elected me as president. This will be my seventh year as president and eighth year on the board.

TOYZ FOR TOTZ: Omaha PFLAGers donated $75 in the November meeting collection for the annual drive conducted by the Imperial Court of Nebraska (ICON) for toys to be given to children in families affected by HIV and AIDS.

NEW BOOKS: Omaha PFLAG hated to see Reading Grounds close, but we did pick up some excellent books during the store’s closing sale. PFLAG Librarian Mary Spurgeon selected the books for our meeting-place library. Read Mary’s article in this newsletter about some of those books. You can check out any of those books, and any others in the library, when you attend a PFLAG meeting.

GRATEFUL FOR VOLUNTEERS: As I write this the day after Thanksgiving, I think about how thankful I am for the important help Omaha PFLAG receives from many volunteers.

PFLAG does much of its work at the local chapter level. Omaha PFLAG has no paid staff even though we are involved in an amazing number of tasks that require time, energy and commitment. Thus, any president of Omaha PFLAG would know what I know: We are hugely dependent on volunteers. No president, and no small group of officers, could come close to getting it all done themselves.

The names of some are listed under board members and volunteers in this newsletter. Many others also are involved in our Safe Schools Speakers Bureau, Proud Horizons youth support group, telephone Help Line, annual Pride Prom committee, this newsletter and in planning our monthly meetings.

At our December meeting, give at least one of these folks an extra smile and maybe a little hug.

Bob Dorr, Omaha PFLAG president