2020 Newsletter

Charlestown Alumni Association Pirate Happenings
September 2020

The Year

What a year this has been. Who would have ever thought at last year’s annual Meeting/Dinner/Dance that we would be postponing and then eventually canceling our event. No one! But here we are. We were so excited about this year’s meeting because we have made changes that will help our organization grow. That’s one of the reasons we are sending out this “Charlestown Alumni Association Pirate Happenings” We’ve had people ask for this for years and we hope to continue to give you what you ask for. Our “Newsletter” may look familiar to some as it has part of the name of the school newsletter back in the late 70’s. Why change a good thing when you’ve got it, so we aren’t. We hope to bring you this newsletter on a biannual basis. With your support, we can. This Pirate Happenings will explain what we’ve done this year and ask for your support to continue our rich tradition of gathering once a year and remain one of the oldest and longest continual High School Alumni organizations in Indiana. Don’t worry, we aren’t going to let you get off that easily either. We will be asking for your annual Dues so that you will remain an active member of the Association for 2020 and we can maintain our status as one of the oldest Alumni Associations in Indiana.

LLC

On March 24, 2019 we became an LLC with the help of Lonnie T Cooper, Class of 1969. Our official name is now: Charlestown Alumni Association, LLC. We appreciate all Lonnie did to help us with this process. We couldn’t have done it without you!

501(c)3

On March 10, 2020 we received notification from the IRS that we had finally gained our tax exempt status under Section 501 (c) 3. Donors can now deduct contributions they make to us under IRC Section 170. This means we qualify to receive tax deductible bequests, devises, transfers or gifts under Section 2055, 2106, or 2522. Please keep this in mind when, at the end of the year you would like at add to your tax deductions. We would love to be able to give more scholarships to our deserving Seniors and ultimately be able to invite our alumni to a Dinner/Dance at no cost to them. This could be possible if we are able to receive enough donations to offset the banquet costs. Wouldn’t it be lovely to just pay your $10 dues each year and still be able to enjoy our yearly Banquet at no additional cost? We want to acknowledge and thank, Roger Adams, Class of 1967 for helping us achieve this goal.  

Annual Meeting

Another thing we must do to maintain our status of the oldest and longest continual High School Alumni organization is to hold our annual meeting. Because we had to cancel our normal meeting we will be holding this meeting a little differently. We are calling on all Distinguished Alumni and at least one representative of each reunion class (normally the Class President) to join us on December 4, 2020 at 6p.m. in the A&E building at 999 Water St. Charlestown, IN. We will be contacting these individuals via phone and we may be using our facebook and other social media to reach out as well.  We appreciate Suzy Walker, Class of 78 and Distinguished Alumni for this idea.

Going Above and Beyond

Would you like to see your name in the 2021 Annual Alumni Meeting Program? Let me tell you how easily that is done. Our 501(c)3 status has made it more appetizing for our alumni to donate amounts that we will be announcing in three different levels. Here are the different levels:

     Alumni Contributor……..up to $99

     Alumni Booster………… $100-$249

     Alumni Supporter…$250 and above

Remember, these are the amounts above your $10 dues. Each of these groups will be named in our next Annual Alumni Meeting Program. Please check with your tax advisor for your best option.

Welcome Class of 2020

169 new alumni members!

2020 Scholarship Recipients

We would like to announce our scholarship recipients. Although graduation was a whole lot different from years past the students were notified during their filmed individual graduations if they were awarded a scholarship. Then we mailed them their certificates. This year’s recipients were: Rhett Kaelin, Jacob Jones, Austin Phillips and Hailey Stricker. Each received a $750 scholarship. We hope to do more in the future with your generous tax deductible donations!

Distinguished Alumni Nominations

Below you’ll find the information we need from you about your nomination for the 2020 Distinguished alumni to be awarded in 2021. If you’d like to keep this newsletter as memorabilia then just write your information on a blank piece of paper and send it in to: Charlestown Alumni Association, P O Box 126, Charlestown, IN 47111. The Distinguished Alumni will be voted on at the December 4^th meeting. We will need this information back by October 31, 2020.

Your name:_______________________________________________________________ Nominee:_________________________________________________________________ Class year of nominee:_____________ Reason why they should be chosen as this year’s Distinguished Alumni: ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________

Advertising

Don’t forget, you can also advertise in our Annual Reunion Program. We are accepting $50 business card size and $100 half page ads. Please contact Vice President, Tom Kendrick at 502-544-0110 or fourkfarm@aol.com to reserve your spot in the next program. What a great tax deduction this would be.

2020 Dues

Here it is, this is what we are all about. This little phrase in our bylaws “being an active member of the Charlestown Alumni Association” Membership dues are paid on an annual basis. Dues must be paid to maintain your active membership in the Charlestown Alumni Association. It’s that simple. One of the main reasons for sending this newsletter to everyone we have an address for. We as an organization still have expenses even if we don’t have our annual Reunion/Dinner/Dance. We are working for you, the Alumni Association. We became a 501 (c) 3, we had to file with the IRS, we paid out scholarships, and we still have expenses without money coming in. Below, are questions, similar to the reunion invitation, please take a moment now to maintain your active status with the Charlestown Alumni Association and send in your dues! Extra donations are always encouraged and gratefully accepted. Also, have you thought about adding the Alumni as a yearly expense through your bank? Tom Bettler, Class of 1962 does just that, we receive a check from his bank yearly that he has set up, you can too.

Name
Class year
Dues	$10
Scholarship Donation
Media Fund Donation
General Fund Donation
Total Sent
Check #
Veteran	Y or N
Email Address
Home Phone
Cell Phone
Would you prefer to remain anonymous with your generous donation?

Memorials

From June 2019 – June 2020

2021 Officers and How to Contact Us

President…………………… Alan Combs, 502-541-6051, yontmo@aol.com

Vice President…………… Tom Kendrick, 502-544-0110, fourkfarm@aol.com

Secretary & Reunion Coordinator………… Nicole Keith Morrison, 502-751-3836, nicolekeith1981@gmail.com

Treasurer……… Sonja Tungate Kendrick 812-256-3463, mamabillkendrick@aol.com

Public Relations……….. Tim Hutchinson 502-727-5333, timhutchinson60@yahoo.com

Historian………… Tammie Wolfe Feiock 502-424-8354, entfeiock@yahoo.com

Our Mission Statement

To promote and carry on the rich history and tradition of the Charlestown Alumni Association by providing community enhancement through scholarships awarded to deserving CHS graduates and donations to the CHS media center.  We encourage membership of all graduates in this Alumni Association by bringing them together annually for fellowship and reunion.  Though we each graduated in different years, we are all one family.

Alumni Tees

Would you like to order an alumni t-shirt? Part of the proceeds go to the alumni. To order T-shirts, contact Class of 1993, Andrea Roberts Sexton through her website: andreatheshirtlady.com or with questions you may email her: andrea.theshirtlady@gmail.com

Don’t forget to like us on facebook: www.facebook.com/charlestownalumni

Email:chsalumni@aol.com

Website: www.charlestownalumni.online