Impact that Toastmasters is making in the lives of those incarcerated.

Rick Schnur the VP of Education from the  Framingham/Natick Toastmasters Club wrote to his fellow Toastmasters stating what an impact our organization is making in the lives of those incarcerated. He wrote the following:
The prison Toastmasters clubs serve has powerful and tremendously positive influences on inmates who are looking to acquire communication and leadership skills that will help them with parole hearings and in job interviews when they re-enter the outside world. Although no formal studies have been done, the recidivism rate among Toastmasters participants is far lower than the rate for the overall prison population. For many inmates, the Toastmasters meetings are the highlight of their week, and they are tremendously appreciative of the volunteers who come in to help them build and sustain their clubs. Below I've pasted some quotes from volunteers and an essay from an ex-Toastmaster inmate.

Quotes from volunteers:

 “It is the most meaningful thing I’ve ever done in my life.
 “The offenders give me more than I give them.”
 “I appreciate my life so much more because prison volunteering puts my problems in perspective.”
 “Their stories are incredible. I feel inspired and humbled by their hope.”

 Here’s a short essay on the impact of prison Toastmasters from Ron C. who served 27 years in prison and is now the sergeant at arms for District 31 :

My inability to properly process and deal with the feelings and thoughts related to childhood abuses (physical, mental, emotional and sexual ) led to extensive substance abuse. Not because I liked how I felt when using, but because I liked how I did not feel. I had my  first drink at 12 and was drunk that day. By 14, I was not only drinking to get drunk daily I had progressed to mainline heroin and any other drugs I could find. That feeling of not feeling, numbness, was so complete that I lost the ability to empathize, see or care about, anyone else's feelings. This led to all kinds of criminal behavior and having no feelings, or self-respect, prostitution on my part. At 20, after 8+ years of total immersion in alcohol and drugs, I had completely separated from my humanity and participated in a terrible crime. During my first 10 years in prison my feelings, thoughts, and behaviors did not change. I was not sober a total of 200 days over that 10 year period. I was physically, mental and emotionally abusive towards others and was constantly in trouble with the prison authorities, accumulating over 100 disciplinary reports and years in segregation, the hole.
As a direct result of my negative behaviors and associations in 1992 I was stabbed 8 times and almost died. This was the best thing that could have ever happen to me. For the first time I realized, appreciated and felt, some of the fear, pain, and helplessness of my victim prior to his death. I also realized that my problems were a direct result of my thought process and behaviors and if I did not change them then I was not only going to die, a violent death, but that I was going to die alone as I was totally estranged from my family. I knew I had to change but I had no clue how. 
My first opportunity after this to enter general population, where I would have access to programs, came on May 13, 1994 when I arrived at Bay State Correctional Center. May 17th, 1994 I went to my first Toastmasters meetings as I knew the first step back was to learn how to appropriately and effectively express my feelings, thoughts, fears, hopes, dreams and pain.
Through TM I not only learned how to appropriately and effectively express myself I developed enough courage to enter other programs to find and address my causal factor, ( reasons I needed, used, alcohol and drugs criminal behaviors ) so I could change from who I was, how I thought , felt and acted and have a future different from my past. Not only did that happen I went back and facilitated literally dozens of programs with outside volunteers to give back what I got and help> other inmates see that change is not only possible but that life is sweet and worth living without drugs/alcohol and criminal, abusive behaviors.
I not only gained better communication and leadership skills through TM I was able to effectively participate in other programs to address my underlining issue that cause, resulted in , my negative behaviors, and then give back. The most important thing I got through my TM participation was the ability to address my issues and reconnect to my humanity.  While I am and always will be responsible for what I have done, I have 17+ years of sobriety, and the love, respect and trust of my family and now my freedom and Toastmasters was the catalyst. I am forever in your debt.

Please join us for a demonstration meeting and get a taste of prison volunteering Monday, Nov. 15 at 6 pm at the Women’s State Correctional Facility in Framingham. Contact me for more information and to volunteer. You can reach me at 508-788-1334, or send an email (elschnur@gmail.com) with your contact information and times that are best to reach you.

Rick Schnur, VP of Education
Framingham/Natick Toastmasters Club
elschnur@gmail.com

Area B3 Fall Humorous Speech Contest Winner

Our own Steven Castle won the area B3 “Fall Humorous Speech contest” and will be competing on Tuesday 10/19 against areas B1, B2, B4 and B5 at the Microsoft Northeast District in Waltham located at 201 Jones Road, 6th Floor beginning at 6:30pm..

The purpose of the Humorous Speaking Contest is to…
• Provide an opportunity for speakers to improve their speaking abilities and to recognize the best as encouragement to all.
• Provide an opportunity to learn by observing the more proficient speakers who have benefited from their Toastmasters training.
• Recognize the value of humor in speaking.

Steven is an outstanding contender, the location is going to be great and this contest will feature the best speakers in the Area. This is going to be a competition full of energy and excitement and all club members are encouraged to attend.

Report card as to how good we are doing as a club from Rene Roy, our VP of Membership:

Twin City Club Members,
Attached is a report card as to how good we are doing as a club.
Let me say… we are doing a fantastic job.
Keep up the good work club officers and members.

If you have never seen a report card of how we are doing in Area B3 - read on...

As a club, we are on track, for we have gained three points for the club since July. If we maintain our membership of 20 members and complete four additional Competent Communicator awards, we will have picked up two additional points, which is the magic number for becoming a distinguished club.

Any other points we gain is gravy on the mashed potatoes.

Club Statistics:
One Advanced Communicator Award – 1 point
One Competent Leader Award – 1 Point
Submitted on time April and October Renewals and Officer list – 1 point

Goals:
Four additional Competent Communicator Awards – on track
One additional CL, AL or DTM
One Additional AC

Please review where you stand in your educational progress and provide me with that information to keep track as to where we stand in educational progress.

Last year we were Presidential Distinguished.

The club did it once - can do it again?

Rene Roy / VP Membership

Directions to Aubuchon Hardware (site of tomorrow's meeting)

Tomorrow's meeting will be at Aubuchon's conference room for Tuesday 9/14/10. The directions from Leominster are:


Route 2 West to Exit 25 - Rt 2/140 towards Westminster Princeton

Right on to 2A - Main Street. Go 1.3 miles. Right on Aubuchon Drive. Main entrance is around the front of the building by Route 2.

News from Emily, our club Treasurer

It’s time for members to pay club dues for the October 2010 – April 2011 period. The total cost per member is $42, we’ll send $27 to the Toastmasters organization and we’ll keep $15 for the Twin City club. You can pay dues with cash or a personal check payable to “Twin City Toastmasters”. In order to avoid confusion, please only hand your funds to Emily W. (Treasurer) or John F. (President). Once the dues are paid to Toastmasters online, it will generate an email receipt that Emily will forward to you.

Moving forward, Emily will be the contact person between the club and the Leominster library regarding the use of the meeting room. You can expect that we’ll have a podium and whiteboard for meetings at the Leominster Library, but if you would like to use the library’s projector or other audio visual electronics please let both me and Bill B. (Sergeant at Arms) know a few days ahead of time. The library custodian sets up our meeting space in advance, but he leaves at 4pm on Tuesdays, so the electronics are not available at the last minute.

We are thinking of you David

Last week news spread of David H.'s recent health emergency. Many of our members have expressed their interest in keeping up with David's health. Peter Souders was able to get us some information.

You can keep up with David via his daughter, Jeanette, on a blog. She has been posting updates pretty regularly. http://davidhenshaw.blogspot.com/

David, we all miss and love you. We hope you get better soon so we can see you at meetings again. We are all thinking about you!

Members, feel free to use the comments to post messages for David.

End of the Year Dinner

It's time for our annual end of the year dinner. Everyone is invited to join us!

When: July 22, 2010
Where: Bull Run in Shirley, MA (see menu and get directions)
Time: 7pm (subject to change- check the club webpage)

How is this different from a meeting?
This is not a meeting. There are no speeches unless you want to make a toast. We announce who won our Toastmaster of the Year award. We celebrate the amazing year we had and our success achieving Presidential Distinguished Award.

Who can come?
All members are welcome to come as are guests. We encourage you to bring your families. Just let John know so we can make sure to get enough space at the table.

Using the Webpage Duty Roster/Agenda

Sara gave an demo on using part of the club's webpage. She said there was a video available for us to watch if we ever forgot her instructions. Here is that video for you to easily view:

Congratulations to Our New Officers

Last night we had elections. Congratulations to all our new officers:

President: John Feeley
Vice President Education: Rene Roy
Vice President Membership: Yvette Moquin
Vice President Public Relations: Sara Marks
Secretary: Vielka Jones
Treasurer: Emily Warner
Sgt. At Arms: Bill Burgoyne
Past President: Peter Souders

Our new officers begin their positions on July 1, 2010. Good luck to all of them!

Saying Goodbye

I think it was a shock to all the members of Twin City Toastmasters when we opened our emails one Tuesday to learn that Deanna, one of our members, had suddenly passed away from a heart attack. With heavy hearts many of us came to that week's meeting to mourn Deanna and support each other. We spent time remembering Deanna. Yvette read us a lovely poem. Niti and Maggie both gave us tips on how to identify when you or someone else may be having a heart attack. Many of us just spoke about our fond memories of Deanna. Many of us remember how distinct and infectious her laugh had been.

We have all been touched by the outpouring of support from many people. The club members decided to honor the families request to donate to the Red Cross and to send a sympathy card from all of us.

Please feel free to leave messages for Deanna's family in the guestbooks provided by the funeral home or the newspaper. Feel free to use the comments section of this post to leave your own memories of Deanna.

RIP Deanna, everyone at Twin City Toastmasters will miss you.

Do you want to contribute to this blog?

All members of Twin City Toastmasters can submit posts to this blog. Even those who don't feel comfortable using the blog can submit something! How? Follow these directions:

1. Pick something you want to write about
2. Write about 300- 500 words
3. Make sure you check the spelling (or ask Sara to check it for you)
4. Copy and paste your article into an email
5. Email it to Sara (toastmasters@librarygirl.org)
6. Sara posts it to the blog

Here are a few topic ideas if you need them:

• Your experience with the club
• Something you have learned in Toastmasters
• A recent Toastmasters event (conference, training, another club meeting)
• A speaking, communicating or leadership tip you want to share with other members
• A speech you are working on
• An article you read about public speaking (include a link if it was online)

What do you get out of it? This is our club newsletter. You are helping create our club newsletter by submitting an article. You can get Competent Leader credit (the CL manual for meeting roles) when you help with the newsletter.

Still have questions? Just ask Sara for more information!