Fall 2011 President's Blog - Visit to Star of the North Chapter
It's a beautiful, crisp fall day for my visit to the Star of the North Chapter located in "Minnie-sota". The members have invited me to share in a 20th anniversary celebration of their chapter.
There's a wonderful history about the origin of the chapter. Marvin Broz attended our national convention and learned that he could start a chapter with 5 members. At the time, he worked at a local movie theater. He used the idea of a trivia contest to find some local Disney fans.
From that beginning in 1992, the chapter was born and has grown to about 30 families today. The group meets monthly. Things started in the basement of a convent and today the group rotates the use of several business locations in greater Minneapolis. And members can even participate on the internet via Skype video technology.
Last year, the Disney train came for Christmas and the chapter members paid it a visit. They have also been recently involved with the Antiques Roadshow television program which will be highlighting the Disney militaria collection of a local member.
Each year, there is a summer picnic and a holiday party in December. One meeting was a Taste of Disney theme - imagine a buffet of your favorite Disney recipes.
It is always rewarding to learn what each chapter does to charitably contribute to their community and the Star of the North Chapter is no exception. Last year, the group bought a tree in memory of a member who passed away. They has purchased books for children of Hospice patients that lost a parent. Christmas ornaments have been brought to children in a local hospital. Donations have been made to the Salvation Army and Give Kids the World.
The 20th anniversary celebration was held on the campus of a local Sioux Indian Casion called Mystic Lake. Dinner was a Disney themed buffet which focused on various EPCOT pavilions. The program was a video retrospective of the history of the chapter and they had 20 years of photos and chapter newsletters to look through.
But my highlight was a visit to the slot machines in the casino after dinner. They don't use coins anymore, but I was able to find a penny slot. Yes I know - big spender. So I put in a ten dollar bill - that's like 1,000 pennies. And I started to play 25 at a time. Within 2 minutes, I was down to $5.80. And then I hit some kind of mini jackpot! I now had $13.30 - which is 330 more pennies than I started with. I cashed out. Maybe I should have tried the silver dollar machine instead? Best 15 minutes of the evening!!
Congratulations to Star of the North Chapter on the occasion of your 20th anniversary.
