Monmouth Altrusa celebrates 45th birthday
BY HAYLEY KESSLER
Wednesday, January 25, 2006 12:34 PM CST
HAYLEY KESSLER/Daily Review Atlas At last nights Altrusa meeting, Erin Mann presented a Powerpoint presentation on her recent trip to Granada, Spain. Mann is standing beside a picture of herself, her senora, and her roommate in Granada. Mann visited several tourist attractions, including La Alhambra, a bullfight, and a flamenco cave.
Staff Reporter
MONMOUTH – The Monmouth chapter of Altrusa began 45 years ago in 1961 with three ladies who decided to make a difference in their community.
The club was organized April 11, 1917, and became an international club in June of 1935. Altrusa is comprised of 447 clubs with a membership of 12,970 in 19 countries. The international program theme is Leaders in Service. The Monmouth Altrusa is located in District Six, which includes Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky.
Every year, the Monmouth club nominates members that they feel are qualified to be Outstanding Woman of the Year. They also pick an Outstanding Altrusan of the Year. This Altrusa club has 28 members.
Altrusa is involved with many local projects, including Warren Achievement Center, Inc.; Jamieson Center; literacy; PASS adult education; career shadowing; Living Windows bake sale; Relay for Life; Make a Difference Day; Sandra Smith-Lynch scholarship; Warren County Public Library; annual gift show and raffle; and a Prime Beef Festival booth.
Tuesdays meeting was brought to order by saying the Pledge of Allegiance and saying grace for the meal. President Sarah Cunningham conducted the business meeting. Denise Turnbull won the birthday raffle and Sue McKee provided table decorations.
Committee reports were then given, including community service, service fundraising, vocational, literacy, scholarship, Woman of the Year, secret pal, and a silent auction, which will be held in March. The next meeting of the Monmouth Altrusa will be Feb. 28 at 6:30 p.m. at Generations.
Erin Mann was the guest speaker for the meeting. She spoke of her recent trip to Granada, Spain. Mann is a senior at Monmouth College, majoring in international studies in Spanish with a French minor. She had the opportunity to study abroad in Granada. Granada is located on the southern part of the country, between the Mediterranean coast and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Mann lived with a senora that knew no English.
Mann studied at the Centro de Lenguas Modernas (Center of Modern Languages), which is part of the University of Granada. She said that the streets were very narrow and that almost everyone drove motos (mopeds).
Mann was able to take in various tourist attractions while in Granada. She visited La Alhambra, which is internationally known for its beauty and architectural splendor. Her favorite part of La Alhambra was el patio de los liones (patio of the lions). She also saw la corrida de los toros (a bullfight). She said that the bull represents nature and the matador represents intelligence, so the bullfight shows intelligence dominating nature. A bullfight can last anywhere between four to six hours.
She was in Granada during Semana Santa (Holy Week), which is the University of Granadas spring break. It takes place the week before Easter. Mann was also in Granada for El Dia de la Cruz (Day of the Cross). This was originally a holy day when all the barrios (neighborhoods) would make different representations of Jesus death on the cross. You can travel to the different barrios and see the representations in chronological order. Since Granada is mostly Catholic, these two holidays are very important to their culture.
Mann often visited a particular flamenco cave where one man would sing, one man would play guitar, and three or four women would flamenco dance. She also toured a winery, visited London, Rome, Germany, and Paris and saw a Mosque in Cordoba.
When she graduates from college, Mann hopes to return to Europe to work in international affairs or translation.
