President’s Message
March 2025
What a Difference a Day Makes
After the general meeting on Thursday, I came home and wrote my president’s message. I based it on the topic of change. I wrote what is change? It can be fun and exciting like a new grandchild, home or even a new haircut.
It can be challenging like a new job, responsibility or driving a new car. It can be frightening like an illness, death or loss of a friend.
We all face change in the best way we can. Sometimes it is alone and other times, as Kathie would say, “It takes a Village”.
I went on to reflect on the PowerPoint presentation I had shared with our membership that
morning. Explaining our chapter is at a doorway of challenges and changes, brought to us
from NAL. Our board had participated in zoom meetings conducted by Matt Zarcufsky, CEO
of NAL and Andy Goodman, NAL Board Chair who told us we had to accept a new Affiliation
Agreement, and I was expected to sign it by May 31st. You had many great questions. Nancy presented a letter we planned to send to NAL asking them to postpone the requirement of the new contract for a year and allow chapters throughout the U.S. to participate in creating a new contract which would recognize the importance of our programs and how they help our communities. Eighty-eight other chapters had also agreed to send a letter to NAL encouraging them to reconsider the contract as written.
We were very grateful that you voted to send the letter to National and 50 of you signed it.
Nancy emailed the letter to NAL yesterday after the meeting.
And change did happen, but not in a way we expected. The next morning, we received a letter from Andy Goodman and the National Assistance League Board that, “National Assistance League is entering a new chapter as we announce a change in our leadership. After thoughtful discussions, Matt Zarcufsky and the Board of Directors have mutually agreed that Matt will be stepping down as CEO, effective February 28, 2025. While change is never easy, it is often necessary to pursue new opportunities of growth. The Board will launch a national search for a new CEO, in the meantime Board Director Stephanie Chaney Atkins will serve as Interim CEO.
As Kathie said, it truly takes a village, and together we were able to make a change that we
are hopeful will benefit all of National Assistance Leagues Chapters.
According to George Bernard Shaw, “Progress is impossible without change.”
