September 2019 Newsletter

Good Day,

Registration for the 20^th Anniversary Annual Retreat in Puerto Rico will open in October! If you have not booked your room yet, make sure you make your reservations ASAP, details on how to book your room are below. We have nearly 100 people who have already booked their rooms so it looks to be a fun and eventful Retreat in January!

Remember, dues must be paid by 11:59pm ET today (September 30). Read below for information on how to pay your dues. If you do not pay your dues, you cannot attend Grove events, will not be included in the 2020 Face Book, and will be removed from the Grove.

If you have any updates you would like to share for upcoming newsletters, please email me or Leslie Dube (leslie@belizeangrove.org).

Cheers,
Susan

DUES

Don’t Forget to Pay Your 2020 Dues!

Dues are due on September 30th! If you do not pay on the 30th, a $100 late fee will be assessed starting on October 1st.

Grovers: click here to pay your 2020 dues.
NEW Grovers: click here to pay your 2020 dues.

Taras: click here to pay your 2020 dues.
NEW Taras: click here to pay your 2020 dues.

Nyomis: click here to pay your 2020 dues.
NEW Nyomis: click here to pay your 2020 dues.

FACE BOOK

2020 Face Book

It’s time for us to put together the 2020 Face Book!
To view your 2019 profile, click here.
If you are a new member or if you need to update your bio, please fill out this template and email it to facebook@belizeangrove.org

Please note that your membership directory bio on the Belizean Grove website is not the same as your face book bio, updating one does not update the other.

2020 RETREAT

Our 20th anniversary retreat will be held in San Juan, Puerto Rico in January 23-27, 2020!
The room block for Puerto Rico is now open! Rooms are filling up fast! We only have 10 queen/queen rooms available at La Concha and 15 King rooms available at the Vanderbilt!

We are once again working with Deb Carr, with Cleveland Circle Travel-American Express, to book rooms at the hotel. Deb is also able to book flights for members.

BG is not taking room reservations.

To book your room, contact Deb Carr (deb@cctravel.com), with the below information:

1.Name as it appears on driver’s license or passports
2.Date of Birth
3. City of origin / Preferred Carrier or Flights (if booking flights) We are offering a 10% discount on American Airlines flights through July 31st
4. Arrival Date and Return Date
5. Resort requested – Condado Vanderbilt or La Concha
6. Room type desired
7. Roommate if applicable – please provide arrival date and departure date of your roommate
8. Cell phone number
9. Credit card for hotel guarantee – you may call this in to Deb
10. Billing Address

We were able to secure two hotels this year to ensure we have a plethora of rooming options to choose from. Both of these hotels were featured in the Forbes article The 6 Best Hotels in Puerto Rio.
Rooms are available at the luxurious Condado Vanderbilt, where the majority of our morning sessions will also be held. The Condado Vanderbilt is majestically perched above the Atlantic Ocean and is a premier oceanfront hotel in Puerto Rico. It features deluxe amenities, including a private beach club and pools, where you can book exclusive cabanas and chaise lounges, with a personal Pool and Beach Butler, a spa and fitness center, access to the Casino del Mar at La Concha, and access to world-class golf just 30 minutes away.
Condado Vanderbilt Room Rates:
Heritage Queen/Queen – $329/night
Heritage King – $319/night
Tower City View King – $329/night
Tower Ocean View King – $339/night
Tower Ocean View Queen/Queen – $349/night
All rooms will have also have the additional fees: + 11% Tax, 18% Resort Fee, $5 baggage fee, $2/day attendant fee.

We also have rooms available at the trendy La Concha, located directly across the park from the Vanderbilt. La Concha features pristine beaches and pools, fitness center, spa, Casino del Mar, and Fifty Eight—one of the largest bars in Puerto Rico, where you can experience vibrant performances, dancing, and music! Guests are also able to access world-class golf just 30 minutes away at the Bahia Beach Resort.
La Concha Room Rates:
$269/night + 11% Tax, 18% Resort Fee, $4 baggage fee, $2/day attendant fee

We expect this to be our biggest retreat ever! So book soon to ensure you have a spot at this exciting retreat! We cannot guarantee that we will be able to get more rooms, so once they are gone, they are gone!

Deb Carr’s contact information:
deb@cctravel.com
781-449-6864

20th Anniversary Jewelry
Angela Moore will once again be making her signature Belizean Grove necklaces and we are working on one to mark our 20th Anniversary. If you have an idea of a bead you would like to see, please contact Leslie (leslie@belizeangrove.org).

Bring your Grove photos!
Do you have photos or mementos from past retreats and get-togethers? Please bring copies of them with you to the retreat, or send them to Leslie ahead of time!

20th Anniversary T-Shirt Suggestions
We’re thrilled to celebrate our 20th anniversary in Puerto Rico and we would love to have shirts to commemorate our 20 years of friendship.

If you have any fun slogan or design suggestions, please fill out this form.
Some slogan examples:
-Boss Babe
-Me talking to myself: “Good point!”
-Sometimes I wrestle with my demons. Sometimes we snuggle.

What the Grovers and Taras Have been Up to Lately…

–Jennifer Kimball has been nominated by Historic Hotels of America as Historic Hotelier of the Year!

–Cheryl Heller started a new position at Arizona State University, where she is Director of Design Integration, a joint appointment between the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, the W.P.Carey School of Business, and the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. She is also a Professor of Practice in Innovation Design, and Program Director for a new MS program in Innovation and Venture Development.

–Nina McLemore invites you to meet Susan Page. Interviews and Book Signing with Susan Page on Saturday, October 12th from 10:00 am- 1:00 pm with the interview at 11:00 am. Susan Page is author of The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty and the current Washington Bureau Chief for USA Today. Interviewed by Karen Tumulty, columnist, The Washington Post and Author of the highly anticipated biography of Nancy Reagan. Click here to RSVP. Location: Nina McLemore Boutique 5310B Western Avenue Chevy Chase, MD

SAVE THE DATE

Dates to be determined still, but the locations for future retreats have been decided:
Fall 2020 Mini Retreat: San Antonio, TX (September 24 & 25)
Winter 2021 Annual Retreat: Argentina (late January or early February)

AFM UPDATE

Adventures for the Mind Foundation Update

Thank you so much for all the donations we got in St. Louis. We raised _______.

We are accepting grant application – the next board meeting is Monday, November 4, so all grant applications need to be in by October 25.
If there is an non-profit 501(c)3 organization that you love and support, this is the year to help them apply for the AFM Grant.

2019 Grant Guidelines
2019 Grant Application

Please send all completed applications to Leslie Dube, leslie@belizeangrove.org

I GOT/ YOU GOT

Hey! Don’t Forget About Our “I Got/You Got” section of the website!

In this section of the website you can share with other members, job opportunities, upcoming books, real estate, job openings, etc.
Click here to submit you own post and look at other members’ posts.
*Be sure to leave any necessary contact info such as a phone number or email as well as the urls to any links you would like to include.*

FILMS OF THE MONTH

Films of the Month- chosen by Naomi McDougall Jones and Emily Best

In Theaters
Hustlers
Available in theaters – check your local listings
Director: Lorene Scafaria
Starring: Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Stiles
Synopsis: Inspired by the viral New York Magazine article, Hustlers follows a crew of savvy former strip club employees who band together to turn the tables on their Wall Street clients.
Genre: Comedy / Thriller
IMDB link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5503686/

In Theaters
Moonlight Sonata: Deafness in Three Movements
Available in theaters – check your local listings
Director: Irene Taylor Brodsky
Starring: n/a (documentary)
Synopsis: Moonlight Sonata is a deeply personal memoir about a deaf boy growing up, his deaf grandfather growing old, and Beethoven the year he was blindsided by deafness and wrote his iconic sonata. Their lives weave a story about what we discover when we push beyond loss.
Genre: Documentary
IMDB link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9135318/

NOMINATE NEW MEMBERS

Know a Potential New Member?

If you would like to nominate someone to be a member, we are now currently accepting nomination packets. This is your last chance to get nominations in before Puerto Rico! Packets are due by DATE.

Please do not forward to us applications for anyone who:
1. You don’t personally know
2. You wouldn’t be willing to share a room with on a retreat
3. You do not have at least one seconder for
4. You believe is “on the way” but is not quite there yet … save the application for a future time when the candidate would have probably achieved her first success story and her application will have the ‘wow’ effect on first impression.

Nomination Form
Nomination Guidelines

Please send the completed nomination pack to Leslie leslie@belizeangrove.org.

Watch this short video for step-by-step instructions. (NOTE:  To make the video larger – click the small “4 arrows” icon at the bottom right of the video – to the right of the HD.)

HOW TO EDIT YOUR PROFILE

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!”