Acceptance Remarks at Convention of International Chapter by Susan Reese Sellers, President, International Chapter
Invest in the Future
It is an honor and privilege to stand before you as the 68th president of International Chapter. Thank you! My footsteps are now following the path of women I have never met, women I have only read about and women I know and have had the honor of serving beside. Each of them has served with distinction and true dedication to the objective of keeping our sisterhood as a viable and vital organization that will continue to impact the lives of the women sitting next to you today as well as women we have yet to meet.
Accepting the gavel at this 70th Convention of International Chapter in Saint Louis is especially poignant for me since I am a Missourian by birth and was initiated in the small, agricultural community of Lebanon, some 150 miles southwest of here. Lebanon is where my journey began in becoming a P.E.O.
As I have often read, every step forward begins with a foot firmly established in the past. When we actually take time to reflect on the historical accomplishments of P.E.O., our travel through history has been remarkable. History continues to reinforce that P.E.O. has adapted to changing times and planned for the future. As the oldest international community-based women’s organization, we have withstood the test of time.
In 2007 the Noel Levitz survey elevated our thinking to new heights. It brought matters to the forefront that were necessary for consideration by our membership if P.E.O. was to remain a relevant and attractive organization for future generations. Sharing our mission, strengthening our membership, being more visible in the community and friendships that continue to support each other were emphasized. As a result:
- We have improved communications about P.E.O.— our mission, our projects and our organization—so as to attract those women with high ideals and purpose who share our interest and passion for the higher education of women.
- The STAR Scholarship was adopted as the sixth P.E.O. philanthropy that would further enlarge the scope of our mission. We have again strengthened P.E.O. in the local community and widened our educational purposes.
- Working to strengthen our membership is a priority. The Coordinator of Membership Development has been on staff for two years and the four volunteer Regional Membership Representatives who assist states, provinces and districts are under her supervision.
- More than 17,000 initiates during the past biennium have multiplied friendships and support of sisters across North America.
P.E.O. is continuing to accept the challenge and invest in the future.
The 21st century has brought with it unprecedented changes and challenges to us as individuals and to our sisterhood. Today’s life is very different than what was experienced by the young women in 1869. We live in a complicated and fast-paced world. Every one of us is experiencing change all around us; it’s the same for our sisterhood.
When P.E.O. began, Alexander Graham Bell had just patented the telephone and today we have “smart phones” that go with us everywhere and instantly bring us communications from around the world. George Eastman began selling his simple box camera to consumers when P.E.O. was in its second decade of existence. Film has now been replaced by pixels and the transformed device slips into a purse or shirt pocket. The box with sound and pictures that everyone gathered around on Saturday night is now as large as a wall, there’s one in every room and it beams world events as they happen; and that once anxious anticipation of a letter arriving in the mailbox is presently a “ping” announcing an email, tweet or text communiqué.
Like it or not—understand it or not, technology is here to stay. As with our world’s technological achievements, P.E.O. has come a long way since its 1869 founding and our future is still before us. P.E.O., therefore, must continue to leverage the advantages that technology provides. We know from past experience that our purpose can grow even in the midst of an ever-changing world and this new biennium offers us the opportunity to pause and reflect—to review the past—to evaluate the present— to invest in the future.
Visualize the difference P.E.O. has affected since the first ELF loan of $300 was realized in 1908. More than 85,000 women have been the recipients of more than $210 million dollars and that’s not counting the more than 8,200 graduates of our Cottey College and the millions of dollars in gifts to Cottey since 1927. Just during this convention you have been witness to the generosity of our chapters and individual members who made possible, in one year’s time, gifts totaling more than one and a quarter million dollars for our projects—all for the higher education of women. This is powerful and you did it!
But P.E.O. cannot stop and rest on past accomplishments. We cannot stop growing—not in numbers and places, nor in attitudes and ideas. Progress and change, even for a 142-year-old organization, are crucial for survival. Adjusting to changing times and the needs of its members is not a new concept for P.E.O.s to consider. References to such can be found in writings and P.E.O. Records beginning with the earliest decades. Our Founder, Franc Roads Elliott, spoke to this very subject in 1907, Laura Storms Knapp in the early 1950s, Joan Bradshaw in the 1980s and as recently as today. It is a concept that we must acknowledge on a recurring basis, and then act on it and follow through. Commitment to growth must be seen in action as well as words.
Historians have reiterated for centuries that the best predictor for the future is the past. Today we are the links between the ages, we are familiar with past memories and present success and we share the expectations of future promise.
P.E.O. has stressed ideals and values that have withstood the challenges that inevitably come from long life. It was once said to me, “change cannot destroy sound principles.” The foundation is in place; it’s how we build on that foundation which will determine the destiny of the Sisterhood. We must continue our dedication to the future of P.E.O.
But what is the key to our longevity? It is our membership—yours, mine, those who are nonparticipating,
the inactive members of our chapters, our unaffiliates and the women we have yet to know and initiate. Membership is the life blood of P.E.O. Without members nothing can or will be accomplished. I encourage you and each and every sister to invest in the future of P.E.O. Let’s pledge to give the best of ourselves and to do our part—attend chapter meetings, be an officer, pay annual dues,support P.E.O. projects, give a program, be a meeting hostess. In other words, invest in the future of P.E.O. by being engaged as a member of P.E.O.
The opportunity to realize our goals rests within the power of every P.E.O. chapter and its members. We won’t be the P.E.O. we want to become without you. We need you as an engaged member to enhance the legacy that has been P.E.O. and help us meet the challenges of the future. If P.E.O. is to continue to be a vital, contributing organization in today’s world, each and every member must invest in its future. We need you and women like you. P.E.O. will become what you make it.
Remember, you are P.E.O.!
