Greetings, All:
First, thanks to those of you who messaged me regarding my AAA story in the July issue and asked for the rest of the story. Just to finish the story, we did get a call from AAA, not the President, of course, but someone who was told to “follow up with us to find out what happened.” Um, I’m pretty sure that I made it clear what happened in my letter, but at any rate, we did get a response. AAA will reimburse us for the towing charges of $185.00, not that they are doing us any favors, it’s part of the contract that if AAA cannot assist their clients and that client has to be towed at their own expense, they will be reimbursed by AAA.
As to the other expenses (2 hours of wasted gas, a $10 tip for the tow truck driver and the tire,) that’s where AAA showed their true colors to me. They would not reimburse us for the tire, because, after all, AAA has no control over road debris. But, oh, the man who called was so sympathetic. He was shocked, just shocked–his words. He was so sorry we experienced the incompetence that we did and he was going to ensure that the training issues that resulted in their lack of service were addressed. He agreed that we were entitled to gas money and the $10 tip and AAA was going to do the right thing and reimburse us–and, of course, that reimbursement would come in the form of a $25.00 credit that will be applied to our 2026 AAA membership fee. Now, I don’t remember committing to resigning with AAA, so the only one who truly benefits from this is AAA, but I feel validated that our voices were heard and for a fleeting moment in time AAA was forced to admit that they sucked. Now, we haven’t received the towing reimbursement yet, (as of August 1, ) but, as the AAA website says, they always do the right thing, so I’m sure, “the check is in the mail.”
Anyway, on to Cape Fear Voices and Teen Scene. We have been doing a lot of planning for the coming year. Our professional development courses for our interns are going to begin in September, classes will be taught by Tonya Covington, Brunswick County Risk Management Trainer. She came to our attention via one of our Teen Scene moms, and is very excited to help us with this initiative. We will be offering things like, “Controlling an Interview, Self Confidence In Speaking, Conflict Mitigation and Adaptability.” We want to prepare our teens for college and the world beyond.
And, believe it or not, we are starting to talk about the Awards Banquet for next year. Rather than the dinner/speeches/awards format that we always do, what do you think of having the awards banquet in the form of Prom? If you didn’t get to go to your high school prom, this would be a great way to get the experience. Have fun, listen to music, dance and enjoy good food. We are also thinking of changing the award criteria. Rather than reviewing 12 months worth of stories in various categories, we are thinking of having 3 topics (for both CFV and TS,) where you would submit your essays/poems based on one or all of those topics. Winners in each topic would be announced at the banquet and the winning stories would be published for the April issue. The date for the banquet next year is April 18. I would appreciate any feedback you have on these ideas–and, at this point, they are only ideas.
On June 7, we did a program at the Leland Library–“Storytelling and Art,” which brought in 5 students. Although we targeted the middle and high school age groups, we found that the interest in the program was at the 10 to 12 age group. I did a short lecture on the history of storytelling, we looked at visuals of cave drawings and other styles of art as communication. We used music as both storytelling and art and the students did drawings pulled from elements of the lecture and music. We ended the program with a demonstration of troubadours spreading the news of the day through music. All in all, it was fun and we plan to do it again in 2026. This time, maybe we will write and perform a one act play with scenery! If anyone is interested in being involved with our library program, please contact me.
When we went online instead of print, we lost the artwork that our students used to submit to the paper. We have some very talented young people out there (as well as our seasoned supporters) and I would like to get back to exhibiting their work. To that end, I would also like to partner with VCAP to encourage veterans and their families to submit works of art for online publication. Partnering with the Brunswick Art Council’s artist group is another avenue we would like to pursue.
Finally, we need to put more effort into fundraising. There are a number of businesses and organizations in the area that offer programs like “10% of their proceeds for the day,” to local charities and non-profit groups. If CFV/TS isn’t a perfect choice for this kind of initiative, I don’t know who is, so we will be following up on that idea. If you own a business and want to be involved in a program of this nature, let us know.
So, that sums up what the volunteers, Gerald and I have been thinking about to keep CFV/TS active and alive. You can help and we need you. Would you like to be on the Prom Committee? Can you help our younger students make basic scenery for a play on a Saturday afternoon? Are you an artist? Would you like to be a “topic judge” for the Awards Banquet? Can you mention our organization to a local business that offers a reward program? Participation doesn’t take much, but would be most appreciated.
