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Message from the President:
Bonjour à tous,
Twenty five years ago the mission statement of the Acadian
Cultural Society was put to paper to form “a non-profit, tax
exempt educational society to preserve and promote Acadian
heritage among individuals of Acadian descent; publish a
society newsletter and serve as a resource for exchange of
Acadian information”. We have done that with a small core
group - able to maintain contacts with the world at large.
We have Acadian “cousins” around the world - France,
England, Quebec, British Columbia, and of course, Acadia
itself - Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, New
Brunswick, St Pierre et Miquelon, Madeleine Islands, and
those here in the States - our Cajun cousins to the South
and our next door neighbors in Gardner, Leominster,
Fitchburg, Waltham, Lynn, New Bedford, and everywhere in
between the east and west coast of the U.S.
The Society is financially stable, but members have aged and
the younger folk, it seems, do not join cultural groups.
They prefer to get information from the quicker mode -
computers; surfing the internet, instant messaging, and not
in a quarterly newsletter. I am told that folks under thirty
do not read a printed newspaper.
At its Executive Board Meeting held on September 30, 2009,
following the report that the Nominating Committee hadn’t
received any names to present to the Annual Meeting, The
Executive Board voted that if this situation (no nominees)
presented itself, the Board would propose that request be
made to the Attorney General’s Office of the State of
Massachusetts to file for dissolution of its business.
It is with some sadness that this has happened. There were
no nominations from the floor and nominations were closed,
resulting in all officer slots left vacant.
This leaves a void at the end of the current year. The
society cannot continue without officers to hold positions
to insure that the business of the society is properly and
legally conducted. A letter will be sent to the membership
informing them once this procedure has taken place. We do
feel proud that a small core group that started with a few
dollars back in 1985 successfully maintained a quarterly
newsletter and built an organization of ,at one time, over
four hundred members. Time has come for those who toiled
year after year to take their well deserved rest. I can
close on a high note saying that the Annual Meeting
attendees were treated to music and food. Always a favorite
of the Acadian Cultural Society, Josée Vachon and fiddling
partner Donna Hébert entertained us. We enjoyed poutines
and rapée. Please remember, we are the caretakers of our
Acadian heritage, culture, history and language. That means
we either pass it on to our children, or we allow it to be
dispersed and forgotten.
Lucille
Langlois
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