“Hey Ya’ll!” Welcome to the South East Region!
Welcome to the South East Region (SER) of the Society of Air Force Nurses (SAFN). The SER is the largest of the regions across the United States and our membership comes from four chapters in Florida (Space Coast, Tampa/St Pete, Jacksonville, Panhandle), South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. Florida has 57% of the SER membership (252) at 143, SC has 43, NC has 13, GA has 21 and AL has 13. Our Chapter Coordinators are your points of contact in your areas of the SER, see their links at the homepage.
Florida:
South Carolina: Donna Hudson
North Carolina: Ann Burns
Georgia: Rob Groves
Alabama: Kathy Wagner
Memorial Representative: Linda Stierle
Outreach Coordinator: Marsha Jordan
Regional Director: Charlie Tupper
The past six years SER has been under the leadership of Frank Thornburg, as of the Nashville TN Convention, Frank passed the “stick” to Charles Tupper and Charlie was officially installed as SER Director at our Banquet on 27 August. Our heartfelt thanks go out to Frank (and his wife Peggy for all her support) for all his efforts to build the SER and stay in contact with our membership over the years. Frank remains a member of the SER of SAFN, and we will certainly not be shy to reach out for advice and counsel.
As we look ahead to the next couple of years, we will keep our plans for “Christmas at the Biltmore” on hand for November 2022. A ton of hard work was done in preparation for the event which was supposed to have been in November 2020. The Biltmore is a beautiful estate, gardens and vineyard and the membership will enjoy the lighting and decorations at the estate during the holiday season, Asheville NC is a charming community with lots of good restaurants, art museums and sights to see.
We also need to work on membership and sustainment of our current membership. New member activity is essential for the longevity of the Society and there are many active duty, Guard, Reserve and retired or separated NC officers out there to connect within this region. Additionally, our current members need to feel there is an advantage to sustaining membership. The Society motto is “Still Caring…Still Sharing” and the Society is built on three pillars: Outreach, Memorial and Socializing. We need to keep track of our members and remember them when they are gone but we also need to celebrate the relationships we have made over the years.
Please feel free to reach out at southeastdirector@safn.org
Southeast Regional Meeting Update: Hotel Information
The Southeast Region will host its 2024 meeting in Pensacola FL 10-13 November 2024. The host hotel is the Hilton Garden Inn, 8 S. 9th Ave, Pensacola FL 32502
Rates for the event (10-13) are $159.00 per night plus applicable taxes.
Contact the reservations at 877-782-9444 or 580-438-7900 or at the attendee booking link: https://group.hiltongardeninn.com/yxqxh3 Mention you are with the Society of Air Force Nurses group.
The cut-off date for the reservations at this rate is 10 October 2024, but keep in mind, that we projected 35 rooms, so they may go fast (I know how our members like to plan ahead).
Our schedule will be a bit different this year. There will be an icebreaker on Sunday night. We will have our business meeting on Monday morning leaving the rest of the time for tours, museums, and social activities still in the planning phases.
Special thanks to Kathy Vanderburg, Lidia Webb, Diane Fletcher, Carol Becker, and Kathy Williams for their assistance in the planning so far ... they are making this a great event for our SER members.
