Story By John Mann
The Guntersville Ladies Civitan Club held their biggest meeting of the year so far on Wednesday, welcoming special guest and Civitan International President Michael Morgan at The Reserve clubhouse to conduct their officer installation for the 2025-26 year.
“I called and invited him and when he said he could come I actually did a victory dance I was so excited,” outgoing president Icy Lou Sanders said. “It’s a very big deal to have the international president of any organization come and speak but he also has such a big heart and is a spectacular, humble person.”
The meeting began with an address from Guntersville Mayor Leigh Dollar, who highlighted some of the work that the city has done with the club and thanked them for their civic and community service, notably with organizations which work for those with mental and physical disabilities.
“The city has partnered with the Ladies Civitan for many years,” Dollar said in her address. “We have worked on many projects together that include the Every Child’s Playground, the annual Tour of Homes, the ARC, Shining Stars and many others and we are so grateful for those partnerships. You are one special group of ladies and we want to say a huge thank you for your support and all you do to make our beautiful lake city the best it can be.”
The main purpose of the meeting was to welcome the new officers of the club, which included incoming President Lori Hunt but also Vice President/President-Elect Marguerite Culpepper, Secretary Nancy Risbeck, Treasurer Brenda Mayhall and the Board of Directors which includes Ann Blount, Sharon Childress, Denise Cornwell and Kathy Skube.
For her last time at the podium as president Sanders reflected on the club’s accomplishments over the past year, which includes becoming the permanent fundraising project for Tidal Wave car wash in Guntersville. She closed out her address with a reading of Matthew 25:34, which speaks about feeding the hungry, reaching out to strangers and caring for the sick.
“It’s been very fulfilling and has really brought me to a level of seeing people that I would probably not have run across in my everyday life and I’ve been able to serve them and rejoice with them in their victories,” Sanders said. “I have made friendships within this club that will never go away, these people love each other and anyone new fits right in, I know I can call on them anytime.”
After Morgan swore in the new officers Sanders passed on her gavel to Hunt, who is now the acting president for the club. With fifty one members the Guntersville club is now the largest Civitan club in the state of Alabama, and Hunt wants to make sure that everyone has a role in their activities.
“It feels great,” she said. “I’ve been waiting for eighteen months and I’ve had a lot of time to think about what I wanted to do as president and I’ve done a lot of planning, considering and mulling over what I want my term to look like. We’ve grown a lot and our policies and procedures haven’t always kept up with our growth, so my goal is to get our communications operating as they should and make sure everybody is included in all of our projects.”
The Guntersville Ladies Civitan has a variety of projects going on and coming up as they head into the fall season. Their fresh greenery sale is currently up and running and will be open until October 15 for anyone wanting to order holiday greenery. On Friday they were at the Tidal Wave car wash in Guntersville where they did fundraising from 8 am until 6 pm and their Pumpkin Patch will open the last week of September across from the Rock House Eatery and run through the month of October.
More information about the Guntersville Ladies Civitan can be found on their Facebook page under “Guntersville Ladies Civitan Club.” More information about Civitan International can be found on their website at civitan.org.
