Dorcheat-Bistineau Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution held its annual Spring Luncheon and Awards Ceremony at St. John’s Episcopal Church Parish Hall on May 30th. We were honored to have Norma Lester, the Louisiana DAR Northwest District Director, as our special guest. Hugh Wood Catering provided grilled chicken, twice-baked potato casserole, and green beans
Chapter Regent Donna Sutton and Past Chapter Regent / Chapter Chaplain Kathy Johnson inducted two new members into our chapter, and presented them with gift bags:
Lucy Hines: her patriot is Constantine Wright, who volunteered as a soldier in Maryland in the Regiment Extraordinary. It was created due to the need for additional soldiers to send to the Southern Campaign. They fought in 6 major battles against the British in the South.
Tina Kingston: her patriot is John Wimberly. He served as a soldier in the Bertie County, North Carolina, Militia, which fought in 5 battles in the area. He received a land grant in Jones County, Georgia, for his service.
Gloria Fryar is celebrating 50 years of membership in DAR this year. She often served as a hostess at our chapter meetings. Our Chapter Regent presented her with a recognition certificate from National, and a beautiful gold-filled 50 Year Member pin from National. Honorary Chapter Regent Cindy Madden is celebrating 10 years of membership in DAR, and she was presented with a recognition certificate from National.
Our chapter voted Past Chapter Regent Cindy Madden as Honorary Chapter Regent. This is a title of honor, which is given to a Past Chapter Regent who served above and beyond the ordinary duties as Regent. During her term as Chapter Regent, Cindy served as Louisiana DAR State Chair of Service to Veterans. Her state project was a build-a-bear fundraiser that paid for over 50 box fans for a veterans’ homeless shelter. In Spring of 2023, she organized and led a local committee that spent several months planning a luncheon honoring Vietnam veterans at the Minden Civic Center, with free meals and challenge coins provided for the veterans and their families. Cindy and her family built a DAR Big Free Library, which also serves as a drop-off location for flags needing to be retired. The library has collected over 550 flags. Our Chapter Regent presented Cindy with a certificate from our chapter, and a gift certificate to help purchase her Honorary Chapter Regent pin for her official ribbon.
Linda Wood, our Women’s Issues Committee Chair, presented a program to our chapter last year called “Senior Advocacy: Senior Scams.” It won 1st Place at the State level for Outstanding Women’s Issues Program (out of 44 chapters), 1st Place at South Central Division (which is a 6-state region), and Honorable Mention at National (National has over 3,000 chapters).
Chapter Regent Donna Sutton received 1st Place from South Central Division for Outstanding Lineage Research. Honorary Chapter Regent Cindy Madden received 1st Place from South Central Division for Outstanding Flag of the United States Projects. Tammy Trainor received a Certificate of Achievement from State for her outstanding work in creating and distributing our bi-monthly chapter member newsletter.
Our entire chapter received many awards, including a State Red Ribbon Level Award for community service projects, 2nd Place in State for print publicity, 2nd place in State for participation in a district-wide collaboration project that taught Colonial History to 4th Graders at the Louisiana State Museum in Shreveport, 3rd place in State for Historic Restoration, an Outstanding Service in Historic Preservation certificate for cleaning and restoring cemetery headstones correctly, and a Membership Award for gaining 4 new Junior members. We received State certificates for outstanding collaboration with Sons of the American Revolution: Most Community Events with SAR, Most Flag Ceremonies by SAR for DAR Events, Most Programs by SAR at DAR Chapter Meetings, Participating in Wreath Ceremonies with SAR, and participating in the SAR/DAR flag ceremony at the Battle of Baton Rouge Commemoration. We also received certificates of appreciation from State for our Constitution Week projects, participation in DAR Day of Service (our chapter packed and delivered goodie bags to veterans in local nursing homes), and for supporting Children of the American Revolution and Kate Duncan Smith DAR School through projects and contributions.
DAR is a volunteer organization dedicated to education, patriotism, and historic preservation. Any woman age 18 years or older who can prove lineal, bloodline descent from an ancestor who aided in achieving American independence from Great Britain during the Revolutionary War (1775-1783) is eligible to join DAR. For more information, contact us at [email protected]