Spotlight on the Lincoln County Friends of Marshall Club

 

The Lincoln County Club continues to lead the way in opportunities for Marshall alumni and friends to connect with Marshall - while having fun!

 

 

MUAA Lincoln County Club page

 

2008 Spotlight

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A Q&A with Justin Blankenship, club president

 

The club has grown quite a bit… tell us a little bit about how you got started.

“I had been thinking about starting an alumni club and a Big Green chapter in Lincoln County for a few years until I finally decided to get things going in the summer of 2007. I knew that we had a good amount of people in Lincoln County who had a genuine interest and love for Marshall University. I was really excited when we got things going in October 2007. In April 2008, the club decided to roll athletic fundraising activities into the Lincoln County Friends of Marshall Club. So you could say our club serves Marshall University in many ways – academics, athletics, and the alumni outreach. In any organization, you have to have goals and you have to have leaders. You have to clearly communicate what your goals are;that gives people something to work toward getting accomplished. We are blessed with good leaders and good workers, and that’s why we have been successful so far.

At the end of the 2008 calendar year, we had 25 members. For the 2009 calendar year, in July, we have 62 members. The membership committee, headed by Jackie Blankenship, has done an outstanding job recruiting new members.”

What are your plans to get the MUAA scholarship funded this fall?

“We started a scholarship endowment (The Lincoln County Friends of Marshall Club Scholarship) in October 2008. An endowed scholarship fund requires $15,000 to raised before the funds can be invested. The club finished raising the $15,000 amount on July 7, 2009, and the scholarship endowment principal will be put into the stock market later this month. This scholarship will be awarded to a Lincoln County resident sometime in the next few years. The amount is undecided at this time (it depends on the amount of interest earned from the investment) but the scholarship award will likely be a significant amount.

In June 2008, several goals were created for the club, all to be completed by the end of 2009 (listed below). We have completed all of the goals that we have in front of us except for one. We plan on making a $7,500 contribution to the Marshall University Alumni Association to go toward funding for the new Erickson Alumni Center and Marshall University Foundation Hall. When we complete our last remaining funding objective by the end of 2009, the Lincoln County Friends of Marshall Club will have raised $35,000 for Marshall University academics, athletics, alumni office, and Lincoln County students since the club’s inception in October 2007.”

2009 Funding Goals

• $3,000 for 3 2009 individual scholarships *DONE*

• $7,500 contribution to the Big Green Scholarship Foundation for 2008/2009 fiscal year *DONE*

• $15,000 for scholarship endowment to be invested *DONE*

• $7,500 contribution to the Marshall University Alumni Association * IN PROGRESS* To be completed by December 31, 2009

Your club members have worked very hard to make this all a success.

The officers are all outstanding and are all driven to make this club succeed.

Kevin Miller is the vice-president and head of the Program Committee. He coordinates our events and has done an awesome job each and every time. Kevin is the man behind the success of the spring banquets and golf tournament. His attention to detail is second to none and he always does things the right way, no matter what. I really appreciate all he has done for our club. You can tell by working with Kevin that he has a genuine love for his alma mater, and he lets his actions speak for themselves.

LaDonna Kushner is the secretary. LaDonna was voted in as secretary during the 2009 membership meeting. LaDonna is a tireless worker for the club who possess great communication skills. LaDonna is responsible for meeting minutes, communication with the MUAA, meeting notices, among other things. Her documentation of club activities is always very accurate and detailed. LaDonna is also a key contributor on the Program Committee. She was responsible for coordinating the Spring Thunder Bingo and did a fantastic job with that. She is very interested in the betterment of Marshall University and it shows with all that she does for our club.

David Kushner is the treasurer. David handles the finances of the club. David is very detailed, organized, and keeps very good records. David is always very timely with payments and deposits. David is also very active in helping with the club events. Like Kevin and LaDonna, David is very interested in the betterment of his alma mater and it is displayed with all he does for our club.

Jerry Lawson was named the 2008 Lincoln County Friends of Marshall Club member of the year. Jerry has really helped the club gain exposure by purchasing a bus that he got specially “wrapped” with a Marshall University theme, complete with the club logo, MUAA and Big Green logos, etc. The club members attribute the membership increase in 2009 to Jerry’s purchase and customization of the Lincoln County Friends of Marshall Club bus. Jerry edged out Ralph Triplett for 2008 club member of the year. Ralph has done an outstanding job selling spring banquet tickets the last two years and was also instrumental in selling sponsorships and teams for the 2009 golf tournament.

Donna Martin was head of the Activity Planning Committee in 2008. Jackie and Terry Blankenship are the co-chairs of the Activity Planning Committee in 2009. All have done a great job in the Activity Planning committee – bringing up ideas for new events, checking for feasibility of events, and securing event venues.

Greg Ellis has done a great job as head of the Scholarship Committee. Greg has conducted the scholarship application review process with fairness, honesty, and impartiality, in order to provide scholarship recipient recommendations back to the club on behalf of the scholarship committee.

All of the active club members have done a wonderful job in the past two years. I would also like to thank the staff of the Marshall University Alumni Association and Big Green Scholarship Foundation for all of their help and assistance, and for their attendance at our annual spring banquet.