UMH Auxiliary September 2018 Meeting Summary

The Uvalde Memorial Hospital Auxiliary met for their monthly meeting on Tuesday, September 4. President Eddie McKinney called the meeting to order and Shirley Grigg led the group in prayer. Janet Hynes then shared the thought for the day.

Maria Vela introduced the group’s guest speaker, Mendell Morgan, for the meeting. Mr. Morgan is the director of El Progreso Memorial Library in Uvalde. Morgan comes to Uvalde from San Antonio where he retired as the Dean of Library Services for the University of Incarnate Word after 33 years of service. He holds a masters degree in American Library Studies.

Morgan shared with the group all of the assets the library has to offer our area. The 36,000 square foot building houses traditional library services but also offers business services like copying, laminating, and faxing, and a meeting room available for community use. In addition, a 3D printer can be used for making posters and blue prints, among other things. An 11 county regional archives run by archivist Virgina Davis is also housed at the library. An extension of the library, “The Oak Street Press”is an online bookstore that Mendell runs for the library. Online sales total 10,000-12,000 books each year and serve as an additional revenue source for the library.

Morgan spoke to library’s history, which began in 1903 from the efforts of a group of women who advocated for library services and came to be known as the El Progreso Club. The Club still exists today and meets the second Thursday of each month at 4:00pm. Today, the library is located at 301 West Main Street in Uvalde in a custom building completed in 2004 with a $5.7 million campaign.

Morgan concluded by sharing a long list of events taking place at the library within the next month. Activities included ‘Opera Chats’which will be held the first Saturday of each month at 11am, a special display of books related to the events of 9/11, and an author book signing on Wednesday, September 12 from 2-6pm for Katharine Hamilton, Micheal Earney, Marina Garcia, Peg Sundburg, and Monica Dellar. The library also hosts free legal clinics from noon until 3pm on the first Thursday of each month. The service allows qualified individuals to be connected with lawyers about civil matters in a private setting. Many more events are available and details can be found on the library’s Facebook page or website at www.elprogreso.org.

Following the presentation, secretary Barbara Hogan read August meeting minutes and treasurer Barbara Blair shared the previous month’s financials. Shirley Grigg gave the gift shop report. Barbara Hogan also gave the membership report and shared that they will be working to update the list of member’s addresses and phone numbers. Members should report any changes to Sherry Martinez at (830)-278-6251 extension 1486. Correspondence director Ann Reagan updated the group on all notes sent throughout the month.

The Uvalde Memorial Hospital Auxiliary’s next meeting will be held on Monday, October 1 at 10:00am in the Wrather Holmgreen Conference Room. For more information on becoming a member of the Auxiliary, please contact Charla Carter, volunteer services director, at (830) 278- 6251 extension 1435.