your LETTERS
ELF Recipients Who Are Sisters I enjoyed reading the article on P.E.O. Educational Loan Fund (ELF) recipients who are sisters (May/June 2022 issue of The P.E.O. Record). Chapter IS, Kirkland, Washington, has sponsored my three nieces for ELF loans. One received an ELF loan in 2013 while she was earning her master’s degree in security studies from Georgetown; another received an ELF loan in 2014 while she was majoring in mechanical engineering at Stanford and, in 2021, another niece received her loan to obtain her bachelor’s in computer science, economics and data science from MIT. My oldest niece is a new mother and recently began a doctoral program at Johns Hopkins; the second was instrumental in the design of a rapid (and accurate) COVID-19 home test kit and ran in the 2022 Boston Marathon; and the third has been accepted to the Sloan School of Business at MIT and was recently selected for a Fulbright Fellowship in Germany. They are all amazingly brilliant, beautiful and well-rounded young women who will contribute to our society and do amazing things for years to come. Thank you to ELF and P.E.O. for helping them reach their educational goals. What an amazing gift! — Dorothy Caravias, IS, Kirkland, Washington
A Note on Transferring After returning home from Charleston yesterday, having driven up to attend the Golden Girls Luncheon at the 2022 Convention of South Carolina State Chapter, I found the May/June issue of The Record in my mailbox... the perfect ending to a P.E.O. day! Tonia Bohnen’s article on “Transferring” really resonated with me! When I received the gift of P.E.O. and was initiated into Chapter EL, Newark, Ohio, in 1989, I saw P.E.O. as a wonderful organization of women helping each other in our chapter and helping others in our community and sometimes beyond. I enjoyed our meetings and our programs, working with my sisters on fundraisers and attending socials and BIL events. But another jewel in the P.E.O. star I didn’t experience until four years later, when a job transfer for my husband had us moving back to Pittsburgh—the process of “dimitting,” as it was called back then. What a wonderful feeling knowing my sisters “sent ahead” my P.E.O. introduction to the area chapters and soon I found a new P.E.O. home—and added more loving, welcoming sisters to my P.E.O. tapestry. And the process was repeated again and again with the same wonderful results. Just as you mentioned in the article, I was able to learn about/contribute to different chapter traditions and operations—all the while feeling the comfort of the consistency of our P.E.O. processes and rituals. “No more moves” is my mantra as I am fully entrenched in both my life and lifestyle here on Hilton Head Island and in my wonderful Chapter AG. But if those plans change, I know that I have the support of P.E.O. to make another smooth transition. INITIATED: EL, Newark, Ohio – 1989 TRANSFERS: BW, Wexford, PA – 1994-1998 EN, San Francisco, CA – 1998-1999
RI, San Rafael, CA – 1999-2001 H, Charleston, WV – 2001-2005 NE, Naperville, IL – 2005-2010 A, New Haven, CT – 2010-2015 AG, Hilton Head Island, SC – 2015-present
— Margie Lechowicz, AG, Hilton Head, South Carolina
Editor’s Note: The P.E.O. Record attempts to present all viewpoints in response to published content. Responses published in Your Letters are limited to the single issue following the issue in which the material in question was printed and, as with all submissions to The Record, are published at the editor’s discretion and dependent upon available space.
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THE P.E.O. RECORD | July–August 2022
Women helping women reach for the stars
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