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from the Chartering of NAWIC Chapter #339

Northshore Chapter of NAWIC to be chartered on June 8

A Northshore Chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction, No 339 has been organized and will be chartered at a special banquet on Saturday, June 8, at the Dakota Restaurant on U.S. hwy 190 in Covington. The group has 9,000 members nationwide, and St. Tammany Parish members have been attending meetings with the New Orleans chapter for some time.

"We found we had enough members on the north side of the lake who didn't wan to keep driving down to New Orleans to attend meetings, so we started a group of our own." Said Dot Horton, membership chairman for the new chapter. The new group has 33 members. The chartering banquet will start at 6:30 p.m. and feature several guest speakers. The organization tries to reach out and get young people involved through scholarships and informational programs. People from New York, California, Shreveport, and other places are expected to visit the banquet to make sure the new chapter gets off to a good start.

President until September is Machiko (Miki) Haas, Vice-President is Carol Dunn, secretary is Christine Barnhill, and treasurer is Eleanor (Nell) Laporte.

Current board members are Dot Horton, Bobbie Stewart, Jackie Helmstetter and Karen Piediscalzo with Joan Lampkin as parliamentarian.

The group has several standing committees already appointed, with Laporte head of the budget committee, Lampkin head of the Bylaws committee, and Horton and Guillory heads of the membership committee, Kathleen Donahue heads the NEF (Nawic Educational Foundation) liaison committee.

Tracy Byron and Helmstetter head the professional education committee and Debbie Joe Taylor heads the NAWIC Education committee.

The local Chapter will be affiliated with the AGC and ABC construction industry groups as well, and plans to put out a monthly newsletter for its members in St. Tammany, Washington, and Tangipahoa Parishes (east of Interstate 55). Monthly meetings will be held, mainly in Abita Springs, and annual dues are $10 for the local group and another $35 for the national organization.

Activities of the new chapter will include presentations to school groups to try to interest young people in the construction industry, courses to members for professional improvement, particularly in the area of management, and also a networking service for persons hunting jobs in the field.

A trade show and national convention in Nashville, TN will take place in September, something that local members want to take advantage of.

Persons wishing to become charter members in the new group have until June 8 to sign up. For more information, they may call Dot Horton at xxx-xxxx or xxx-xxxx.

Persons taking part in the June 8 chartering banquet of the group will include Marcelle Raynor of the New Orleans NAWIC Chapter; Barbara Trapani, NAWIC National Secretary (who will present the charter); Betty Jones, director of Region 5 (who will help install officers); and New Orleans Chapter members Kathy Roberts and Phyllis Rambeau. All Charter members will sign the charter document.

~ Program ~

This is a copy of the original program used the night of June 8, 1991.
It has been reproduced to the closest fonts available and
is in order according to the original program. 2/04/2003

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Miki Haas, the petite first president of the Northshore Chapter of NAWIC,
had these thoughts at the time we were chartered.

(Miki, a general contractor and president of her own company at the time), says that the prevalent typecasting by most people of the construction industry nearly excludes women, and those that are included are viewed as variations of “Rosie-the-Riveter.” When on the job site, she says she’s still asked, “May I help you?” “Are you looking for your husband?” “Let me help you up the ladder.”

It is sweet revenge for her to inform the ever-so-helpful workers that she’s the boss.

“You don’t have to get dirty to work in construction.” She said. “There are positions for architects, engineers, program specialists, and estimators.”

Haas was not on a mission to debunk myths; she and other NAWIC members are more concerned about the ever-shrinking pool of skilled professionals. If current trends remain unaltered, the nation’s construction industry will face a major shortage of skilled personnel by the year 2000.

School counselors, she said, aren’t doing enough to ease this looming crisis. Young people are not getting enough exposure to the opportunities available in construction. We’re finding it difficult to find the skilled workers we need. No one is telling these kids the options available to them.

Our Chapter was chartered on June 8, 1991 and according to Haas, education was its primary objective. The Northshore chapter will education members and others in the community about the career openings in the construction industry.

One of the projects she started was to implement St. Tammany Parish in Block Kids, a building block construction contest for young students. Winners, judged by professionals from the building industry will be awarded savings bonds.