We Are An Organization of Volunteers

by Gary Kempf, Member #1342

Shown here is Lois Yates, ATHS member, presenting a check for $250.00 to our ATHS librarian Rosy O'Bryant. Lois is an employee of Wal-Mart and participates in the Volunteerism Always Pays Program. In this program an employee can volunteer hours of service to a non-profit organization and if the volunteer hours are twenty-five hours or more in a six month period, the Wal-Mart Foundation will contribute $250.00 to the nonprofit organization designated by the employee. Lois consistently volunteers at our ATHS Research Library and travels far and wide to staff our station at book fairs. This is the third check Lois has presented to ATHS.

Our officers, committee chairs, committee members, librarian and staff, quarterly editor and staff, as well as the authors of the many books we publish are all volunteers. Since its inception in 1975 our organization has served over 2900 members residing in 46 different states and a couple foreign countries. Our present active membership is 600. ATHS Vice President/Ancestral News co-editor, Ann Sipes, is a charter member and has served in numerous offices in her tenure, as has charter member, Maggie Olson, presently serving as treasurer. Newer members, President Steve Lindsey and Secretary Lisa Lindsey (joined in 2004), have taken the reins and are leading us forward. Members old and new are welcome to volunteer and serve.

Ancestral Trails Historical Society presently has 64 books in print, mostly authored by members, and new titles are printed every year. ATHS publishes an award winning quarterly, Ancestral News, and operates a history/genealogy research library in the Hardin County History Museum in Elizabethtown. Our library is visited by members and non-members from around the state and country. Our monthly club meetings feature fine guest speakers and fellowship. We believe that our annual book fair is one of the best in the state. Our endeavors in collecting, publishing, and disseminating historical/genealogical information and materials are many and varied.

In December of 2007 we will be electing club officers for 2008. These officers will then meet and select committee chairs who will then staff their committees. Elected officers and committee chairs form our ATHS Board of Directors who then manage the finances and operations of our Society. The inside of the front cover of our Quarterly illustrates some of the offices, staff, and committee positions that will need to be filled. If you believe you might be interested in one of the officer, staff, or committee positions, let one of our officers know of your interest. If you find you desire to simply volunteer to work at book fairs, serve as a library clerk, researcher, typist, (we have lots of other positions), let us know.

As a past president, past secretary, and a member of various committees, and currently ATHS clerk, I can attest to the satisfaction and pleasure to be derived from service and fellowship with this organization. I have had the pleasure of meeting with people from Maine to Georgia, California to New York, and most states in between. We invite you to join us.