By Susie Hovater Malone
Lifestyles Columnist

The March meeting of Delta Kappa Gamma Alpha Upsilon was held at the Phil Campbell First Baptist Church. Hostesses for this meeting were Barbara Ayers, Barbara Cain, Judy Evett, Sandra Guinn and Karen Townsend.

The Sister Spotlight featured Karen Townsend. She has been a member of DKG for 30 years. She served two terms as president and is currently the parliamentarian adviser for Alpha Upsilon.

She taught at Belgreen High School for 20 years; taught part time at Northwest-Shoals Community College; and was a professor and counselor in education at the University of North Alabama. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Sanford University and master’s degree from the University of Alabama.

Debbie Nale presided over the meeting and presented the president’s report.

President Cheri McCain reported that she and her family were traveling to Washington D.C. with her daughter to join a group of child nutrition directors representing their schools for the School Nutrition Association Legislative Action Week. Rep. Robert Aderholt and Sen. Katie Britt met with these directors to listen to their concerns regarding school breakfast and lunch programs.

The National School Breakfast Program is available to 1,455 schools in Alabama. In 2021-2022 school year, more than 49,024,641 breakfasts were served to Alabama schoolchildren. This program has proven schoolchildren who eat a nutritious breakfast have better attention and memory.

Beverly Donaldson and Gayle McAlister reported on the Alabama State Delta Kappa Gamma Convention held March 3-5 in Tuscaloosa.

DKG Alpha Upsilon received the DKG Order of the Rose Award and the Yearbook Excellence Award.

Beverly Donaldson received the DKG Alabama Celebration of Member Award. Beverly has served as state president of the Alabama Delta Kappa Gamma and chairperson of many committees and projects.

The program title was “Riding the Bus to Central America to Visit Sisters in Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama, and Costa Rico.”

Members displayed various mementos they had collected from trips or were given by friends who traveled to Central America. The program focused on Central American handiwork.

A mola, which translates to “shirt,” is a piece of traditional dress worn by women and known for its bright colors and intricate designs depicting flowers, birds, reptiles, animals and other emblems indicative of Mother Nature.

To create each garment, women and girls use a technique called reverse appliqué, which involves layering two or more fabrics of different colors and sewing them together, then using a pair of scissors to carefully snip away parts of each layer to reveal the design. They use fabric remnants to fill in each layer, creating a geometric-like form. The more layers used, the more complex the final piece, which is adorned with intricate embroidery sewn by hand.

The art of creating a mola is something that’s handed down from one generation of Guna women to the next, with grandmothers and mothers introducing the art form to young girls.