Annette Vaughn's Page

Relationship Status:

Married

About Me:

Eight years ago, we founded "Girl's Night Out Scrapbooking Club" to provide a venue for scrapbookers to get together & get their photos into albums to share their life stories/memories. That liitle group grew from just a few original members to now over 497 members. We now get together at the John Q. Hammons Convention Center @ Embassy Suites 3 times per year for our annual "Winter Blues Scrapbooking Marathon", "Spring Fling Crop-a-Thon", "Croptoberfest", & our "Holiday Open House & Christmas Card Decorating Exchange". At our monthly crops, we do not charges any membership dues or fees, but focus on building friendships within the community. Of course, because of the room costs @ JQH, we have to charge a fee to offset those expenses from our 4 big events. However, a percentage of the proceeds from every event goes toward a couple of local charities that we have chosen to give back to, because we always want to endeavor to look beyond ourselves & give with open hearts to those in need around us who may have sometimes fallen through the cracks, or are occasionally forgotten.

My Career:

"Special Events Coordinator"

My Accomplishments:

My senior year of High School, I won a creative writing contest, which won me a trip to meet with President Gerald Ford in the Whitehouse Rose Garden in Washington D.C.

I have currently authored 2 books, which are pending publication.

My father was personal friends with author & speaker, Zig Ziglar, whom I have a soft spot for in my heart to this very day.

However, my proudest accomplishments are my three wonderful daughters, Lisa, Stephanie & Heather. They are truly the light of my life & I'm constantly amazed & blessed by them!

My Passion:

My passion is people! I love helping people, just as my precious Daddy always did! I can't explain it, but I truly get a deep satisfaction from investing my life into helping to make someone else's life better, even in some small way.

I would be remiss to leave out that my most deepest passion is, of course, my three precious grand-children, Brayden (8), Caleb (6), & Ally (2). They give back more energy to me that any B12 shot could! lol!

MyDreams:

My dreams run deep. You see,.....I do love that we're a country who reaches into it's pocketbooks & resources to help other countries, & children from other countries, etc. I love that we look for ways of reaching out to help others! Truly I do! And, I'm not saying that we should stop doing that! However,.....I think something is so profoundly wrong when we have families & children in particular right here in our own back-yard who are going to bed hungry at night, because they don't meet the criteria guidelines for assistance. I know of families within our own "Girl's Night Out Scrapbooking Club" who do not have adequate food to eat & who will go to bed hungry tonight, because they are told they make too much money to get any type of help. Yet, they have to use that money for heart medication, or for rent, so they have a place to sleep, or for the utility bills to keep power turned on to cook by.

My fear is that some of the people who are pouring thousands & millions of dollars into helping other countries, do so because they believe that our government assistance programs here in the U.S. will properly make sure that no child goes to bed hungry tonight. Quite honestly,....I know for a fact myself that this is just not true! Let us not stop helping the precious children of other countries tho! Let us instead, keep part of our focus on making sure no child here in the U.S. is crying themselves to sleep at night because they haven't had food to eat that day! That's my heart & that's my dream!

My Hobbies or Favorite Activities:

Hmmmm, my hobbies involved my grand-children & attending any sporting event, or school event that is going on at the present time like soccer! I love & adore family time as well!

I also make time for the hobbies that I enjoy like scrapbooking, card-making, stamping, & altered crafting projects.

My Favorite Music

I pretty much like all sorts of music! Beging a musician & playing the piano, organ, clarinet, concert chimes, accordian & bell lyre,.......I love all music!

Why I'm Here?

Professional, To Network, To Make Friends, To Share Ideas, To Learn, To Change the World

How will my membership benefit the nwaBuzz community?

As a Special Events Coordinator, I am happy to lend my help / expertise to others who may need a sounding board, or want to brainstorm about the possibilities of their events.