Talk of forming a Council was begun at the Dallas International Conference in June 1973. Seven chapters, including the North Penn Chapter, met as an Ad-Hoc committee on September 26, 1973 to discuss forming the Delaware Valley Council. The name Mid-Atlantic Council was adopted at a meeting on January 30, 1974. By-laws were accepted and presented to chapters for approval.
The first official organizational meeting was held April 17, 1974. Cal Deininger of Philadelphia was elected the first council President. By this time North Penn, Delaware, Philadelphia, Valley Forge and Delaware County chapters had voted to join the council. In the spring of 1975, the Council sponsored its first Chapter Management Seminar (CMS) on May 2, 1975. In the early years, the CMS was held on Fridays and ran all day.
In 1974 Lehigh Valley, East Jersey and Raritan Valley joined the Council. In the early years, Washington D.C. and Baltimore chapters were members. In 1980 they withdrew to form the Potomac & Chesapeake Council (P&C).
The Council proceeded to sponsor the Chapter Management Seminar, CMS and one, later two, Professional Development Seminars every year. York chapter joined in late 1976, bringing total membership to 13 chapters. In 1979 the M.A.C. Report was first issued, intended to be the newsletter of Council.
In order to get the chapters more involved in Council, a point competition was started in the late 1970's. This was dropped after a couple of years. The Chapter Management Seminar was made a half-day affair in 1980, ending after lunch. South Jersey Shore was welcomed as a member on October 29, 1981.
In 1984 the Suburban Northeast Philadelphia Chapter folded. Jack Loew established a Chapter Assistance Committee problem hotline, but had no requests for help. In 1986 the Council instituted reimbursement programs to chapters for CMA tuition & expenses, student meals, chapter advertising (other than regular publicity) and MAC professional education attendance. Most of these programs remain today in some form.
One of the main strengths of our council has been the ability to provide high quality professional development seminars on a regular basis. In fact, our council historically provides a minimum of two seminars each year. The proceeds from these seminars have been used by the council to fund its many activities for the membership.
The year 2000 was special to MAC as we had the privilege to host the IMA annual conference, which required several years of preparation by the council. John Fusco (NP) as the Conference Chair and Jack Wright (NP) as his assistant
spearheaded the efforts along with a host of volunteers. The conference was a huge success as attendees rated the city and us as the host council as one of the best. Even the volunteers were excited to be a part of the team as each member received three complimentary shirts (red, white, and blue) and a special vest to identify them as part of the Philly team. You had to be there to truly appreciate the moment.
More recently, our council, like so many councils, underwent a few changes. Beginning on July 1, 2002, the Delco and Valley Forge Chapters merged into The Main Line Chapter. Then beginning on July 1, 2004, The Main Line and Philadelphia Chapters merged into the Greater Philadelphia Chapter.
In addition, we have experienced some losses. The Harrisburg Chapter (dating back to 1931) was terminated in 2004; the South Jersey Chapter (dating back to 1961) was terminated in 2007; and finally the Trenton Chapter (dating back to 1961) was terminated in 2007.But the good news is that a new chapter was born at the start of 2008.
Yep, the West Chester Chapter is organizing under the leadership of Ali Naggar.
As a result of all these changes, MAC now consists of 9 member chapters (or approximately 3,300 members). |
