President's Message:

Dear GCDA members,

What an exciting membership year we’ve had so far and there are still many great opportunities coming your way! I want to start by thanking my dedicated board of directors for all of their hard work and support thus far and our strong membership base for your attendance at our membership meetings and events.

I’d like to continue working on the goals I have set for this year and provide you with an update. Our membership continues to grow and I encourage each of you to bring a friend to a meeting and help advertise the great benefits we provide through GCDA. Having a well-rounded, diverse group of members is such an asset to our organization. To help promote our membership even more, GCDA will be offering a membership promotion! For only $30 you get to attend our fourth and last membership meeting of this year as well as all of the meetings in the 2018-2019 GCDA year. How can you pass that up? For more details, see our promotion in the newsletter.

Our third membership meeting will be held on Registered Dietitian Day, March 14^th, and will be highlighting the important topic of Food Waste. Our meeting will feature a presenter from our local Hamilton county environmental services and GCDA will be celebrating National Nutrition Month® by hosting a food drive to benefit Ronald McDonald House and St. Vincent de Paul. For details on the food drive and what items are needed, visit our website or see our latest newsletter. Come celebrate RD Day and National Nutrition Month®, you won’t want to miss this one!

Next, we’ll end our membership year with a bang! In April, we will have the privilege of hosting Dr. Colleen Spees as she speaks on Oncology Patients and Nutrition Genomics. Check back for meeting details coming soon at www.eatrightcincinnati.org.

Another goal of mine was to end the 2017-2018 year with our finances in the black. As I take a look at our budget so far, we are right on track but still have room for some spending! I encourage each of you to consider attending OAND’s Legislation and Public Policy Day. GCDA will be sponsoring 11-12 members to attend the educational event and I promise you will not be disappointed. For more information on signing up, please refer to our newsletter, website, or contact at blocksom@zoomtown.com or 513-374-7453 no later than March 1^st. Cynthia Blocksom

My last goal was to update and revise the GCDA bylaws, policies and procedures, and job description documents. I’m pleased to say that Suzanne Summer, policies and procedures committee chair, her team, and the board of directors have been working diligently to get this task completed. The new and improved documents will be easy to follow and help to keep GCDA organized.

Aside from my goals, GCDA has some other fun opportunities coming in the near future. Be on the lookout for two fundraisers in February to sponsor SASI (Sponsor A Student Initiative), an initiative set out by OAND to help discount registration fees for students to attend the OAND Conference in May. In March, expect to have fun with National Nutrition Month®, our co-chairs Morgan Cheung and Hanna Thomsen have exciting events planned. From a kick-off happy hour at Taft’s Ale House to a Findlay Market exploration and plenty of volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House and Freestore Foodbank, you’ll be sure to have fun! Be on the lookout for an email with all of the details.

As you can see, there are so many great things happening with GCDA this year. Hope to see you all at the March membership meeting!

Sarah Borman, RDN

GCDA President 2017-2018