AGAMagazineIssue1_InsidePages.indd

CHAIRMAN' S MESSAGE

g e ar i ng u p f o r a s u c c e s s f u l y e ar

FRANK D'AMICO, III BTC WHOLESALE DISTRIBUTORS AGA CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

Several AGA members will also be going to the NGA/FMI Day in Washington the week of April 9. We will be lobbying our Congressional Delegation about important issues facing our industry. If you have any specific issues you would like our Association to address, please contact the Association office. It's important that our voice is heard in Montgomery and in Washington. The Membership Committee met earlier this month and are on task for member recruitment and retention for 2018. This committee recruited a record number of 51 new members in 2017 and are hot on the trail for this year. We have put a new incentive in place this year. Any person that recruits 5 or more members will receive a free registration to the AGA Convention in July! Membership is essential to further grow our Association. Please help this committee if you can. Let non-members know what you and your company receive from your membership. Our Convention Committee has definitely hit the ground running this year. It is gearing up to be an very exciting 2018 convention in Sandestin! As of this writing we only have 9 booths left for the Exhibit Hall on Tuesday, July 31st. If you want to have a booth in the

As the first quarter of the year comes to a close please know that your association is just getting started on what will be a very productive year.

committee by donating items for our auction, please let the Association Office know. All of the funds we give to scholarships come from the Silent Auction and our two golf outings, so please be generous. I would also like to mention later this year we will be announcing a new Industry Certification & Tuition program for AGA Member employees that are looking to further their skill in our industry. We are excited about this journey and hope to have more details in the coming issues. The Legislative Committee has been hard at work watching the bills that come before our state Legislature. While you will read later in this publication, there has not been a lot of movement at the state level, we are still staying alert for any legislation that affects our industry.

Your Education Foundation Board of Trustees have been very busy already. The scholarship cycle has come to an end and we are looking forward to notifying winners of our Scholarships in the next couple months. We have three new Board of Trustee Members I would like to welcome aboard, Jai Freeman of Freeman Foods, Bubba Lindley of EdLinco and Rob Renfroe of Renfroe Foods. This Board is currently putting together the Spring Golf Outing, which will be April 5 at Inverness Country Club. They are also assisting Julie Goolsby, Silent Auction Chairman with hosting a successful Auction later this year at the Annual Convention. Through fundraisers such as this we have been able to donate over $1.25 million in scholarships to children in college. If you can help her

The Legislative committee has been hard at work watching the bills that come before our state Legislature.

| ALABAMA GROCER 8