INSTALLATION OF DISTRICT ____ OFFICERS
BY CHARLOTTE COMBS
Good evening sisters and welcome to Founder’s Day and the Installation of officers for District ___.
We are honored to share in this installation as we install, ______________________, as District
President as well as the other officers – ____________________, ___________________. Will you
please come forward.
Years ago women frequently used scraps of material to create beautiful patchwork quilts and what
memories were to be found in these lovely creations! A bit of red from a dress worn to a garden
party, a piece of blue and white from a shirt… a piece of gingham from the dress Susie wore her
first day at school, an elegant piece of satin from grandmother’s “Sunday go-to-meetin” gown. All
these patchwork pieces of material were put together with friendship and love. And, like the
beautiful quilts, handed down from generation to generation, our ESA history makes up a
“Patchwork of Friends” .
Bits of color, different personalities, a mingling of hopes, dreams, desires and goals. We are
thankful for yesterday – for those who had vision, for those who worked and planted the seeds of
sisterhood that brought forth our beloved Epsilon Sigma Alpha, leaving for us a “Patchwork of
Friends” in District ____.
Our ESA life was built upon the labors of these sisters who trod the path before us. We are the heirs
of all that has been accomplished, all that has been done, all that has been eloquently written,
expressed and left behind for the guidance of tomorrow’s members. This evening we salute our
Founders who laid the cornerstone of ESA and honor all who have shared in forming the high
ideals for which we stand. We are thankful for tomorrow, which is full of surprises and
opportunities for our new District officers, for the challenges before them and for their opportunity
to add to our “Patchwork of Friends”.
Before we proceed with the installation of our new officers, I would like to take a moment to reflect
back on this past year. ____________, you truly gave in all that you did. You met your
obligations and responsibilities fairly and squarely with love and understanding. Your wealth of
knowledge and expertise is still needed. You will be called on to continue to give the gifts of love,
kindness, joy, understanding, sympathy and tolerance, along with the gift of encouragement,
inspiration, and guidance to the new officers. Thank you for your leadership.
TREASURER _____________, In your hands is placed the financial welfare of the Council. Your
patchwork piece includes sincerity, careful attention to detail and trust which are the
characteristics necessary for the fulfillment of you duties. As you perform your duties as the
financial officer of the Council, you will disburse funds as directed by the President and
membership, in accordance with the approved budget. As the president-elect presents to you your
patchwork of friendship, keep in mind these words as you accept your office and prepare to be a
part of the patchwork of friends it represents.
“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when
you give of yourself that you truly give.”
SECRETARY _______________ , it takes patient hands to create a beautiful quilt that is great
enough to hand down through generations, and it will take patient hands to wield the pen as you
serve the membership by keeping accurate records of the Council’s accomplishments. Activities of
the Council not recorded are lost forever. As a quilter chooses her stitches carefully, so must you
choose well your words, writing with patient hands and love in your heart as you inscribe in
permanent form the history and proceedings of the Council. Hold close these words as you accept
your patchwork from the president:
“Sisterhood is like a golden chain,
that links are sisters dear,
and like a rare and precious jewel,
they’re treasured more each year.
Years can’t erase the pleasure,
That the joy of sisterhood gives…
For ESA is a sisterhood that lives and lives and lives!”
VICE PRESIDENT __________________, your sisters have placed their trust and confidence in
you, believing that to the best of your ability you will support the president and help her build a
stronger District. You will stand at her side and be ready to share the work and willing to fulfill the
plans of your president. Your knowledge and friendship provide the patchwork pieces of color
needed to complete the design. Always keep an open mind, observe, analyze, consider and question,
and do it in the name of friendship. Take these words for your own as the president gives you your
patchwork gift.
“People need other people as a performer needs an audience.
People need to know that other people are depending upon them,
Waiting for them, pulling with them.
People need people, who believe in them, trust in them, and expect much of them.”
Our quilt is nearly complete. President ______________, you must choose the bright colors for the
quilt that will become your “Patchwork of Friends”. The members of District_______ will look to
you for leadership. As our leader you must see things from the eyes of your fellow officers and
sisters. Put yourself in their shoes and help make their dreams come true. Believe in your sisters,
trust them, love them, and thus draw out the best in them. You will find they will rise to your
highest expectations.
In the coming year, use your heart as well as your head, be a self-starter, creating plans and setting
them in motion. _______________, to you is entrusted the leadership of District _____. The new
year before you will be filled with pleasures and disappointments, achievements and frustrations,
happiness and despair. But primarily, it will be filled with love. Treasure love in yourself and you
will give it to others. Give it to others and it will come back to you. As you accept the leadership of
this great sisterhood, we offer this blessing:
“May you walk the road of happiness and enjoy life every day.
And have the time and have the will to laugh a bit and play.
To have your hopes and plans succeed, to have your goals come true.
All this and more is just a part of the blessing our love holds for you.”
No quilt is complete until the needle has taken the last stitch. CHAPTER PRESIDENTS you
complete this “Patchwork of Friends”. You will share the responsibilities of our goals and purposes,
and support our chosen leaders in all their endeavors. Leadership is vital to the growth of our
District. Please come forward as your name is called and accept a small token of love and
appreciation from the president as you prepare to build ESA in District ____ and put sill more
stitches of love and friendship in the year ahead.
Sisters of District ____, use the “Patchwork of Friends” given to you this year. Join with our
officers and pledge your support and share in the growth of all the good things we can accomplish.
Experiences such as these inspire us and sharing them makes us kindred spirits.
“Our ESA family is like a patchwork quilt,
with kindness gently sewn.
Each piece an original, with a beauty all its own.
With threads of warmth and happiness, it is
lightly stitched together
to last in love throughout the year,
our ESA family – friends forever!!”
Ladies, I now present to you your newly installed officers of District ____