Dear Colleague,   We are writing to you on behalf of Maine Association of Diabetes Educators (MeADE).  We have been very busy this past year writing bylaws and shaping our chapter.  Our mission: ·        To enhance networking among professionals who work in the diabetes field ·        To promote leadership and continuing educational opportunities ·        To insure quality diabetes education programs for individuals with diabetes based on national standards of care ·        To be proactively involved in legislative issues pertinent to the diabetes educator and individuals with diabetes   Our plan: Quarterly meetings at a central location, and possibly more frequently regionally One of our meetings will be the Annual meeting formally coordinated by DPCP Opportunity for telephone and/or video conferencing for some of our meetings   We will be submitting an application to National AADE this spring to be recognized as an official site.  These are very exciting times.    This March we need to hold election of officers and board members.  In order to do this we need to have a defined membership.  To be a voting member you must be a member of national AADE as well as our local chapter.  Dues to national will be $125 per year, and dues to our local chapter will be $20.00 per year.  Our membership term will cycle with National which starts in July of each year.  If you join National now your membership dues will be pro-rated for the remainder of this fiscal year.  We have voted as a state chapter not to pro-rate our $20 fee.  To join National visit their website www.aadenet.org.  To join the our state chapter please fill out attached form and submit dues to the address on the form.  If you are planning to join our local chapter, and would like to nominate someone for an officer, please fill out the attached nomination form and submit to the same address.   We would love to have you participate with us.  We do need a commitment by February 17, 2006 in order for you to have a say in the initial leadership and continued direction of our chapter.  Of course, you may join at any point during the year.  We are hoping to submit our application to National in May with at least 25 members.      Rena Gels-Birch,  Theresa Hainer, Louise Pelletier,  Cindy Young MeADE Interim Leadership Committee