BREAKING NEWS

President and Mrs. Stoneback Choose
GAWDA Gives Back Charity

Dear GAWDA Members,

As summer approaches, many of us are gearing up for this year’s annual convention in the Bahamas this September. When we go, we are also looking forward to giving back to this beautiful island and its people as part of GAWDA GIVES BACK. This year, we are excited to announce The Renfurly Home for Children as the 2008 recipient of GAWDA GIVES BACK.

The Renfurly Home was founded in 1956 by the wife of the Governor of the Bahamas, Lady Renfurly. After a downtown fire, Lady Renfurly discovered homeless children living in the streets of Nassau. She established this home for orphaned, abused and abandoned children. Over the past 52 years, thousands of Bahamian children have been raised in this home. At the present time, there are 38 children ages 6 to 23 living there.

The children of the Renfurly Home are well adjusted children with a strong desire to succeed. They are raised in a loving and caring environment. They attend school, play sports, attend their place of worship and are involved in after school activities, the arts and clubs. They remain at the Renfurly Home into their early twenties when they either attend college or obtain suitable employment to start living independently.

Renfurly Home is a private facility. In 2007, it had a budget of $313,819 through private and corporate donations, as well as a government subsidy. The Renfurly Home has an administrator, 12 paid staff and volunteers. The Renfurly Home would like to build separate housing on its property for the older children. This would allow older college age young men and women to be housed away from the younger children as they face different challenges and issues and are asked to develop increasing levels of independence as young adults. We have earmarked the GAWDA GIVES BACK donation for this construction project.

Our family stopped in and visited the Renfurly Home in April. We met many of the beautiful children and gracious staff. The children were so very kind and polite and welcoming. The staff showed us around the home and explained to us their history and their hopes for the future. We were genuinely touched by the polite and respectful manner of the children and the dedication of the staff. While we were there, our six-year-old daughter Casey met the youngest child at the home, a six-year-old girl. As we left, Casey asked many questions about her new friend. It was a touching moment and it made tangible the vision of the Gives Back.

We ask you to consider a donation this year to the Renfurly Home for Children. It is a remarkable place where the lives of children are nurtured daily. It is beautiful work, for beautiful children, on a beautiful island.

Thank you for your kindness and generosity,

Liliana and Gary Stoneback

On this Memorial Day Weekend... GAWDA remembers the men and women who have served our country.

INDUSTRY BEAT
(what people are talking about)

Sam Thompson Appointed President of Airgas NCN Region (Radnor, PA) • J. Samuel Thompson was named president of Airgas Northern California and Nevada, one of the regional companies that make up Airgas' distribution business. As president, Thompson leads a region, headquartered in Sacramento, CA, that includes about 600 associates working in more than 45 locations in Northern California and Northern Nevada. Thompson, who had been an area vice president for another region, Airgas South, replaces Jim McCarthy, who joined the corporate Distribution Operations department in a new role as director of gas supply chain for the Western Division.

Thompson joined Airgas in 2000 as an area vice president in Georgia and Tennessee. From 1995 to 2000, he served as a regional manager and director of branch operations for Holox, Ltd., which later became part of the U.S. Linde packaged gas business that Airgas acquired in 2007. From 1991 to 1995, Thompson served as regional sales manager for Worthington Cylinders. He began his career in 1975 working for his father's company, Gulf Welding Equipment Company, Inc., which was acquired by Airgas in 1989.

Cryostar USA Relocates in West (Santa Fe Springs, CA) • The West Coast office of Cryostar USA will relocate at the end of May to a larger facility in Santa Fe Springs, CA, to better meet the demands of customers. The new location is at 13117 Meyer Road, Santa Fe Springs, CA, 90670. All other contact information will remain the same. The West Coast office has its own engineering, production unit and service capability with transfer pumps produced in Santa Fe Springs, CA, by Cryostar. Each produced pump is tested with nitrogen.

Thermal Dynamics Automation Partners with Koike (St. Louis, MO) • Koike-Aronson Inc., a manufacturer of welding, positioning and thermal cutting equipment, is partnering with Thermal Dynamics, a manufacturer of manual and automated plasma cutting systems, to sell Thermal Dynamics' AutoCut and UltraCut lines. All U.S. and Canadian-based Koike sales and technical personnel were trained on Thermal Dynamics product lines.

Taylor-Wharton Passes $15M Threshold in ISO/EN Cylinder Sales (Mechanicsburg, PA) • TW Cylinders LLC, a division of Taylor-Wharton International LLC, announced last month that the company's combined high pressure cylinder operations surpassed $15 million in sales of ISO/EN specification cylinders. The $15 million represents the combined sales of small and intermediate size cylinders (5 to 27 liter capacity) produced in Huntsville, AL, and large high pressure cylinders (40 to 50 liter capacity) manufactured in Harrisburg, PA. Scott W. Boyd, vice president of sales and marketing, says about the sales of the ISO-9809 specification cylinders, "Our previous experience with global specification cylinders during the strong European currencies exchange period from 1988 to 1994 proved to be a definite advantage in our preparation for the current favorable currency exchange cycle."

2008 REGIONAL MEETINGS It’s that time of year! Regional Meetings are off to a great start and offer attendees a chance to see Industry Leaders speak about the industry, and meet with GAWDA consultants, Board members and other association volunteers. Meet with customers and suppliers, network with your peers and get some insight on the industry. It’s an unbeatable value! See this page for details The regional calendar will be updated as new meeting dates become available!                2008 Regional Meeting Dates                ZONE DATE LOCATION REGIONAL CHAIR PHONE EA May 28 Pittsburgh, PA Heather Ferrand Butler Gas Products 412-771-7660 C June 3-4 East Lansing, MI John Dehoust, Baker's Gas Bob Ranc, Superior Products 313-383-5690 SE June 8-9 Hattiesburg, MS Sam Thompson Airgas South 678-776-0023 C June 11 Indianapolis, IN Gary Halter Linde 317-652-9060 EA June 18-19 Atlantic City, NJ Lloyd Robinson AWISCO 718-786-7788 or 917-560-5405    SE June 22-23 Lexington, KY Ken Tidwell WDPG/The Horton Group 800-598-9099 C July 17 Lockbourne, OH Jim Smith DeLille Oxygen Company 614-444-1177 W July 23-25 Stevenson, WA Rick Henson Oxarc, Inc. 509-535-7794 or 509-370-1201    SE August 3-4 Southern Pines, NC Kent Buzard CTR 803-324-8101 C August 15 Naperville, IL Hector Villarreal Weldcoa 630-806-2000 SW August 18-19 (tentative) Kansas City, MO David Hanchette Kirk Welding Supply 816-221-3040 C August 21 Ft. Wayne, IN Ken Flora Welder Services, Inc. 260-423-4468 EA September 3 Gettysburg, PA Doug Morton Eleet Cryogenics, Inc. 330-795-0154 EA October 14 Hampden, MA Robert E. O'Brien Gas and Air Systems, Inc. 610-838-9625 or 610-462-7979

WORKSHOPS, WEB CONFERENCES & SEMINARS

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