It was a burning passion to speak before Christian women’s groups that led Ann Snelling to seek out and join a local Toastmaster club even though the closest club met a 6:15 in the morning, 60-round-trip miles from her Silverton home. Now, nearly 10 years later, Snelling has become Toastmaster International’s District 7 Governor in charge of 161 clubs in Oregon, southern Washington and Northern California.

“I just like the organization and what it does for individual people,” Snelling said of Toastmasters. “I still belong to my Salem Toastmasters club and I’m also a member of Silverton Silvertongues which I joined as a mentor a few years later. By helping me increase my communication, listening and thinking skills, those clubs have helped me make significant personal growth. I’m not aware of any organization that does what they do.”