Minutes Of The WCPCA Board Meeting, June 13, 2011
Location:
Home of Dorothy Soper
Attendees:
Miriam Aiken, Keith Beyer, Maggie Keenan, Felicia Kenney, Dale Morse,
Wendy Nelson, Rosa Sakanishi, Dorothy Soper, and Bob Watada
Guests:
Vince Ceccaci and Andrew Dempsey-Karp
President, Dorothy
Soper opened the meeting at 7:00 pm. There were no additions to the
agenda.
Agenda Items:
Introduction of Guests:
Vince Ceccaci is a new member of
WCPCA, moving to Eugene from California just a month ago.
Andrew Dempsey-Karp will discuss
the background and volunteer needs for the Oregon Country Fair
Peace and Justice Booth, Community Village.
Wendy Nelson: Prior to the
start of the meeting, there was a farewell to Wendy Nelson, who is
moving to Turkey in September through a fellowship from Georgetown
University. She will be teaching English there. Wendy has been
the secretary for WCPCA for over a year and a half. Dorothy
presented her with a WCPCA sweatshirt, a Peace Corps bag, mug, and
badge.
Oregon Country Fair:
Andrew Dempsey-Karp presented information about a Peace Corps booth
at the Oregon Country Fair, which will be held July 8 – 10.
Six volunteers are needed to work in shifts over the 3 days. Three
people will rotate each day and each will receive a day-pass (cost
of $10). Miriam moved and Felicia seconded a motion to pay for
Andrew’s camping pass ($25). Andrew will obtain the day
passes for the volunteers and volunteers will reimburse him. The
purposes of the booth are:
To generate an email list of
potential members of WCPCA, and
To generate an email list of
potential applicants for the Peace Corps. Promotional materials
for the Peace Corps will be available.
The July newsletter will give notice
about the booth and Andrew will give a report on the activities at
the booth for the August newsletter. Maggie and Dorothy will write
and have printed a handout about WCPCA to be distributed at the
booth. WCPCA will also supply clipboards for signup sheets.
Updates:
July newsletter was a
“grand coup” with good articles. Our thanks to Felicia
and Keith.
Grand Floral Parade in
Portland: The Portland PCVs were able to meet the goal of
having 139 participants to carry country of service flags, and
there were an additional 60 people on the waiting list. James
Cloutier and Joe Hindman marched in the parade.
Successful Peace Corps
Projects: At Felecia’s suggestion, Dorothy wrote the
Peace Corps and asked about a listing and description of successful
Peace Corps projects. Felicia proposed that WCPCA might set up
such a database if it did not exist so that newer Volunteers can
benefit from the learning experiences of predecessors. In response
to Dorothy’s letter we learned that the Peace Corps has
already started and maintains such a database. Further expansion
of the list is not feasible with our resources so we will “let
it rest”.
Nom Party: The Nom party,
held at the Wesley Center on Kincaid Street, was successful with
about 60 people attending. City of Eugene Mayor,
Kitty Piercy, gave a very entertaining talk about her
experiences as a PCV in Eritrea. Justin Overdevest bid us
farewell as he leaves his post as Peace Crops recruiter on the U of
O campus, and we welcomed Hannah Klausman as the new recruiter.
Membership: Membership is
healthy though Dorothy would like to have 150 paying members.
Several members have joined as free members through the NPCA. Once
a person’s name is entered in the WCPCA database, they remain
on the e-mailing list unless they ask to be removed. Those on the
email list who are not members receive all emails about group
activities but they do not receive the membership directory.
Request from OASIS:
Maribeth Olsen, representing OASIS, asked WCPCA to make a
presentation about the Peace Corps, similar to the one given at
OLLI, some time in 2012. OASIS is making its catalogue and they
would like us to commit to a panel presentation between January 23rd
and April 13th, on a Monday through Thursday, at 10:00 AM
or 1:00 PM. We agreed to do the event and Dorothy will pick a date
in early February.
Treasurer’s Report:
Dale reported that we are under budget in almost every line item and
doing well at the midpoint of the year. Funds available for grants
include $1,000 from the Beryl Brinkman Fund and another $1,000 from
the General Fund. We could easily use $2,000 to fund grants.
Request from Bob Crites:
Bob asked us to publish an appeal in the WCPCA newsletter for
donations to support a music student from Brazil who will be
attending the University of Oregon in the fall. The board agreed to
publish a short appeal in the next newsletter.
Humanitarian Project in Memory
of Artis Spriggs: Miriam and Felicia suggested two options to
fund as a memorial tribute to West Cascade member Artis Spriggs who
died of cancer in July 2010. In May 2011, the board approved a
$500 one-time donation to a humanitarian project in her memory. Bob
Watada expressed his view that the board had previously decided
to fund projects vetted by the Peace
Corps. Discussion of the options was deferred to the next meeting;
notes to consider for discussion include the following summaries of
projects.
Option 1: Fund a PCPP.
Selection of this option means that 100 percent of the funds will be
dedicated to a project, but the project could not be in Afghanistan
since there is no Peace Corps program there at this time. This
option would preclude our ability to notify non-WCPCA members about
the project in time for additional donations since PCP projects are
funded rather quickly.
Option 2: Donate to a Humanitarian
Organization with Current Projects in Afghanistan. Since both
Beryl Brinkman and Artis Spriggs were Volunteers in Afghanistan
donating to a humanitarian organization working there is consistent
with their Peace Corps service. Selection of this option means that
a percentage of the donation will be used for finance and
administration of the organization. Mercy Corps, suggested by
Miriam, has several characteristics that make it a desirable
organization to consider. One is that it has low overhead and
administrative costs of less than 12 percent. (Other organizations
use over 25 percent for administration.) The organization’s
headquarters are located in Portland, OR, which will keep the
administrative fees in state. Further, they do have current active
projects in Afghanistan and we can designate that our donation be
directed to Afghanistan. For further information about Mercy Corps
go to www.mercycorps.org/countries/afghanistan
and scroll down to Program Details.
Making a donation to a program outside
of PCPP provides an opportunity to inform non-Peace Corps friends of
Artis about the project and give them an opportunity to contribute.
Fall Program:
August is the picnic at
Bob and Rosa’s house.
Fall Pot Luck: This will
be held at the Wesley Center. Dorothy will confirm the date and
make a reservation at the Center. It will be at the end of the
second week of the U of O quarter. Maggie suggested a theme of
“Water in Africa” with a presentation by an RPCV who
worked on a water project in Niger and is now a volunteer with
CREATE. This event will not be an official “ask” event
for CREATE and donations will not be requested.
Eugene Celebration: A
request to participate in the Eugene Celebration has been sent to
the parade’s Grand Marshall. An organizing committee still
needs to be formed and volunteers are needed to work at the booth.
International Calendars:
The board agreed to order 150 calendars to sell for $12 each, or for
quantities, sell for $10 each. Dorothy would like to get two
people who are not on the board to coordinate the sales.
PCP to Fund: Discussion
postponed to the July meeting.
Other business: Time did
not permit.
July Board Meeting: Will
be July 18th at Dorothy’s house.
Minutes
respectfully submitted by Miriam Aiken
