Minutes Of The WCPCA Board Meeting, September 12, 2011
Location:
Home of Dorothy Soper, 4430 Pinecrest Drive, Eugene, OR 97405
Attendees:
Miriam Aiken, Nick Bosustow, James Cloutier, Maggie Keenan, Felicia
Kenney, Dorothy Soper, Wayne Thompson
Agenda Items
Updates
Newsletter: Felicia
reported that the new format seems to be working well.
Correspondence:
The thank you from the PCV in
Peru who established the Peru cook stoves Partnership Project was
in the September newsletter.
Dorothy sent a 3-½-page
letter to the University of Oregon about the Long House. She
related WCPCA scheduling problems last fall and spring. She
asked for a written statement on use of the facility as well as
assurances of its care and maintenance for cleaning. She
received a voice mail from Greg Rickoff in which he apologized for
the lack of respect the group was shown but there has been no
written communication. See attached Catch-up email from Dorothy.
There were two emails from PCVs
asking WCPCA support for their Partnership Projects. Discussed
later in meeting; item 8.
Membership: no report
Question about liability: no
report
Google Items. From
Felicia’s email of 9/14/11
Felicia reported
problems with a change in policy of Google Groups, which no longer
allows administrators to add people directly to the group list.
Dotster, our current website and domain host, has mailing list
software that is not up to par. Felicia recommends that we change
website and domain hosting to a company that has good mailing list
software. Of the two options available, the less expensive company
seems to be the one that best fits our needs. The new company,
Site5, has good tech support and, we can get the best price if we pay
for two years at a time. Felicia will sign up for Site5. It will
cost $60 a year, instead of the current cost of $70. We pay for
domain and web hosting space on a company server and pay separately,
but usually with the same company, to tell the Internet that our
domain name (www.whatever.com)
is on their server. It is like paying for phone service with a cell
phone company and paying a different company for a phone number to
appear in the phone book.
Debrief on Eugene Celebration.
Parade. Nick reported that there was great audience response to
WCPCA presence in the Eugene Celebration Parade. Nineteen (19)
people marched and participants wore either country dress or the
50th tee shirt. WCPCA was so far at the end of the
parade (number 63 out of 100 participants) that the parade had
almost finished before we started moving. The taxi drew a lot of
attention. In addition to the 19 participants carrying flags,
several were displayed on the taxi. In all about 25 host-country
flags were displayed.
Booth.
Miriam reported that the booth looked fantastic thanks to Vern Delk’s
design and hard work. Peace Corps recruitment brochures were
displayed, as well as copies of the 50th insert from the
Eugene Weekly, and colorful displays of 2012 International
Calendar and tee shirts for sale. The main attraction was a world
map that showed past and current Peace Corps countries, sites that
received grants from WCPCA, as well as the popular option to add a
pin for RPCV country of service.
Dorothy will
write a letter to the organizers to explains some of our concerns
about the location of the booth, which was away from the main flow of
foot traffic
Treasurer’s Report.
Dale was out of town but sent a report with balances as follows:
Checking: $574.00; Savings: $5,034; Restricted: $1,025.
Fall Program Plans. The
next potluck is October 7 at the Wesley Center near the U of O
campus on Kincaid Street. Maggie commented that usually at this
event a recently returned PCV who is a U of O student speaks and
shows slides. However, the Peace Corps Recruiter at the U of O has
not been able to identify anyone. Maggie suggested two
possibilities instead of a PCV. One suggestion is Awab al-Rawe, of
Iraq. He is a student at the U of O who was in Iraq during the war;
he immigrated to Syria, and came to the US on a student visa. He is
a very enthusiastic young man and can be flexible in his topic.
Another suggestion is Enrique Fernandez, who is from Cuba. As
Hispanics are the largest minority group in major US cities and
since Peace Corps has a large presence in Latin America, he can
offer a perspective on what Peace Corps has to offer. After
discussion, the board asked Maggie to extend an invitation to
Enrique.
Opportunity to sell items at
NPCA Hospitality Suite in September. This item was not
discussed.
Request from Food for Lane
County. Sheyla Norte of Food for Lane County asked WCPCA for
help with clean up after the “Empty Bowls” event on
Saturday, October 1st. The work party reports at 8:30
to enjoy some of the buffet by the King Estate Winery and then
cleanup is from 9:00 – 11:00 pm. This is a major fundraiser
for Food for Lane County and WCPCA has joined the clean up crew for
several years. An announcement and request for help will be made in
the mid-month newsletter. James will be the contact person for this
event. People who are interested in helping should contact Sheyla
at (541) 343-2822. See attached Catch-up email from Dorothy.
Request from Oregon PCVs in
Peru for a PCPP. WCPCA received requests from two Oregon PCVs
who are serving in Peru and have announced a PCPP. One request is
for Camp ALMA (#7527-066), a leadership camp for girls, organized by
Annie Embertson from Roseburg, and the other is for a 2010 Calendar
project (#527-067) organized by Dani Reuter of Portland that
features female entrepreneurs in Peruvian villages. Felicia made
a motion that was seconded and passed by a voice vote to give a
grant of $500 to both projects.
Sale of 2012 International
Calendars. We ordered 150 International calendars and only a
few have been sold. We will start to sell them at the potluck on
Oct. 7. James will see if any can be sold through the Rotary by
asking Tom English how to approach that organization. Some were
sold at bookstores last year. Someone needs to approach the
bookstores and ask if they are will. (The procedure is that the
bookstore buys a quantity of calendars at $8 each and sells them for
$12 each.) There will be an article in the October newsletter.
Possible affiliation of PCPCA
with one or more peace organizations in Eugene. Links to two
peace organizations in Eugene were circulated with the agenda for
this meeting: http://www.calclane.org/index/html
and http://www.mrgfoundation.org/
(McKenzie River Gathering). This item was postponed to the
next meeting for discussion. In the meantime, board members should
look at the web sites in preparation for a discussion about possible
affiliation.
Election of a new board in
November. The October newsletter will announce that a slate for
a new board is being prepared and we are inviting interested people
to let us know of their willingness to participate. There was a
brief discussion about forming a Nominating Committee. The election
of the new board takes place in November at the Annual General
Meeting. Dorothy also asked that the board consider who would be
willing to serve as president next year. She will stay on the board
but not as president.
The October board meeting will
be October 17 at Dorothy’s home.
Respectfully submitted, September 17, 2011
Miriam Aiken,
Secretary
