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Minutes Of The WCPCA Board Meeting, February 6, 2012Location:
Home of Dorothy Soper
Attendees:
Miriam Aiken, Keith Beyer, James Cloutier, Josette Greene, and
Dorothy Soper
Guests:
Vern Delk, Dale Dow, Sam Greer, and Shannon Micheel
Welcome. Guests Dale Delk,
Vern Dow, Sam Greer and Shannon Micheel were present to talk about
the Northwest Regional Campout in August.
Treasurer’s Report.
Dale was not present, but he sent a treasurer’s report to the
board in advance of the meeting. Dorothy prepared a summary of the
WCPCA fund-raising figures for recent years, which is attached as
Addenda, Item A.
The checkbook
balance is: $2,450.75
The OCCU savings
balance is: $4,038.24
Total assets:
$6,488.97
Updates
Newsletter – February
newsletter was distributed to members and it was excellent.
Dorothy announced
that Felica Kenny, who has been editing and formatting the newsletter
since its inception, has resigned from the board. We are all
grateful to her for her efforts with the newsletter in addition to
technical support for the group web site, membership database and
directory. She will be missed. Dorothy will be reassigning some of
the technical responsibilities to individuals and/or business
services as soon as possible.
Dorothy is going to be the
moderator at a panel presentation at OASIS on February 22nd
at 1:00. Other panel participants include James Cloutier, Julie
Olson, and Hannah Klausman (U of O Peace Corps Recruiter). The
topic is the “Peace Corps at 50”.
Northwest Regional Meeting in
Seattle on Saturday, March 10. As noted last month, SEAPAX is
the organizer and host for the meeting, which takes part in half a
day during the 2-day weekend. $100 has been allocated in the WCPCA
budget to cover travel expenses to Seattle. At the business
meeting, group representatives talk about what their groups have
been doing in the past year to recruit new members. So far, James
Cloutier and Joe HIndman are planning to attend.
Vince
Ceccaci had suggested smaller social events at restaurants or
bars near the U of O campus. (See minutes for January 9th
meeting.) Vince is willing to help with the events, which would be
an opportunity for interaction among potential Peace Corps recruits,
RPCVs and the campus Peace Corps representative. Sam suggested that
Hannah contact the Portland RPCV group to see how they organized
similar events. In Portland there was a specified location that was
known to be the Peace Corps meeting place. Dorothy will
contact Hannah to see if she is interested in working on this with
Vince.
Update on campus activities.
Hannah was not present but sent the following note by email. (Note
from Hannah, 2/6/12)
March 1st,
Peace Corps Day. There will be an information session happening
that day on campus that I will be giving. I am asking some RPCV's on
campus to come in and represent their Peace Corps Region, and Program
area. Anyone that would like to be involved is welcome to come.
Spring NOM
party, The Wesley Center has been booked for May 4th. I am
working with Lisa in Seattle and some campus contacts for the
program. Any ideas that you would like I am more than open to and
much appreciated. Prior to the NOM Party on that Wednesday,
Thursday, and Friday we will have the Spring Street Faire. I will,
of course, be looking for volunteers again so anyone interested
please keep it in mind and I will email you closer to the date.
Update on
Placements. I was debriefed on available positions currently
around the world and the way that PC is recruiting is changing. We
are heavily looking at "Scarce Skills" and targeting
specific skills. To be competitive it is very important to have
either French or Spanish, and a minimum of volunteer hours is a must
before applying. With limited positions I am forced to be a little
more serious with students about picking up these skills before
applying. Just wanted to give you a heads up as well when you run
into students and the information that you give out. It is becoming
more and more important for students to learn about what they will
need well in advance of being ready to apply.
Also, I will be
starting up the social hour RPCV events that Justin also had.
I will keep you updated on the times and dates that we decide.
Potlucks. Josette
reminded everyone of the first potluck to be held on Friday,
February 10th at the home of Nancy and Tom
English. Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Serena Parcell (Swaziland
2008-2010) will speak about community health and HIV education in
Swaziland. Her community education work included workshops for
adults and weekend camps for young girls. She collaborated with
World Vision and drew support from the President's Emergency Plan
for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Dorothy will ask Felicia to send an
email to members with directions to Nancy and Tom’s home.
The next potluck will be Friday,
April 13th; no location has been determined.
The fourth potluck will be Friday,
May 4th, the NOM party, at the Wesley Center
to honor newly recruited Volunteers.
The summer potluck will be the
annual picnic; the date and location are undecided.
Campout in August. Sam
Greer gave a report about the campsite at Sunset Bay for the August
2 – 5 Northwest Regional Campout. He had brochures from
Sunset Bay as well as a draft email that will be sent to members
asking for help with the campout. The email will include photos of
the campsite and cooking pavilion. There is a schedule of
activities for the site and the group meeting. The group activity
is mostly a social event with a meeting at the potluck dinner in the
Gazebo Meeting Hall. WCPCA is responsible for the dinner. Sam has
bags of rice to use as a base for the dinner and participants will
be asked to bring food that can be used over the rice. Felicia will
create a web site for the campout so that members can apply for a
campsite. Dale and Vern will be the local contacts for the campout,
to answer questions about the location, food, and activities.
National Peace Corps
Association Annual Gathering in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (See
Items B, C, and D in Addenda for full information on these items.)
The NPCA is going to revive annual gatherings and they are
encouraging groups to send representatives to the meeting.
Individual members are also welcome. Dorothy asked if anyone on the
board was interested in attending.
WCPCA has been asked to appoint a
Group Advocacy Coordinator to serve as a liaison with NPCA Advocacy
Program.
Affiliation with the NPCA costs
our group $90 (for a group size of 100 – 400 members). About
34 WCPCA members in the last year have joined WCPCA or renewed their
membership through NPCA. A lot of these new members are active
PCVs, recently returned PCVs and a few other "first year"
members. These are people that we would not be in touch with
otherwise.
The annual
renewal documents from the NPCA include a survey of group leaders.
Board members are encouraged to answer the questions about the
group’s strengths and weaknesses and area where we could use
help. Dorothy will compile our responses and return them to the
NPCA.
Item D in
the addenda speaks to the NPCA mentoring program for newly returned
Volunteers.
Reassignment
of Technical Responsibilities. See item 3.a, above, Newsletter.
Sale of tee
shirts and calendars. Dorothy confirmed the board’s
commitment to the sale of tee shirts and the International calendars
in 2012. James presented three possibilities for tee shirt designs.
One was selected with a design of a photo of JFK and a quote from
him. The front will have the small “dove-hands” logo on
the upper left shoulder with another short quote by JFK. James will
have a mock up for the potluck on Friday. James also gave the board
cost estimates for printing and based on those estimates, but board
approved ordering 36 shirts to be printed. Miriam will bring order
forms.
Committee
for New Social/Fundraising Activities. Dorothy proposed to have
a brainstorming or idea committee that would meet one or two times
for about an hour each time. She hopes to generate ideas for social
and cultural events combined with fundraising. If possible the
committee would also identify people willing to carry out new
activities, though that would not be the focus of the meetings. The
board would follow up on the committee’s suggestions with
respect to allocating funds and identifying people to work on
activities. See Item E in the addenda.
The next board
meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 5th. The April
meeting will be Monday, April 9th at Dorothy’s
house.
Addenda
to Board Meeting Agenda
Dorothy
Soper (2-9-12)
Some
fundraising figures:
2009
Calendar sales:
$702 profit from the sale of 200 calendars for the year 2010
Shirt sales:
profit similar to figures below
Dinner at
Mekala’s: $521 profit (This dinner was in February on the
evening of the day that WCPCA hosted the northwest regional RPCV
meeting.)
2010
Calendar sales:
$1,369 profit for sale of 200 calendars for the year 2011
Shirts: $280
profit; Bluegrass concert at Cozmic Pizza: $322 profit
2011
Calendar sales:
$747 profit for sale of 198 calendars for the year 2012
50th anniversary
concert at Cozmic Pizza: great time but no profit 50th anniversary
tee shirts: 60 shirts printed; 58 sold; approximate profit $450-$500
Note that
calendars are sold from the fall of one year through January of the
following year. For the calendar sales figures above I’ve
combined the calendar income from two years to show the profit for
the sale of calendars for a single year, i.e., for 2010 calendars,
etc.
Annual
Gathering organized by the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA)
“Thank you
to all the group officers who responded to our survey about the
date for the Annual Gathering. After compiling the survey results
and discussing it with the NPCA Board of Directors, it was decided
that the Annual Gathering would be taking place in Minneapolis, MN
starting on June 29, 2012 and continuing to July 1, 2012. We are
making sure to include opportunities for member groups to showcase
their activities and recruit new members. Please stay tuned for more
information. Please share this information with your members.
You can direct them to this website for the basic information:
http://www.peacecorpsconnect.org/annual-gathering.
We are really looking forward to another gathering of RPCVs and
friends of the Peace Corps!”
“Renewing
with NPCA: Why? NPCA promotes/markets our groups, collects and
processes group membership dues and deposits funds directly into
group accounts monthly. In return, NPCA member groups
promote/market the NPCA and NPCA membership. This annual
renewal process confirms that these groups exist, that they are
active and that they are fiscally responsible.”
“We
encourage all groups to be transparent in their governance and to
post all relevant documents to their websites. For many groups,
much of the information needed is already posted. If so, simply
check the boxes here and submit the report. If not, please
attach copies of relevant documents.”
“What’s
new? To strengthen the connections and voice of the Peace Corps
community on matters of public policy and grassroots citizen
lobbying, the National Peace Corps Association asks each NPCA Member
Group to designate a Group Advocacy Coordinator to serve as a
liaison with NPCA’s Advocacy Program. Please add your
group’s designated coordinator to the list group leadership
section below.”
“This year
we have also included an optional piece that gives each group an
opportunity to provide feedback about what NPCA offerings would be
the most helpful to your group. We want to be sure that we’re
doing our best to cultivate a great relationship between NPCA and the
member groups.”
Mentoring
program for newly returned volunteers sponsored by NPCA and the Peace
Corps:
Last year three
WCPCA members volunteered to be mentors through NPCA, which
administers the program. See details on the NPCA website.
To date we’ve received no requests but I can tell you what the
assignment set up is.
Bill Stein who
is the president of the RPCV group in Portland has been designated as
the administrator of this program for Oregon and northern
California. We are on his list and he’ll either call me
directly or call one or more of the local mentors should there be a
request from Lane County or nearby. We could possibly become
the administrators for southern Oregon if someone wants to step into
this role.
Organizing a
social/cultural/fundraising event committee:
Dorothy’s
idea of a way to generate ideas for social and cultural events
combined with fundraising is to use the model that worked in our
planning the OLLI presentation about a year ago. I propose to
have a brainstorming committee that will meet one or two times for
about two hours each time. If possible, the committee will also
identify people willing to carry out new activities but that wouldn’t
be the initial focus. The board would follow up on the
committee’s suggestions with respect to allocating funds and
identifying people to work on activities.
Two meeting to
be at Dorothy’s home: one in February and second in early
March. Selection of dates and times to come.
Board members
would be responsible for identifying potential committee members,
confirming their willingness to serve, and then giving the names to
Dorothy.
Post
Meeting Notes from Dorothy (2/11/12)
PCP
projects: For our March board meeting I’d like us to be
familiar with PCP projects organized by Oregon PCVs. We should
be ready to fund one or more when we see one of interest.
Currently there are five such listed and I’m attaching a .pdf,
which will show you their descriptions. The situation will
likely change in the next month but this is a start. Just
before the next meeting, please look at the PC website to find what’s
current and we’ll discuss possibly funding one or more projects
in March. If you have other projects to suggest, please send
the board information about them before the next board meeting.
Event
planning: To move forward on discussions regarding
social/cultural/fundraising events that we might consider, I’d
like each board member, if possible, to contact one to three WCPCA
members that you know who might be willing to come to a brainstorming
meeting. They would be under no obligation to do anything more.
I’d like
such a committee to spend an hour or two reviewing what we’ve
done recently and the outcomes and then talk mostly about new ideas
that we might try. That information would then be a
discussion item for the board, which would decide what to do next.
I’m happy
to organize one or two meetings at different times at my home for
this purpose. When you talk to people, please ask when they
would like to meet: weekday evening or weekend morning or afternoon.
We used this approach successfully when we talked about our
presentation to OLLI last year. I described this in the
newsletter and in the notes for the agenda. If you have
questions about what I’m proposing, please call me and we’ll
talk about it.
To help you get
started, you’ll find a spreadsheet of the current membership
list attached. It’s in both “neo office” and
as a .pdf, so you should be able to open one of these. If you
can’t open either, let me know and I’ll send you a paper
copy. I’d like to know what you learn before the next
board meeting so I would appreciate your working on this soon.
One general item
to observe: see how many members that you know or have seen in any
recent activity. Where do members live? Are they "first
year," "students," "PCVs" or other groups?
We should be aware of our membership’s profile.
Tee shirt
design: Despite battling a cold, James came to the meeting for a
short time to show us a striking design that he proposed for a new
tee shirt. We had a detailed discussion and approved the
design. We expect to have 36 tee shirts printed in time for the
April potluck and maybe before for activities in March.
James will
present the design at the potluck on Friday and the board will take
advance orders at that time. We’ll set a price as soon as
we know the costs. The design has broad appeal and so we
discussed ways to advertise the shirts for sale on a national scale.
Final submitted
February 15, 2012
Miriam Aiken
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