Minutes of the Jan 12, 2009
Staying Put Board Meeting
A meeting of the Staying Put Board took place on Monday, Jan 12, 2009 at 4:30PM at the New Canaan Inn.
After a brief tour of the Inn, TomTowers moved to elect Tom Ferguson as the next President of the Board, Judy Schurman seconded and the Board elected Tom Ferguson unanimously.
Tom Towers congratulated Pat Stoddard, Ann Cohen and all the volunteers on the great success of the SP Birthday Party on Jan 11 at St. Mark’s. He then reported that our organization of the Board is still in its infancy, with 25 Board members and a decided need for two VP’s rather than one. One VP will be in line to succeed the outgoing President. The next step is for the Board to work more efficiently within the committees. A list of the Committees and their make-up was sent to all Board members by Tom Ferguson.
Jim Hollyday reported the result of his survey of the entire Board. The feedback on the Executive Director Jane Nyce, and the Executive Assistant Donna Simone, was consistently terrific in terms of their warmth and devotion given to the job. In order to avoid burnout of these two successful individuals, it is recommended that SP find a volunteer to help with the administrative work.
Jim also reported that the lack of diversity in the membership (“the country club image”) is seen as a drawback. Board members must help spread the word that SP is for ALL in New Canaan; the Board must also help with filling the several scholarship memberships that are still available. The Board and staff will continue follow-up with Carol McDonald (Dir. Human Services), with Lyn Bond and Nancy Pennington (Dir.’s of Lapham Center), Jim Bach (Head of the Board of Schoolhouse Apartments) and all our local pastors to help fulfill our requirement of 10% membership on scholarship. Other suggestions for attracting more diverse members include putting a Valentine and an SP brochure into the Meals-on-Wheels in February. Also SP could look into holding an informational meeting at the Schoolhouse Apts. Dan Ward assured the Board that SP has an “advanced ruling period” until 2011 to establish its status as a public charity. The guidelines for scholarship members are handled on an individual basis. Other possibilities of different memberships came up in Jim’s survey. The Board should consider enticing a younger (40-plus) membership by giving them a lower rate. Perhaps that would increase diversity, and also help the younger set with their aging parents, even if the parents live elsewhere.
Jane Nyce gave a précis of her Executive Director’s report, which she had already sent to the Board. As of Jan 12th the income (renewals and contributions) raised from the Oct 08 mailing is $96K. Jane asked for volunteers to distribute SP brochures around town.
Publicity is ongoing; our newsletter is a big success and it will be placed on the website. It was noted that individual pictures cannot be put on the website without permission from each person in the photo. Channel 79 will publicize SP informational meetings, but cannot publicize “private” events, or events “for members only.”
Dan Ward reported that SP is “comfortably in the black,” and that the money is deposited with federally insured banks: Bank of New Canaan and Fidelity. More money will be raised through new memberships and renewals, as well as from donations. With this in mind, another mailing was proposed. The Get-A-Bout sent out a town-wide mailing (6,000 pieces) and garnered 77 new donors. Along with the great exposure, a town-wide mailing would help increase diversity in the membership. By comparison, the SP Oct 08 letter and appeal was mailed to only 500 households.
The telephone is still the primary way to communicate with the elderly. Judy Shurman passed around a sheet for Board members to sign up to make more “Friendly Connections” calls. Also, RUOK (“Are you okay”), a volunteer group in New Canaan, has asked SP for phoning help. RUOK makes phone calls every morning to 12 elderly people who live alone in New Canaan to make sure they are “okay.” This will become a responsibility of the Volunteer Committee.
A documentary called “Young at Heart” would be a good one for a future SP event. A group of seniors sang their way from churches to retirement homes and eventually toured around the world. It is an inspiring example of elders working together to do something they love.
The January 11th Birthday Party was a huge success and the coverage in the New Canaan Advertiser was on the FRONT page. On the plus/kudos side were the friendly and helpful greeters outside, the floor plan of the tables (set up in four quadrants of the room) which helped with good circulation, nametags, passing of sandwiches and cookies, no leftovers!, good cake, candles, fun poetry, relaxed atmosphere, good energy, good entertainment. Next time members should be encouraged to bring prospective new members.
The next meeting of the Board will be held on Feb 9th at 4:30PM at the Library in the Children’s Program Room. Please note the new time and the new room.
Respectfully submitted,
Lyn Chivvis, Secretary [BACK TO TOP]
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