Minutes of the Feb 9, 2009
Staying Put Board Meeting



The meeting was called to order at 4:30 PM by President Tom Ferguson.

Jane Nyce presented her operations report. At present we have a membership of 181 households and 253 individuals--13 with special membership, or 8%. She expects that we will be up to 10% special members by the end of March. Jim Hollyday said that we should strive for a special membership ratio of 15%. Jane reported that service requests--460 to date-- and 66 calls alone during January 2009. Jane's report also covered upcoming events and programs and Jane asked Board members to call their "Friendly Call" members to encourage attendance.

Jane reported that we have about 20 households (with January or February renewal dates) who have not yet sent in their 2009 dues. We will call these members and also send invoices by mail. Jane anticipates that we will end up with about an 82-85% renewal rate, which is consistent with the assumption in our business plan and also with the experience of Beacon Hill Village.

Jane reported that we now have a Presto machine (email receiver/printer) available as a result of a generous contribution.

Tanis Erdmann reported on the Publicity Committee:

  • Cathy Irwin will be our liaison with the Advertiser and News Review papers.
  • Tanis will manage the website and coordinate with Channel 79.
  • Gloria and Jane will be coordinating and publicizing our member's 100th birthday celebration.
  • Nancy Helle has interviewed new president Tom Ferguson for press release.
  • The second issue of our newsletter Staying in Touch has just been released. Special thanks to Editor Gloria Major-Brown. Future newsletters will be issued quarterly. The newsletter is also an important part of our member recruitment information.
Ellie O'Neill reported on the Membership Committee:

  • The membership committee held its first meeting. Carol McDonald, Human Services Director for the Town, is on the committee. When appropriate, Carol and Mel Neville (seniors' case worker for the Town) will refer clients to become special members.
  • We will be conducting a series of receptions at New Canaan condos to attract additional members. This will start with Pride's Crossing on Feb 10 and Lee Fair on Feb 26, to be followed by Heritage Hill and Canaan Close in March.
  • An information session will also be held at Schoolhouse Apartments with the hope of attracting potential special members.
  • A public information session will be scheduled for April at the Historical Society.
  • Members of the committee have volunteered to deliver membership information kits to local doctors.
Jim Hollyday and Molly De Patie reported on the Volunteers Committee. They are in the process of interviewing all of our active volunteers to confirm their areas of interest. This information will be used to assign more volunteers to activities of greatest need.

Judy Bentley and Tom Ferguson reported on fundraising. To date we have raised about $60,000 in the 2009 annual appeal that started in October. We have submitted applications to the New Canaan Community Foundation, the New Canaan Sewing Club and the Fairfield County Community Foundation.

Teri Wagner suggested that Staying Put could increase its public visibility through sponsoring a "Speakers Series" that would feature experts on a variety of topics of interest to our members and the community at-large. Teri also offered to chair this initiative. The board agreed to refer this suggestion to our Events Committee for further consideration.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:00. Our next board meeting will be Monday March 9 at 4:30 PM at the Library.

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