Minutes of the Feb 8, 2010 Staying Put Board Meeting
A meeting of the Staying Put Board took place on Monday, January 11, 2010 at 4:30PM at the New Canaan Library.
Tom Ferguson called the meeting to order and noted that just before the Board retreat last weekend began, Ro Ogden was unanimously elected to the Board.
Rogers Harper and Lee Barnes have sent Tom their distillation of the Board retreat, which Tom will circulate to the Board via email. To recap briefly, there was no radical movement to change Staying Put or to change the mission statement. Seven priority issues, taken from the seven breakout groups, were identified, with volunteering at the top of the list, with a charge to increase support to Jane and Donna. Running financial, legal and tax education programs, and reaching out to the "Farm Team," i.e., 50 - 64 year olds, may require new committees. The need for a younger board member who would help increase awareness of SP in that age group and also recruit members from the younger set was made more apparent.
Jane Nyce reported that January was the busiest yet in social events and that eight new members/households joined SP in January. There were 120 requests in the month of January. The renewal rate is high at 80%, and is estimated to rise to 84% soon. Please check the website for future events, and please make an effort to come to the event this Thursday, February 11 at the NC Historical Society with Jeff Zaino.
On behalf of membership, Jane spoke to numerous groups in January, including the Senior Men's club, the Garden clubs, and the League of Women Voters. The Newcomers club will put SP on their website. Brochures have been distributed all over town. But the condo meetings have been postponed until the Florida sunbirds return. There does not appear to be a need to give these potential members a discount in order to lure them to join SP. Beacon Hill has no discounted dues for special categories of members.
New brochures will be produced in conjunction with new material on the website, to add new photos and reflect changes on the Board. Thanks to Art Congdon for his gifted - with both meanings of the term - talents in designing the brochure.
Articles with bios on the new Board members have been sent to the Advertiser and to New Canaan News for publication. Any suggestions for new articles are welcome. Pat Brooks will do some publicity on the NC Historical Society series coming up in March. Our website hits increased by 31% this month, with the most international hits coming again from Russia and Romania. The Spring newsletter will come out in March. Patch.com has a category for volunteer opportunities, and Silver Hill and other reputable organization use the site. SP will put a request for volunteers on the site; screening of these potential volunteers will be done at the office, as always.
Upcoming events are listed on the website and Jeannie Hart, Pat Stoddard and Judy Schurman will take over this committee in May. Events for March and April have already been planned. SP is negotiating for a fun fundraiser on June 27th with Mary and Lou Green's ragtime band to be held on the Erdmanns' beautiful back lawn.
Jim Hollyday and Annie Cohen have initiated the first ever "Chicken Run". They called several SP members and signed them up to buy a chicken for $5.00 from Costco. The next day Jim and Annie picked the chickens up at Costco and delivered them to 10 members. Money changed hands, and chicken was relished.
One of the more obvious points that came out of the Board retreat was the need for more volunteers to help take some of the work off the shoulders of our wonderful team of Jane and Donna. With this in mind, the Volunteer committee will set up an Events Liaison between the Events Committee and Donna to take over setting up events. This will involve learning from Donna what questions to ask (e.g., wheelchair access), as well as making the reservations, buying the tickets, and setting up the carpools. Another Liaison is needed between the mailing committee and all the various committees that mail appeals, letters, invitations, newsletters and brochures. A further liaison volunteer will be the production chieftain in charge of any printed materials, e.g., stationery, envelopes, address labels, appeal letters. This should save the office a lot of time printing and could be done from the production chieftain's own home. This person will need to know how to do mail merges. Meanwhile, thanks to Molly DePatie's good work, there is an office volunteer in the office every morning and every afternoon.
SP continues to get more and more requests for rides. In keeping with the desire to help our elders maintain their lifestyles as best as possible, SP offers rides not only to medical appointments but also to beauty salons and to SP events. The need for more and more drivers is expected to continue to increase. SP has a good solid group of drivers who, when called ahead of time by Jim, are ready to give rides to our elders. SP is working toward having a group of "On Call" drivers who will drop everything on a given day to take someone to an unplanned appointment. With the use of an "On Call" driver, Jane and Donna would not have to drop what they are doing in order to give the ride.
The intern at SP, Louise Harris, has been setting up lectures on Wellness at the Lapham Center. There will be one on March 25 on osteoarthritis and how to stay well.
Our luminary, David Brown, continues to show us the way to stay vibrant as an organization as well as individuals as we grow older. Keeping involved with the outside world and with the community provides momentum and vitality. Perhaps a trip with another group (Senior Men's Club for example) would increase interest from the "Farm Team" and would help keep our elders involved. Bob Witt is on the Senior Men's "Couth" group and will explore possibilities for a joint trip with SP. Or start an orchestra or a library for seniors. These kinds of interest groups help seniors get out of their own homes and meet new people and make new friends and contacts.
Respectfully submitted,
Lyn Chivvis, Secretary to the Board.
February 8, 2010
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