Minutes of the Meeting of the Staying Put
Board of Directors June 2, 2008
A meeting of the Staying Put Board took place on June 2, 2008 at 4 PM at the New Canaan Library.
Tom Towers called the meeting to order and welcomed our new Board member Lyn Chivvis who will serve as Secretary to the Board. Because Lyn has a conflicting meeting on the first Monday of each month, it was voted to move the regular SP Board meeting to the second Monday of each month.
The need for weekend and vacation phone coverage for the SP office was discussed. This coverage involves checking and handling phone messages twice a day on Saturday and Sunday of each week. It was proposed and unanimously accepted that each Board member take two weekends a year to cover this need.
Jane Nyce reported that we now have 221 individual members representing 155 households of which nine are special memberships. As of today there have been 115 requests for services. Computer help requests have been increasing and we will be needing names of additional home computer professionals and volunteer advisors and tutors.
Requests for home visitation are also rising and Dr. Charlotte Brown and Barbara Johansen will be providing educational sessions for volunteers who want to fill this need. We have a least 12 members who should be visited on a regular basis.
We have had a busy schedule of Programs and Events in May and the June list is also long and varied. The May Annual meeting drew 120+ attendees for a business cum social gathering. At least 30 Memorial Day parade Staying Put marchers donned their new SP caps and many of our members and volunteers cheered from the sidelines.
Pat Stoddard reported on some of the summer events that are being planned. We will have a group participating in the July 4th Waveny Park celebration with our new large banner and SP caps. Our caps are a handsome source of publicity-active Seniors enjoying life and Staying Put here in New Canaan.
The importance of keeping up a steady stream of interesting programs was stressed and of equal importance is being sure that all our members are kept informed of these events. Jane Nyce regularly sends out red flag emails describing upcoming events to all our members. Tanis Erdmann recommends that our members get in the habit of checking our website where the up to the minute Calendar of Events is prominently displayed.
Annie Cohen has researched "Presto" equipment which receives individual emails without hassle and sells for $40 plus $10 a month. It was decided to buy one for the office to use as a demonstration for our members who do not use computers and want to receive emails and photos from their families as well as from Staying Put. Presto will discount their equipment purchase price for SP members.
Another important avenue of member communication is SP "Friendly Connections" set up by Judy Schurman and David Brown. Judy suggested that Board callers ask their Member Connections if they are online and use email and, if so, to urge them to check their email and website regularly. It would also be helpful to ask members for their suggestions for future programs and activities. And members should be urged to return the Transportation surveys distributed last month.
Tom Ferguson distributed a sample "Balanced Scorecard"-a list of various goals to be used to track our performance over specific periods-yearly, quarterly, etc. Board members were asked to study the list and comment or add possible further gauges to measure our progress toward accomplishing our mission.
Respectfully submitted,
Eleanor O'Neill, Secretary
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