Minutes of the September 14, 2009 Staying Put Board Meeting
A meeting of the Staying Put Board took place on Monday, Sept 2009 at 4:30PM at the New Canaan Library.
As Chair of Nominating, Jim Hollyday introduced the newest member to the Board: Lois Sandberg, our first choice; she was thanked and commended for her work on the SP Newsletter, and we are pleased to have her join the Board. Jim reported that two more people are in "the hopper."
Dan Ward emailed Board members the Finance report. The audit is finished and SP has a "clean letter" stating that SP is "in conformity" with standard accounting principles. The audit is an impressive and credible tool for future requests for support from big organizations such as the Fairfield Community Foundation. A copy of the audit is available in the office and can be found on the Internet. The Whistleblower Policy was adopted by the Board.
Jane Nyce handed out her executive report and noted that requests for services in general are up and that requests for rides are expected to continue to increase because the Red Cross has dropped its rides program. SP has passed the one thousand mark for requests for services: there have been 1005 requests as of today. The rides requests are a mixture of those "planned ahead" vs last minute needs. Jim has fielded the ones that are planned ahead while Jane and Donna take the immediate ones. Most of the requests for rides are to medical appointments in Norwalk and Stamford.
Board members are encouraged to attend as many events as possible. SP will be a beneficiary of the Lobsterfest on Sept 25th at the New Canaan Historical Society.
The Metropolitan opera at Fairfield Quick Center is already sold out and SP opera-goers should be alerted to upcoming operas so they can sign up ahead of time.
Tanis Erdmann is having a CTP especially for Snowbirds on Oct 14th at 5pm. Board members are encouraged to call the list of invitees and encourage them to come. Jane will email the list to all Board members.
The "Show and Tell" Crafts event will take place sometime in October at the dining room in the Lapham Center. It will be a terrific open house, social event with wine and cheese - SP members are invited to bring their collections, crafts, needlepoint, photos, sculptures etc in the morning to the Lapham Center for set up for the 3 - 5:30 party. The question of whether or not to sell these goods and give the proceeds to SP was not resolved.
Jeannie Hart called on all Board members to write their personal notes on the fundraising appeal letters. If you haven't written them already on your own, please join the other Board members at Pat Stoddard's home (120 Bayberry Rd) on Sept 28, 29 and 30 to finish your notes. If you are planning to write your notes ahead of that time, please be sure to put a post-it sticky note on each one with the last name to identify which envelope the personal note should go into. The envelopes will be stickered, stamped and stuffed with the official appeal letter and the Fall Newsletter at Pat's home on Sept 24 and 25. There are almost 1000 letters to prepare and to personalize. Personalizing these appeals is part of the responsibility of being on the Board. SP is now being set up to receive donations online through PayPal. The Board thanks Anne Cohen, Pat Stoddard and Jeanne Hart for all their hard labors.
With help from Lois and Pat, Tanis has an article on our Appeal ready to be sent to the Advertiser and News Review for their Oct 1 issues - just ahead of the fundraising drive. The Sept 17th issue will have an article on the lecture by Dr. Schuster, who will be talking on "How to live to be One Hundred." The Jan 2010 issue of New Canaan, Darien and Rowayton Magazine will have a short story with photo in "Town Talk" about SP celebrating the end of their second year. Board members are encouraged to bring their cameras to any and every event - and to put them to use. Please also send any testimonials to Tanis for the website as well as for other publicity. Tanis is planning an article for November on our first One Thousand Requests for services.
Jim pointed out that it's hard to get volunteer drivers even a week ahead of time because no one is ever at home. The weekly average for ride requests is about 8 requests ahead of time and another 4-6 requests for immediate help. The Volunteer committee will attempt to get drivers to commit to being "on call" for specific times during the week (or month) and see if the immediate requests can be filled by volunteers instead of by Jane and Donna. Molly continues to fulfill the needs in the office on a weekly basis. Louise Goodridge continues to make calls for events every week. She will coordinate with Jim to find "on call" drivers. Lyn continues to set up the Buddy calls.
Tom F reported that the Wilton group which is starting up an organization similar to SP is named Stay at Home in Wilton, or SHWIL for short. Phil Richardson and his wife invited all SP Board members to their upcoming awareness events on Sept 20 and Oct 5. Please check their website, SHWIL.org for times and places.
A Board retreat on a Saturday in January would be a good chance to pause and reflect. An agenda, with important issues identified, will be formed ahead of time. David Moran and Tom F will work on the issues and the agenda. It is recommended that the Advisory Board also be invited.
Respectfully submitted,
Lyn Chivvis, Secretary to the Board
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