Minutes of the April 12, 2010 Staying Put Board Meeting
A meeting of the Staying Put Board took place on Monday, April 12, 2010 at 4:30PM at the New Canaan Library.
Tom Ferguson thanked Ellie O'Neill and Maru Brown for their service to SP; they are going off the Board this spring
and will be sorely missed. The Board then voted two nominees, Lee Barnes and Kit Devereaux, onto the Board.
Jane Nyce reported on SP activity during the big March storm. Because the office phones were out, office volunteers
used their cell phones to check on new messages every six minutes. Sixty calls were fielded during the storm,
most of which were about checking on members, or giving rides to shelters. Some were just to say they had checked
in on an SP neighbor.
SP had 140 requests for services in March, with a substantial increase in requests for rides. The Executive Board has
decided to limit rides to three times a week. Perhaps this will encourage some members to be more efficient in their
planning.
Thanks to SP donors and to the Barbara Benton Davis Fund for their generous contributions to our fundraising appeal.
The BBDF gift includes a $10K challenge grant to encourage major donors to step up their gifts. Tom Ferguson will
discuss the timing for this challenge with them since SP is more than halfway through this fundraising cycle.
Pat Stoddard reported on upcoming events, and encouraged the Board to bring friends to hear Bill Sessions talk on
Namibia at 3PM on May 26 at the Lapham Center. There are still some tickets to the Glass House Tour on May 6;
please call Judy Schurman to sign up. Please put the Annual Meeting - May 16th at 2pm at St. Mark's - on your calendars.
SP needs two Marshalls for the Memorial Day Parade, and all who are willing and able are encouraged to march with
SP in the parade.
This Sunday April 18, SP and St. Francis Fellowship are co-hosting "Creative Endeavors" from 2-4:30PM at St. Marks.
The show includes artwork, craft works, and collections and is run by Molly DePatie, Joy Luke, Eloise Killafer and
Judy Bentley with Gloria Major-Brown and Jeannie Hart as co-chairs.
Thanks to Judy Schurman who will host a party on June 6 to honor our outgoing Board members and to welcome our newest
Board members. Thanks also to Tanis Erdmann who will host a musical fundraiser on June 27 from 5 - 8PM. The
professional musicians, Lou and Mary Greene, will entertain with their Evolution Jazztime Band, and SuperDuper Weenie
will serve up dogs and burgers to everyone's specification.
A letter of thanks to SP was published in the New Canaan Advertiser regarding help during the March storm.
David Brown's letter about SP membership will also be submitted to the Advertiser. In order to publish pictures,
the Advertiser needs the photos to be big enough to print visibly, over 100 kbs. SP has had good publicity on
newcanaanpatch.com. The papers and Patch.com will publish a calendar of events that are open to the public and
are free. SP is looking forward to Channel 79 putting The Healthy Aging series on TV, starting with Long Term Care
Insurance on April 29.
Arthur Congdon and Lois Sandberg are working on a new brochure, and they expect to have a draft finished in the
next few weeks. They stressed the need for more pictures, not only for the brochure, but also for the archives.
The push is on to increase membership. Each Board member is encouraged to identify three potential new SP
members - think of people who want to stay in their homes, or people who are living alone, or someone who has just
moved to town. Ellie handed out membership packets and asked that each Board member pick up the new brochure at
58 Pine when it is ready.
To increase special memberships SP needs introductions to the pastoral care ministers at the churches. Town Services,
Nursing and Home Care and Waveny have also been helpful in identifying special members. SP should also encourage
special members to identify others who may need help with membership dues.
Volunteers are doing a great job, especially giving rides and working in the office. Jim Hollyday continues to handle
the requests for rides that come in a week ahead of time, while Donna fields the immediate requests. Jim has devised
a plan where another Ride Chieftain will handle the requests that SP knows will be needed in the upcoming month.
Maureen Monro has accepted this new position. Molly DePatie continues to fill the office with a volunteer each
morning and each afternoon.
Another help to the office is the new Production Committee, headed up by Anne Cohen. Every committee head who has a
mailing or a letter to be printed and mailed must now call Anne - well ahead of time - to make a request for the
letter or post card to be produced. Anne will then ask Ro Ogden to print the address labels, and Anne will organize
to have the letter or post card printed. The it's up to the committee head to let the Mailing Committee (Katch Cerow)
know - well ahead of time - when the letters will be ready for folding, stuffing, labeling and stamping. It's also
up to the committee head to sign up for the conference room at 58 Pine for the Mailing Committee. Lyn also announced
that Joanne Burns will be making home visits for SP.
And last but not least: Congratulations to Jim Hollyday who has won the Volunteer Award from the Southwest CT
Volunteer Center. Please make every effort to join others at the award ceremony on Tuesday April 27th at 3PM.
This will be great publicity for SP. Bring your cameras.
Friday lunches in Mead Park will start up as soon as the weather is predictably warm enough.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:48PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Lyn Chivvis, Secretary to the Board of Staying Put
Call us at
203-966-7762