Sunday, January 22, 2017

January Blog



January News for PAA

Welcome to a new year! First, a huge thank you goes to all who came to our general meeting and luncheon last Wednesday. Despite some rain, I thought it turned out very well for the 60 or so who attended, thanks to the membership committee and our hostess, Catherine McGilvray.  Thanks also to Gerry Nelson for finding us the centerpieces, donated by Trader Joes, to Dallas for nametags and Stephanie Beach for organization Our outgoing president, Nancy Larsson gave a summary of the past year and presented Brian Perrone, the Senior VP for Development and Administration with our cash gift of $60,500 and a mention of our endowment gifts and our many gifts in kind. Nancy has been “promoted” to be VP and future President of the Association of Auxiliaries.

Our guest speaker was Brittany Lothe, a mother of a “micropreemie” baby boy who spent 153 days in the NICU and continues at age 4 to receive therapy and treatments at Packard. She spoke of the wonderful support given her family by the staff and volunteers. She showed a blanket given to her child, as it reminded her of the loving care of all involved. 

As incoming president, I mentioned some of our goals for the year, including finding one or two new fundraising events and increasing the size of the Summer Garden Party. With the ending of American Girl as we have known it  and our participation in the holiday boutique, we will be looking for new events and activities to add to Restaurants with Heart, Cookbook sales as well as Bears and Books, Tote Bags  and Thora’s Thimbles. 

I also introduced our new Board: with Cathy Murphy and Kathy Squellati as Recording Secretaries, Mary Anne York as Corresponding Secretary, Marilyn Anderson as our new Treasurer (replacing Carol Roland), Ginny Wilson as First VP for ongoing projects, but we still needthe VP for New Projects, and Melissa Kertz as Second VP for new members, have an opening for a VP Ongoing Membership. Nancy Larsson will serve as Past President and I will be President as we move into 2017.

I did some quick statistics with the 76 surveys that were completed. The largest group in PAA are those in their 80’s (26), followed by the 70’s (20), then 60’s (7) . While most of our new members are in their 40’s, there is a gap with none in the 50’s.  I mentioned that 5 in their 90’s turned in the survey and was told that we do have one member who has reached 100.  My favorites were the 14 who were ageless; they turned in the survey without circling an age group. I’d like to know their secret! It does help to see the reality of PAA today and to concentrate on keeping those younger ones interested and active.
A big thank you to VP Stephanie Beach who passed out new directories and folder covers to all who came or offered to deliver them to members. The rest will be mailed. Unfortunately after it went to press, several more changes occurred.  As they continue to occur, during the year, please look to this newsletter/blog for updates. I will be posting it as a blog on our website to encourage all those with computers to look at our website.  Updates on our board page and other details should be coming soon.
Please check each month for changes but scheduled dates for general meetings are as follows:
Tuesday, March 21 at 1 PM
Tuesday, June 20 at 1 PM
Monday, September 18 at 1 PM
And Tuesday, November 21 at 1 PM
Other dates to remember are Saturday, August 26 for the Summer Garden Party and Tuesday, October 17 for the Annual Tea.

We are hoping that a Monday meeting may reach some who are busy (or golfing) on Tuesdays. All meetings are scheduled at the Foundation Office, 3rd floor which saves us a lot of cash for rent elsewhere. Please phone or email if you need a ride, I’d like to set up a ride service for those who need it.

The board meetings are usually held the week before but we are trying to be flexible to encourage more to participate so please phone or email me if you wish to attend. 

Our current needs include two members to join the board and help with either new projects or old members: and ideas for new events. In this New Year of great uncertainties for many, our help may be needed more than ever. If you have questions, ideas, or concerns please contact me directly.

If you have forgotten to pay your dues for 2017, please send your check to Mary Koeppen as soon as possible and save us the cost of another mailing!!

Sincerely,
Sarah Beetem

“I am a snowflake but together we are an avalanche.”