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.”
