National League of American Pen Women
Denver Branch
Minutes
June 4, 2016
President Ruthy Wexler called the meeting to order at 10:55 am.
Members present were Juliana Adams, Andrea Antico, Laurel Becker, Eleanor Binnings, Diane Chambers, Beverly Chico, Donna Clark, Marie Kriss, Nancy Peterson, Atlanta Sheridan, Virginia Small, Kay Taylor, and Lorraine Walker Williams.
Everyone wore hats, in honor of Phylis Brees Eberhard, a former member, who traditionally offered her home for our annual June potluck planning meetings. Phylis always reminded everyone “To wear a hat,” because we would be sitting outside on her patio where she had many bird feeders and many little bird friends.
Ruthy read some quotes about “Change” today as she felt that our Denver Branch, as well as the National organization are both undergoing changes. One of the quotes was “Saying goodbye is to die a little,” by Raymond Chandler.
Another quote by Barack Obama is, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
Ruthy gave us some inspirational motivation, too, when she said, “Let’s all think what we can put into this organization to make it the best it can be.”
Lorraine Walker Williams, the president of the Southwest Florida Branch, who lives here part of every year, says the Southwest Florida branch made cards to hand out with information about their branch and the NLAPW, to spread awareness about the NLAPW and particularly their branch.
Beverly Chico moved to approve the minutes for the March, April, and May meetings. Virginia seconded the motion and the minutes from all three months were approved.
Treasurer’s Report:
Kriss reported today in Kelly Ann’s absence, that the closing balance at the end of April was $1,881.60.
After dues were collected in the month of May, the balance at the end of that month was $2,771.60.
Some members inquired as to whom in the branch is familiar with the fiscal processes and time lines for collecting dues and making the distribution to National, and who will be taking over doing these responsibilities after Kriss moves to Kansas. Kriss said that Kelly Ann is familiar with procedures and will most likely be handling them for the time being, after Kriss moves. As treasurer, Kelly Ann already handles sending the annual dues in.
Virginia moved to approve the treasurer’s report, Kriss seconded it and it was approved .
Website:
Virginia said she is backing up all our files that are on our website, so to be sure that nothing will be lost during the website’s transition from Weaver 2 to the new program called Weaver Xtreme. She will also be making some other changes to our webpages so they will have a new look.
Membership:
Kriss says she has an updated directory. We are not sure if Sophia is renewing her membership or not, so for now she is still listed in the directory. Please look over your information in the directory and let Kriss know if anything needs to be changed.
We have three new members: Shelley Harding Mary Waits Joiner, and Carol Casper. Three prospective members are Marcia Perlman, Kimberly Hamelin, and Regina Connor.
Tapestry:
Ruthy has taken over the chairmanship of the Tapestry Committee, of which other members are Atlanta Sheridan, Beverly Chico, Kelly Ann Compton, and Marie Kriss. Diane Dunn, the head of the Macintosh Academy, an IB school where former member, Eve Macintosh was working when she first envisioned the idea for the Peace Tapestry panels, is working with our tapestry committee on some ideas for the panels. The Academy has made claim to one of the panels for its new home, and there are 10 panels left to be placed.
The current idea is for us to present on the Peace Tapestry to the students who will be attending the International IB conference at Denver University this July 18th-24th. The committee will meet next week to develop criteria for a contest for the IB students to come up with creative ideas for community projects using the Tapestry panels, during the month of September which is World Peace Month.
The committee is also exploring options regarding obtaining frames on which to display the Tapestry panels. As renting is probably cost prohibitive for our branch, if we cannot find some to borrow, we may have to purchase some.
Old Business:
Kelly Ann is still collecting information for our emergency contact list, so if you have family contact information for yourself that you would like to give to her, in the event that we cannot contact you, please let her know.
A new membership chairperson is needed to take over the membership responsibilities from Kriss. Atlanta said she may be interested in doing the paper work management. It was suggested that maybe Juanita Pope might be interested in doing the outreach part of membership that Kriss was doing, regarding our ties to Life Long Academy and Arapahoe Community College, in order to maintain those mutually beneficial relationships to each of our organizations.
Kay Taylor expressed interest in taking over the budget responsibilities that Kriss has been handling so well for many years.
New Business:
Ruthy asked for ideas for the IB student Peace Tapestry contest. If you have any ideas, please pass them on to her or a committee member.
Juliana asked about the results of the recent election of officers for the National organization. Ruthy said that all the candidates on the proposed slate were elected, and non from the alternate slate that was proposed. Kriss and Ruthy responded, saying that the original slate of candidates was elected, non of the proposed candidates from the alternate slate were elected.
Virginia Campbell, from the Pikes Peak branch was elected as the new president of the National organization.
National is interested in working with the branch membership chairs of every branch with the current goal of increasing membership of the league.
Announcements:
Juliana, is marketing her new book, “The Joy of Nursing.” She has found marketing very challenging! She thanked the critique group for getting her started and on her way to her published book. Juliana suggests getting a publicist for anyone who needs help selling their books.
The meeting adjourned at 12:00 pm, followed by a potluck lunch and the annual June planning session.
Respectfully Submitted,
Diane Chambers
