National League of American Pen Women
Denver Branch
Minutes
June 3, 2017
President Ruthy Wexler called the meeting to order at 10:40 am.
Members present were Diane Chambers, Lorraine Walker Williams, Donna Clark, Nancy Peterson, Shelley Harding, Andrea Antico, Beverly Chico and Jodi Glittenberg. Kimberly Hamelin was welcomed as a new member.
Ruthy opened the meeting by reading an inspirational quote by Hannah Fox, that she thought was apropos to our branch:
“Being in a congenial group creates a space for us to play together and connect with our joy; they also develop imagination, confidence, critical thinking, trust, connection and understanding. It creates son cation, inspires laughter, expression, concentration, self-discovery, self-esteem and ultimately, I believe, good health. It gets us playing again, no small feat and yet the most important thing.”
Guests: Hannah Schechter, Anne Durrant, and France’s Rossi were introduced.
Approval of Minutes and Treasurer’s Report:
Secretary and Treasurer, Kelly Ann Compton was absent due to a family medical situation. The approval of the May meeting minutes and the reading of the Treasurer’s report was postponed until the next meeting.
Committee Reports:
Website: There was no report from our webmistress, Virginia Small.
Membership: Diane Chambers introduced herself as the interim Membership Chair. She reported that Kimberly is our newest member, and we have others from the recent Guest Critique that are interested in joining. Diane will contact them about applying for membership
Tapestry: Ruthy gave a quick synopsis of the story of the Tapestry for our new people, about how deceased member, Eve Macintosh had the vision of “A Place in Space for Peace,” and thus came the creation of the Peace Tapestry. Ruthy gave credit to our former member, Marie Kriss, for her perseverance in searching for a permanent home for the Tapestry. We did have one school respond to our email campaign to IB Schools inviting them to enter the contest to win a section of the Tapestry for their Project for Peace.”
The school that responded, and won, is Hauppauge High School in Hauppauge, New York. The project they created centers around various activities they will conduct within the school with the aim of bolstering students’ self-esteem and reducing stress. After a certain period of time they will survey the students to see if their activities were successful in “Fostering Generosity.”
The Denver Branch will pay to ship the awarded section of the Tapestry to Hauppauge High School.
Ruthy has requested that the sponsor of the Hauppage students’ Peace Project send us photos and updates on how the project is going. We will use the photos to help us publicize the NLAPW and our branch.
Regarding our next steps in locating homes for the remaining Tapestry panels, Shelley suggested that we focus on the Denver Public Schools for our continued contest and that would eliminate the problem of the expense of shipping the panels to other states. Shelley added that it might be a lot easier to get schools on board with our contest if we make face to face visits to the schools rather than relying on email invitations that often go unanswered.
Andrea Antico suggested that we also include Jefferson County Schools, and other local schools. Shelley will design a plan on how to proceed and present it at the next meeting.
New Business:
Diane proposed that we set aside money in our budget to be used as scholarship money for which a member could apply to help with dues in the unfortunate event of a financial hardship. The idea was discussed and Andrea suggested we call it the “Heartship Fund.” There was a motion bought forward by Beverly Chico and seconded by Donna Clark to set aside $200 for the “Heartship Fund.
The Heartship Fund will be for the purpose of assisting a member who finds herself in a temporary circumstance of extreme financial hardship so that she cannot afford to pay dues one year. The member must explain the reason for the financial hardship in a letter to the President and Secretary of the Denver Branch. The money will be awarded to the member upon the discretion of the President and Secretary to the member. (No more than $200 can be spent in any one year)
The motion passed unanimously.
Announcements:
Beverly Chico just finished teaching her second class for Life Long Learning on “Headwear and Religion.” Beverly had all women students in this last class.
Adjourned: The meeting was adjourned at 11:45 am. followed by a potluck lunch and the annual Program Planning Meeting.
Respectfully submitted by,
Diane Chambers