National League of American Pen Women–Denver Branch
August 5, 2017 Minutes
I. Ruthy called the meeting to order at 10:05 am.
II. Members in attendance: Andrea Antico, Diane Chambers, Beverly Chico, Donna Clark, Kelly Ann Compton, Ruthy Denker/Wexler, Kimberly Hamelin, Shelley Harding, Jody Glittenberg-Hinrichs, Nancy M. Peterson, Virginia Small, Kay Taylor, and Lorraine Walker Williams (visitor from Florida Branch)
III. Guests in attendance: Cathy Wield, Romy Charles, Karen Gonzales, Frances Rossi, Carol Reed
IV. Inspirational Reading: Ruthy read from Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert. The selections she shared were about ideas being disembodied, energetic lifeforms that need to be manifested; a person may say no to an idea or welcome it.
V. Introductions of members and guests
VI. Diane officially welcomed Kimberly Hamelin as a new NLAPW member by presenting her with a rose and her membership certificate.
VII. Minutes: Beverly Chico requested that the transfer of the Tapestry for Peace file from her to Kelly Ann be documented in the July Minutes. Everyone agreed with this and the July Minutes were approved with the addendum.
VIII. Treasurer’s Report: The July Treasurer’s report was approved. Our current bank balance is $1,949.40. Kelly Ann still needs to be reimbursed for the shipment expenditure of sending a section of the Tapestry for Peace to Hauppauge High School in New York.
IX. Committee Reports
a. Website: Running well, no report.
b. Membership: Diane spoke to the guests about membership in our branch.
c. Tapestry for Peace: Ruthy shared the story of the Tapestry for Peace, the different panels and our efforts to distribute the different panels. Our current effort is having schools design peace projects to “earn” one of the panels. The Denver Post is interested in an article on the Tapestry if we can focus on a few Denver schools. Shelley read the letter she drafted for sending to local school districts. The Tapestry Committee (Ruthy, Diane, Kelly Ann, Shelley) will polish the letter and determine future steps. Lorraine suggested that what ever we end up doing should go on our website.
X. Old Business: Ruthy shared that Hauppauge High School, a winner of one of the panels, will be sending us pictures. Kay is working on the 2017-18 budget. Beverly spoke about our need to resurrect the historian position as we need to keep recording and preserving our history. She and Nancy have some things that need to be put into a scrapbook of some sort. This will be discussed further at our next meeting.
XI. New Business: No new business was discussed.
XII. Announcements: Donna has some peaches for sale at $39.00 a box. Virginia says Florence is doing well. Virginia needs the names of all our chairwomen so she can update them on the website.
XIII. Meeting adjourned at 11:03 am.
After the business meeting, Sandra Windsor spoke about the writing of her book The FBI Wife: A memoir. During her talk, she shared several bits of wisdom about writing a memoir. Some examples: “What’s your story?” You need to find its heart and “eliminate what the story isn’t.” “Once you know the story, everything must attach to that.” “What you write affects not only you, but your family.” And, finally, the “biggest benefit of writing a memoir is getting to know yourself.”
Respectfully Submitted,
Kelly Ann Compton, Secretary
