National League of American Pen Women–Denver Branch
Meeting Minutes
May 7, 2016
I. Ruthy Wexler called the meeting to order at 10:36 a.m.
II. Members in attendance were: Beverly Chico, Kelly Ann Compton, Ruthy Wexler, A. Marie Kriss, Nancy Peterson, Juanita Pope, Atlanta Sheridan, Virginia Small, and Kay Taylor.
III. No guests were present.
IV. Inspirational Reading: Juanita shared a reflection on Mother’s Day about an experience she had with a piece called “Dear Mama” by rap artist Tupac Shakur. Juanita shared that the key words for her from this piece were “You are appreciated.”
V. Due to computer issues for the branch secretary, there were no minutes to be approved.
VI. The March and April Treasurer Reports were approved. The current balance is $1,881.60.
VII. Committee Reports:
A. Website: Virginia reported that due to changes needing to be made to the website program, the “Theme” of our branch website will need to be changed and updated. She warned us that the sight might not look good for a while. All the information will still be on the site, though.
B. Tapestry: At a meeting with Mackintosh Academy, it was decided that a portion of the tapestry will be put on display at the International Baccalaureate World Conference to be held in July at the University of Denver. It was also decided that a “contest” will be announced whereby the IB schools can apply to take ownership of a section of the Tapestry for Peace. An enthusiastic discussion took place during today’s NLAPW meeting about how and when the contest will take place. Some members suggested that the contest be held before the conference with the winners being announced at the conference. Ruthy said she will check to see if this would be plausible. Beverly shared concerns regarding the possibility of the tapestry being in poor condition due to its current method of storage. It was suggested that museums might donate acid free supplies to us as we are a non-profit and that we should look to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum for preservation instructions. The Tapestry committee membership was updated. Current members include: Atlanta Sheridan, Marie Kriss, Beverly Chico, Juanita Pope, Ruthy Wexler, and Kelly Ann Compton. Diane Chambers will most likely continue to be a member of the committee.
C. Membership: We have two new provisional members—Shelley Harding and Carol Cooper.
D. Outreach: Kriss shared that she has accepted an invitation to be on the National Outreach committee. She turned down the offer to be membership chair. Kriss voiced that for every outreach activity, the question that needs to be asked is, “Is there a chance that this Outreach will bring in members?” If the answer is no, then the activity needs to be reviewed.
E. Programs:
1.June will be our annual planning meeting. Information will be forthcoming.
2.July’s meeting will take place on July 9th, the second Saturday. No program has yet been decided.
3.September will be our workshop with Polly Letofsky about publishing on Amazon.
4.October, Juanita will present her play and discuss playwriting.
VIII. Old Business: None was discussed
IX. New Business: As Kriss will be moving in the near future, we need people to take over as Membership Chair and other committee positions Kriss holds.
VIII. Announcements: No announcements were made.
IX. The meeting was adjourned at 12:15 p.m.
There was no presentation after the meeting, but before the meeting, Ruthy presented a children’s book she is writing for critique. The book was well received and has great possibilities.
Respectfully submitted,
Kelly Ann Compton