PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

If everyone votes on the issue of Single Dues at the September meeting with the good of the Chapter and the organization as a whole in mind, then the outcome surely will be positive.

Returning to every day problems, the chapter is in better shape than it has been in a long time. We just came off a summer of out standing accomplishments. The chapter had a true team effort in finding a permanent meeting place. We had three very successful lunches with the attendance of 25members at the first, 35 at the next, and 39 members at the last. Participation greater than 30% would be excellent even for a mid winter meeting. In addition to the lunches several members organized a ferry trip to New Smyrna where we had the opportunity to meet and share thoughts with some of the NARFE New Smyrna members.

On the serious side our discussions included the issue of Single Dues, what makes for a good chapter meeting place, and how we might improve our relationship with the Community, especially the postal workers. We held a workshop in conjunction with the Ormond library, introduced a Blog into our communication system which already contained a newsletter, e-mail, regular mail, and telephone committee. Every member was contacted thoughout the summer at least once every month and for some several times each month. Again that required a team effort in most cases.

On the legislative side we were in contact with NARFE National and following their lead by developing a package of materials to be delivered as a 12 member group to the staff of Congressman John Mica. Each member of the group also had a personal message which was related to the general requests of the chapter. After the meeting several individual contacts were made. These follow-up sessions will continue.

The Board analyzed the attendance records of the last 18 months and came to several conclusions. For one thing it seems about 54 members are the bases of all our attendance at meetings.

Upon looking at the general membership for the same period it was concluded that Lee Sherman is the most successful recruiter in the chapter and the one who has signed up the most members to dues withholding. Mary Araya has keep records of who attends the meetings and knows most of the members by name as does Lee and Cece Dougherty. As a result of this detail study of who comes and why as well as why they don’t attend some changes have been made. Lee Sherman, who chairs Membership and Service now, will also chair Recruitment; Mary Araya will continue to collect data on members as part of her Secretarial duties: Cece Dougherty who was instrumental in organizing a number of activities and also supplied information on those members who don’t attend meetings will now Chair Retention of Members. We also recognize the importance of successful publicity and good Public Relations with the Community as well as with Active federal Employees. Therefore; Patricia (Trish) Vevera will Chair Public Relations.

May the rest of the year be as productive as this past summer.