[fsf60k] Words from Carol for meeting
- From: Peter White <pedro831@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: kcshr@xxxxxxxxxxx, fsf60k@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:40:09 -0400
Hello Again to All,
I hope you received notice about this month's meeting being tomorrow night,
Sept. 8, at 7:30pm at Npt. HS. Also, below please find a message written by
Carol Werblin weeks ago. I was supposed to forward it to you earlier but
with some personal things and the storm, I did not. I hope you can look it
over and it can be part of our discussion tomorrow night. Be well. See you
tomorrow. PW
-----Original Message-----
From: Carol Werblin [mailto:cwerblin@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, August 05, 2011 2:34 PM
To: peter white
Cc: Carol Werblin
Subject:
Okay Pete- I hope this is what you wanted- please send to Kate- I don't have
her email address. Let me know what you think.
Hi Everyone-
I was at last night's Friend's meeting and was asked to write up something
to let you all know what was discussed and my thoughts and frustrations.
For all of you who have ever headed up a meeting- you know the frustration
that goes along with a very small turnout. Last night there were your 2
directors, Peter and Kate, and myself. It is very difficult to see any
progress in a group without it's members' support. Be that as it may, I at
least had the opportunity to express both my hopes for the club and my
frustrations with the club, as it was difficult to hold a regular meeting
with no one there. We all (the 3 of us) decided that it may be time to take
a different direction with Friends. I had asked Peter what his initial hope
for the club was, and he expressed to me that he wanted to give Northport
alumni and parents of students the opportunity to continue to work in
Nicaragua and help the under-served population. I am neither an alumni of
Northport nor a parent in Northport. I live in Centerport and hoped that by
joining this group I would have the opportunity to help people in a broader
sense- in a way that would take me out of my more local Huntington area. I
saw this as the opportunity to do the good that the Students do- both
locally, nationally and internationally. I saw this as my 'Old Person's
Peace Corps'.
Well- both Peter and I have faced disappointment. His 200+ turnout at our
first meeting at the Northport Library has dwindled to ~10, and I have found
myself doing not much more than voting on the disbursements of funds. And
so- where do we go from here? We will never have the member support that
Peter had hoped for- most of our younger members live out of state and have
moved on with their lives- jobs, families, and their own philanthropic work.
So- what are we left with- a small core of adults who very greatly want to
make a difference in our world. Peter has stressed the importance of
fundraising- as money is greatly needed to provide the kind of help that we
want to give. So- I am asking you to come to the next meeting with your
passions and hopes for the club. I had suggested coming up with 2 or 3
concrete ideas of where we want the money to go so that our fundraising
efforts have some direction and motivation. I had suggested that maybe we
should find a local, national and/or international cause--something that we
can get genuinely excited about. The club is not only about Peter's hopes
for Nicaragua (though I understand the need to have some focus there). It is
also about our hopes and visions for a better world. Peter would like to
see the ball field finished. We now want to know what your hopes and
visions are. What gets you excited, angry? What will make you want to be
involved? Where do you see the club going? What direction would like to see
it take? Without your input- Peter can continue to write his grants- and see
his ball field come to be. He doesn't really need us to make that happen. He
is willing to guide and lead us- but he needs to know where you would like
to take the group.
Please come to the next meeting. We want to hear about your passions, hopes,
and goals for Friends.
-Carol
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