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Here’s what you missed at the June meeting

Just wanted to thank everyone for their contributions to this event.

I always say “Quotarians step up and do what needs to be done!” and that will make our club “Move Forward and Blossom with Quota!” I feel truly blessed to work with such a great group of women.

So here is the recap. It was great fun. While the accounting team of Bishop and Howland accounted for all the tickets and after we got through the “Business” with Martha, Sarah Glover stepped up to Afficiate the Fun. She made such adorable nametags, rule sheets and tally cards. After a short trial run, we were off to playing a few, hot games of Bunco with fabulous gifts and prizes. Thank you Sarah!

While I am mentioning gifts and prizes, thanks to everyone that contributed. It was so much fun to play and win!

The most important part, however, was that we raised the most money in the history of this event. All of you sold more than $2,400 worth of tickets. Which means that one of Martha’s ticket holders won $1,260. And you all raised $1,260 for us to use to help the deaf and hard of hearing in our community. Great job!

A special thank you to Martha Herman, Robin Keith and Kim Savoie who were the top three ticket sellers.

-Pam

2014 50_50 raffle winner

President Martha and 50/50 Raffle Winner, Judy

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6.19.14 Minutes

Quota International of Grand Rapids Meeting

Sunnybrook Country Club, Grandville, MI

June 19, 2014 Business Meeting Minutes

 

Present: Sandi Aten, Peggy Bishop, Diana Bittrick, Lisa Braendle, Deb Buckley, Elaine Carr, Ginny Ebers, Kathy Freeman, Sarah Glover, Barbara Griffin, Martha Herman, Pam Howland, Cathy Kaiser, Robin Keith, Maureen Martin, Kim Savoie, Kathleen Slagal, Emily Uebbing.  18 members and 3 guests attended.

The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm by President Martha Herman.

Quota Collect

Consent Agenda: May meeting minutes were approved as sent.

Guests:  Virginia VanRaalte, Kathie McFarlin, guests of Martha Herman; Sue Allen, daughter of Ginny Ebers.

Fashion Models:  Kim and Emily modeled the award winning aprons that Kim and Rachael wore at the District Conference, winning First and Second Place!

Active Agenda: The proposed budget for the General Fund was accepted as sent. The proposed budget for the Charitable Foundation was accepted as sent.

Reports/Announcements

a. Grocery Bags are still available.  We have sold about 55.  Garden basket raffle took in about  $75 at the conference.

b. Pat Cook will be our liaison with Northview Public Schools Total Communication program, and  Sandi Aten will be our liaison with GRPS for Ken-O-Sha, for now. Deb Buckley will be our liaison with DHHS.

c. Travel Raffle was run by Kim. Congratulations to Sue Allen who won a delicious collection of chocolate goodies brought back from Las Vegas by Emily. If you have any special items, please pass them along to Pam Howland for future travel raffles.

d. Summer Celebration, July 24 – Pam, Sarah, and Sandi have been busy preparing for this activity now known as ‘Blossoming with Quota’.  Sarah distributed the very creative Save The Date cards. Please send people’s email addresses to Martha of those special people who you want to attend from agencies, personal contacts, etc.  Kath S. will give us an overview of our Quota history and Martha will address the future plans of our Club.  Certificates of service and our award for our involvement with ‘The Miracle Worker’ will be presented.  We would like old scrapbooks available, pictures of events and any videos you may have.  We will be showing the past few years’ videos of the oral deaf children’s concert at the event.   There are 110 on the invitation list so far, plus Quota alumni. You are welcome to invite up to two people (family, friends) as your guests, in addition to the names you supply to Martha. Please let Martha know the names of your guests.

e. Duck Walk – September 14, Millennium Park, 1 pm; Koeze Nut sale is year round; Barnes & Noble tentative date is November 8 and we’re hooking up with Miracle Ear in the mall at the same time.

The Business Meeting was adjourned by Martha at 6:17pm.

We had great fun, entertainment, and prizes, playing Bunco, with very creative Bunco award certificates, name tags and score cards created by Sarah.

50/50 Raffle: Thank you to the audit team of Bishop and Howland for tallying the results of our raffle. The winning prize of $1,230 was won by Judy Clark of Newaygo. Top ticket sellers were: Martha in first place, Robin in second place and Kim in third place. Thank you to all for selling and bringing in the largest pot yet.

Respectfully Submitted,

Cathy Kaiser, Recording Secretary

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Save the Date!

Quota of Grand Rapids is celebrating!

Save the Date! July 24, 2014. Click HERE to see the official card. Share this with everyone you know. We want everyone to help us celebrate!

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Farmers Market

The first Saturday of each month Quota serves coffee and talks up healthy hearing at the Fulton Street Farmers Market. We have 3 volunteers each month but the more, the merrier! Join us from 10 until 12 and have some fun AND move Quota forward!

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July in Cincinnati

Several of us are getting ready to head to Quota International’s 2014 Convention. This is the biannual conference where Quota members from all over the world gather in the name of Quota’s mission. We make new friends and spend time with treasured friends. We see the difference that we make around the world.

Can’t go? Here’s how you can help this year without taking the car ride to Cincinnati, click this link to Q.I.’s website. We can take books, bears or monetary donations. If you would like to make a donation, the link on their page will take you to the donation page where you can print out the form. Give the form and/or donations to Emily,  Kim, or Martha before July 15th and they will be sure to turn it in at Convention.

Let’s continue to make a difference!

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June 2014 President’s Message

Maureen shared the link from Network for Good, a non-profit platform, with me about Storytelling for Nonprofits.  Over the past year, we have talked briefly about this topic and how we can engage more people as members, supporters, donors, and so on.  The Membership Committee, chaired by Diane, has shown intense interest in this subject, encouraging us to learn how this skill can benefit our Club.

Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of communication, stretching generations, and teaching young and old people strong ethics, morals, and sensitivity to, and for others.  Many of us have problems telling good stories simply by misunderstanding some of the basic guidelines.  This is just one of the points as outlined in the eBook on how to present stories that attract donors, win support and raise money.

“Stories help us remember.  When you have facts you want people to remember, it’s much more likely the facts will be remembered if you contain those facts within a story.”

Last Thursday, I attended the concert held by the students of Ken-O-Sha school.  While I sat and listened to their little voices, reaching out and touching each one of us in the audience in a different way, I looked at the end of the row where Sandi Aten was sitting.  At one time this past month, she said she might like to volunteer somewhere else.  I don’t believe it!

Sandi had her eyes glued to each and every one of those 63 students, engaged and humored by their intensity, their efforts, their expressions and the joy of being recognized for their hard work.  She was every bit as happy as having several new friends, several new grandkids or several days traveling with friends. She knew all of the children, in one way or another, and praised them afterwards with warm and kind words of support. Her heart has been touched in so many ways by these children, their struggles, their failures, their accomplishments and their rewards.  I believe she will be there next year.

This is a story.  This is a memory.  This is an emotion.

This is why we are here; this is why we do what we do; and this is how we make a difference.

At our Summer Celebration on July 24th, we will be showing the last few videos of these children singing and playing their hearts out at these performances.  Please find a story that you can tell.

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