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Quota International Service eNewsletter July 2015
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Quota International President Karen Murphy
Here is a wonderful article about QI President Karen. Some of our Grand Rapids Quotarians were privileged to meet Karen and her husband when they were touring the United States. She is warm and funny and Quota Clubs worldwide are lucky to have her leading our international organization.
2014 Convention Inspirations
I thought it might be nice for each of the Convention attendees (not all 300, just the three from our club) to share what they brought back. Martha will give an official report (we will post it on here) but here are a few thoughts and insights we each gained:
Convention was awesome with so many Quotarians who are accomplishing tremendous work in the care and support of people around the world. Quota is stepping up to the plate with fabulous new ideas to get us going and growing with modern technology and services. More and more assistance will be given to us to gain and retain our members.
A new initiative is happening in Louisiana regarding emergency notification for the deaf and hard of hearing populations. It’s called SMART 911. If someone is in trouble who is deaf, a new service will now accept texting from a phone to call for help. Police, fire, rescue personnel and medical emergency staff are all involved. This is a terrific connection. I’m hoping we can begin to do the same in our state.
Another special program called sparked.com assists non-profits in obtaining services, volunteers, and items simply by posting them on this website. It’s like Volunteers- on-line, only better, where you advertise what you may need in the area for:
Someone to donate ear plugs
Someone to donate space to hold a meeting
Volunteers who will help with starting a garden at the schools
Local businesses who may donate goods, money, services, etc.
Just small things that make our time more effective, more involved in the community, and increased collaboration among those people who want to make a difference. –Martha J. Herman
There are a wide variety of clubs and activities out there and if we connect with the people we can take away great ideas for our club. -Kim
I love getting to see Quotarians from around the world. I enjoy finding out how they make a difference in their clubs and their communities. It occurred to me that we could be using our Travel Raffle winnings to send to the Hand-to-Hand projects. We don’t designate our funds (many clubs do not), but we might want to consider what programs are going on in the name of Quota.
International President Karen Murphy encourages us to, “Put our Heart into Quota and put Quota in our Heart.”
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!
What’s New at Quota International?
Our Q.I. headquarters has been busy this winter (they must have a lot of snow too) and they have created this amazing blog! What’s so great about it, you ask? It’s much easier for you to share this with your friends and family (just like sharing our blog). Q.I. is constantly updating it with news from around the world so we can see what great things our friends are doing all over the world. Why wouldn’t you want to share this with your friends?
Go check out their blog today. It will be linked permanently for you on our blog under Community Partners.
Go on, check it out!
The FINAL Central Area Meeting
October 11-13, 2013
The weekend weather was gloriously beautiful. The hotel was on a harbor with salmon leaping through the air every few minutes. I walked to the lighthouse each morning to see the sunrise. There was a wonderful farmers’/craft market within walking distance. Oh, to have a GR Quota friend to share it with! Oh well, I survived, sat with district friends at the meetings and dinner and learned so much. Nice weekend!
Eighty attendants included big groups from North Dakota and Wisconsin.
Laura Lehman, International President, opened the Saturday proceedings by explaining several concerns the Board had about moving headquarters to Dallas; after one meeting there, they have changed their minds so QI headquarters will stay in Washington DC.
Regional candidacy is open so the web site has all the candidates with their information. Votes must be to governors by October 15. This does not concern our club because we are unique in that we remain the same six clubs currently in our District will also be in our new Region. Yvonne Babe is running unopposed so she will continue on as Regional Director.
There are more than 50 JQ clubs invited to convention and being asked to submit a video for convention.
There will be a “Draw Down” at convention. Tickets are $100 and must be purchased by March 1. (They may be bought as a group.) 400 will be sold and the winning ticket will be worth $10,000!!!!!
Members are not reading the online version of the Quotarian online as was hoped, so there a hard copy of the publication will be mailed to all in February.
Barbara Schreiber was introduced. She is a young 45 years old with a bundle of energy. I was impressed with her new outlook, quick thinking and commitment to Quota. By the way, she asked again that everyone email her with one reason why you love Quota (she only had a very few respond to her first request—maybe that shows how very few read online!)
Karen Murphy spoke next. She said that Central Area has the highest average member per club in the world – 27 (helped by 52 members in Flint and 51 in Iosco County). Karen is challenging other clubs to match us.
She did say that an average of 87 members worldwide are leaving each month.
Quota’s fiscal year is being changed to the calendar year, which should make many things easier for all.
Karen also said that her club’s JQ has raised $5,000 and will be raising $15,000 next month. Wow!
She announced that this year was NOT a deficit budget year!!!!!!!!!
$1.5 million was donated by Quota worldwide.
There were “reports” by all the district governors.
Yvonne wore her frog hat and she did a great job promoting our Duck Walk!
The 6th district raised $81,000 last year!!!! Yikes!
Julia Witherspoon was the guest speaker — she spoke about her Cops ‘n Kids program and said “I love Quota!” about 600 times (sincerely each time!). She has two new extensions called “Book ‘em” (books for prisoners that they receive right after being booked) and “Books at Birth” which are given to new moms when they leave the hospital. She was presented with an honorary membership in Quota —there were many tears by presenter and presentee. It was quite touching and she is such a wonderful person—so inspiring and loving! (We might want to plan ahead for our March project and think about doing a version of either of her two new projects so we can buy books at the Book Fair in November ????). Just a thought…………
Concluding the afternoon was a panel discussion with the board members. Many attendees had questions about the new structure but I think we have most of the information that was covered and we were promised to receive much more. Possibly the biggest concern was the fiscal calendar change re: dues/taxes. There is no definite answer at present, as the board will have to wait until the Regions make singular decisions in January. We were reminded several times about the time involved in making this major structural change.
This is wordy, I know, so I will just say further that there was a nice banquet on Saturday night when I sat with the Flint contingent and had a very enjoyable time. I bought a Q pendant from the Silent Auction, which raised $1466 for the Wanda Frey Joiner foundation. Sunday involved lots of talk about Cincinnati: cost of the registration is $360 per member. The good news about that is that you can pay in 4 installments.
We split up into Regions to discuss the future. Our Region 4 discussion was about how we can use the new structure to change the way we do things as one entity going forward. For example, our yearly conferences could still move from club to club but without a “host” so that each club contributes in a different way. Also, communication within the Region will become more important, actually, necessary.
That’s it in a nutshell (maybe a big Brazil nut?). Please contact me if you have any specific questions.
Pat
Another way we share
For me, one of the best parts of Quota has been making friends from all around the world. As the digital age reduces the size of our planet, we are able to connect with friends half-way around the globe quicker than ever before. We can send them a quick message on Facebook, a birthday wish on Twitter, or post a picture of time spent with them on a blog.
That’s what I wanted to share with you today.
Well, that and Kim took a picture on her phone, figured out how to email it to me, and I’m sharing it with you. Seriously, if Kim can figure out how to do that (and post her president’s messages on the blog), you don’t have an excuse!
Our incoming Quota International President, Karen Murphy, is making her way across North America with her husband Brian. They are visiting clubs, cities, Area Meetings, and Quota members. As Karen and her husband head toward Milwaukee to the last Central Area Meeting, Kim extended the invitation to our club via email and Robin, Cathy and myself joined three members from Kalamazoo (Betty, Judi and Suzy) Thursday evening. We had dinner at Watermark Grille.
(Kim’s phone photo)
I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we all enjoyed our time with Karen and each other (I’m not leaving out Brian; he was also interesting, he was also mostly quiet, like any good Quotarian husband).
Here’s the entire group
Karen is fascinating; a forward-thinker, a superb leader, funny, a good listener, a proud Quotarian, and Australian so she has that great accent.
Pat is currently at the Central Area meeting as I type this. I’m sure she will have news to share when she returns. We will be sure to post it on here so you can keep up with the latest from Q.I.
I want to leave you with this reminder. Quota is about sharing and caring. We help others, we make a difference. We also make friends and strong connections that bring us closer. When we make a difference, it ripples through so many more people than we can ever hope to reach. But it’s when we get together, sit down, and have a meal. It’s the thanksgiving of our new friendships, lasting friendships, and laughter. I have learned this through experience. There is great joy in our service and there is great joy in our gatherings. Yes, I am plugging meetings. Every meeting. Conference, Area meetings, Conventions, and club meetings. Dinner meetings with future Q.I. presidents are a bonus. And don’t forget committee meetings.
These are the connections that make us stronger. These are the connections of Quota.
IMPORTANT Update from Quota International
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Quota Quick Update
5 July 2012
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Important Update on Structure and Governance Proposal
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Writer and Designer: Nancy Fitzpatrick, Deputy Executive Director
Occasional Quota Quick Updates are sent to members with e-mail addresses in the Quota International membership database. At no time is e-mail information sold or loaned. Delete, change, or add your e-mail address online or contact kyle@quota.org for assistance.
Quota Quick update
Did you receive an email from Quota International? Check out their website for updates, information and more! Also, be sure to read what President Chris blogged about! It’s as easy as clicking here.
Plus, Quota is issuing a “Q-pon”!!! Want to check it out? Click here.
Be sure to stay updated with our blog and Q.I.’s. Information is added weekly to our blog. Have something you want to share? Contact Emily and she will post it right here! Don’t forget to check back soon for some photos of the 2012 Cool Cats skiing adventures!
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