Present:
From the Retirees Association: From the College:
John Anderson Gord MacDougall, V.P.
Vincent Durant Rob Zuback,Director, Alumni & Development
Clare Rayner
Dick Tindal
From the Retirees Association: From the College:
John Anderson Gord MacDougall, V.P.
Vincent Durant Rob Zuback,Director, Alumni & Development
Clare Rayner
Dick Tindal
Connecting with New Retirees:
This item generated considerable discussion. Our Association has faced two hurdles with respect to recruiting new members: (1) Becoming aware of those who retire and are willing to be contacted, and (2) Having new retirees respond positively to the invitation to join our Association.
In response to the second issue, Gord suggested that we consider keeping retirees on our mailing list even if they don’t initially join, or subsequently don’t renew. Dick responded that he could keep a separate email group (something like “members in waiting”) and send them all the emails that go out to members – subject, of course, to approval by our executive. Vincent broached the idea of dispensing with a membership fee at all, in case that represented any kind of deterrent, and relying instead on member contributions to pay for our social events and also, perhaps, member donations to provide us with additional funds for special projects. This too is something that would need to be explored by the full executive.
With respect to the first issue, Gord reported on continuing problems getting up to date comprehensive information on the numbers who retire in a given time period and how many of those give permission to share their contact information with the Association. Rob reported that he had done a manual count and identified (for the preceding fiscal year) a total of 31 retirees who had given permission to share their information with the Association and the Foundation, and another 7 who have authorized sharing with the Association only. Clare and Dick estimate that they have been notified of 10 or so retirees over the past year, so there are still problems within the College on the sharing with us of information from retirees. Both Gord and Rob are determined to get this matter resolved, and once the College records are reviewed, Rob will pass along the contact information for the 38 retirees who have authorized it to be shared with us. [N.B. See update at the end of these minutes for the latest (positive) news concerning this issue.]
50th Anniversary Celebrations in 2017:
The College agrees that retirees should be an integral part of the focus of the 50th anniversary celebrations. Rob expects to call upon us as a resource, not just as eventual participants. We discussed the possibility of unveiling an updated the Wall of Appreciation, in a new digital format, as an event that would be a major draw in bringing retirees to the anniversary celebrations. Dick will continue to discuss with Rob approaches that can be taken to update the records and develop the new “Wall.” Gord suggested that beyond a list of names of retirees (which would not mean much to current and future students), we should include in whatever is developed some information about the history of the College (and its colourful characters).
Time for Us Events:
We thanked the College for including on the registration form for this year’s events, a category of retiree. This was cited as a good example of the College acknowledging our group in its offerings and activities. Our Association offered to host a Time for Us event in 2016 about “Life After Retirement” and Gord will forward that offer to those organizing next year’s sessions.
The Association’s New Website:
Vincent and Dick spoke briefly about the new website that we are developing – slcretirees.weebly.com. We will follow up on Gord’s suggestion to ask Kelly Wylie and/or Kathy Patterson to look at what we have done so far and offer ideas for our design and layout. We also discussed the idea of contacting retirees who are non-members to visit and use our website. By its nature, of course, anyone from anywhere in the world can visit and post comments, but the idea would be specifically to invite fellow retirees who have not joined our Association but may enjoy keeping in touch. An excellent example would be the sizeable number of retires in Cornwall who are not members but meet regularly. Dick will contact Dave Enns (from this group) once our website is a little more firmed up. If necessary, we can create a separate page within our website for Cornwall (and for Brockville), but ideally they will participate within the non-geographic categories of retiree chat, sharing memories, etc.
Continuing College Support for the Association:
We thanked the College for its continuing support of the Association and extended a special thank you to Gord for arranging and providing the lunch. The next MOU meeting will be held sometime in November. No decision was taken on the possibility of a MOU meeting in Myrtle Beach in February, although Vincent did keep asking Gord to be sure and pick him up if he decided to head down on the corporate jet.
Adjournment:
The business meeting adjourned at 12:15, followed by a pleasant lunch.
Update/Addendum to Minutes: Connecting with New Retirees
Happily, the Minutes overstated the problems that exist with regards to the College providing information to the Association concerning new retirees who are willing to share their contact information with us. The ever-helpful, irreplaceable Lacey Monk was on vacation when the MOU meeting was held and she has recently provided statistics that more accurately cover the recent time period that had been discussed at the MOU meeting. As a result, and subject to further investigation by our executive, it now appears that the College is doing a good job of sharing this important information with us.
This item generated considerable discussion. Our Association has faced two hurdles with respect to recruiting new members: (1) Becoming aware of those who retire and are willing to be contacted, and (2) Having new retirees respond positively to the invitation to join our Association.
In response to the second issue, Gord suggested that we consider keeping retirees on our mailing list even if they don’t initially join, or subsequently don’t renew. Dick responded that he could keep a separate email group (something like “members in waiting”) and send them all the emails that go out to members – subject, of course, to approval by our executive. Vincent broached the idea of dispensing with a membership fee at all, in case that represented any kind of deterrent, and relying instead on member contributions to pay for our social events and also, perhaps, member donations to provide us with additional funds for special projects. This too is something that would need to be explored by the full executive.
With respect to the first issue, Gord reported on continuing problems getting up to date comprehensive information on the numbers who retire in a given time period and how many of those give permission to share their contact information with the Association. Rob reported that he had done a manual count and identified (for the preceding fiscal year) a total of 31 retirees who had given permission to share their information with the Association and the Foundation, and another 7 who have authorized sharing with the Association only. Clare and Dick estimate that they have been notified of 10 or so retirees over the past year, so there are still problems within the College on the sharing with us of information from retirees. Both Gord and Rob are determined to get this matter resolved, and once the College records are reviewed, Rob will pass along the contact information for the 38 retirees who have authorized it to be shared with us. [N.B. See update at the end of these minutes for the latest (positive) news concerning this issue.]
50th Anniversary Celebrations in 2017:
The College agrees that retirees should be an integral part of the focus of the 50th anniversary celebrations. Rob expects to call upon us as a resource, not just as eventual participants. We discussed the possibility of unveiling an updated the Wall of Appreciation, in a new digital format, as an event that would be a major draw in bringing retirees to the anniversary celebrations. Dick will continue to discuss with Rob approaches that can be taken to update the records and develop the new “Wall.” Gord suggested that beyond a list of names of retirees (which would not mean much to current and future students), we should include in whatever is developed some information about the history of the College (and its colourful characters).
Time for Us Events:
We thanked the College for including on the registration form for this year’s events, a category of retiree. This was cited as a good example of the College acknowledging our group in its offerings and activities. Our Association offered to host a Time for Us event in 2016 about “Life After Retirement” and Gord will forward that offer to those organizing next year’s sessions.
The Association’s New Website:
Vincent and Dick spoke briefly about the new website that we are developing – slcretirees.weebly.com. We will follow up on Gord’s suggestion to ask Kelly Wylie and/or Kathy Patterson to look at what we have done so far and offer ideas for our design and layout. We also discussed the idea of contacting retirees who are non-members to visit and use our website. By its nature, of course, anyone from anywhere in the world can visit and post comments, but the idea would be specifically to invite fellow retirees who have not joined our Association but may enjoy keeping in touch. An excellent example would be the sizeable number of retires in Cornwall who are not members but meet regularly. Dick will contact Dave Enns (from this group) once our website is a little more firmed up. If necessary, we can create a separate page within our website for Cornwall (and for Brockville), but ideally they will participate within the non-geographic categories of retiree chat, sharing memories, etc.
Continuing College Support for the Association:
We thanked the College for its continuing support of the Association and extended a special thank you to Gord for arranging and providing the lunch. The next MOU meeting will be held sometime in November. No decision was taken on the possibility of a MOU meeting in Myrtle Beach in February, although Vincent did keep asking Gord to be sure and pick him up if he decided to head down on the corporate jet.
Adjournment:
The business meeting adjourned at 12:15, followed by a pleasant lunch.
Update/Addendum to Minutes: Connecting with New Retirees
Happily, the Minutes overstated the problems that exist with regards to the College providing information to the Association concerning new retirees who are willing to share their contact information with us. The ever-helpful, irreplaceable Lacey Monk was on vacation when the MOU meeting was held and she has recently provided statistics that more accurately cover the recent time period that had been discussed at the MOU meeting. As a result, and subject to further investigation by our executive, it now appears that the College is doing a good job of sharing this important information with us.