Carole J. Greene, President
Did you miss me last month? Maybe I shouldn’t ask. Never mind. Yes, my vacation in Australia and New Zealand was fabulous. I’d love to tell you all about it—if you have a few hours to spare.
On to the task at hand: to let you know what the board has done since my last report.
At our March 12 board meeting, we accepted one new applicant for membership. Added to the three we approved via e-mail vote in February, when we did not have a board meeting, and the one who joined in January, that totals five new members since the beginning of the year. We received renewal dues from most of the current members and contacted those who haven’t yet sent their checks to learn whether they intend to retain their membership or will bid us farewell. We sent the complete list to the printer for our 2015 members’ yearbook, which will be available at our April luncheon.
The board approved a revised mission statement for the club. It’s more concise and accurately reflects what we’re all about. Look for it in the new yearbook.
Scholarship chair Connie Kindsvater has sent information to the media on how to apply for one of our scholarships. The committee will interview applicants and announce recipients in May. We invite any NPC member who knows of a Collier County high-school senior who intends to pursue a college course in journalism or media to contact Connie for the requirements and an application. Deadline for applying is April 15.
The bios/photos project on the “Member Section” of our NPC website is still being tweaked, but we’ve released the password so members can click, read and learn more about one another. I won’t show the password here since sometimes non-members read Scoop (really, they do!) and this is a members-only perk. If you missed the e-mail to tell you the password, let me know. If you haven’t provided a 100-word biography or a photo and want to, send to Sandy Reed. Her email address is on the website.
We close out our “season” with our May luncheon. Our contract with the Hilton runs concurrently with our season—October to May—so during May we will sit down with the appropriate personnel at the hotel to work out our contract for 2015-16. We’d like to have it in place prior to our annual board retreat, scheduled for May 16.
We have decided not to schedule member mixers during the summer months. We will pursue discussions about partnering with one or more other local organizations for a major summer event that will bring out NPC members who stay through the summer plus other interested folks from the wider community.
Our next board meeting is set for April 9. If you know of an item the board should consider, let me know and I’ll put it on the agenda.