Birmingham Branch Annual Meeting, April 9, 2008
REPORTS OF THE OFFICERS

President                                                                                             Charlotte Mahrt
The 2007-2008 branch year has been another year of successes.  Sally Doty, Jean Walker and I had the privilege of beginning the year by attending the Association convention in Phoenix.  Excellent speakers, informational workshops and interaction with AAUW members from across the country inspired us to rededicate ourselves to the AAUW mission.  The establishment of the Joyce Hanston Manby Research and Projects Grant again gave our branch a goal to achieve.  The success of the book sale together with the Patron/Donor Fund provided the resources for us to support the Educational Foundation, the Legal Advocacy Fund and local scholarships and community organizations that support our mission.  EXPLORATHON and the Women in Transition Conference encourage young students and more mature women to see the advantages of further education and to develop their plans to make their dreams come true.  Membership and attendance at branch meetings have increased.  A review of the reports of the various committees will demonstrate to you that we, as a branch, are blessed with dedicated and committed members.  My thanks to the board and all of the members who have contributed their time and efforts to make this a successful year!

Vice President – Program                                                                Anne Nagel
Our programs this year have been varied and interesting.  We began the year with our “Each One, Bring One” open house.  Some of the other highlights were 1) Sheriff Michael Bouchard on Identity Theft, 2) AAUW Fellowship Recipient Michelle Segar on Exercise, 3) a holiday musical program by the Birmingham Groves High School Choir, 4) Philip Power, president of The Center for Michigan, 5) Dr. J.C. Patterson speaking on DNA, 6) Faye Nelson, president and CEO of the Detroit RiverFront Conservancy and 7) our own Nancy Fishman, co-founder of Forgotten Harvest. 

Vice President – Membership                                                         Pamela Hoffman
We have had another successful year for membership.  Since this time last year, I have sent about 100 membership packets, and we have 27 new members.  Our current members are our best recruiters; I also get requests for membership information from our website, from newspapers and from our brochures scattered across the area.  I am delighted to report this year that the mentoring program has been established; 16 members responded to my call for mentors, and at this point, four of the newest members have been assigned mentors.  Before the program was in place, I called our new members monthly to check to see if they had gotten their bulletins or had questions about their membership.  We are seeing involvement of our new members in our study/interest groups and branch leadership.  I am always delighted to have an opportunity to thank Ellen Cook for hosting our new member coffees; it is such a wonderful way to introduce new members to the branch and to one another.  I have so enjoyed my four years as membership vice president.  Thank you for all your cooperation and support.

Recording Secretary                                                                          Sally Doty
 I have kept a record of the minutes of the board of directors and executive committee meetings.  All motions, reports from committees and any handouts are filed with the attendance, agenda, minutes, treasurer’s reports and The Bulletin for each month.  The minutes are sent monthly by e-mail immediately after the meeting to the board of directors for inclusion in The Bulletin and once again prior to the next month’s meeting for review.

REPORTS OF SPECIAL EVENTS

Book Sale                                                   Sue Frankie, Pam Hoffman, Dorie Marshall, Jean Walker
The 2007 Book Sale was held on September 7-9.  Barrels went out just after Memorial Day.  Once again, we were able to set up the sorting site at the Bloomfield Hills Schools’ Farm Activity Building where even on the hottest day, we always had a breeze.  We also had birds!  Our barrel collectors and our sorters worked diligently over the summer.  Alan LaRue, our friend from Lahser High School, came back to help us again this summer; he is such a delightful young person!  The move from the sorting site to the Masonic Temple went smoothly with the help of AAUW branch members, their spouses, friends, families and significant others.  The weekend of the sale involved about 125 members and those mentioned above.  Again, it was a group effort with positive results.  This year we had almost 100 boxes of books more than last year with more books left over.  Our total profit: $14,898.76.  We had significant contributions to the Patron Donor Fund, sending almost $8,000 to the Educational Foundation in the name of our dear friend Joyce Manby.  The committee thanks all of the branch members and our extended families and friends for their hard work and monetary support.  So many students and community organizations will benefit from it.

Explorathon                                                                                         Jean Walker
On April 2nd the 16th annual EXPLORATHON: Expanding Horizons for Girls in Science and Math project was hosted by a coalition of four groups: the AAUW Birmingham Branch Foundation, Inc., Cranbrook Institute of Science, Detroit Country Day School and the Ford Motor Company Fund.  It was the 29th Birmingham Branch program since its inception as “Yes, You Can!”

 This day was full of workshops and conversations with women scientists and engineers.  These 53 presenters used their expertise, experience and education to inform and connect with eighth to eleventh grade students to inspire an interest in the science, math, engineering and health care fields.  Some of the activities included working with compressed air-operated tools, “dissecting” old outdated computers, searching for archaeological artifacts, doing in vitro fertilization of frogs and observing the working of a hybrid car.

EXPLORATHON again received a grant from the Ford Motor Company Fund.  This enabled us to continue to reach out to provide student scholarships and fund 26 schools with bus subsidies. 

 Our keynote speaker was Dr. Felecia Coleman, the Director of the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory, Tallahassee.  She presented her work with reef fish and explained the ecology and conservation aspects of her research.

Over 100 branch members contributed their time and efforts to this event.  In January 3,200 registration brochures are mailed to all schools in the tri-county area.  The day-long event requires many members donating hours of service to provide the organization for the program, lunch, registration, signs, scheduling and workshop aides.  DCDS students earned community service hours as hall monitors and guides.  There is a concurrent seminar for teachers and parents which includes discussion time with our keynote speaker and two workshop experiences.

This event is one of the Birmingham Branch’s outstanding contributions to the community and to the mission of AAUW.  It encourages young women to study and enter the fields of STEM – science, technology, engineering and math.

Women in Transition Conference                                                   Carol Pyke
On Friday, November 9, approximately ninety women attended the fourth “Women in Transition Conference: Everything You Wanted to Know About Getting Ahead” held at Baker College in Auburn Hills, developed and planned by AAUW Birmingham, Waterford/Pontiac, and Oakland branches along with representatives from Oakland Community College, Baker College and the Oakland County Workforce Development Division.

The keynote speaker was Reverent Faith Fowler, Pastor of Cass Community United Methodist Church and Executive Director of the Cass Community Social Services in Detroit.  Following the keynote speech a series of people expert in their fields discussed such topics as “Where Are the Jobs?” and  “Career Exploration – How Do you Know What’s Right for You?”  Counselors from Baker College and Oakland Community College spoke about admissions, and representatives from various skilled trades overviewed opportunities for women in their respective areas.  The participants left with renewed hope and specific goals knowing that there is more to their future than perhaps they had realized before the conference.

ADDITIONAL BOARD REPORTS

Dues Treasurer                                                                                  Bev Pintar
The Birmingham Branch of AAUW had a total of 322 members on March 12, 2008.  At this time last year, there were 304 members.  This is slightly better than a 5½% increase in membership.  We have one new honorary life member, Martha Tittle.  We have a total of fifteen honorary life members.  Each one has been active in AAUW for at least fifty years.

Educational Foundation                                                                    Peggy John
The highlight of our year was receiving approval from the AAUW Educational Foundation to establish the Joyce Hanston Manby Research and Project Grant (#4315).  We will have ten years to complete this grant with donations of $75,000.  This year we gave $12,115 towards this goal.  Named honorees were Sally Herring Doty and Pamela Rigsby Hoffman.  In addition we donated $2,835 to the Legal Advocacy Fund.  Approximately $800 of this was from the “adoption” of quilts created by Piecemakers and Creative Needles and given to Children’s Hospital.

Study/Interest Group Coordinator                                                   Chris Salley
As coordinator, I arranged a summer luncheon for incoming Study/Interest Group Chairs to thank them in advance for their time and effort in running the monthly programs and for participating in the September Open House.  Planning for this year’s luncheon and open house will begin soon.

I collected programs and rosters from each chair and submitted the Study/Interest Group calendar of events to the Bulletin each month.  Many chairs took advantage of the new e-mail format to report their programs.  Two new groups were formed this year: Philosophical Explorations and Word Play.

At this time, Birmingham Branch AAUW has 34 study/interest groups that cover these activities:
The Arts (3), Book Clubs (8), Home and Garden (4), The Humanities (1), AAUW and Social Concerns (4), On the Town (3) and Just for Fun/Bridge (11).                                              

Public Policy                                                                                        Karen Linnell
This year the Public Policy Committee has been studying four topics that relate to the AAUW public policy priorities:

1.  Gender equity in local high school athletics: Senate Bill 518 has been introduced mandating the collection of athletic data at the high school level.  We have contacted Senators Levin and Stabenow asking them to sign on as cosponsors. 

2.  No Child Left Behind (NCLB): We heard an excellent presentation by Carol Pyke on the current NCLB and have read the recommended changes from AAUW for reauthorization.    We will continue to monitor the reauthorization and work with an education committee to advocate changes.

3.  Mobilizing women to vote: Recognizing that we lack sufficient women-power for a full-scale registration and get-out-the-vote (GOTV) campaign, we have offered to partner with the League of Women Voters and members of Michigan Voice.

4.  Affirmative Action: Following the disappointing passage of Proposal #2 in 2006, the Public Policy Committee continues to look for opportunities to continue our advocacy of affirmative action.  We will focus on steps we can take in our community to affect attitudes and improve diversity.

 The Public Policy Committee is also reviewing ballot proposals that may appear on the November 2008 ballot in an effort to keep our membership informed.

Leadership/Personnel (Data Base)                                                Carol Ringvelski
As Leadership/Personnel chair, I have accumulated all data from membership forms and entered that data on spreadsheets. The purpose of this collection is to have a complete inventory of a member’s history and her areas of expertise.  This includes background information, hobbies, talents, skills and interests. This data can be disaggregated based on a need or request as members look for other members to serve in different capacities.  Another role of my chairmanship was to form a committee to nominate candidates for the positions of membership vice president, treasurer, recording secretary and corresponding secretary.

Program Coordinators                                                                      Louise Taylor, Pat Bentley
This year the program coordinators reserved sites for the monthly meetings in a variety of locations: Plum Hollow Country Club, the Bloomfield Open Hunt Club, the Iroquois Club, the Centerpointe Marriott and Andiamo’s.  Each luncheon menu and venue was chosen to fit within the branch’s guideline pricepoint of $24.00.

Public Relations                                                                                 Barbara Gash, Ruthan Brodsky
Starting in August we publicized the upcoming Open House where the speaker was the superintendent of the Bloomfield Hills Schools.  Then came the book sale with several articles published in local papers.  Calendar listings went to six to eight newspapers for many of the monthly meetings (i.e. Sheriff Bouchard on Identity Theft, Philip Power on the state of Michigan, the Gala – Valentine Boutique, Women in Transition Conference and Explorathon).  Phil Power’s speech was also recorded by the local cable station.  

International Relations                                                                      Cheryl VanZetten
In 2007-2008, the energetic members of the International Relations group studied issues of women in East Central Africa.  Research summaries of health, education, and economic standards in Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia and Chad were presented.  It is apparent that women are economically, socially, culturally and educational disadvantaged and are faced with big challenges in caring for themselves.

The focus of our 2008-2009 studies will be 20th and 21st century global women leaders.  This group meets on the first Monday of the month at 10:00 a.m. and looks forward to welcoming any interested AAUW members who wish to enrich their knowledge of global foreign affairs.

Bulletin                                                                                                 Carol Pyke
The Bulletin is published monthly and distributed by e-mail or the US Postal Service as requested by members.  Each month the contents include information about the various interest groups, a summary of the board meeting and an announcement of the details of the next luncheon meeting.  Other articles are included that are newsworthy dealing with the mission of AAUW.  The newsletter is not published in July and August.

Education/Equity                                                                                Callie Schmidt
The job of the Education Chair is to inform the membership and the board, through oral reports and articles, about current issues in education from the local, state or national perspective.  Sometimes the board will ask to have a summary placed in the bulletin.  Another part of the job is to suggest program ideas to the program vice president which might inform the members of issues concerning education and equity.  The chair should form a committee to help with the research.

Hospitality                                                                                            Marion Muma, Barbara Cochran
This has been a year of wonderful and mind-expanding luncheon programs plus fine cuisine and lovely settings.  Our luncheon attendance has increased again this year.  Whereas our average attendance was 60 per luncheon last year, it looks as if average attendance this year is headed toward 65.  Our own wonderful AAUW planners are to be thanked for that increase and for the extraordinary speakers and entertainment they brought us.

I appreciate your promptness in submitting your reservations this year, and I love being on the receiving end of the cheery cards and notes some of you send along with your checks.  It has been truly gratifying to serve as your hospitality envoy and to meet you and be able to provide you and your guests with nametags.

Fund Raising                                                                                      Leslie Freeburg
In the fall the branch had a Holiday Cash Raffle that lasted 37 days.  Two raffle ticket holders won $500, and the remaining 35 lucky raffle winners won $100.  The branch profited $5,000 towards our operating expenses.  The Valentine Gala in February had 16 local vendors selling varied merchandise and a parade of these items by board members along with a delicious lunch and several door prizes.  We netted a profit of $1,158.  May 20th will bring our annual Wine Tasting gathering.

Diversity                                                                                               Linda Schnorbus
The Diversity Chair keeps the branch members informed of community activities associated with the Birmingham-Bloomfield Race Relations and Diversity Task Force.  She makes suggestions to the programming committee about speakers from our diverse community, and she participates in coalescing programs with other organizations such as Explorathon and the Transition Conference held at Baker College that address diverse groups of women.  I am honored to have been named our Diversity Champion for this year. 

Website                                                                                                Anita MacSorley
The Birmingham Branch website, www.aauw-birmmi.org, has up-to-date information about the events we sponsor and links to related web sites.  The home page indicates new items of interest as they are added to the site and is the best place to start looking for information.  The calendar of events pages displays the schedule for our regular monthly meetings and luncheons plus additional programs of interest to our members.  Check out the photo album with pictures from several recent events.  The number of hits to the site has been steadily increasing with a surge in January, followed by March.  There was an average of 47 hits per day in March.  Most visitors enter into our website directly.  If you have any suggestions for the site, please contact me.

Nominating Committee                                                                    Carol Ringvelski
The Nominating Committee which consisted of Bev Pintar, Pam Hoffman, Linda Schnorbus, Penny Cambier and Carol Ringvelski, chair, presented the following slate for 2008-2010 branch officers:

            Vice President – Membership – Sally Kendrick
            Treasurer – Sue Longstreet
            Recording Secretary – Pamela Hoffman
            Corresponding Secretary – Andrea Zalewski (one year to complete unexpired term)

AAUW BIRMINGHAM BRANCH FOUNDATION, INC.                     Sally Doty

During 2007 a new partner organization was established.  The AAUW Birmingham Branch Foundation, Inc. is designated as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization and as such donations received are tax deductible to the donor.  This adjunct organization to the AAUW Birmingham Branch allows more flexibility in attracting outside donors and, hopefully, in encouraging our branch members to donate directly to the Foundation. 

The overriding purpose of the Foundation is to support those activities of the branch that support education and create programs and opportunities that help women and girls achieve equality and equity.

Your donations to the Foundation will be used to support branch activities, such as local scholarships, Women in Transition Conferences, Explorathon and similar activities as they develop, as well as the AAUW Educational Foundation and the Legal Advocacy Fund.  The means that your annual dues of $17 support branch expenses and those activities that are not covered under the 501(c)(3) designation.

The incorporators of this Foundation were Barbara Brose, Sally Doty, Charlotte Mahrt, Laurie Marshall and Jean Walker.  The present board consists of Sally Doty, president; Peggy John, treasurer; Jean Walker, secretary; Charlotte Mahrt and Sue Longstreet, directors.

 

Revised 06/15/08