On a beautiful sunny fall afternoon the 15 Board members met on the Inn's front lawn overlooking Bower's Harbor. Members in attendance were Jeff Anderson, Ruth Carey, Jim Crowfoot, Joan D'Argo, Bronwyn Jones, David Krumlauf, Sandy McArthur, Sally Neal, Grant Parsons, Mary Ann Reinhart, Dave Reinhart,Bob Russell, John Schneider, and Dottie Williams

Sally Van Vleck began the meeting by leading the group in an observance of the Fall Equinox which included a seasonal blessing from Earth Prayers (see the side bar). Also in this observance all the ancestors of this special place were invited to be present for the coming meeting. Before beginning the business part of the meeting, each Board member "checked-in" by sharing their greetings and reflections.

Glenn Williams' letter of resignation from the Board was read and the Board expressed their appreciation for his long service to the Center and requested that he be sent a letter of thanks and best wishes for ongoing work with the area arts community.

Bob Russell presented the Center's financial report. His report showed the Center with a cash balance of about $800 and with outstanding bills of approximately $1,600. He reported that the Center's annual appeal for membership renewals and donations was in preparation and would soon be mailed. In response to questions he indicated that the Center's costs were within budget except for a couple of planned workshops that, had to be canceled due to lack of registration and for a slightly more expensive summer issue of Synapse due to its longer than usual length. He also reported that the Center currently had 110 paid-up members and that this number had been stable for the past couple of years. Approximately half of these member reside in the Traverse City area.

The major agenda item of the meeting were reports on evaluation of Center activities and plans for the Center's future. Sally introduced these reports by saying that the 10th anniversary had been taken as an occasion for evaluating what the Center had been doing and seeking to discern needed changes. She observed that people were less into activism due to the demands of their lives and seemed more in need of ways of renewing themselves and restoring their energies.

In reporting specifically on workshops she indicated that the events dealing with yoga were attracting good registration and participation and for that reason a yoga workshop led by Roger Eischens is scheduled for this coming Nov. 13, 14, and 15 (see page 15). Sally answered questions about the workshops.

She went on to report on other upcoming fall events. On the evening of Oct. 24th the Center will sponsor a Half-Way to Earth Day Celebration (see page 14) which will be a fund raiser for Earth Day, an opportunity for environmental organizations to have information tables, and a time of relaxation and socializing for supporters of Earth Day and related issues. Also in October, Bob and Sally will attend the Media and Democracy Conference sponsored by the Institute for Alternative Journalism. Bob will be a panelist on the topic of the Internet and creating community.

Sally reported on anticipated Center sponsored events in 1998 which are important things the Center has been doing annually for a number of years. Earth Day, April 22nd will be celebrated with an All Species Parade in Traverse City on April 26th. The Casa Materna Collection Day will be held in March and will benefit a Nicaraguan birthing center's services to women experiencing high risk pregnancies. This coming August in Traverse City, the Center will again lead the Candle Float down the Boardman River in observance of Hiroshima/Nagasaki Day and in remembrance of the victims of all wars.

Bob reported on the evaluation of Synapse, a quarterly paper published by the Center, and plans for its future. Bob reported on discussions by the staff and participants in the first Salon concerning possible changes in the format, length and frequency of publication. After considerable Board discussion which affirmed the high value of the publication and Board members' commitments to it the decision was made to continue providing at least some in-depth articles along with briefer news items and to continue publishing four times a year if sufficient new volunteer participation can be found along with funding of $700 per issue.

The Board spent considerable time discussing the needs of the paper and problem solving to determine how in the future to meet these needs. All of the time devoted to the paper is volunteered and the bulk of this work in the past has been done by Sally and Bob. Due to Bob's full time employment outside the Inn and the consequent increased demands of the Inn on Sally's work time, they can no longer provide the bulk of the volunteer time needed to publish the paper. The tasks for which volunteers are needed are:

1. planning each issue including who will be asked to write on different topics, the schedule of deadlines, and delineation of other tasks needing to be done and determining how they will be accomplished

2. making writing assignments, monitoring progress, obtaining completed manuscripts by deadlines and completing any arrangements necessitated by peoples' failure to meet their commitments

3. assembling all completed copy and proof reading by the scheduled time material is passed on to the person(s) doing the layout

4. layout of the paper including conveying completed copy to printer

5. preparing labels, labeling, and mailing

6. local distribution through individual delivery of copies to distributors.

The paper needs Board members to volunteer in the roles of guest editors, member of planning group for each issue, writers, proof readers, doing layout, labeling and mailing, and local distribution. Board members agreed to provide the needed volunteer leadership and task work and requested that Sally and Bob organize this effort. Also Bob reported that a friend of the Center had volunteered to lead the effort to increase local distribution of the paper.

Jim Crowfoot reported on the Center's new project on community sustainability. He reported briefly on the five salons on this topic held by the Center during August and early September and the commitment made by participants to an ongoing monthly salon during the fall and winter(see article in this issue). He also described in writing ongoing information retrieval being done by the Center on this topic(see report in this issue)

Anew benefit for members of the Center was proposed by Bob and Sally. This benefit would allow Center members to stay at the Inn, Mondays through Thursdays, between November 1 and April 30 for a 40% discount which lowers the cast of a room for two people for one night from $75 to $45 and for one person for one night from $65 to $39. Bob presented a written analysis and background information concerning the anticipated impacts of this new benefit. He indicated that the risk to the Inn was acceptable and that the hoped for benefits to the Center would be attracting more current members, particularly people living in the Traverse City area, to come here for relaxation and renewal as well as opportunities to pursue Center work which interests them. He indicated that an additional possible benefit for the Center is that of attracting increased numbers of new members. Bob and Sally reported that the Inn's policy has been to selectively offer discounts to other non-profit organizations whose work is congruent with the mission of Neahtawanta and that this practice would continue and become more formalized. The Board affirmed Bob and Sally's recommendation to begin offering this new benefit to Center members on Jan. 1, 1998.

Sally led a closing ceremony focused on her feedback to each attending Board member followed by a standing ovation from everyone in attendance. At the conclusion of the meeting the Board enjoyed a meal together while sitting outside in the sunshine.

Return to the Index of Synapse 41, Fall 1997