Calgary Co-operative Memorial Society

CCMS 2010 AGM - Chairperson's Remarks

I will be brief, because there are a number of people to be recognized and because we have not had too many onerous tasks to take care of this year, although we still had eight full meetings with lots of discussion.

As I emphasized last year, this Board of Directors is second to none. They are such a reliable group of people to work with. Usually, a chairperson must constantly be on top of every little detail the other members are involved with. This group has made my job very easy because each committee goes about its duties and completes its projects without having to be reminded of anything! What a wonderful bunch!

The year in review includes the following:

We do not hold regular meetings each month, instead they are held on an ad hoc basis. This past year we have had eight but the e-mails fly fast and furious.

We started, as usual, with an orientation session for our new Board members, given by Laurie Mills, followed by election of officers and organization of most of the committees.

Thankfully, we won’t have negotiations for Service Provider contracts until 2012 but other duties have consumed a lot of time.

Presentations and Advertising people have increased our membership in good numbers by their usual methods and have gone further to prepare PSAs for many local and nearby media outlets in hopes of spreading our worthwhile services. So far ,]these have not produced as much as we’d hoped but we’re still working on it. John Dolan of “Soundguys” has been a great help. Of course, our Presentations Committee is to be commended for their on-going work giving information and signing up members wherever invited.

The Web site committee is keeping our information up to date on most everything.

Having the office, in the “Old Y”, has been a real asset. Adina now has some part –time assistance to help update the locations of members who have moved and not sent forwarding information. Please remember to do this if you change your address or phone number. We don’t want to lose you!

As well as the presentations given to groups, both large and small, other promotional or net-working activities have included the Gerontology Association , ACCA and at the Senior Services event at City Hall and the Kerby Centre.

We have instituted a new procedure for making donations of excess funds to worthy charitable organizations, about which you will hear shortly. Since we are a non-profit society, we are limited in what funds we can keep and if we have excess are required to give some away! Besides what the next report will show, we also make an annual donation to the Gerontology Nurses and two scholarships to Mount Royal University’s Gerontology Nursing students.

All our standing committees continue with their work year-round, but we do have one fun event - a Board Dinner to tie up plans for the AGM and to SOCIALIZE!!

All in all, it has been a very good year. Thank you for coming. Diane Walker, Chairperson

We started, as usual, with an orientation session for our new Board members, given by Laurie Mills, followed by election of officers and organization of most of the committees.

Terry Geib designed a new display board for our presentations.  The Advertising and Presentation committee works year-round giving information and signing up new members wherever invited.  All the rest of us help out by volunteering at the larger events such as the one for Senior Services at City Hall or at the Kerby Centre.

The office, which was set up in late 2007, had on-going needs as befits any new venture.  We were able to avail ourselves of a number of donations of time, hardware, etc. but spent a few dollars to make the office   an efficient means of servicing your needs.  When the adjoining office became available we decided to rent it.  Space in the Old Y, which is reserved for charitable or non-profit organizations, is dirt cheap!  To celebrate we held an “Open House” at the office in June.

As well as the presentations given to groups, both large and small, other promotional or net-working  activities have included the Gerontology Association , ACCA and the above-mentioned booths at the Senior Services event at City Hall and the Kerby Centre.

New four-year contracts were agreed to with McInnis and Holloway, Calgary & area; Cornerstone, Lethbridge; Cook Southland, Medicine Hat; and Southland, Taber.  We believe the new prices, while higher than we’d have liked, represent good value for our members.  Unfortunately, we were unable to come to an agreement with Smith (Brooks) or Pincher Funeral Chapel (Pincher Creek).

All our standing committees continue with their work year-round, but we do have one fun event - a Board Dinner to tie up plans for the AGM and to SOCIALIZE!!

All in all, it has been a very good year.  Thank you for coming.     Diane Walker, Chair

February: is the annual orientation regarding the purpose and work done by the Board for our new Board Members.  The Executive was elected and the Committees formed for the work of the coming Year.
March /April:  were organizing months for the new committees. The First Calgary Savings, Bank used by our Society had been undergoing changes requiring new cheques, account numbers, etc.  Our bank manager also advised the amalgamation of several small accounts that we had in place to incur a better rate of interest. Our Treasurer began the process to upgrade our manual system to the computer.
May:   At the AGM in January a full slate of Board Members had not been elected.  Sylvia Kasper, an interested guest at the May Board Meeting, took a Nomination Form to apply for a place on the Board much to our delight.  As our Bylaws allow, when Nomination Forms have been presented and approved by the Board, we may fill such vacancies.
June/July: No meetings held as several Board Members were away traveling and there was no pressing business. However, the work of the Society continued with our Membership Manager helping Members with their questions or funeral arrangements as well as signing up new Members.  This is always an ongoing process.  Promotions are ongoing as well and that Team, by request, was out representing our Society at meetings and socials, as well as manning Booths at events around the city.
August: The first merger of some of the Term deposits occurred and the Treasurer continued to convert bookkeeping data to the computer.  Web site problems began to surface. (Financial report available if you send a self addressed and stamped envelope.)
September:  Our Membership Manager, Farida Silas, wished to retire and sent us her letter of resignation as of the end of her contract October 31^st.  Board Member, Adina Lyon, stepped down from the Board, submitted her resume and applied for the position.  We began to look into relocating in an office down town.  Website problems continued and had to be addressed. The original site had been corrupted and Michell Computing was hired to redesign the site.
October: Adina Lyon began training to take over the job of Membership Manager in November and a new contract was negotiated with her and accepted.  Farida gave her last fiscal year end report to the Board. Her time with us was drawing to a close. The Board held an appreciation dinner for her and the torch was passed to our new Membership Manager and Office Co-coordinator, Adina.
November:  At this meeting of the Board, George Melnyk, a guest, and interested Member who had been highly recommended to us, submitted his Nomination Form to the Board. He was accepted and will be introduced at AGM along with the other new Board Members. The Treasurer announced that Treasury Records were completely computerized and a new Auditor was in place to review the financials for the AGM. A new Website was launched with new people trained to manage it. With plans well in place for the next January’s AGM, we were able to take December off.
January, 2008: At a dinner meeting plans were finalized for the upcoming AGM and dates arranged for the start up of the new Board and the next AGM in 2009.

It has been a very good year.

May 13, 2008 -  Snowbirds’ Senior Fellowship  -  Bragg Creek 

May 3, 2008 - Alberta Women's Institute - Bow sland

March 14, 2008 -  MCF Aspen Lodge - Calgary

January  15, 2008 -  Brooks Legion -  Brooks, Alberta,