September 22, 2017
Dear Everyone:
Greetings upon this, the first day of
Autumn.
From now until the middle of next March, the days will grow
shorter and the nights will grow longer.
We call these changes Seasons.
Regarding the Mt Diablo Chapter of
ARMA International:
You may recall that last Spring the
Pacific Region Manager,
“Barry”, issued a kind of ultimatum to the Chapter Members, threatening
to shut the Chapter down if they didn’t indicate some kind of interest
in the whole thing. Then he
inexplicably dropped the matter until “after the Regional Leadership
Conference”, which took place in July.
After which, “Barry” was no longer the Pacific Region Manager, so
why should he even care?
In any case, a few people actually did attend “Barry’s” impromptu
teleconference and stated that they were in favor of keeping the Chapter
out of “dormancy”. After the
Regional Leadership Conference, the Chapter Treasurer, “Kate”, sent out
invitations to all of them to meet at a popular sandwich place in a
shopping center in
Concord one Saturday in August.
A few of them actually showed up, including “Becky” who belongs
to both the Mt Diablo Chapter and the Silicon Valley Chapter.
Over breakfast pastries and beverages, we managed to overcome the most
important obstacle. We
formed a Board of Directors.
“Kate” agreed to stay on as Chapter Treasurer.
“Natasha” also volunteered to remain the Secretary.
That left President and Vice President.
“Becky” said that she would be happy to fill the Vice President
position, even though she lives in
Sunnyvale and works in
Milpitas.
As for President, I kept my mouth firmly shut.
Then “Veronica”, who works in the same office as “Natasha”, said,
“I guess that makes me President.”
We all congratulated her and I resumed breathing.
I intend to hang on grimly to the coveted position of “Past
President”.
With that, the Mt Diablo Chapter of ARMA International was up and
staggering yet again.
Last Wednesday, “Veronica” called the first Board Meeting, at her office
in Dublin. “Becky” got stuck
on the freeway, somewhere between Milpitas and
Fremont and joined us by
phone. “Kate” managed to
fight her way out from
Berkeley.
We decided that we would not try to have monthly Chapter meetings
because lack of attendance was the biggest drawback we have.
People keep staying away in droves.
Interestingly, I was approached back at the Regional Leadership
Conference by a person from the Silicon Valley Chapter who has been
having the same problem. She
proposed some kind of a partnership between the two Chapters.
So “Veronica” will contact the Silicon Valley Chapter to see if they
want to “go halvesies” with us in October.
We still don’t know if we’re going to have a lunchtime meeting,
or try for a half-day “seminar” of some kind.
But we’re willing to take a stab at something, and we do have a
“Subject”.
In light of the hurricanes pummeling the
Gulf and
Eastern Coasts of the
United States, with subsequent flooding, and the
major earthquake that
just hit Mexico City, I suggested that “Disaster Preparedness” was a
matter of interest and, in some cases, importance.
All agreed. Someone
knew someone in a fire department who could probably be coerced into
giving a presentation.
One of our Chapter Members is actually the
City Clerk for
Napa, which is
still recovering from a
major earthquake a few years ago.
I have the assignment to contact her and see if she’s willing to
give us the benefit of her “hands-on” experience.
Location, date, times still To Be Determined (TBD); but at least we’re
trying. And this time, I
won’t be doing it all by myself.
Deep sigh of relief.
Love, as always,
Pete
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