Volunteer Committee Meeting 1/8/09

Volunteer Committee Minutes
Meeting Date:  January 9, 2009; 1:30pm
Present:  Chris Connolly, Jane Daniels, Catherine Gemmell, Mary Anne Massey, Dan Van Engel (Chair)
Apologies: Estelle Anderson

The minutes of the previous meeting held on November 20, 2008, were accepted.
1.    New Volunteer Web pages.
i.    Chris Connolly asked Catherine Gemmell to obtain all copies of Volunteer consent forms.
ii.    Catherine handed out copies of the proposed Volunteer Interest forms that would be used on the new website.  After some changes were suggested, it was agreed that Catherine would ask those individuals who receive the completed interest forms to indicate their requirements of each type of form.
2.    Volunteer Handbook.
i.    The Board would like wait until the Volunteer Committee Chair is present at the board meeting, before they discuss the new Volunteer Handbook.  
ii.    There should be a final email sent to board members to view the handbook.
iii.    The deadline for the board members to return their comments would be the following board meeting.  Then the Volunteer Committee will review the recommendations and update the handbook before bringing before a meeting of the Board for approval.
3.    Volunteer Recognition
i.    The committee members voted and unanimously agreed that the Hoeferlin award be
     obtained for Catskills Trail Chair, Pete Senterman, who is resigning.  Catherine will create the certificate.
ii.    Jane Daniels indicated that a response from Parks and Trails regarding our grant request is due
     on Jan 20, 2009.
iii.    Mary Anne Massey quoted some the estimates she had received so far for the volunteer
    recognition bag.  All prices below are for 500 or 600+ items of a the green bag with the snap:
a)    Rush Imprints: approximately $5.00 per bag ($3.98 for 850)
b)    Branders: $4.19;
c)    Clayton Kendall: $4.25
d)    MM – new bag prices - @.34 for 250 diff bag
e)    Same bag 100  (6.98); Clayton Kendal 4.98 branders 4.78 per bag for 100
f)    Branders 500  4.19  or 850 3.98
g)    Wholefoods – more
h)    Big Brut $2.02 for 1000 – Mary Anne will try to get a sample of this bag.
iv.    Catherine said that Estelle Anderson is nearing completion of determining start date and recognition history for Trail Volunteers, as far as practicable.  Catherine stated that there are 738 volunteers in the database with no start date.  She will send out Dan’s email to those volunteers, requesting their service history.  A new volunteer, Madeline Giotta, will begin updating the database as information is received.
v.    Jane mentioned that we would need to obtain individual’s sizes for the fleece gift for volunteers with
     25 or more years service.
4.    Volunteer Thank-you Letter
i.    Dan suggested we think about the form of the thank you letter.
ii.    Jane suggested postcards; at approximately $100 per thousand would be an inexpensive but effective option.  Dan responded that we might need 1,700 postcards.
iii.    Jane Daniels will look at finding a photo for front.
iv.    Mary Anne will abridge Dan’s letter for a postcard.  She suggested that maybe something such as “Thank You” or “Thanks to you” on front.  It was agreed that Mary Anne would use the phrase from the postcard front as the key to the wording on back.
5.    Orientation Workshops
i.    Catherine provided an update of the Orientation program.  There were 12 attendees at the December session, and 7 have registered for the Jan20, 2009 session so far.
ii.    The problem as arisen where most of the attendees who are interested in Trail Maintenance want trails in the northern NJ area.  Dan stated that his trail was about an hour’s drive, but that distance twice year is no real hardship if someone really wants to maintain.  He felt the volunteers need to know that.  Dan may attend the next Orientation workshop if possible to try to encourage volunteers to think outside of their area.
6.    Youth Policy
i.    Dan stated that the youth policy should be held in abeyance until the Volunteer handbook was approved.  Jane said she would put the youth policy issue on the Trails Council agenda.
ii.    Mary Anne suggested that someone like Henry Atterbury be at that Trails Council meeting as an advocate to explain the generic concept of the youth policy.  Henry would provide rationale for introducing such a policy and why we need it.
7.    Committee Charge
i.    Jane Daniels and Mary Anne both feel that the Volunteer Committee has operational and oversight charge.  The Committee is now responsible for all volunteer awards.  We should examine the existing awards procedures.
ii.    It was agreed that the charge to the Volunteer Committee would read:
"The Volunteer Committee works to ensure that the Trail Conference has a volunteer force capable of accomplishing the TC mission.

 The committee enables the TC to attract and retain volunteers by developing and ensuring implementation of programs that maximize volunteer contributions.  It also develops and implements a volunteer recognition, which includes annual awards.  Finally, the committee consults with regard to volunteer policy compliance."
Next meeting – February 5th at 1pm; at the Trail Conference Office
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