Welcome to the NVPS’s 46th year! I hope you all had a terrific summer, survived his unusually hot weather, and had the opportunity to take many great photos.
I am looking forward to seeing you all again and welcoming new members. We have many continuing and new volunteers, as well as a terrific new board of both, experienced and new members who have been all been working hard his summer lining up field trips, exhibitions, speakers, educational training/workshops, judges, and our own members for nine months of learning and camaraderie.
We will also be introducing some new initiatives in September (Welcome Committee and the Member Resource Program). Natures Vision or MANPE (formerly Meadowlark) will be a huge phoography event of the area camera clubs taking place at a beauiful new venue on November 13th and 14th. John Quigley (Exhibit Coordinator), our NVPS point person and Yulan Guo, Trina Reddie, and Angelique Rapais have been working for many, many months on what will be our biggest event of the year. There will be many separate articles on these. Many thanks to all those that worked or are working to make these visions come to fruition.
We had our transition (old board and new board) meeting on July 18h followed by a pot luck barbecue at my house. A great time was had by all. Minutes of the board meeting will be available on the website.
Some changes were made last year to NVPS that I hope will enhance the membership experience.
1) Compeition rules were revamped – please read the new rules carefully before entering the September competition. Direct any questions to Bob or Willa Friedman. Please remember the two-year rule (photograph mus have been captured within 2 years of the competition date) when choosing images to submit.
2) Vice Presiden of Operations is a newly elected position on the board. Brian Payne will be serving in his capacity and will be responsible for the operations (facilities, equipment,t and technical) of our weekly meetings. He will need volunteers to help with lights, sound, and other functions. This is a big job – please be sure to thank him and give him any help he needs.
3) Member Suppor – acknowledges member and/or family illnesses, deaths, and other life-changing events. Please let Gayle Dennis (Membership) and myself know of any members or families in need of acknowledgment.
On a very sad note, we lost two of our members his summer. Our deepest condolences go to the families of Chip Clark and Ed Schwarz. Chip passed away very suddenly in his sleep and Ed had been hospitalized for several months.
The new Welcome Committee spearheaded by Gayle Dennis will help new members acclimate to the club and feel welcomed. The Workshops, Education, and Training Coordinator Mahew Schmid will over the new Members Resource Program ha was conceived by and will be run by Tuan Pham and Melanie Mars. You will be hearing a lot more about these two new programs in his issue and on the website. Boh of these new programs will require a lot of volunteers so please help out any way you can.
Jeff Namadan has joined with Scott Musson to make the NVPS website the best site around. They have all kinds of new ideas. Please check the website often for new content and take advantage of the myriad of opportunities to submit articles, photos, achievements, etc.
OK, VERY IMPORTANT – COFFEE and COOKIES. Curtis Gibbens with help from Beh Morrison made coffee and tea for us 2-3 times per month. Tom Brett and others brought cookies and snacks.
We are looking for a new coffee person to make coffee 2-3 times per month (excluding competition night). We have the coffee maker and donations pay for the coffee. It is just a matter of bringing the coffee maker and supplies and making it. Many people are the advantage of his nice service so please, I need 1 volunteer to keep it going. Email me please or me at the first meeting. We don’ have a formal structure for cookies/snacks – we just rely on folks to bring things when hey hin of i. Please consider making cookies or buy some at the store when you do your normal shopping and surprise us!
I want to personally thank the old and new boards, folks in the other volunteer positions, and he c people and members of new committees for agreeing to serve. It takes a village to make NVPS the largest, most active, and respected club in Northern Virginia. We have a very talented and terrific membership and I am grateful for all of your time and support.
Tuesday, September 7 will be our first meeting of NVPS. I look forward to seeing you all and welcome your feedback and ideas throughout the year. It is going to be a fantastic year – I can feel it!
Sandi Croan
President NVPS
pashli “at” aol.com