Dear Berkshire BPW members and friends,
I hope June finds you enjoying the start of summer and seeing friends and family again, now that most of us are vaccinated in both MA and VT. Isn’t it great to live in New England? My husband John Sheehan and I had the opportunity to attend a family wedding this month. It was so much fun and so meaningful to celebrate a great couple in person! I have lots to update you on this month. I’d like to start with the highlights of our Annual Meeting, which took place at the start of our June membership meeting on Monday, June 7th.
Board and Committee Chairs
Interim President: Celia Clancy
Vice President: Hannah Delisle-Stall
Membership: Co-Chair Sonya Purvis, Co-Chair Open
Programs: Co-Chairs Lynn Wallace, Kate Lauzon, Alisa Costa
Communications: Co-Chairs Sharon Coe, Roberta McCulloch-Dews
Secretary: Catherine VanBramer–Welcome Catherine to our Board!
Treasurer: Open (see note below)
Scholarship Program: Co-Chairs Hannah DeLisle-Stall, Ivy Rodriguez
Woman of Achievement: Co-Chairs Stephanie Bosley, Abby Powers
Mentorship Program: Co-Chairs Karen Zink, Susanne Engels
…..A big THANK YOU to all who will serve in 2021-2022 as well as outgoing members who served the past two years!
Note: The Treasurer role will be a hybrid, with a nice monthly retainer as a working knowledge of QuickBooks and PayPal are essential. The Treasurer will also need to learn how to use MobileCause for fundraising.
2. Membership: we were able to add 8 new members this past year, bringing our total to 147!
3. We are in very good shape financially, with money in the bank. The organization is well-managed, with volunteers.
4. We are proud of all we accomplished this past year:
- We went fully virtual as of June 2020 with free meetings for members and guests over Zoom.
- Networking was strong, at every meeting.
- We held a creative hybrid WOA in September, honoring Andrea Harrington at Balderdash Winery.
- We awarded 22 scholarships with stronger fundraising and lower expenses.
- We expanded the Mentorship Program, which is key to our offering.
- We welcomed new Board members, Committee members—much new talent!
- Looking ahead to 2021:
- Woman of Achievement is planned for September 20th. Stay tuned for details!
- Three leadership meetings with national planned.
- Scholarships will be awarded in July.
- Strong programming will continue!
- We will hold in-person events as soon as it is safe for all of us! We cannot wait to see you!
~We are in search of a Co-Chair of Membership and a Treasurer. If you are interested, please email me at mcclancy1@gmail.com.
~Your Board will go through Non-Profit Board Training in July. Liana Toscanini will be leading this for us. Thanks Liana!
~An easy way to get more engaged is to help on a committee.
~Any members who would like to help with Woman of Achievement. If interested, please contact Stephanie and Abby at bbpw.woa@gmail.com.
~Members who would like to help read scholarship applications should contact Hannah and Ivy at bbpwscholarships@gmail.com.
~A big thank you to all who shared the application on social media. We are excited with the applications to date and cannot wait to announce our awards next month!
Member Meeting: There will not be a meeting in July. Our next meeting will be in August, on August 2nd at 5:30 pm. The topic will be networking, with an update on Scholarships and Woman of Achievement.
Monthly e-Newsletter: We are always looking for members who would like to submit an article for publication in the e-Newsletter and we also offer any member’s business or organization to be featured in our Monthly Spotlight. Please fill out this form to be featured.
Member Portal: If you have not looked through our member portal please check it out and add your profile today! Our email list is growing, and this is a good way to get the word out about your business and to do business with women-owned businesses.
Enjoy the rest of June and July and we will see you in August!!
Thanks for your support and membership. With much gratitude for all we have and share,
Celia
