Dear BBPW members and friends,
Greetings from sunny Vermont! Skiing in the mornings, volunteer work and networking in the afternoons and frequent Zooms in the evenings continue for me. This week’s weather has been simply glorious with blue-bird skies and soft snow. If you are a skier and love the outdoors, this is as good as it gets! What a winter. We often feel like we are living and skiing in Utah. And we are excited to welcome a new member to our family, Henry. Henry is a little Westie who was born on Feb 2nd. We will pick him up on March 30th and we cannot wait. We are working to nail down some good, solid puppy-training and then my husband and I are 100% ready.
We had a productive and inspiring Board Meeting this week. We have several women who would like to work with us as Board Members and Committee Members. We are thrilled to have them join us. We will be inviting all Committee Chairs and Members to each Board meeting going forward, so they are better connected and involved.
Here are the updates of where we are with the team:
President: We are still looking to replace me. We have decided to also add a Vice President, so we have better succession going forward.
Membership: Sonya Purvis will join the Membership team, working with Deborah Gallant. Congratulations Sonya!
Programs: Abby Powers will be joining Lynn Wallace on Programs. We will continue to seek out one more talented woman for this team. Welcome Abby!
Secretary: This is an individual contributor role. Karen Zink will continue for now, although we are seeking a new Secretary.
Woman of Achievement: We will be holding our Woman of Achievement event again in September. Stephanie Bosely has agreed to Chair this important Committee. Janet Brennan will head up Events Planning and work with Rebecca Brien and Alison Brigham We are looking to flesh out the team. Roles available include Fundraising Chair, Nominations Chair and Marketing Chair (working with the Comms Committee). We are excited to have you work with us, Stephanie, Janet, Rebecca and Alison!
If you would like to join our growing team and have fun with a great group of women in this organization, email me at bbpwpresident@gmail.com.
Here is this month’s BBPW scoop:
April Meeting: Our next meeting will be held virtually on Monday, April 5th at 5:30PM. After 30 minutes of fun networking, we will be hosting a 60 minute program, “Volunteering in your community: Giving Back feels SO Good!” to highlight and discuss volunteering in the Berkshire Community. Liana Toscanini will be followed by Brenda Petell of the Berkshire United way. It is each of us who make our community great.
May Meeting: On Monday, May 3rd at 5:30 pm, Barbara Bonner, author of “Inspiring Generosity”, “Inspiring Courage” and “Inspiring Forgiveness”, will be speaking with us. Again, this will be virtual and free. Be sure not to miss it!
Latinas 413: They are new, they are engaged and we are looking to establish a deeper relationship with them. Here is some information:Latinas413 was born among the Latino community, all of us are immigrant women(ages 24-39). They decided to focus on Latino women because they know the challenges they face in Berkshire County at the time they want to go back to school, raise a family on their own, learn English, start a business and many more. They want to empower, support and inspire women through the stories of the many women who live in the county. They were founded by Liliana Atanacio, who works at Lee Bank.
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.
I am looking forward to seeing you sometime soon, post-vaccine!
Thanks for your support and membership. With much gratitude for all we have and share,
Celia
