As 2017 races to a close, following is an end-of-year update from MY Neighbors:
As of late December, 44 Volunteers are providing services to 50 Members. Since October we have added twelve new Members. We oriented four new Volunteers and a new Call Manager in early December. While we have not yet finished our first fiscal year our current estimate is that we will become financially self-supporting at about 65 Members.
Since opening in May we have filled 276 service requests. The majority continue to be for transportation, mostly rides to and from the Burnsville area. While 276 service requests is a lot, the pace of requests remains leisurely for Call Managers and our system can handle considerably more traffic. Members, please call us if you need help and utilize our services!
As the year ends I want to thank our wonderful group of Call Managers. The current regular weekly rotation includes: Call Manager Coordinator Bill Schultz, our tech guru Paul Lundquist, Dotty Morgan, Charlie Hodshon, Anne Maren-Hogan, Steve Powell, Gay Rose, Jenifer Morgan, Stacy Oates and yours truly. Rachel Swinney, Debra Rice and Diana Donovan also serve as subs when needed. These folks staff the “virtual office” that enables MY Neighbors to run on a shoestring.
I also want to express thanks to our hard working Board Members:
*Board Vice-Chair and Chair of the Membership Committee Karin Rolett is simply a force of nature. She has poured an incredible amount of time and energy into MY Neighbors, which is but one of her many volunteer activities in our community.
*Treasurer Stacy Oates helps us stay on top of our finances and has also been instrumental in drafting and refining our Membership and Volunteer documents. She also prints all of our brochures and other MY Neighbors documents, and has organized our online documents as well.
*Our Recording Secretary David Johnson is a trusted source of wise counsel with deep roots in our community. He appears to be known and loved by just about everyone in Yancey County.
*Our Head of Technology Paul Lundquist has been an advocate of the “virtual office” concept since our very first meeting. He did the initial setup of our web site, and also helped us decipher the mysteries of Google Voice and our computer software Club Express. He also designed the logo and (with help from Barrett Rose) designed the home page of our web site. When any Member needs help with a technical problem, Paul is typically the first person we call!
*Carol Sasek is responsible for helping us raise start-up funds thanks to the generosity of the Deters family at Mt. Mitchell Lands. Thanks to them we have the ability to waive our fees when Members have financial need, and we don’t have to worry about money.
*Call Manager Coordinator Bill Schultz also serves as our Insurance Commissioner. He spent countless hours poring over the fine print of insurance documents during the search to find our insurer, the Alliance of Nonprofit Insurers—a nonprofit that insures nonprofits! Bill was instrumental in helping author and edit our documents, and he also provides training, support and nurture for our Call Managers group as well as being our go-to guy for legal questions.
*Penni Ackerman Powell, a retired clinical social worker, has been an enormous asset on both the Membership and Volunteer Committees. Her expertise, sensitivity and generous spirit are inspirational. She recently wrote a holiday card to every Member!
*As a retired gerontologist, Steve Powell brings a wealth of professional experience on issues related to aging. And those who attended his presentation last winter discovered that he is also an entertaining and superb public speaker.
This super-talented, diverse and creative group has been exceptionally productive this year.
I also want to thank Florence Yaffe, Gay Rose and Rachel Swinney for helping us organize events like the Pumpkin Social. Pat Robinson grows and delivers flowers to Members and has also helped us decorate for events. And finally, a belated thanks to my sweet mother Francella whose donation last year helped us secure 501©3 status at a time when our bank account was getting skinny.
I apologize to anyone else whose name I should have mentioned, including our dozens of Members and Volunteers. But at least the above have received the acknowledgement they so richly deserve.
Thank you for a wonderful year my friends. Happy holidays, Happy New Year, and thank you for your continued support of MY Neighbors.
Chip Poston
Board Chair