Minutes for Unit 509 Annual Meeting
December 10, 2017
The Annual Meeting was called to order at the holiday party at Oakmont Golf Club.
The current board was introduced.
Treasurer’s report was given by Maxine Reagh.
An overview of the year:
- There were 3 Unit sponsored free lessons with Chris Barrere.
- We had 10 Unit games and two sectionals.
- The Unit donated $200 to the Youth Fund of District 21 that Brian Haley established before he died.
- The Unit awarded a $200 for Patrick Sullivan to attend the Nationals in Toronto as part of the effort to engage more young people in the game. District 21 also awarded him a $500 scholarship money.
- The Unit held our annual Mini McKinney Ace of Clubs award ceremony last spring.
- This year we held another successful mentoring program. There were 16 players signed up for the 6-session mentoring program with 13 experienced players who mentored them. Unit 509 paid for half of the mentor’s table fee and the mentee paid the other half.
- The Board nominated Brian Haley for a Goodwill Ambassador Award and he won. He was so proud and moved that he was nominated, and thankfully the timing was perfect for him
Petaluma Bridge Club has taken off like a rocket thanks to the incredible hard work by Karen Weissberg and her crew. They play on Thursday and Saturday at noon at the Petaluma Community Center. If you haven’t visited them, please do. They are a wonderful group and very welcoming.
The Unit and the Bridge Gallery held a Shower of Support on November 5 for the 18 club players who lost their homes. There were 50 who came in support, and many more of you contributed comfort gifts. It was really a beautiful outpouring.
One of the thank you notes was read. The ACBL has allowed us to keep all the proceeds from our charity games for the fire victims. The money will go to the Redwood Credit Union fund. A big thank you was given to the ACBL CEO Bahar Gidwani.
Thanks to Kathy Juarez, the Unit will soon have a website. Even though she is going off the board, she has consented to stay on as web administrator.
Cecelia Zachar will be doing a regular email newsletter for the website and for us. And Cecelia has taken on the job of writing the Forum articles for us as well.
Sadly, we are losing Nancy Stetson who is moving to Seattle. She has worked so hard for this Unit and has done an incredible job with the Forum. The Unit presented her with a small gift to remind her of California and our gratitude for all she has done.
A vote was taken to adopt the new name of the Unit. After a discussion and explanation, it was approved to change the name to Unit 509 Santa Rosa/Petaluma. If in the future, another city opens a club within 509, we will look at yet another name change.
The retiring Board members received a round of applause. Barbara Norman, has been our membership chair for the last two years. Kathy Juarez worked on our educational programs and ran the mentoring program.
The slated new Board members were invited to the front. They are Tony Jackson, Cathy Wagener and Jan Conklin along with Maxine Reach who has agreed to stay on. There were no new nominations and there was a vote by acclamation.
Meeting adjourned
Respectfully submitted by Karen Weissberg
December 18, 2017
