RPCVLA Annual General Meeting 2009
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Regional Peace Corps Office
2361 Rosecrans ave. Suite 155, El Segundo, CA 90245

Meeting commenced at 3:20pm after 20 minutes of social and appetizers.

Attendees: Roger Reed (Tonga 61-63), Tracy Louis-Marie, Jasmine Carrillo (Bolivia 07-08), Bill Knowlton (Samoa 88-90), Brandi Church (Burkina Faso 06-08), Kristen Russell (Benin 05-08), Roanel Herrera (Panama 06-08), Shane Mathias (Panama 04-07), Marta Perry (Bulgaria 03-05), Bryan Weiner (Paraguay 06-08), Amy Nyack (Bangladesh 03-05), Elaine Waldman (Côte d'Ivoire), Deborah Ryan (Poland 90-92), Kayo Shiraishi (Cape Verde 04-06), Miki Shaler (Romania 99-01), Borchien Lai (Ecuador 00-02), Lindy Lindeman (Costa Rica 77-80), Susette Horspool (Botswana 74-76, Grenada 84-86), Mitch Tracy (Costa Rica 78-81), Kathy Nesteby (Jamaica 03-05), Michael Salazar (Kazakhstan 01-03), Albert Little (Jamaica 06-08), Tanoi Tamui, Jeanette Earley (Republic of Kiribati 06-08), Lassana Toure (Togo 05-07), Logan Caraballo, Ryan Sim (Honduras 03-05), Heather White (Burkina Faso 00-02), Randy Crockett (Nicaragua 96-98), Glenn Anaiscourt (Gabon 93-96), Tori Wilson (Jamaica 98-01), Kate Kuyendale (China 99-01).

*Note: These names reflect the people who signed in. Some people came late and did not introduce their country of service, so after googling many people’s names, I came up short on a few countries and years of service.

Introduction: Glenn asked all attendees to introduce themselves by name, country of service and years served.

Call to Order: Glenn shared his positive sentiments regarding his experience as President of RPCVLA in 2008: meeting so many people who he respects, likes and appreciates. “Some of the best times had all year.”

Overview of 2008 Accomplishments:

January 26th -Coloring the Vote: Race, Politics, and Disenfranchisement Conference at UCLA
-Ngugi wa Thiong’o at UC Irvine

February 17th-RPCVLA Annual General Mtg 2008
24th-Global Service Sunday event

March 16th -Board Mtg-George and Linda Edgington’s Home, Brainstorming, environmental theme
22nd -RPCVLA Dim Sum Breakfast in Chinatown

April 12th -RPCVLA at Earth Day LA in Santa Monica assisting Regional Office get PC name out
20th -RPCVLA Board Mtg in Long Beach followed by Nomination Party

May 3rd -RPCVLA Big Sunday Volunteer Event in Cleveland Elementary School, painting, planting,
beautifying, organized by Lindy Lindeman. RPCVLA Big Sunday Volunteer Event at Griffith
Park reforesting from landslides and fires, organized by Randy Crockett.
4th -RPCVLA Big Sunday Volunteer Event at Bay Shore Lanes
10th -Mtg. w/ Jody Olsen, Deputy Director of PC
18th -RPCVLA Board Mtg.
31st -Gardening Wkshp at LA Eco-Village

June 21st -RPCVLA Board Mtg followed by TGIS at Nyala Ethiopian Cuisine
26th -West Side Happy Hour at O’Brian’s Irish Pub
28th -Composting Wkshp w/RPCVLA followed by picnic @ Griffith Park

July 13th -RPCVLA Board Mtg @ PC Regional Office followed by World Wise Schools Presentations
Training and Happy Hour
27th -RPCVLA World Music Night @ Hollywood Bowl featuring Gnarls Barkley

August 2nd -RPCVLA @ Shakespeare in the Park
23rd -RPCVLA Annual Summer Beach Party and Board Mtg

Sept. 6th -Peace Corps House Party at Tori and Kate’s
13th -RPCVLA Tour of the LA Eco-Village
21st -RPCVLA Board Mtg (International Pot Luck Event Planning)

October 12th-Annual RPCVLA International Pot Luck Dinner and Celebration
25th-Sargent Shriver House Party Fundraiser for Antoine

November 16th-RPCVLA Board Meeting at Tori and Kate’s

December-No activity

January 25th-RPCVLA Board Mtg at Philippe’s

February 24th-Peace Corps week Celebration at The Standard
28th-New Call to Service: 2009 RPCVLA General Mtg
-Everyone unanimously voted to have the 2009 RPCVLA International Pot Luck Dinner at the Neighborhood Unitarian Church in Pasadena, where it was held in 2007 & 2008. Lindy Lindeman volunteered to communicate with the Church.

Donations- The board voted to unanimously support, through the Yamanaka Fund, a training project for a women-run soy bean co-op in Cameroon, where there is a cash crop economy that runs out of money after the growing season is expired every year. Training would educate ppl to find best seeds. Cost: $506. Soliciting PCV requested funds with a very organized project proposal, including: community and project background, needs assessment, detailed budget and description of project sustainability.
-Board will vote on a project found by Roger Reed on PCPP website. PCV is from California and is soliciting over $1,000 for a training of Special Ed. Teachers project in the Philippines. We would donate $500-$1,000 if we decide to donate. Project would impact 12-15 schools. Roger thought it would be a good program because there aren’t very many Special Ed programs in developing countries.
Communications- We discussed the need and advancement of RPVCLA communication with each other.
-We used Evites successfully to invite RPCV’s in LA to our various events. There were evite links on our Facebook page.
-RPCVLA Calendar was a good tool for people to check out what and when we planned events
-E-mail was used as always
-the Village- was taken over, but we are working on re-instating it.
-a Facebook page was created by Marta Perry. Yay!
-Phones
-2007 Postcards and magnets
-It was discussed to give RPCV’s who don’t have access to electronic communication the option of whether they would like a hard copy of invitations sent to their homes when they sign up with our group.
-Secretary will send out a monthly newsletter after board meetings, including a reader-friendly version of notes and events being discussed at board meetings.
-We want Twitter. Someone volunteered to set that up.

Treasurer’s Report
Randy explained that we have 3 accounts.
1)WaMu Operating budget account. Holds $4,978.96, which is down from $6,408.56 at yr. beginning.
2)WaMu old Yamanaka Fund account. Currently holds 51 cents
3)ING Orange New Yamanaka Fund account. We’re gaining 1.8% interest and have $9,249.80 down from $9,638.18, due to the donations we made during the 2008 year.
Most revenue comes from affiliation fees. We made a good amount of money during our International Pot Luck where we had about 120ppl in attendance.
Brainstorming for Ideas for 2009
Miki offered to organize an activity with the Museum of Chinatown of Southern California, which hold free walking tours all over L.A.

Open Positions-All positions were open. Positions were explained.

Nominated and voted new RPCVLA Board positions are as follows:
President/V.President: Brandi Church and Kristen Russell
Secretary: Amy Cortina
Treasurer: Randy Crockett
Membership Director: Glenn Anaiscourt
Newletter Editor: Amy Cortina
Activities Coordinator: Tracy Louis-Marie
TGIF/TGIS Coordinator: Marta Perry
Webmaster: Heather White
Community Service: Amy Nyack
Speakers Bureau/WWS: Dawn?
Newly Returned Outreach: Bryan
Yamanaka Fund Director: Roger Reed
PC Liaison: Tori Wilson
Merchandise Coordinator: Joe Clifford
Members-at-Large: Borchein Lai, Kayo Shiraishi, Rachel Robertson, Logan Caraballo, Lindy Lindeman, Kathy Nesteby

Elections: Voted unanimously in favor

Next Board Mtg: March 22nd at 1pm at the PC Regional Office in El Segundo (address at beginning)

Group photos of attendees