Dear Marci:

What a pleasure to once again meet in person. I so enjoyed hearing the exchange of information between groups last weekend. A shout out to RB Winter State Park for hosting us!

I mentioned at the retreat that I will be scheduling regular “I’ll be on zoom” if you want to chat sessions, along with other training opportunities for 2025. In the interim, feel free to reach out if you have any needs.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Marci J. Mowery, President

TRAINING 

Thanks to everyone who made it to the Chapter Retreat. As always, valuable discussions led the day, fueled by donuts and enthusiasm!

Of particular interest to attendees (and worth a reminder to everyone):

• The Event Planning Decision Tree on the Friends Resources page of the website
• The idea of hosting a Community Open House at your park/forest (with materials found on the Friends Resources page under Fact Sheets and Other How-Tos)
• A fact sheet of volunteer recruitment ideas compiled from Chapter feedback (found under Volunteer Management on the Friends Resources page)
• Katie's PowerPoint and other resources from her presentation (added to Volunteer Management on the Friends Resources page)

OTHER TRAINING

American Trails, a nationwide coalition of trail focused people (who believe as we do that "trails are the foundation of the outdoor economy and those who create and care for trails need significant resources, coordination, and support") have a new webinar series: Advancing Trails Webinar Series. 

The webinars are free, donation-supported, and cover a variety of topics. There is also a library of previous webinars. Book the site for some great learning from the comfort of your home!

KNOW

We are in the midst of transitioning from NEON to Bloomerang for donor management purposes with an eye toward having the new system in place by mid-January. Once Pam knows how the system with be structured, she will schedule a Zoom conference sometime in December with an overview and then be in touch with each Chapter individually to discuss your particular situation. 

We will also be unveiling Bloomerang Volunteer in the coming months. We hope this tool will help you to recruit and manage your volunteer opportunities.

KNOW TOO

Pam experimented with putting the annual report form into a Google Form online and has sent it out to a few chairs for their testing. Easier? Or needlessly complex? We shall see and will have it available for your work to begin with the December Chapter Monthly. In the meantime, there's no reason not to start to compile the information you'll need. Have you ever tried the Hour Tracker or Deposit Tracker? It's not too late to put them to work for you!

MORE TO KNOW

The nominations for awards is now OPEN! Nominate a park, forest, volunteer, or group to be recognized at our annual awards banquet, to be held May 13 at Little Buffalo State Park. 

And a little more!

If you have a retail shop or if you are just looking for a cool holiday gift, we now have the new book Cradle of Conservation. For resale, we will provide them to you at wholesale cost (contact Jenna). If you are purchasing for gifts, you can find them on our website.

The author is available for presentations. If you are interested in hosting him for a talk, reach out to Martha at intern@paparksandforests.org.

SHARE

This share is to be taken literally. Pam bought ink (combo Cartridge #275/276) for a printer that then proceeded to immediately die. If you happen to have a printer they would fit, let her know and she'll send them along.

SHARE ALSO

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has issued a burn ban (no campfires) in all state parks and forests. Please repost this on your social media.

We would also ask that you please share the information about the Happy Little Trees 5k to your followers and members. The money raised goes into a fund for tree planting in parks and forests.