MAK
– AIRS
MISSOURI,
ARKANSAS, KANSAS AIRS
Minutes
- Annual Meeting
September
18, 2014
CALL
TO ORDER: Robin Pokojski, MAK-AIRS President called
the meeting to order at 1:01a.m. and welcomed those participating in the call.
2014
ANNUAL CONFERENCE “I&R: FALLING INTO PLACE”:
Invite and hotel information has been sent out to the I&R field. Conference
will be Oct 23rd and 24th in St. Louis. There will be training,
opportunities to network, and AIRS certification testing offered.
TREASURER’S
REPORT: Jennifer shared we still have two bank
accounts at this time. In the US Bank Account there is currently $5,585.02 and
in the United Way holding account there is $2,419.00. Total of $ 8,004.02.
Major expenses tend to be around the conference so will have some upcoming
debits. The second major expense is the scholarship to the national conference.
We received a note from the IRS that our 501c3 notice has been revoked due to
not filing the 990 on time. However, we did file on time so Jennifer has
followed up with the IRis and we are waiting on a determination.
MEMBERSHIP/AFFILIATE
COUNCIL REPORT: Marilyn explained that the Affiliate
Council is made up of representatives from each of the AIRS regional
affiliates. The Affiliate Council recently sponsored the Big Count and had the
best response so far. The total number of calls from all members will be
released soon. There are 1,075 total AIRS members at this time. Renewal notices
will be going out in a blue envelop in October. There are several areas that do
not have an active affiliate and this has led to excess funds and the affiliate
council is proposing a scholarship program for affiliates to: create a new
affiliate, expand geographically, or efforts to increase the stability of the
affiliate. As of June there were 33 active MAK-AIRS members.
NEWSLETTER:
Penny Adams was not on the call so Jennifer offered a brief report. The board
has been discussing the possibility of eliminating the newsletter and using the
blog for that purpose. We are working on finding a way to push the information
out from the blog instead of users having to visit the webpage to view the
articles. Patt is working on a few articles right now that could be used on the
blog. Donna asked about the cost involved in the newsletter and Jennifer
responded that the cost was in the time spent but since we don’t mail it out
there is no physical cost. Robin re-iterated that if we are not able to push
the information out from the blog then we will continue with the newsletter.
PUBLIC
POLICY REPORT:
Robin reported that the last bit of public policy she has was from 2013.
AIRS has been focused on the Affordable Care Act. They have provided several
webinars that were advertised through the I&R Networker. Robin encouraged
everyone to create an account for the I&R Networker and offered her help to
get started to anyone that emails her. AIRS has also been following Senate Bill
1562 from the Older Americans Act. AIRS
was looking for co-sponsors for the National I&R Day. No one has heard
anything further.
MAK-AIRS
BOARD SOLICITATION: Robin shared we currently have
five people sitting on the board and would really like 8-10 people on the board
representing all areas of I&R. There is currently representatives from
Aging and 211 but we would like representation from other areas. Robin sent out
nomination forms with the agenda and urged participants to nominate persons
they feel would represent I&R well. Mary with the St. Louis AAA asked if we
have a listing of all I&R providers in our three state area. Robin said
that everyone who has paid dues did receive the nomination forms as well as the
information for this call. Last year Robin did research to find information for
all the Centers for Independent living, Area Agency on Aging, and other small
I&Rs to reach out to them about membership. Robin shared the current costs
for membership.
GOAL
SETTING 2015: Robin
shared that each year we want to have a conversation with the general
membership about what they need from us so that can help us set our goals for
the next year. Our focus so far has been on the annual conference which has
moved around to different locations (mostly in Missouri) to try and reach the
membership. Robin’s first question was to whether or not we should continue to
have the conference each year. Michelle asked what the average attendance has
been. On average we have 20-30 in attendance. The question was raised if we
could piggy-back onto another conference like the MA4 Conference. Donna asked
about looking at other locations. Marilyn offered the idea of applying for the
new AIRS scholarship to try and increase membership in Kansas and Arkansas.
Heather said she thought the AIRS scholarship could be used to bring in a
speaker for an affiliate conference. Robin said we should make it one of our
goals to look into applying for the AIRS scholarship once the forms are
available. Robin asked the question if the conference still had value and if it
should be every-other-year. Heather and Donna shared they both felt there was
enormous value to the conference but maybe we could look at the
every-other-year model. Robin shared she would like to see online training
being developed. Mary asked if there were any classes available to help study
for the AIRS test. Robin echoed that is a good idea and we could look into a
possible online study session. Marilyn raised the questions as to whether or
not we should do a physical mailing as opposed to email to recruit members.
AIRS
NATIONAL CONFERENCE AND SCHOLARSHIPS: MAK-AIRS plans to once again offer a
scholarship to the annual conference. The 37th AIRS Annual
Conference will be in Dallas, TX May 24-27th. Last year we were able to offer a scholarship
to someone from the Voluntary Action Center in Columbia, MO. The scholarship is
given away through a raffle. Each member agency gets one automatic entry and if
someone from your organization attends our regional conference then your agency
gets one additional entry into the raffle. The scholarship is done by a random
drawing. AIRS offers additional scholarships for the national conference and
when those forms become available Robin will send those out to the member
agencies. Donna asked how many people from MAK-AIRS usually attend and if we
should consider sponsoring a MAK-AIRS after hours event during the national
conference. Robin shared we have purchased MAK-AIRS ribbons to add to your name
tag to help identify people from our affiliate at the conference. Heather
suggested possibly using the Welcoming Reception as a time to gather for
introductions and connections.
CLOSURE:
Robin closed the meeting at 2:00pm.
Respectfully submitted by Heather Pierce,
Secretary
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