During the month of December, one new member joined the class of 2023:
Dina Pfenning
Welcome to the Club!
Our December Wine & Cheese social event will magically transform into the annual 2019 Newcomers Holiday Party!
Mark your calendar - this festive gathering is being held at the home of Sherry and Rod Unruh 1070 Elk Trail Ct, Friday, December 13th from 5-7pm.
The party format will be same as wine and cheese - no registration necessary. Just bring your personal choice of beverage, and a holiday-themed appetizer or dessert to share with others.
If the mood strikes you, come adorned in the gaudiest Christmas sweater in your closet - you'll fit right in!
See everyone there!
Do Newcomers know how to have fun? I think so. Newcomers came together for many, many gatherings, activities and events held throughout the month of November.
There were dining-ins, dining-outs and madness about margaritas. There were books to read and games to play. There were props and costumes to assemble. There were hikes and nature photos taken. There was history revisited. Santa needed his residence decorated. Quilts were sold. Bylaws was reviewed (are we having fun yet?). There were posters posted. There were town events and Club events. There was a parade. There was snow, cold and wind. And most of all - there was fun to be had nearly every day of the month!
I could not resist making a slideshow of the many photos capturing all of these moments - so enjoy this short video montage entitled, Newcomers' November:
As a membership organization, the Bylaws serves as our governance document, defining who we are, our purpose, and how we are to go about fulfilling that purpose. The membership controls this document, and any changes that the Board proposes must be voted on and approved by the general membership.
Several years have passed since the last revision, and it was a consensus of the Board that a review was due. At its November meeting, the Board established a special Bylaws Review Committee to review the Club Bylaws, naming Jan Boatman, Bob Fulton, Stan Osborne, Debra Sloan, Deb Stalder, Rod Unruh, Jean Van Winkle and Joe Van Winkle to serve on the Committee.
The Bylaws Review Committee has begun its work and thus far has identified the following areas to explore:
Clarify Key Terms & Definitions
- Develop a more comprehensive definition of relationships between the Club and individuals, including graduates, alumni and guests, in addition to active members. Clarify “active member in good standing” definition.
- Define and/or expand definitions of meetings, activities, events, social gatherings, and sub-groups of the Club.
Governance & Policy Structure
- Explore pros and cons of expanding the authority granted to the Board over operational policies, while grooming the Bylaws to focus on governance matters. In doing so, existing statements of policy in the current Bylaws would be migrated to Board-managed policies.
- Consider redefining Board structure to reflect elected officers, plus primary committee chairs - in effect reducing the Board to 15-18 positions.
- Assign voting rights to Board positions (rather than people) and create a provision for proxy voting. Define a voting quorum.
- Establish a formal record retention mandate for the Board, to better preserve knowledge of operational practice and policy.
Fiscal Management & Responsibility
- Explore pros and cons of modifying the existing convention of a fiscal year (June - May) being different than the membership year (September - August). Consider a common year of July - June, while maintaining existing general meeting schedule.
- Consider defining the Budget Committee as a standing committee of the Board. Formally require the use of an adopted fiscal budget as the requirement to authorize expenditures.
- Explore concepts to establish guidelines for use of Club funds: operating, contingency, and surplus.
If you have any questions, input or other interest in the work of the Bylaws Review Committee, please contact any Committee member or email BylawsReview@EstesParkNewcomers.org.
We Believe in Estes Park kicked off early in the morning of November 17th and has been going strong and steady ever since! The Tree Lighting Ceremony, Catch The Glow Parade, Photos with Santa, and our support for the Polar Express are all in the history books. Next up... Mingle & Jingle at the Community Center on Friday December 7th and Tiny Tots at the American Legion on Saturday December 15th.
All events have been a grand success and heartily enjoyed by our partners, town residents, and visitors. Check out some of the accolades earned by our Photos With Santa crew:
Want to see what all the hubbub is about? Take a peek at their handiwork by browsing the (unedited) camera roll.
The Club also earned a feature length article in the November 23 edition of the Estes Park News. If you have not had a chance to see it in print, you can read it online here.
P.S. Make plans to attend the Newcomers Holiday Party on Saturday December 8th to experience a little of the We Believe magic first hand...
The purpose of the TGIF Book Club is to foster new friendships within our membership by getting to know each other while discussing books. It’s simply: read the selected book, meet in a group member’s home, bring an appetizer to share and your beverage of choice.
The TGIF Book Club is open to all! The only expectation is that you want to be in a book club that has an eclectic reading list. Each month we will read one book selected through member nomination and voted on by the group. Books may be fiction, non-fiction, contemporary literature, or a good old classic.
The intent is to create a small group setting for discussion, while accepting anyone who would like to join us. If we go over 15 members attending in a month, we plan to adopt a format much like Dining In - we would meet in multiple homes. The interest group co-leads would form randomly selected groups for each home. This way we would get to meet and socialize with a variety of Newcomers throughout the year. This group is also adapting the successful Wine & Cheese model by having participants bring an appetizer to share and their beverage of choice, giving the evening more of a social vibe.
For more information please contact at TGIFBookClub@EstesParkNewcomers.org.
Just the Facts:
- Meets year round – even in the summer
- 3rd Friday of the month … what a great way to end a week
- 5 to 7 pm … YAHOO, happy hour! Bring an appetizer to share and beverage of choice
- Open to all: male, female, working, retired, married, single …. you get the drift
- Book choices are eclectic: history, mystery, biography, classic, thriller, etc. … just great stories
You can join this new interest group online here.
Welcome to Tech Tips! In this monthly series, our Tech Ops team will share simple tips and techniques, to help you get the most out of the Club's technology resources.
Setting Up Contacts For Your Account
In our Newcomers Club, membership is at the household level; yearly membership dues are charged to the household, not to each individual.
This is also true in our web-based membership system: each household has a single account. Within each account, one login (email/password) is designated as the primary contact. The primary contact can perform account level administration, such as:
- Pay membership dues online
- Set the directory photo (encouraged!)
- View the history of registrations and payments
- Create additional contacts
However, all contacts, including the primary contact and any additional contacts, can perform many actions on the website, such as:
- Register one or multiple attendees for events such as general meetings
- Pay online for general meetings or special events
- Sign up for interest groups
- View the event calendar, the member directory and all other sections of the website
To create an additional contact, the primary contact can log into the website and perform the following steps:
- Go the ABOUT YOU page
- Click the Contacts tab
- Click Add New Contact
- Enter the contact's full Name and Email address
- Enter their Phone or Mobile number (optional) - all other fields should normally be left empty
- Clear the red circle to deselect Do not show this in my public profile (assuming that it's OK for other members to see this contact)
- Click SAVE
- Click SAVE & CONTINUE
If you have any questions, or if you need to change the primary contact on your account, contact tech@estesparknewcomers.org.
During the month of November, the following new members have joined the class of 2023:
Dana Grams
Anna & Tom Leigh
Kathy & John Long
Elizabeth Marshall
Welcome to the Club!