Region Reports for the Month of March, 2015
Respectfully Submitted by the Coda International Board of Directors
Region 1 - Mary Bacheller
We have had so much snow that most of the people have not been able to get out and get together.. We are hoping for more activity come April to finalize a possible Retreat in the Fall 2015.
I will be writing donation request letters to Costco and to Apple so that they can each donate an IPad.
Region 2 - Summer Chappell
Hello Codas near and far!
Region 3 - Richard Herod III
Region 3 has had two recent groups pledge to contribute $500. Indiana Coda and MinneCODA have pledged their support of this year's Coda International Conference for a total of $1,000!Region 4 - Billy Collins - President
Seems lots of busy work was done during the past two months. Taking care of details that could easily fall through the cracks.
The CodaZona yearbook printed and ready for mailing. That will be ready to mail very soon, now that they have the necessary envelopes and labels. (This includes the special thank you edition as well.) Beth Schreiber has been very helpful in getting this underway at the Texas School for the Deaf and from the proofs it looks as if its going to be a really great yearbook! Thanks to CodaZona and its committee for such a great conference and its going to show in the yearbook.
Getting the hotel paid for Codaland proved to be a bit more of a challenge than we expected. Those issues now seem to have been rectified and this all due to the efforts of Jayde, Robyn, Ray and Marie—Thank you!
There have been a couple of Region IV activities and I would like to give a shout out to Codarado for raising $100 for the Codaland Conference.
The group from Texas are fast and furiously planning the 2016 Conference and that is going well thanks to the local committee. Have met with them several times and spent many hours on the phone discussing what needs to be done and how should we go about doing it.
Met with several board members and our bookkeeper regarding having line items in our budget for each of our seven regions. Have had additional follow up discussions with both our CPA and our bookkeeper and it seems this issue is something we can move forward with at this time.
Elections are soon to be underway and we have a full slate and we hope to have ballots ready for voting soon. (Hopefully we will be doing this electronically!!! Yahhhh!!!!)
The strategic plan is on track and the results should prove very interesting and provide us with much to work with and strive for at the upcoming face to face meeting!!Region 5 - Robin Dragoo
Region V is in the middle of planning its annual retreat. It will be at the Cedar Ridge Retreat and Conference Center in Veronia, Oregon, USA on 16-18 October 2015. LaVona Andrew will be offering a workshop as well as other activities.
Coda Zona will be hosting a showing of Ingelore on Mother Father Deaf Day.
The website has been plugging along just fine. The membership date has been changed to 1 January and I have a reminder to change the price and send an email reminder to those who are still on the traditional June expiration date.
Region 6 - Ray Williams
All efforts have been going into the planning of CODALAND, which we hope will be an amazing international conference for the organisation! There will be a Coda retreat in Germany in May this year, they held a fundraiser for me to attend as Region VI rep but unfortunately dates clash with me going on holiday. I hope to attend their winter retreat. I have been trying to reach out and make contact with various different countries and find the Codas out there. In the words of Bugs Bunny - 'That's all folks!'
Region 7 - Jayde Perry - Treasurer
Member At Large - Sandy Boe - Secretary
The Board continues to meet bi-monthly via conference calls and regularly via email; I can say that our colleagues in CODA UK/Ireland are well underway preparing for our upcoming conference in July! I recently met with Millie Brother, our “retired” founder to discuss a collection of CODA artifacts she acquired over the years. I have physically taken possession of these artifacts - we now need a volunteer who can catalog and create a virtual collection for us to include on our website. Please contact me via the website if you can make this happen.
Another volunteer opportunity is to secure the services of an attorney who has experience with non-profits. As we continue to develop as a modern functioning international organization, we have discovered that we need some professional guidance for future endeavors.
I look forward to our members joining us in Reading, England for the Face-to-Face Business meeting!
Busy busy, me! I have been working diligently along with other Board members to finalize the CODA Conference Planning Manual. We are in the final edits, and look forward to sharing this valuable document with members interested in hosting future annual conferences! Up next, revisions to the Policy Procedure Manual will be in effect! Any members interested in assisting in working on these documents can contact me to support the process.