Meeting Minutes

September 14, 2004 : Alumni Council Meeting Minutes

Present at the law offices of Eric Weiss were Executive Committee members Jeffrey Paul Bobrick, Stephanie Segal Hartman and Lewis Frisch. They were joined by Jonah Rosenberg and Nicole Singer, who attended Buck's Rock from 2001-2004. Jonah was a CIT in Glass and Nicole was a CIT in Ceramics. Linked by telephone were Juliet Ross and Maurice Mizrahi.

The first meeting after the close of Camp is always a time to review accomplishments over the summer (scholarship campers and reunions) and to lay plans for a full slate of fall and winter activities. This year our meeting opened with significant news regarding the Camp's Directors, past and present. We congratulate Mickey and Laura Morris on the birth of their son Julian. We extend condolences to the Danzig family on the passing of Margaret Danzig on September 13th after a long battle with cancer. Margaret and her husband Ron, also deceased, were Executive Directors of the camp from 1990-1996, and the involvement of the Danzig family with Buck's Rock spanned many many decades.Their son Josh, who attended from 1985 through 1996, tells us that a Memorial is being planned for the summer of 2005 and that the family has requested donations to Care International in lieu of flowers.

Jeffrey Paul Bobrick's Executive Director report opened with a consideration of the response of our organization to the death of Margaret Danzig. A notice will be posted on the website. Hannah Goodman will be asked to consider material on the Danzig family for our next newsletter. Marc Richter will be asked to contact Josh Danzig to discuss this and to obtain more details on the 2005 Memorial so that we can suitably assist in publicizing the event. We discussed posssibility of future newsletter articles on Sybil Simon, the Bergers and other Camp Directors.

Jeffrey reported on our successful reunion day at Buck's Rock this past summer and on the extremely positive reaction of one of our 2003 scholarship recipients, who believed the summer at Buck's Rock changed his life. We discussed ways to get more feedback and perhaps public comment from scholarship recipients without violating their anonymity -- Stephanie reported Scholarship Committee will be working on a sort of "exit interview" form and end of summer questionaire to facilitate this.

Eric Weiss was not present for a Legal Report. Bob Solomon was not present for a Business Report. We are still receiving checks in response to last fundraising letter so bank account is between $ 6,0000- $8,000 at this time.

Fundraising : Stephanie and Juliet discussed their conversations with Buck's Rock staffer Rick Price, regarding a possible 2005 auction/benefit for Friend's of Buck's Rock using some of his extraordinary work. Anita Dupree has also had a similar interest. A good space for this might be at the 92nd Street Y who have a nice gallery available for two week shows and receptions; also some special holiday events. Stephanie also reported that Ed Kopel had offered to host another fundraiser and that Rachel Jacobs in Los Angeles had a similar interest if we could put together a suitable West Coast contact list. Events Outreach will coordinate with Fundraising as these plans begin to come together -- we'd like to assist in hosting a number of activities in April and May.

Stephanie discussed plans for another Fundraising letter perhaps as soon as December. Noted that if ten volunteers are available then all sorting, stuffing and addressing can be accomplished in 4 to 6 hours. With fewer volunteers it can take up to two weeks. But the mailing list must be cleaned up before the fundraising letter can go out. Jeffrey noted that a conference call is being set up in late September with Noah and Charley to discuss progress with compterization and the next steps in the process including the updating of the mailing list. He believed the December goal may be overly optimistic, perhaps February is more practical.

Next was a a discussion of Jeffrey's efforts to implement the Young Member Outreach proposed this past Spring. Jeffrey spoke to the CIT's at Camp over the summer about Friends of Buck's Rock and we have enlisted support from that group as we seek to make FoBR relevant to recent alumni. A motion in support of a titled and permanent position to chair Young Alumni activities was unanimously adopted. There was some discussion as to whether a similar poaition was needed for Outreach on Friendster where the Buck's Rock community now numbers some 330 members. This seems unnecessary as Juliet can continue to handle the posting of bulletins and messages on Friendster. She did note that it would be good to also enlist a young alumnus who could handle contacts on Instant Messaging.

Jonah and Nicole have both been active in trying to organize Young Member activities. They reported on their efforts to organize a CIT Reunion. Although there is overwhgelming support for this activity, it has proved difficult for them to find others willing to step forward and help organize the event. Their initial e-mail did not produce the needed volunteers. Nicole and Jonah will follow-up with individual contacts by e-mail and phone. It was agreed that this should not wait until the Feb/March period when CIT/JC applications for 2005 are processed. Start working now to drum up support-- post some proposed dates in February now and try to get an event going to break the late winter mailaise. Start reaching people before they get too bogged down with the new school year. We mentioned possibility of inviting new CIT's to an event once the 2005 list is established-- helping to mix them with previous year's CIT's-- this would require some discssion with Mickey. Also discussed possibility of a simple and informal CIT weekend get-together at bowling alley or similar neutral sitre, perhaps in late October and perhaps with a counselor or two.

Events Outreach reported on the summer event and our plans to bring people back to Buck's Rock each summer. Stephanie proposed a possible take your kids to Buck's Rock event with some sort of children's activities, sing alongs, etc.aimed at attracting young families to re-visit the camp. We reviewed the alumni presentations this past summer and discussed need to reach shop heads early in Spring regarding Alumni visits during the summer, so as to improve camper involvement and turnout. We need to create a website piece, with pictures on the summer event -- we never specified who would put this together. Discussed suggestion of sponsoring afternoon or early evening concerts at the Camp, featuring alumni performers and geared to returning alumni. Approved Lew submitting some $120 in Outeach printing and mailing expenses (2003/2004) to Bob for reimbursement.

Jeffrey reported on behalf of Scholarship Committee. We sponsored scholarships for two campers in 2004. He had met with one after camp and as mentioned previously the camper was extremely positive about the summer. One of our 2003 scholarship recipients is interested in returning as a CIT in 2005, so we might have 3 returning recipients in 2005. There will be serious efforts this coming year to build a real functioniung Board Of Directors so as to improve the ability of the Scholarship Committee to generate scholarship contributions.

The Web Site has added a LINKS page and is functioning reasonably well. Noah and Jeffrey will report on next round of planned upgrades at our November meeting.

Juliet presented a comprehensive report on the B.R.A.S.S. Project which was certainly a qualified success. Out of 450 names we successfully searched 275 and of that number we received only one mailing back as undeliverable. So we presume a considerable number of alumni were reached. During this first Project volunteers were in short supply, likely due to the inevitable and prolonged ups and downs in getting this started for the first time. Of nine interested at first, only Maurice lasted until the end. But Juliet has prepared a complete guide for the next go round. It will be much easier to implement and Janice will help coordinate.So volunteers will not get frustrated with the process. We will again take aim at the 1980's alumni group. Special thanks to Juliet for her extraordinary efforts in getting BRASS of the ground and for documenting it so thoroughly !

Newsletter editor Hannah Goodman is on an extensive round of book signings for her new novel. A planned follow-up has some chapters set in a Buck's
Rock type summer camp.Hannah is excited about the Newsletter and is has prepared a draft call for content, currently being refined, on the Real World and Buck's Rock. Dan Seiden will be writing about his experiences as a first time father.

We are planning an Executive Committee Meeting for Wednesday Oct 13, 2004 also an Alumni Council meeting for Wednesday November 10th OR 17th. LEF 10/03/04