Called to order
7:10 PM.
MEMBERS ATTENDING: Steve Blesofsky, Jerry Desilets, Pat Dunne, Donna Howland,
Dave Magnani, Stephanie Mercandetti, Betty Muto, Lyn Safian, Norma Shulman,
Alan Silver, John Stefanini.
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS ATTENDING: Randy Black, Carlos Cunningham, Mathew Helman,
Chris Lorant, Kathie McCarthy, Terrene Micciche, Joan Rastani, Karen Spilka, Parwez
Wahid, Nancy Coville Wallace.
OTHERS: Rosalie Cotton, Rev. Faith Tolson
MINUTES (Norma Shulman): September 14 minutes approved as corrected.
TREASURER’S REPORT
No report this month.
There are still a few who have not paid dues for last year. The year runs from
September through August, so dues are now payable for 2003-2004.
Announcements:
…
Mat reported on the first in the
nation Democratic State
Party credit card. The state
party gets $40.00 the first time you use it. If you use our Framingham code on
the application, Framingham Town Committee gets 10.00 from the 40.00. Our code
is F07 (F zero seven) in field A for internal use only. MBNA, which underwrites other cards,
some of their money goes as soft money contribution to the Republican Party.
Ours is Juniper Bank, a top underwriter, and they are very
excited about this project. The state party will get continuous updates on the
amount of money. They spent a good deal of time researching banks to set this
program up. You can even charge contributions to candidates, if they accept
charges. [To sign up for the Mass Dems Victory Card you
can go to www.juniper.com/1445
or you can call 1-866-750-6024
to apply]
… State committee report – new location
for Middlesex-Norfolk-Worcester Democratic Alliance meeting – Gold Star
Restaurant on Rt. 30, next to Boston Market and Papa Gino’s. Gabrieli to speak
at next meeting (will send email announcement).
… January 10 caucus – annual convention
will be in May, therefore, making the caucus early, too. We will have a
February meeting instead.
… Slate for the 2004 Town Committee
ballot is almost filled. People were invited to sign up at the last meeting and
calls have been made to determine interest of current members.
… Fundraisers: Debby’s 10/26 Halloween
party and Karen’s 10/27 party (will send out email announcement.
Program:
DISCLAIMER: These notes of the program are snippets of what
was said. The numbers and other facts are as accurate as I could get while
trying to capture as many of the points as possible. This is not intended as a
transcript – only as an attempt to share the general discussion for those who
missed it.
Speaker: Meagan
Holman, Director of Volunteer Programs, Boston 2004, Inc.
2004 National Convention Activities and Volunteer Opportunities
Meagan Holman and Ryan
Fitzgerald run the volunteer program with two interns. A packet with fact sheet
was given out. There are 2 organizations involved. The Democratic National
Convention Committee runs the events in the hall; the host committee (Boston
2004) runs all the events outside the hall. They have 3,000 volunteers and need
up to 8,000-10,000. See the fact sheet and they can refer you to the National
Committee if it’s their area. The host committee thinks about the delegates’
experience from the perspective of being the host. They are working with the
media for their B shots (background scenes). It is a chance to show Boston off.
The money spent here will be very important to the local economy. They are
non-partisan.
There are 2 kinds of leadership volunteer roles – team captains and beantown
buddies. Team captains could include a team from the Metrowest, to recruit
volunteers, have a logo, etc. Some volunteers are coming through community
organizations, corporate teams, other organizations (like the Red Cross), etc.
Beantown buddies can be assigned to a particular delegation, for example, and be
their contact or concierge in Boston. They need 70 buddies to cover the
delegations. They need volunteers to provide information at T-stops, at
museums, give directions, and hand out information and water. Also people to do
credential checking. There may be a difference in checking now with security
concerns. There will be some things for volunteers to do that are more of
office type work, too.
Need 200 drivers with spotless driving records to drive convention vehicles
(cars, mostly for VIPs).
They will take the time people are willing to give. The volunteer presence can
make or break a convention. Boston has not had this opportunity before. If we
do this well, we can do it again in the future. There will be a uniform,
handbook, meetings, etc.
On the volunteer application, if it says how you heard about this, and says the
Mass Dem party, then the state party will get in touch on how you can help. You
can write in MDP or Mass Dem party if your application doesn’t say that. See
our later discussion about indicating Metrowest Alliance 2004 as your referral
source.
You can contact DNCC at 617-342-2004 if you have housing to offer for
the media and delegates or have a housing question.
Delegates will be in greater Boston housing; others will be housed all over the
area. We could produce something like a brochure to greet people who stay in
the MW.
Professional hospitality training will be provided through the leadership
volunteers. They will train the trainers. Some colleges may be providing some
housing. Will there be some organized tours? Mass tourism council will have
packages for people to tour and visit the area for the weeks before and after.
Suggestion made to send out the pdf of the application on the various email
lists.
Fill out an application now, and that gets you on their mailing list, even if
you don’t have time available in the summer. You will get further questions in
the spring about what jobs you might want to do and your T-shirt size, etc.!
We could do something as a team – welcoming people in the MW or other efforts.
Maybe even having several teams from this area. We can discuss this at a later
meeting – next month. And get them team captain names before the holidays. They
have leader training in January.
You can write in member of Framingham DTC or MW team on the application. John
Stefanini and Debby and Karen and Dave, maybe others, will be point people for
others to contact about putting together teams. We could organize a local civic
non-partisan committee with over 25 people to form a team or teams. If you have
more than 100 or thereabouts on your team, you could have a few leaders.
We continued a discussion about participating with the host committee – John
Stefanini made suggestions: volunteer through host committee; the more organized
we are, the more we can control our assignments. There is a lot of staff work
to make this happen. You can do this through Debby, Karen, Dave’s offices, and
perhaps a couple of team leaders from our area. The best access point to the
convention is to be a volunteer. Next meeting we can discuss organizing this
team. If you have already applied to the host or state committee, you can get
back to them and indicate that you are applying as part of the Metrowest
Alliance 2004 (our local team).
Adjourned at 8:43 PM.