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NCNWR 16th Annual Conference 
SEPTEMBER 21-24, 2010
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News

From the Board

Dear NCNWR Members,

The NCNWR Board of Directors met in San Antonio, TX at the end of January. We squeezed a jam-packed agenda into a day and half of meetings. We wanted to share the highlights of our meeting with you.

First, however, we want to offer our tremendous thanks to the three NCNWR members and their congregations who made our meeting in San Antonio possible -- Linda Macdonald of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word (Houston); Edna Perez-Vega of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word (San Antonio); and Lisa Roberts of the Congregation of Divine Providence (San Antonio).

Thanks to a very generous rate, we stayed at the Convent of the Congregation of Divine Providence. The CDPs also provided snacks for our meeting and wine and cheese for an informal welcome reception for our new board members. Several of the CDP Sisters provided transportation to and from the airport.

The CCVIs (San Antonio) sponsored a dinner out at Casa Rio, and the CCVIs (Houston) sponsored the cost of a bus for us to travel to Casa Rio together. Following the dinner, we were treated to a tour of San Antonio highlights such as the Alamo. It was a wonderful opportunity to get to know our members and their congregations better. We could not be more grateful and very much appreciate the time and energy that Linda, Edna, Lisa, and their congregations shared in planning and coordinating our meeting. It was a wonderful experience!

During our meeting, we covered a great deal of ground. Here is a summary of the highlights that most directly relate to you:

New Board Member Orientation

We began our meeting with a two-hour orientation for our three new board members led by Debbi Della Porta, Vice Chair of NCNWR. This included an overview of the board’s role, our responsibilities, and operational procedures.

Strategic Plan

The Board reviewed a plan we had drafted that provided our goals and priorities for this year. This plan was based on the four-year strategic plan that was developed in 2008. Our priorities include:

1. Ensuring NCNWR remains faithful to its mission
2. Fostering communication and collaboration at all levels of membership
3. Enhancing professional resources for members
4. Increasing the visibility of credibility of NCNWR
5. Ensuring NCNWR’s financial stability
6. Raising funds for the long-term and future needs of NCNWR.

In support of those goals, some of our specific objectives include:

• Developing a Policies & Procedures Handbook
• Ensuring accountability to and support for members by providing regular updates about the work of the board, providing opportunities for membership input whenever possible, ensuring a fruitful and worthwhile 2010 Annual Conference, and considering the possibility of pre-conference workshops
• Developing, monitoring, and maintaining budgetary goals for NCNWR
• Continuing to work to build fund-raising efforts for NCNWR to ensure the organization’s financial stability
• Put the 2011 and 2012 Annual Conferences into motion
• Ensure the NCNWR website is kept up-to-date and supports our members, while promoting NCNWR

National Religious Vocation Conference

Carol Schuck Scheiber, our liaison for NRVC, joined us for this meeting. She shared copies of NRVC’s publications including Horizon and Vision magazine. She noted that she is always looking for story ideas and welcomes our members to share ideas with her. The Board asked Carol to send a message to all members via our list serv with more information, which she will be doing.

Finance Report

Jennifer Roseman, NCNWR Treasurer, gave an update on our current finances, noting that we are on track for this fiscal year. The Finance Committee of NCNWR will begin developing the budget for FY10-11 in March.

Development Report

Debbi Della Porta, Chair of the Development Committee, shared that the Committee continues to move forward in its work. They are currently seeking sponsors and exhibitors for our 16th Annual Conference in Denver this year. If you know of anyone who may be interested in exhibiting, please contact Debbi at ddellaporta@mercymidatlantic.org. The Committee is planning another silent auction for this year’s conference. They have also begun a preliminary discussion about possibly seeking funding support for NCNWR through grants.

Pre-Conference Workshops

The Board is considering the possibility of developing and offering a pre-conference workshop for vocations/communications at the 2011 Conference. This would be a daylong session a day prior to the start of the conference that communicators could attend with their vocation directors. While discussions are just beginning, the workshop would focus on how communications and vocations personnel can work together to further their vocations efforts. Julie Gilberto-Brady, NCNWR Board Member, is undertaking some preliminary research and talking with Karen Katafiasz, Director of Communications for the Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand, and Carol Schuck-Scheiber of the National Religious Vocation Conference. Both have expressed interest in partnering with NCNWR on a pre-conference workshop. As you may know, for many years, the Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand have offered a conference on promoting vocations.

Policies & Procedures

The Board’s Executive Team (Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer) and Susan Oxley, NCNWR National Coordinator, will meet in Philadelphia in April to draft a policies and procedures handbook for NCNWR, based on existing documents. The Board will then review this at its May meeting and share it with the members of the NCNWR Policies & Procedures Task Force before finalizing. The final document will be available to members on the NCNWR Website. During our meeting, the Board discussed several policies that needed immediate attention including the role of exhibitors/sponsors at the annual conference, corporate membership benefits, whether honorary members of NCNWR are eligible to vote, membership renewal policy, and guidelines for Annual Conference Presenters.

2010 Conference

The Board discussed the progress the 2010 Annual Conference Planning Committee, headed by NCNWR Board Member Jean Merry, has made. You will be hearing more specific details about this year’s conference in March. However, it is shaping up to be one of our best conferences ever!

In May, the Board will meet again—this time, in Chicago. In between our meetings, we continue to have monthly conference calls to ensure that our work stays on track and continues to move forward.

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of our board members and their congregations for the time and energy they lend to NCNWR. There is a lot of work behind the scenes and I have to share that this is one of the hardest-working and most-dedicated group of women with which I have ever worked. They are dedicated to ensuring that NCNWR supports its members as much as possible and continues to move forward responsibly.

Once again, special thanks to Linda Macdonald, Edna Perez-Vega, and Lisa Roberts for their support of our meeting in San Antonio. We covered a lot of ground in our meeting, but managed to have a little bit of fun also!

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or any member of the board. We welcome your questions, thoughts, input, and ideas.

Kim Cavallero
2010 NCNWR Board Chair