Publicly thanked Don Stauffer and Virgil Brenneman for their service on the Board.
Passed out ballots to Chapter Members to vote for Melissa Kinsey and
Jake Stoltzfus as new Directors on the Board for a 3-year term.
Unanimous vote of approval by the Chapter.
2. By-laws Review led by President, Rob Steiner During 2004, the Board amended the by-laws of Michiana MEDA to bring them up to date. Major changes are as follows:
Section 3.6 Quorum changed from 1/3rdof members to be a quorum of all members present at a meeting.
Section 4.2 Term of service changed from 2 to 3 years for each DirectorSection
4.2 Previously the Board comprised of the chairs of standing committees
plus 4 regular directors. We removed the standing committees, the work
of those committees and now that work is managed by the Board itself.Officers
section Removed VP position, Board of Directors will determine amongst
themselves the executive committee and to carry out the various
programming, finance and marketing functions previously held by
committees.
NO need for Chapter to vote since by-laws state in Section 11.1 that the Board can amend by a majority vote.
3. Financial Statement Review led by Treasurer, John Nussbaum. John reviewed financial statement handouts. See attached.
4. Michiana MEDA website launch led by Chair of Marketing Com, Mark Regier
5. Program Announcements for 2005-06 led by President, Rob Steiner
6. ASSETS of Elkhart County Update led by Chair of ASSETS, Chad Horning
Chad talked of success stories, asked for contributions, displayed info
7. Open Mic for Q & A Session with Members led by President, Rob Steiner
No statements were made.
8. Meeting Adjourned.
Monday, November 10, 2008
We had a presentation
at Eighth Street Mennonite Church by Catherine Sobrevega and Mahbooba
Waizi. Catherine is MEDA's country manager in Afghanistan and is
responsible for the project, "Through the Garden Gate: Strategies for
Integrating Women into Sustainable Markets." This project helps women
improve the quality and yield of their home based gardens and build
links to sustainable markets in order to increase family incomes.
Currently, more than 1,500 women participate in the project. Earlier
this year, the project was a finalist at the 16th Annual Canadian
Awards for International Cooperation in the Centre for Intercultural
Learning Award for Gender Equity Achievement. Mahbooba Waizi is the CEO
of the Afghan Women's Business Federation and is joining Catherine to
speak about emerging women entrepreneurs in Afghanistan.
November 6-9
“Business as a Calling 2008: Dividends of Hope”
The 2008 bi-national convention took place at The Columbus, A Renaissance Hotel, in Columbus, Ohio.
Program Year Celebrated
The final
meeting of Michiana MEDA’s program year was held at BelmontMennoniteChurch on May 10.
Following a Tanzanian meal President Rob Steiner led the annual meeting.
Recognition
was given to four persons terminating their work on the Board. Susan Gingerich,
John Nussbaum, and Rob Steiner have been Board members. Willard Roth served as
ambassador. New Board members are Jessica Berkey, Conrad Brenneman, Renee
Hostetler, and Lowell Nafziger.
Melissa
Kinsey explained the partnership between ASSETS and GoshenCollege.
Nineteen persons recently graduated from the program. A new mentoring program
will begin this fall. A Michiana MEDA Investment Club report was read. Pastors are
encouraged to apply for a grant to attend the MEDA Convention.
Wally Kroeker, the director
of publications for MEDA and the editor of The Marketplace magazine, was the guest speaker. He showed a
video of the Insecticide Treated Nets (ITN) project in Tanzania and also
spoke about Frozen Assets. He encouraged church leaders and pastors to focus their
ministries toward reaching out to our places of work in order to tap into
resources that are often “frozen.”
Michiana MEDA
PO Box 871
Goshen, IN 46527
Phone: 87-RSVP-MEDA or 877-787-6332
E-mail:
