As per today's meeting...

For the few of us who were at the meeting, we saw that many members missed the meeting today. It's not then end of the world-I'm sure with the beginning of the semester hectic-ness the meeting slipped your mind (for those I didn't hear from). Once Rachel sends the minutes out, I will post them here as well.

There were a few things discussed in the meeting that were important as well as time sensitive so I will discuss them briefly now.

• Time change of meetings! Meetings will now start promptly at 5pm. We can park closer to campus starting at 4:45 so for those not already on campus for the meeting this is a benefit to take advantage of. We will wrap the meeting up before 6:00 because I'm sure many of us have class. We will also have food during the meetings so no worries about dinner before class if you don't have the chance before the meeting.
  
• Book drive starts today!! Start collecting new or gently used books (not text books or magazines) that were published no earlier than 1985. Books should be for the k-8 grade level. Monetary donations can be accepted, if a check make it payable to Hearts of America & leave the subject line blank! Donations-books & monetary can be brought to any meeting (if it's a lot of books, let me -Jaime- know ahead of time so we can make arrangements to no carry them to & from campus! =)
  
• Operation Backpack as discussed in the meeting, the link to the list of backpack contents per grade can be found here *it's the PDF file* http://www.voadv.org/operation_backpack.cfm backpacks can be brought to any meeting but the deadline in the July meeting. For the high grade backpacks-try to get some friends/family/co-workers to go in on the contents with you.
• Place your vote! I am trying to plan for a NJEA rep to come to campus during our April meeting to give us a workshop on the topic with the most votes, you'll find the poll on the left of your screen.
• February's Meeting is important to make!! It is the last meeting before our trip to NJEA HQ and our Read Across America event!! We will need everyone planning to participate there to fine tune the details of these events!! If you have class during our meeting time but want to participate--email me ahead of time, I will fill you in on what you will miss and get any information from you I need.
• Refugee Tutoring update since today's meeting! I heard back from the ESL teacher I've been working with to set up our group to tutor her students. We have the okay!! She said she would love and really appreciate our help! The times she has these students in class are 9:25-10:15, 11:55-12:45, 1:55-2:38 and she welcomes after school tutors from 2:45-?. It's Oaklyn school district, K-9, if anyone is interested let me know! I'll get you in contact with her!

Well that's all for now, for the rest of what you missed (if you weren't there) at todays meeting--stay tuned for Rachel's meeting minutes! =)

Important dates and changes for Spring--Important to Read!

Hello everyone!

There have been a few changes over the holiday break that I wanted to put where you could access them at any time. I will mention them at the meeting also, but for those who can't make a meeting check here for important news!

Meeting dates, all on a Wednesday at 4:30 in Conference room South A in the community center...
1/27
2/10*
2/24 is our new member meeting
3/3*
4/21
5/12**
7/28**
*=date change
**=meeting will be held off campus

Event Dates:
Friday 2/12 Trip to NJEA Headquaters in Trenton to celebrate us!*
Tuesday 3/2 Read Across America
Saturday 4/17 Student NJEA Convention*
*= for vested members only


Also, there as been a change of plans for our Read Across America event.

We will be having a book drive for a school in need and hopefully visiting the school for a storytelling to celebrate our donation.

We have a school picked out, but need to fine tune the details which will hopefully be done by January's meeting. Regardless of the school details, the book drive will be a definite event starting in January.

For those who are wondering about the Burma/Nepal refugee tutoring, I'm still working on that. My contact at Catholic Charities has not responded to my requests for information, but Laura Gaffney-SNJEA member that brought the refugees to my attention is contacting the schools directly to see if we can help. Thanks Laura!!

I hope to see you at our meetings! If you would like to join our group please attend our new member meeting on 2/24 or email Jaime at Jaime.Sia@rutgers.camden.edu

The Date is Set!

Friday, February 12th we are going to NJEA Headquaters to celebrate our new group!!!

This trip is for our vested members, I will email details shortly.

Here's to a great new year!!