3/16/20 Founder Region Conference Cancellation

The Founder Region Board met March 15, 2020, via conference call; we are saddened to inform you that we have unanimously voted to CANCEL the Founder Region Conference scheduled for May 1-3, 2020.  We are taking guidance and recommendations from the CDC concerning the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak very seriously.  We consider the health and welfare of our members and attendees as the most important factor in our decision-making process and the CDC Guidance as of 3/15/20 recommends that for the next 8 weeks organizers cancel or postpone in-person events that consist of 50 people or more throughout the United States.  This recommendation is made in an attempt to reduce the introduction of the virus into new communities and to slow the spread of infection in communities already affected by the virus.
 
Postponement of the Conference was not a viable option as there is no ability to predict that this virus will subside to allow normal social distancing before the current term ends on June 30.  We are hopeful that there will be sufficient decline of virus transmission by June and that we will be able to hold our Memorial Grove and Leadership Training events as scheduled.  We will incorporate some conference agenda items into the June Leadership Training as much as possible.  We are looking into the possibility of including the installation of the 2020-2022 Founder Region Board immediately following the Leadership Training I-IV scheduled for June 20.  We will keep you posted as these plans come together.

We are working on arranging electronic voting as recommended by SIA to be able to conduct the business that was to occur at our conference.   The opportunity to learn more about the Bylaws Amendment proposals for both Founder Region and Founder Region Fellowship is available during our Caucus Conference Call to be held on March 22, at 7 pm Pacific Daylight Time.  See the “Call to Caucus” on the Meeting/Conferences page of our website which includes all of the proposed amendments. ( call_to_caucus_2020.pdf )

We will also be accepting additional nominations "from the floor"  during the Caucus Conference Call.  If you are nominating a member for office, please send the resume and nomination acceptance form to Nominating Chair Amelia Benko no later than March 21, at 7 pm PDT (24 hours in advance of the conference call).    The resume will then be sent to the appropriate voting delegates prior to the elections.  We will be asking the candidates for contested positions to provide a candidate video of the speech they would have prepared for presentation at the conference.  (Uncontested positions will not be asked to create a video presentation.)  Each club may register 3 delegates (Club President and 2 delegates) as we do at the conference. We are creating a delegates' "registration" form, so we will have the correct representation to enter into the electronic balloting system which will be open to eligible delegates April 15 - May 2.  Registration of delegates will be due by April 8, 2020.   Please be sure your club's designated delegates have access to a personal email account.  

Clubs should already be selling their opportunity drawing tickets for the basket raffle which is always a fun highlight at our Founder Region Conference.  We are proceeding with the basket drawing but have determined that each club can draw from their own stubs and award their club’s $150 value “Empowering Dreams” themed basket to the person drawn from their club. Since clubs are also not meeting during this pandemic, consider communicating within your membership via email/social media apps to get commitments for tickets and members can send a check to the club or other electronic means.  That way, the club can send in the funds in a timely manner.  Return a club check to your District Fundraising Committee Representative; we are relaxing the deadline until April 30. Each club that sells all of their tickets is also entered in a drawing for $250 towards Club Giving.

Please send in the Memorial forms that were included in the Call to Conference to me by April 8, 2020.  We will prepare the PowerPoint and post it on the Founder Region website.  We will also include their names in the Memorial Book and they will be honored at the June 14, 2020 Memorial Grove Service to be held at Prairie Creek State Park.  We will also honor them at the 2021 Founder Region Conference.

We will include more updates in our Region Newsletter and our website and Facebook page as we figure this out.  We are certainly "Empowering Change" in 2020!

Thank you for all you do, and please keep yourself and your loved ones safe and healthy.


Governor Sylvia
“Empowering Change”