The votes are in and tallied!

Thanks to TOPS ON 268 Woodstock for suggesting the winning theme of this year's Together We Can Rally!

Runner-Up theme was Love It or Lose It! as suggested by TOPS ON 5248 Parkhill.

In total, 97 members voted - the day before the votes sat at 23 for Hats Off to TOPS and 16 for Love It of Lose It - 26 votes came in on the last day to tip Hats Off to TOPS  to 49 votes!

A big thank you to all the members who took the time out to vote and another thanks to all chapters who suggested a theme.

Start looking for your hat to wear to Rally!

Second Rally Planning Meeting

Scheduled

Monday, June 4th @ 6:30

45 Buckingham Place

Stratford

This will be the meeting to discuss all and anything to do with the Rally. Responsibilities for the Rally willbe given out at this meeting. If you cannot make this meeting please sure to let me know your chapter's thoughts and input for the Rally - the theme for the Rally will be announced May 5th which will give you lots of time to discuss with your chapter its thoughts on decor, ideas, etc.

This is the second of the 4 planned get together Rally Meetings - the third one will be where you pick up your Rally Registrations Forms (September) and the one in October to bring them back. The rest of the Rally Rep responsiblity will be through emails to save time and travel expenses.

Location is BOOKED!

Rally 2012 will be held at

Army & Navy

151 Lorne Ave., E.

Stratford

Waiting on confirmation of the Ladies Auxiliary to cater the lunch:

Sandwich Choices:

• Egg
• Salmon
• Ham & Relish
• Ham

Pickle Tray

Coffee & Tea

Will keep you informed on any updates.

What is a Chapter Rally Representative?

Many chapters had them last year - they are the go between for the Rally Meetings and the Chapter - they are responsible for reporting back what happened during the meeting, bring any questions from the chapter, etc.

It is suggested that the Rally Representative should be reimbursed for their travel expenses (Chapter funds permitting)

It is best that the Rally Representative chosen for your chapter has internet access/email or someone that can receive email on their behalf as this is how I send out notices of meetings and such.

TOGETHER WE CAN RALLY 2012 – Saturday, November 3, 2012

Meeting Minutes

   Monday, March 19th at 6:30

45 Buckingham Place, Lounge

Stratford

Present:        TOPS ON 268 Woodstock, TOPS ON 5270 Stratford, TOPS ON 5272 Stratford, TOPS ON 1092 Stratford, Area Captain, Rhonda Chevalier

I.        Announcements

We wrapped up any leftover discussion on the 2011 Rally. February End of Month Bank Statement was 329.89. We ordered buttons on Boxing Day Sale that will last for a few years which accounts for the lower amount.

II.      Discussion

i)     Where to hold Rally 2012? Through the Rally 2011 evaluations it was brought up many times that we have outgrown Woodland Towers (which is a good thing in one way as it means more people are attending the Rally) but also leaves us to find a new venue for the Rally. Woodland Towers has been a beautiful venue which we held the last two rallies. Two suggestions were the Army and Navy and to check out the schools, in particular Northwestern. Rhonda will follow up on these and have more information as she knows.

ii)   Number of Meetings for Rally- It has been noted that many chapters are finding it difficult to find a Rally Representative because of the number of meetings required for the Rally. This year we are going to try and limit it to 4 meetings and the rest to be held through emails as our area is so large. Many of the chapters are having trouble financially to reimburse Rally Reps for travel expenses and most of the topics can be discussed through email. The next meeting will be before the summer holidays – sometime in June and TOPS ON 5272 Stratford has already offered us their chapter room for the meeting, same room as this meeting was held. The June meeting will be handing out the different responsibilities for the chapters. The third meeting will be in the beginning of September where chapters will pick up their Rally packages with a follow up meeting early October to bring them back. I am hoping this will help bring out more Rally Reps to the meetings. I have yet to hear from many of the chapters on who their Rally Reps are and in the meantime the Rally Minutes will be sent to the Leader to take care of and share with the chapters.

iii)  April 19^th – This is the deadline for two duties of the Rally Reps. First to go to their chapters and decide on ONE suggestion for the Rally 2012 theme. They will email me their suggestion. Secondly, we have a split consensus on chapters providing the 25.00 door prize for the Rally – some love it – some don’t. It is up to the Rally Rep to take a vote at their chapter in helping to decide whether we will keep this. If the vote is 50/50 you can let me know this also. Not everyone will agree amongst the chapters. The majority will decide whether we keep the chapter door prizes or not.

iv)  Length of Rally- Different thoughts were brought up on how we can shorten the length of the Rally by a bit – keeping it no longer than 9 – 3. The predominant thought was to eliminate the motivational speaker that we usually bring in. This will help in expenses and also in trying to find one. The Rally Reps present felt we have enough motivation from our own TOPS/KOPS members who have so kindly shared their stories.

v)   Rally Executive – We still need more executive members for the Rally. Currently we have me and Marion as our treasurer. Co-Chair & Secretary positions have been open for a couple years and would love to get them filled. If you think you may be interested, or would like more information on what it involves please get in contact with me.

III.     Roundtable

III.     Roundtable

1)    Entertainment – If you can think of someone who may be available to entertain us on November 3^rd please let you Rally Rep know. It could be a clean comic, a dance group, a singer – the doors are wide open at this point.

2)    TOPS/KOPS Speakers – We are looking for some members who would like to share their journey for the Rally. If you would be interested in this please let me know as soon as possible – those who have just re-started their journey, have struggled with their journey for years, those half way to their goal, almost at goal, at goal, etc. Everyone has a story and we would love to hear yours!

I hope I have covered everything that occurred in this meeting, more of a reason that we need a Rally Secretary as it is hard to speak and keep notes at the same time. Thank you to the few chapters that gave up a beautiful evening outdoors to attend the Rally meeting and if you notice I forgot something please do not hesitate to let me know.