November 16 Program: Organizing a Metrowest volunteer team for the 2004 National Convention
Minutes – Democratic Town Committee – October 19, 2003
Called to order 7:10 PM.
MEMBERS ATTENDING: Steve Blesofsky, Jerry Desilets, Pat Dunne, Donna Howland, Dave Magnani, Stephanie Mercandetti, Betty Muto, Lyn Safian, Norma Shulman, Alan Silver, John Stefanini.
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS ATTENDING: Randy Black, Carlos Cunningham, Mathew Helman, Chris Lorant, Kathie McCarthy, Terrene Micciche, Joan Rastani, Karen Spilka, Parwez Wahid, Nancy Coville Wallace.
OTHERS: Rosalie Cotton, Rev. Faith Tolson
MINUTES (Norma Shulman): September 14 minutes approved as corrected.
TREASURER’S REPORT
No report this month.
There are still a few who have not paid dues for last year. The year runs from September through August, so dues are now payable for 2003-2004.
Announcements:
… Mat reported on the first in the nation Democratic State Party credit card. The state party gets $40.00 the first time you use it. If you use our Framingham code on the application, Framingham Town Committee gets 10.00 from the 40.00. Our code is F07 (F zero seven) in field A for internal use only. MBNA, which underwrites other cards, some of their money goes as soft money contribution to the Republican Party. Ours is Juniper Bank, a top underwriter, and they are very excited about this project. The state party will get continuous updates on the amount of money. They spent a good deal of time researching banks to set this program up. You can even charge contributions to candidates, if they accept charges. [To sign up for the Mass Dems Victory Card you can go towww.juniper.com/1445 or you can call 1-866-750-6024 to apply]
… State committee report – new location for Middlesex-Norfolk-Worcester Democratic Alliance meeting – Gold Star Restaurant on Rt. 30, next to Boston Market and Papa Gino’s. Gabrieli to speak at next meeting (will send email announcement).
… January 10 caucus – annual convention will be in May, therefore, making the caucus early, too. We will have a February meeting instead.
… Slate for the 2004 Town Committee ballot is almost filled. People were invited to sign up at the last meeting and calls have been made to determine interest of current members.
… Fundraisers: Debby’s 10/26 Halloween party and Karen’s 10/27 party (will send out email announcement.
Program:
DISCLAIMER: These notes of the program are snippets of what was said. The numbers and other facts are as accurate as I could get while trying to capture as many of the points as possible. This is not intended as a transcript – only as an attempt to share the general discussion for those who missed it.
Speaker: Meagan Holman, Director of Volunteer Programs, Boston 2004, Inc.
2004 National Convention Activities and Volunteer Opportunities
Meagan Holman and Ryan Fitzgerald run the volunteer program with two interns. A packet with fact sheet was given out. There are 2 organizations involved. The Democratic National Convention Committee runs the events in the hall; the host committee (Boston 2004) runs all the events outside the hall. They have 3,000 volunteers and need up to 8,000-10,000. See the fact sheet and they can refer you to the National Committee if it’s their area. The host committee thinks about the delegates’ experience from the perspective of being the host. They are working with the media for their B shots (background scenes). It is a chance to show Boston off. The money spent here will be very important to the local economy. They are non-partisan.
There are 2 kinds of leadership volunteer roles – team captains and beantown buddies. Team captains could include a team from the Metrowest, to recruit volunteers, have a logo, etc. Some volunteers are coming through community organizations, corporate teams, other organizations (like the Red Cross), etc. Beantown buddies can be assigned to a particular delegation, for example, and be their contact or concierge in Boston. They need 70 buddies to cover the delegations. They need volunteers to provide information at T-stops, at museums, give directions, and hand out information and water. Also people to do credential checking. There may be a difference in checking now with security concerns. There will be some things for volunteers to do that are more of office type work, too.
Need 200 drivers with spotless driving records to drive convention vehicles (cars, mostly for VIPs).
They will take the time people are willing to give. The volunteer presence can make or break a convention. Boston has not had this opportunity before. If we do this well, we can do it again in the future. There will be a uniform, handbook, meetings, etc.
On the volunteer application, if it says how you heard about this, and says the Mass Dem party, then the state party will get in touch on how you can help. You can write in MDP or Mass Dem party if your application doesn’t say that. See our later discussion about indicating Metrowest Alliance 2004 as your referral source.
You can contact DNCC at 617-342-2004 if you have housing to offer for the media and delegates or have a housing question.
Delegates will be in greater Boston housing; others will be housed all over the area. We could produce something like a brochure to greet people who stay in the MW.
Professional hospitality training will be provided through the leadership volunteers. They will train the trainers. Some colleges may be providing some housing. Will there be some organized tours? Mass tourism council will have packages for people to tour and visit the area for the weeks before and after.
Suggestion made to send out the pdf of the application on the various email lists.
Fill out an application now, and that gets you on their mailing list, even if you don’t have time available in the summer. You will get further questions in the spring about what jobs you might want to do and your T-shirt size, etc.!
We could do something as a team – welcoming people in the MW or other efforts. Maybe even having several teams from this area. We can discuss this at a later meeting – next month. And get them team captain names before the holidays. They have leader training in January.
You can write in member of Framingham DTC or MW team on the application. John Stefanini and Debby and Karen and Dave, maybe others, will be point people for others to contact about putting together teams. We could organize a local civic non-partisan committee with over 25 people to form a team or teams. If you have more than 100 or thereabouts on your team, you could have a few leaders.
We continued a discussion about participating with the host committee – John Stefanini made suggestions: volunteer through host committee; the more organized we are, the more we can control our assignments. There is a lot of staff work to make this happen. You can do this through Debby, Karen, Dave’s offices, and perhaps a couple of team leaders from our area. The best access point to the convention is to be a volunteer. Next meeting we can discuss organizing this team. If you have already applied to the host or state committee, you can get back to them and indicate that you are applying as part of the Metrowest Alliance 2004 (our local team).
Adjourned at 8:43 PM.