Greetings from your Steering Committee!
This year we are celebrating Women’s History Month by sponsoring a special showing of the movie Iron-Jawed Angels for League members and their guests. Iron-Jawed Angels is a 2004 film about the American women’s suffrage movement during the 1910s. It was produced by HBO films and stars Hilary Swank and Frances O’Connor. Also appearing are Patrick Dempsey, Julia Ormond and Anjelica Huston. It was nominated for 5 Emmys including Outstanding Casting, Cinematography, Costumes and Writing. Although it didn’t win any Emmys, it was widely praised, and received a standing ovation at the Sundance Film Festival. It’s an inspiring and true story of political activists working for women’s right to vote. What better way to celebrate women’s history than to watch this film with all the wonderful women that belong to the League – and their guests, of course!
The movie will be shown at 7:30 pm on Thursday, March 25, 2010, in the Media Room at Oak Grove Village, located in the community center building at the end of the main entrance into Oak Grove Village on Main Street. This is a cozy movie room with big comfortable viewing chairs, and we’ll have refreshments to share during the movie. There is limited seating, so we are only inviting League members and their invited guests at this time. So invite a friend and save the date! Please respond to this email by March 1 and let me know if you, and any guests, will be attending so we can plan accordingly.
Looking forward to seeing everyone on the 25th,
Anne DeSouza Ward
For the Steering Committee
Archive of December 2009 Bulletin
As you know we are celebrating our 60th year as a local league! To learn (or remind yourself) about our history and accomplishments, please read the wonderful Melrose Free Press article about us: "Melrose League of Women Voters: 60 years of voter education and advocacy," written by Daniel DeMaina. To access the article, please click here.
In keeping with our mission, described in the article, to educate and advocate, the Melrose League has had a very busy election season, We registered more than 25 voters at the Victorian Fair, and we made $80 raffling off a beautiful hand-embroidered white shirt. The Joan Moore Scholarship recipient, Laura DiMattia, generously donated her elaborate hand-work for us to raffle . If you stopped by the booth, you could admire the design and detail that she created. We sincerely appreciated the donation. Later in September, we had our annual voter drive at Melrose High School and we registered about 16 new 18-year-olds to vote. In October, we held Candidate Forums for the Aldermanic races and the School Committee candidates. They were taped at MMTV and aired on the cable channel a few times before the election. The Steering Committee was happy with the MMTV setting, but we have discussed some possible changes to the format for next year. We are hoping to tape earlier in the month to allow for more viewings on television. Furthermore, we are thinking about allowing more debate and rebuttal, which would make the discussion livelier, but would not allow for each candidate to address every question. With the goal of providing voter information, we will probably be revisiting our ideas at annual meeting and at steering committee meetings before next fall’s elections.
On to the elections! The League provided volunteer drivers through City Hall for anyone who needed a ride to the polls on election day this year. This is becoming a regular service, and we will be doing this again for the January special election. The League also helped MMTV report the election results by telephoning in the posted results from all the polling locations at the close of the election.
This January we are again co-sponsoring the Martin Luther King Potluck Dinner and Celebration. The US Census Bureau is conducting a census in 2010 and it is important that it be accurate because our representation in Congress is based on population, so remember to complete your questionnaire when it arrives. If you would like further information, the US Census Bureau website is http://2010.census.gov, and the Massachusetts census site is www.sec.state.ma.us/census.
Day on the Hill is scheduled for February, and then, in honor of Women’s History Month, we plan to have a special Movie Night in March for members and their guests at Oak Grove Village. We are sponsoring a viewing of “Iron-Jawed Angels,” starring Hilary Swank, a critically acclaimed movie about the women’s suffrage movement. After that, we’ll visit with the mayor sometime in April at our annual State of the City meeting, and we’ll plan Annual Meeting for June. Please check our website for more details as 2010 continues. Meanwhile, the Steering Committee sends its best wishes for a a happy new year.
Anna, Anne, Arline, Heather, Katinka, Louise, Sally and Joyce
League of Women Voters of Melrose Steering Committee
Archive of Fall 2009 Bulletin
This short and crazy summer is drawing to a close and the Steering Committee is starting to organize the coming year for the League of Women Voters. We have put a tentative schedule on the Events Calendar.
The annual Melrose Chamber of Commerce Victorian Fair is scheduled for Sunday, September 13 and we will be there registering voters and selling raffle tickets. If you can work at our booth for an hour or two, please let Anne DeSouza Ward know as soon as possible and she will put you on the schedule. It’s always fun to see everyone, and the time goes quickly. The Fair is scheduled from 11:30 am to 5:00 pm so let Anne know what hours would be best for you if you can work.
We also could use some help cleaning up our adopt-a-site at the corner of Grove and Lebanon Streets. If you could spend an hour some Saturday or Sunday weeding and pruning, please contact Anne or Maureen Elia and they'll get a group together.
The Steering Committee is also planning a Candidates’ Forum for all the candidates running for office in the local elections this fall. Once we have the details planned, we’ll be asking for volunteers to help there too. There will also be a Voter Registration Drive at the high school for new voters turning 18, and we plan to help transport voters to the polls on election day again. So there are lots of ways you can get involved and spend time with your favorite fellow-leaguers this year! Contact any Steering Committee member if there is any activity you’d like to help with. We will send further information as the year begins.
And, if you haven’t already done so, please don’t forget to send your dues to Louise Mason, 17 Perkins Street, Melrose, MA 02176. Dues run from June to June and they are $52 for a single membership, $78 for family, and $39 for a senior membership.
June 2009 Annual Meeting
The Annual Meeting of the League of Women Voters of Melrose was held on June 9, 2009 at the Highlands Congregational Church (to a powerful backdrop of Portuguese songs). A quorum was present and the meeting was called to order at 7:20 p.m. The members elected a new Steering Committee to serve until June, 2011, composed of Anna Bastian, Arline Broberg, Katinka Csigi, Anne DeSouza-Ward, Heather Doyle, Louise Mason, Sally Stubbs, and Joyce Zeiner
The Melrose League will continue with its core missions of voter registration and voter education. This being a municipal election year, it is anticipated that several candidates' forums will be held. Other plans for the year include a visit from Mayor Dolan with his State of the City message, and participation in the Victorian Faire and the Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration dinner. The members discussed ways to commemorate Women's History Month, perhaps by presenting a showing of Iron Jawed Angels.
The budget was passed as presented, and there was lengthy discussion of various fund-raising methods. League members wishing to serve on a Fundraising Committee may contact any Steering Committee member. Some of the ideas discussed were:
- Raffle tickets to be sold at Victorian (and perhaps at other locations), with prizes of Patriots tickets (if some kind soul like Larry Cannon would donate some), an embroidered top (volunteered by Laura DeMattio, our Joan Moore Scholarship winner), and fabulous fudge (volunteered by Joyce and Eileen [for Larry]). (Anne)
- Letters to businesses (including but not limited to he Rotary Club, the hospital, and Melrose Day Care Center) targeted for distribution in late September, close in time to our greatest visibility. (Joyce and Katinka)
- Grant applications (Katinka)
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:30 p.m.
March 2009 Activities
- Assisted Steel House tenant association in conducting a special and successful election which achieved an uncontested outcome in under a
n hour! (March 2)
- Annual meeting with Mayor Dolan on the State of the City (March 11)
- Fielded a Trivia Bee Team - the BEELeaguers - who participated in the the annual fund raising event for The Bridge: A School/Community Partnership. Our team put their heart in it, but truth to tell they ended up being beleaguered! (March 28)
- Participating in the National League's study about electing our Presidents by popular vote rather than through the Electoral College and sent them our votes.
January 2009 Activity
- Martin Luther King potluck dinner and celebration, Monday, January 19, at the First Congregational Church, 121 West Foster Street. The dinner began at 5 p.m., followed by entertainment. As a sponsor, we helped with the set-up and clean-up, Any volunteers that can give 30-60 minutes, please contact our MLK liaison, Sally Stubbs. (781-665-7773 sgjstubbs@comcast.net)