June 2019: At our Annual Meeting June 12, 2019, we voted to maintain our Non-Partisanship Policy as is, and approved the 2019-2020 Budget as proposed. All six of the incumbent members of the Steering Committee agreed to run for another 2 year term, and Susan Baron was nominated as a 7th member of the committee. All were elected unanimously.
September 2019: Victorian Fair. As always, we maintained a booth where we registered voters, and provided literature about voting and the League.
October 2019: On October 2, 2019, we produced a Candidate Forum for 16 candidates running for local office in Melrose. There were three panels of candidates: 8 candidates for 4 Ward Councilor seats; 6 candidates for 4 Councilor at Large seats; and 2 candidates for Mayor. It was a long and busy evening, but we are proud to report that it was a success on many levels and we feel that it was a great service to the voters of Melrose. The Forum was held live at City Hall, and taped for rebroadcast on MMTV as well as streaming on the internet. Much appreciation to everyone that worked on the Forum, and especially to Heather Doyle, the Steering Committee member that applied successfully for a state League grant to fund the costs of the Forum.
Also in October, the League continued its tradition of sponsoring a team to walk in the annual Candlelight Vigil and Walk for Melrose Alliance Against Violence, and was the highest fund-raising teams for donations.
November 2019: The League offered rides to the polls on election day. We also collaborated in a project with the Melrose Commission on Women to publicize and participate in a free online HarvardX course entitled “Women Making History: Ten Objects, Ten Stories.” The culminating community forum with the project creator had to be rescheduled and was ultimately canceled due to the pandemic, but all that participated in the course found it very worthwhile.
January 2020: Members participated in the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. potluck dinner and celebration. The League was a founding organization of this event in 1993.
March 2020: The League worked with two Melrose High students, Joe and Mike Barrasso, that were doing a capstone project involving civic engagement, to hold two days of voter registration at the high school in March. The students made posters and manned desktop computers to offer online registration as well as the traditional paper registration. We did not have as many new voters register at the event as they would have liked, but we did generate a lot of interest and were interested to hear how many students were already registered.
April 2020: The Annual Meeting with the Mayor was canceled due to the pandemic and the new restrictions on gatherings and meetings.
May 2020: The Meeting on the Life of Mary Livermore with Brigid Alverson, scheduled for the Melrose Public Library, was also canceled. It is hoped that we are able to reschedule this event at some time in the future.
Finally, the League’s Joan Moore Scholarship was not awarded this year and we hope to form a small committee that will administer that program in the future.
June 2020: Annual Meeting to be conducted remotely June 9, 2020.
