The Steering Committee held its annual planning meeting in September 2020 and is planning to focus on assisting with voter registration and voter information for this election season. If we are able to start in-person meetings in the spring, we will try to reschedule our Mary Livermore event at the library and hold our usual meeting with the Mayor and Annual Meeting, but we will plan to work remotely for the foreseeable future.
Steering Committee meetings will be remote by ZOOM. All on Tuesday at 7 pm, except October is next Monday at 7. ANY MEMBER THAT IS INTERESTED IN ATTENDING, PLEASE EMAIL SUSAN BARON AT sgbaron@comcast.net AND SHE WILL FORWARD THE LINK TO JOIN US. The dates are:
10/5/2020 (MONDAY)
11/10/2020
1/12/2021
2/9/2021
3/9/2021
4/13/2021
5/11/2021
June Annual Meeting TBD
The committee has reached out to senior living facilities in the city to deliver voter registration forms and absentee ballot applications and has offered to pick up and deliver those forms and applications to City Hall for processing. In addition , we have had productive discussions with Joanne Perperian, Election Administrator for Melrose, and have offered volunteer assistance where needed. We will send email requests for volunteers if they seek our help in any way. Joanne also offered comprehensive voting information that we have used to disseminate to the senior living facilities, and to create a press release that we have sent off to the local papers and for posting on our website.
Committee member Susan Baron is working with member Mary Beth McAteer Margolis to update our application and process for the Joan Moore Scholarship and will report to the Steering Committee in October. We are creating a gmail account for accepting applications as the usual paper applications are limited in use and certainly cumbersome in a pandemic.
In addition, we are co-sponsoring a virtual Candidate Forum for the 5th Congressional district race between Katherine Clark and Caroline Colarusso. The League of Women Voters of Belmont has spearheaded this project and there are a dozen leagues from the district participating. It will be held on October 13, 2020, filmed remotely and available for streaming live, as well as re-playing on our local cable station. A flyer is posted separately with the information and details as well as where to send suggested questions. See the MMTV listings for the broadcast after October 13.
The MAAV Annual Vigil and Walk will be virtual this year, but the League will still be a supporting organization. Please join our team and donate. The vigil will be filmed and available for streaming on the Alliance’s website, and participants will walk the walk independently. See their website for details: www.maav.org/25th-annual-walk-vigil-details/
Finally, we want to alert you to a Mary Livermore program planned for Sunday, October 4, 2020.
The event is being sponsored by the Melrose Commission for Women and will be held at Mary Livermore Park to a limited audience and streamed remotely. It is a kick-off, geared for all ages, to engage our community about Mary Livermore’s 200th birthday celebration as well as the passing of the 19th amendment, to express where women and girls are now in 2020, and to reflect on our hopes for where girls and women will be in a hundred years from now. Vanessa Hale will be speaking about Mary Livermore; who she was and her tireless work for equality. Melrose Commission for Women will speak about the 19th amendment, and five Melrose Middle School and High School girls will be speaking as well. To tie this project to Melrose in 2020, there is a social media photo project asking people to reflect on a Melrose woman they admire and how this woman inspires them. There will be a photo booth set up for people to participate. The live event is limited to 50 people, but there will be a live stream of the event on social media on either Facebook or Instagram. (We have not yet heard from the Commission on the platform)
