From the Board Meeting
Thanks to Ros Joyce and Talo Kawasaki for this year’s amazing Holiday Origami Tree. Andrew Cribb took photos and Robert Lang posted them on the OrigamiUSA website the same day as the AMNH Tree Lighting! See here.
Thanks also to Melissa Mohamed and Stacy Grinsfelder for stepping up to chair the new Social Media Committee. Leyla Torres will join them and continue her work with our Facebook page. Thanks to Leyla for her work over these many years. Follow us on Facebook.
The Board continued its discussion on topics and plans for the 2019 Board Retreat.
From the Operating Committee Reports
Membership
This month: 1613 Last month: 1604 Last Year: 1674
Number of Online Members:
This month: 412 Last month: 403 Last Year: 425
Communications Officer
OrigamiUSA sent an email to all folders in California expressing best wishes during the difficult time of the recent fires.
Note: Patty Grodner is our Communications Officer, whose responsibility is to communicate with member(s) on behalf of The Board from time to time as needed.
Online Presence
Work continues on the Convention and PCOC pages. Many changes are planned with the intent of making it easier and clearer for people to sign up and see what they signed up for.
Business Committee
Inventory for The Source is set for January 5, 2019. The Source will be closed for a short period from Jan. 1 – 5, 2019.
PCOC
Some of the web pages for PCOC 2019 have opened and include the special guests, Oriole Esteve and Joao Charrua. There is a fundraiser in progress with the goal of being able to cover the expenses for the OAS Folding Group from Spain to participate in PCOC 2019. Oriole Esteve is part of this folding group which has a unique way of encouraging folders to create new models. PCOC 2019 will use the online ticketing format that was used for the June 2018 Convention.
Fundraising
We are in the middle of our end-of-year fundraiser, which features matching donations from three donors and the entire board for a total of $8,200 to be matched $1 for every $2 donated. So far, we have over $6,000 in donations that will be matched. Of that, a recent reminder email generated over $2,500. The plan is to send out two more reminders. The fundraiser is scheduled to end on December 31. Based on our matching donations, our fundraising goal is $16,400 in donations, matched by $8,200 for a total of $24,600.
Lending Library
We have added 396 Items to the Lending Library, including 315 periodicals. Of note, this includes 175 issues of the Tanteidan magazine of the JOAS, and 27 issues of the BOS magazine. As a reminder, the new Library Excerpt Service is now available and excerpts from any Lending Library items can be requested.
In conjunction with the Website Team updates have been made in the Lending Library database that will facilitate showing the materials that are available.
Volunteer Appreciation
The 2018 Volunteer Pins have been mailed.
Social Media
This is a new committee that will be co-chaired by Melissa Mohamed and Stacy Grinsfelder. Leyla Torres who has managed OrigamiUSA’s Facebook page for a long time will provide her support as they need it. These three volunteers bring talent, knowledge and enthusiasm to this new endeavor.
Holiday Tree
The lighting of the Holiday Tree took place on November 22 and it was a delightful event. The tree title is “Oceans of Origami” which references the AMNH exhibit called “Unseen Oceans”. Photos of the tree were taken by Andrew Cribb and posted the same day on our website.
Additional tree photos are available here.
Ros Joyce and Talo Kawasaki also recorded teaching models for the AMNH Facebook page. They are sitting near the tree and teach models that are “ocean” themed. Here are the links:
Talo teaching a variation of Paul Jackson’s swimming fish.
Ros teaching the fish base and also showing many models made from this base.
Talo teaching whale and sailboat.
Teaching Tables
Every year we have Teaching Tables near the Holiday Tree from the tree lighting day to mid January. Thanks to all the volunteers who teach during this timeframe.
Alfred Kwan teaching on the day of the tree lighting.
Annual Gift
Annual Gifts were given out to all attendees at the AMNH tree lighting,
Thanks to everyone who folded Angelfish!
The gifts for the AMNH Trustees were provided for their annual meeting.
These are small dioramas containing small 3” Angelfish on wires.
External Project Support
OrigamiUSA has been asked to provide a Teaching Table at the Intrepid Museum during their Kids Week event. We will have teaching on February 17 and 18, 2019 from 10am to 4:30 each day. The event will be organized by Victoria Sheridan.
Origami Heaven will be held the weekend of the President’s Day holiday. Online registration and payment to attend the event will again be facilitated via the OrigamiUSA website. More information here.
Origami Connect
We are getting ready for the last Origami Connect of 2018 with Jan Polish who will present information about Lillian’s First Lesson. This should be a wonderful event with information about our founding creator and the way she taught origami to beginners. Plans are in progress for the Winter/Spring 2019 Season. See here for updates on the coming season.