Happy New Year!
Are you ready for the second wave of PTA Membership Chairman duties? You said yes, right??
There are two main things going on. First, there is the Spring Membership Campaign. There is a new National PTA initiative for Spring Membership called “New Year - New Opportunities” that should be coming to the local presidents in a mailer. Be on the lookout for the program, but in the meantime, please remember to keep recruiting new members. Second, the Life Member Banquet (LMB) is coming up soon. Here is more information on that:
LIFE MEMBER BANQUET
THEME: Passport To Achievement
INVITATIONS: (they look like travel tickets)
The invitations for the Life Member Banquet (LMB) went in the interoffice mail today(Tuesday). You will receive one invitation addressed to your PTA President, one addressed to you (the Membership Chairman) and two that are not addressed. Each invitation has 2 invitation/tickets inside - one to keep and one to mail back to me with payment and names of folks attending from your PTA. The extra invitation/ticket can serve as documentation for your treasurer as you make your check request, as a reminder of the essential information (time/date/location) or for your PTA scrapbook. RSVPs and checks are due by February 15. All the information you need is on the invitation/ticket (I hope!), but if you have questions, please let me know. I do have some extra invitations if anyone needs more.
CERTIFICATES/PINS
Just a reminder that certificates and pins (or charms) need to be ordered through Texas PTA. I would suggest ordering them ASAP in order to receive them by the LMB. You can do it online at www.txpta.org. You must sign in as a member, then go to the tab for awards, then you will see the link for life membership application.
SET-UP:
Anyone interested in helping with set-up for the event?? I’m looking for a bit of help and if you’ve got an hour or two you can spare on February 26th, please say YES! We’ll be putting out the centerpieces, programs and other decorations. It is a good chance to get to meet some other great volunteers. If you (or anyone from your PTA) can volunteer for the 10-12 or 12-2 shift, please let me know. We will recognize the PTAs who send members to help!
HONOREES:
Hopefully everybody has already selected their honorees or is doing so in the next week or so. The write ups about the honorees are due by January 31, but are welcome as soon as you have it ready. The write ups are different this year. To complete a write up about the honoree, we ask you to answer a set of questions as we will have the program set up more like a passport.
The questions are:
- Name of Honoree as you would like it printed
- Which honor is being bestowed? (Texas Life Member, Extended Life Member, or National Life Member)
- List positions currently/previously held in PTA, or at your school or other role related to this honor
- How many years at your school? (if applicable)
- How many years supporting PTA/PISD?
- Why is this person being honored?
- List 5 words that describe the honoree
- People who share this honoree’s life (if applicable & honoree wishes to include)
QUESTIONS I’VE HAD LATELY ABOUT LMB:
Is there a limit to the number of honorees?
No. Becoming a Texas PTA Life Member is a big honor and we hope careful consideration will be given to the process. Many PTAs have procedures for selecting honorees (including who should be honored -staff/volunteers) and you should check your by-laws/standing rules to make sure you adhere to that process, along with your budget. Most PTAs select one or two honorees, but some schools select several. Please remember the cost associated with naming someone a Life Member - the fee for the certificate, the pin and the ticket cost of the banquet.
Does our honoree need to be a PTA member?
No. Many PTAs have given awards to community members or leaders that have made a difference in the lives of PISD students. But, if you are giving it to someone that is a staff member at your school that chose not to join PTA, I would have the committee consider that fact and make that a part of their decision process.
Who should attend? How many people should our PTA send?
It is different for every school. Some schools just pay to send one honoree. Some purchase a seat for the honoree + 1 guest. Some buy a table or two for the PTA and fill it with the honorees, PTA president, principal, etc… I would recommend sending at least one person who is a representative of your PTA that is not an honoree, so they can give the certificate and pin to the honorees on the stage. There is no limit on the number of honorees or guests that can attend, as we have a HUGE room, but, it does cost money. You should have a budget item for this event in your PTA budget, so that will let you know what is available. Most PTAs allow guests to purchase tickets on their own if they would like to bring additional guests beyond what has been budgeted for by their PTA. If you are unsure how to proceed, please talk to your PTA president.
Can kids attend?
Usually we have over 600+ people in attendance and nearly 200 honorees. We do ask that everyone stay for the whole program and not leave after their school has been acknowledged. The event is scheduled to end by 8:30 and last year was over at 8:20. In PTA, we’re all about “every child” but at the Life Member Banquet, we’re celebrating the volunteers who make that happen. There is a lot of sitting, listening and clapping. The event is going to be great and I hope it will be really a terrific and inspiring tribute to our finest volunteers, but it is not an event that would be considered fun by most children. So the answer is, it depends on the nature of the child. My experience is that most elementary school-aged children are not capable of sitting quietly at an evening event for 2 hours, which is why so few usually attend this event. We do want this to be a meaningful event for all honorees (that means both the ones that really want to have their kids there and the ones that don’t want to have the event disrupted by kids), so please make sure to pass along the expectations to anyone who is planning to bring a child.
If I order the pin and certificate online, how do I get a receipt to get reimbursed?
Texas PTA will send the receipt with the certificate and pin if you order it online using a personal credit card. Another option is to print the Life Member Application and mail it with a PTA check.
If you have more questions, please email me!
Thanks, Cara Mendelsohn