Notes from our October 6 Meeting:

Review of and Feed-back from Margaret’s Visit

We all agreed that Margaret’s visit inspired many and provided interest upon which we can build.  We were impressed with her naturalness and her ability to adjust her presentation to each different audience, to put into few words some big ideas about Haiti’s history and people, and to inspire her audience.

A few reactions:  One mother reported that her children wanted to give one allowance a week to the What If? Foundation; she told them she would add the same amount to the contribution.  A few days after Margaret’s special visit to Kurn Hattin, a visiting teacher, who had not been present for her visit, said the excitement was still palpable.

Margaret held the attention of Compass and Kurn Hattin students for a good hour and twenty minutes.  As KH students had to leave before they had all their questions answered, she was keen to return to that school if time permitted.  It was reported that KH classes had been assigned a few chapters to read, but returned to class having completed the book.

Wed. evening, Margaret enjoyed sharing insider conversation with the three essay winners from BFHS and the principal and his wife at the Saxtons River Inn.

After dinner, she crossed the street, where Susan and Ed Warner had everything set up at Christ’s Church…with greeters welcoming people at the door.  We were pleased that about 55 people attended this mid-week event….in large part thanks to the good publicity work of Kathy Michel working with the media, Susie Peters’s putting together an eye-catching poster that a number of FOH posted widely, and Sue Cota, Susan Warner, and Eloise contacting local churches.  We noted that both Walpole Congregational and Bellows Falls UCC were represented by a good group from their Women’s Fellowships.  For the most part, people did NOT skip out after Margaret’s inspirational talk, but came downstairs where the Christ’s Church Women’s Fellowship had provided a table full of delicious refreshments. Both books and art sold, which along with donations totaled  close to $400.

Thursday morning Margaret was off-and-running with breakfast at VA with Mary Hepburn, an exchange with a Contemporary Issues class, and then an all-school presentation in Horowitz Hall.  The Headmaster’s mother came from Connecticut just to attend this assembly as she had read Margaret’s book.  Lunch at VA followed where Margaret engaged in lively conversation with many…..before being whisked away by Carol Perley to address the BFHS students.  This was perhaps the most challenging presentation, as the auditorium is cavernous and the students prefer to sit towards the rear.  However, they gave her a standing ovation and many lined up afterwards to get her to sign their copy of her book.

Our closing pot-luck at Mary and Ryan’s home was a perfect close to Margaret’s days with us.  It involved a good mix of Friends of Haiti, pledgers to What If?, and school staff.  Nancy Koveleff introduced a number of guests to their first e-vite…which produced a tasty spread of pot-luck dishes.

Margaret’s schedule did open up and she was able to go to Kurn Hattin on Friday morning for a final presentation; the students responded by a heart-felt singing of “Lean On Me”.

(See the What If? Email letter for Margaret’s write-up of her visit to southern Vermont www.whatiffoundation.org) (back to top)

            We decided to have designated people relate to each of the schools and responsive churches in order to:
follow-up on Margaret’s visit,
give support for any fundraiser for What If?
keep them updated on future events.

Bellow Falls High School - Carol Perley
Kurn Hattin - Kathleen Piracello, Jeanne Moore
Interested KH staff:  Nancy Clingan, John Mosley, Dick Long
Compass School:  Ed and Susan Warner
Vermont Academy: Susie Peters, Kathryn Lyle, Mary                  McCullum
Walpole Congregational Church - Sue Cota
Bellows Falls United Church of Christ - Susan Warner

Our Next Event - a Book Reading and Discussion
We had a wide-ranging discussion about such issues as:
Is Paul Farmer’s book,  Uses of Haiti, too dense, ambitious and expensive ($24) a book to invite “outsiders” to read and discuss? (We acknowledge that it IS the best book if we want to get an understanding of why Haiti never has gotten ahead)
Should Friends of Haiti (FOH) have its own book reading of this book, and invite “outsiders” to read some select magazine articles for discussion?
Might we interest some Vermont Academy students and teachers in reading the book ?...in which case we could read/discuss in conjunction with them.
Would the format of a pot-luck supper followed by discussion be most inviting?
What venue would be most enticing?...a home with fireplace?  A room at VA able to hold more people?
Might we overcome the obstacle of a dense and long book by assigning one or a few people to read different chapters and report on that chapter to the group?

Margaret had recommended an article in ? about why the pledged money from various countries has not yet been put to use in Haiti.  Some thought this might be a good article for reading and discussion, and were going to take a look at it.

We decided to let all these ideas percolate, and meet again on Friday, October 28th at 10AM to makes decisions. (back to top)