Dear Quota Members,
With great disappointment, I wish to advise you that Convention 2020 has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. This was an extremely difficult decision for your Board of Directors to make, given the circumstances of the upcoming dissolution of Quota’s international structure. However, COVID-19 is a new medical entity causing devastating health and economic changes and we are nowhere near the end. No one can predict the ultimate outcome, nor the time frame for normalcy. Additionally, many of our members are in the age range upon which the virus has the most dramatic impact; it would be reckless for us to encourage you to travel.
Much hard work has gone into planning an exceptional final gathering for our members, and I wish to extend special thanks to the Chair of our Convention Committee, Brenda Chadwick, Region 4 Director. Brenda and her team were pivotal in locating our convention site and identifying and communicating early on with our team of Grand Rapids service providers. The Board and I are grateful to Brenda as well as our staff members for the many hours they spent planning, promoting, and preparing for this event.
To those of you who have submitted and paid for your Convention 2020, your payment will be refunded in the coming weeks in the form of your original payment. If you paid via credit card, we will refund that card. If you paid via check, we will issue a reimbursement check. If your check has not yet been cashed by Quota International, we will return your original check.
And to those of you who have booked your Convention hotel room, please contact the Grand Plaza Amway Hotel in Grand Rapids to cancel your reservations.
NOTICE: In addition to canceling Convention 2020, the Quota International office is closed for an indefinite period due to COVID-19. Executive Director Nancy Fitzpatrick and Community and Programs Manager Grace Caldwell are working remotely. The best way to reach them is via staff@quota.org, which they are monitoring closely.
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Cancelling convention means a different ending for our beloved Quota International – a quieter one. That being said, we are planning five proactive activities that will support our members, clubs, and regions through the next six months and help bring a sense of international celebration and closure.
· First, in July we will publish all convention messages and presentations online, including: the President’s State of the Union Message; the Executive Director’s Report; the Treasurer’s Report; and a major presentations celebrating Hand-in-Hand World Service, Disadvantaged Women and Children Service, and Hearing and Speech Service. In addition, we hope to plan a virtual “Service on Site” project that will be open to participation by all Quota clubs around the world. We will also formally acknowledge and celebrate winners of club programs, our volunteers of the year, and our high donors on our website.
· Second, we are about to send out documents that will assist regions with the closing down decisions and activities they will need to engage in. We will check in with each of you individually over the coming months to see how we can assist.
· Third, we are about to send out a new document to assist clubs with activities moving forward. We plan to check in with each of you, one-on-one in the coming months to see how we can assist, or what additional information you might need. Finally, we are also in the process of creating and revising a wealth of club resources that we will make available on our Web site in the months ahead to assist clubs with operating as effectively as possible going forward.
· Fourth, we will be continuing all of our monthly communications now through September 2020, so you can expect to hear from Grace, Nancy, and me for the next six months. In addition, staff member Grace is doing a great job keeping in touch with all Quota members on an almost-daily basis via our Quota International Facebook page. And don’t forget! We will keep the Facebook page going after QI dissolves so that you can continue to remain connected internationally.
· Finally, we are creating a directory of members who are willing to have their name and e-mail address published. The directory will be created in the form of a PDF, and will only be e-mailed to members who include their name and e-mail address as well. To be clear, this directory will NOT be published on our Web-site now, or in the future. This will enable you to stay connected to your fellow members in other clubs and countries for however long you wish to remain connected.
In closing, should you be living under Stay-at-Home Orders or other restrictions, thank you for doing your part to protect not only yourselves, but others, from a virus that has upended lives around our Quota world.
Yours in Quota,
Emilie Simon
2018-2020 President
Quota International