26 Apr Notes from Vail Place’s Annual Meeting
On Thursday, April 12, 2018 we held the Vail Place Annual Meeting, which included the Annual Meeting of the Board, a memorial and open mic session, brainstorming and reveal of our new website, followed by a dinner and social hour. It was a very productive meeting and enjoyable opportunity for the Board, staff and members to interact.
Emily Pearl, Chair of the Vail Place Board of Directors, opened the meeting with the annual presentation of the Board. This year we excitedly welcome four new Board members: Nick Paluck, Pricing Consultant with Xcel Energy who joins the Finance committee; Dan Garry, Vice President of Operations and Chief Financial Officer of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association who also joins the Finance committee; and dedicated, long-time Vail Place members Margaret Humphrey and Richard Whitman.
She also discussed the proposed Slate of Directors for 2018, which includes Emily again as Chair, Scott Kerssen as Vice Chair, Dan Garry as Treasurer and Angie Dahl as Secretary. The rest of the Board members were then acknowledged individually. See the full list of our Board members here.
Closing the presentation of the Board, Emily said farewell with heartfelt thanks to four departing Board members: Stephanie Devitt; Jane Dixon; Desi Heaven and Roger Sorensen. We thank them for their dedicated service!
Emily shared many highlights of 2017, such as:
• Vail Place served 2,443 people – a 16% increase over 2016.
• We served an average of 83 people per day between our two Clubhouses.
• Vail Place has strengthened its Clubhouse foundation through team member training at other Clubhouses throughout the country and the International Conference in Detroit.
• We developed an Advisory Council for each Clubhouse, which are member, staff and volunteer-driven councils that help enhance the work of the Clubhouses and their connection to the community.
• We completed a 3-year strategic plan to expand and extend our work to help meet the growing need in the community, including strengthening Vail Place’s brand as a metro area leader in mental health, and establishing strategic partnerships.
• Vail Place expanded our Case Management Services, serving 672 people (up from 604 people in 2016).
• We also expanded our Vail Connect partnership with North Memorial Health, which helps provide needed/appropriate services including physical health assessment, treatment, resources, support and education. This program served 138 people in 2017.
• We launched the Vail Care program, a Behavioral Health Home service that helps people with complex mental and physical health needs get medical and mental health services and find community supports. This program served 26 people in the first few months of operation.
• Vail Place maintained an effective partnership with Bethlehem Lutheran Church to staff and run their Mental Health Connect Program, which connects individuals with a broad range of community services. We served 80 people through this program in 2017, which is nearly a 100% increase over 2016.
Emily then introduced Vail Place staff member Chad Bolstrom to lead a memorial and moment of silence remembering members and friends of Vail Place who passed away in 2017.
Minneapolis Clubhouse: Dean Bergstrom, Kelly Blevins, Dana Brown, Char Coal, Mark Eggen, Kevin Geisler, Aaron Kitchener, Nick Lindee, Demar Richardson and Tim Schaffer
Hopkins Clubhouse: Lisa Coplin, Jeff Edquist, Marie Edquist, Marilyn Murphy, Peggy Seymore and Leslie Worthington.
Following the moment of silence, Chad invited attendees to participate in an open mic session for brief remarks.
Our Shaving Grace fundraiser participants were then recognized with a special gift given by Vicky Couillard, Vail Place Executive Director. Shaving Grace, which followed this year’s History Theatre performance, was a fundraiser wherein members and staff shaved beards and cut hair for donations. Shaving Grace raised over $15,000. We appreciate the sacrifice participants made in the spirit of supporting our theatre arts program!
The meeting concluded with a reveal of our new website design and a brainstorming session that asked attendees to share ideas on how we can use member stories to raise Vail Place’s profile in the community; suggestions for creative social media content or videos that might draw new followers and five mental health-related themes to be the focal points of our content in the coming year.
We appreciate the input and advice of attendees and enjoyed sharing our 2017 successes and goals for 2018. We look forward to another productive year!