This year’s Annual Community Meeting began with two videos. One highlighted the activities of the Griffin Neighborhood Association and its partners, in 2020 and the other is entitled “Coping with COVID.”

A required bit of business at each Annual Meeting is the election of Board members in positions whose terms of office have expired. This year we are grateful that several board members have allowed themselves to be nominated for a new term. Those were joined by three new Board members.

Returning Board members are:
Katherine Ball
Michael Ball
Paul Frindt
Michelle O’Dell
Mike Reavis
Joan Thomas

New Board members are:
Jan Robbins
Rick Robbins
Biene Wood

Many thanks to departing Board members Jan Hopwood and Dave Shuett-Hames. Your service to our community is greatly appreciated.

For this year’s meeting, the keynote speaker was Danny Veenhouwer, PharmD, MBA, Senior Manager Pharmacy Services at Providence St. Peter Hospital. Mr. Veenhouwer presented information and answered our questions about COVID vaccines.

We were privileged Mr. Veenhouwer was able to take time out of his evening to address the community on this very timely topic.

2020 was the Griffin Neighborhood Association’s thirtieth year! We are grateful for the support from all our neighbors and we’re looking forward to 2021.

Each year the Griffin Neighborhood Association convenes an Annual Community Meeting. This meeting combines some Association business required in its bylaws with an opportunity to present a program of interest to the general community. This year we have planned an online meeting.

The meeting begins at 6:30 PM, when we will present two video programs. One is the GNA 2020 Year in Review, where we’ll recap some of the Association’s activities over the last year. The other video, “Coping With Covid,” includes many neighbors’ contributions here in the Griffin area. Thanks to all of you who contributed images that describe how you are coping with the ongoing pandemic.

At about 7 PM, we will hold our annual election of Board members. Each year, half the board of directors’ positions must be filled, either with returning or new members. Only those currently-paid up members of the Association can vote in the Board election. If you have not yet made your annual contribution, you can do so online using a secure transaction at this link. Make sure you’re paid up before the Annual Meeting to vote in our Board election.

At about 7:15 PM, our keynote speaker will begin. Our keynote speaker is Danny Veenhouwer, PharmD, MBA, Senior Manager Pharmacy Services at Providence St. Peter Hospital, who will present information on “COVID Vaccines.” The differences, the availability, and the safety of them.

GNA Virtual Annual Community Meeting
Thursday, February 18
6:30 PM to 8:30 PM

Use this link to attend the Annual Meeting:
https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_ZDViMmE1YjAtNzBlNy00Y2VkLWFiMTEtYjAyOTgzMjQxMTc1%40thread.v2/0?context=%7B%22Tid%22%3A%223db789f8-e3f1-45fd-ac6b-de5cea47e7bb%22%2C%22Oid%22%3A%22025428ce-9fac-476e-a9e1-6809ec591410%22%2C%22IsBroadcastMeeting%22%3Atrue%7D

A screen will appear that gives two options. Select “watch on the web instead’ (no need to install anything unless you are on your phone or tablet). Set back and enjoy the show! Simple as that.

The Annual Meeting will take place online as a live event using Microsoft Teams. As GNA President Mike Reavis explains, “This will be a little different than the Zoom sessions I am sure you are all familiar with.” For this event, there is no need for a camera or microphones on your part. Only the meeting host and our presenters will have the ability to speak, share their presentations, and have the option of turning on their camera.

“We are hoping this format will make it easier for everyone to attend the annual meeting and we will make a recording available after the event. As we all know, we cannot meet in person, so we are hoping this will be the next best thing.”

If you attend the meeting using a personal computer, you won’t have to install any software. Just attend it using a web browser. You can also choose to attend anonymously. If you attend using a mobile phone, you may have to install the Microsoft Teams mobile app, either from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

When you attend the event, you will find a Question and Answer tab on-screen, for you to type in questions during the meeting, and the presenters will then answer them.

For technical questions about what to expect with Microsoft Teams, please click this link.

We are looking forward to this year’s Annual Community Meeting. We hope you are, too.