June 2017: At our Annual Meeting June 14, 2017, we voted to maintain our Non-Partisanship Policy as is, approved the 2017-2018 Budget and elected the present 7-person Steering Committee to a two-year term.
August 2017: We co-sponsored and participated in “Melrose Stands Together Against Hate,” a peaceful community vigil held against bigotry and hate in response to the events in Charlottesville and elsewhere.
September 2017: Victorian Fair. As always, we maintained a booth where we registered voters, and provided literature about voting and the League.
Also in September, the League sponsored and ran a Candidates Forum at Melrose City Hall for all contested local elections. All told, 15 candidates participated on three separate panels. Peggy Kruse from the Andover/North Andover League acted as moderator and she did an excellent job. The local cable channel filmed the forum and it was available for viewing on our local cable channel, on our website, and via internet streaming. We were able to use the funds from the LWVMA grant (obtained as a result of Heather Doyle’s work) to defray the costs and maintain online information.
October 2017: The League continued its tradition of sponsoring a team to walk in the annual Candlelight Vigil and Walk for Melrose Alliance Against Violence, and was among the highest fund-raising teams for donations. We also held two days of voter registration at the high school in October.
November 2017: The League offered rides to the polls on election day.
January 2018: We participated in the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. potluck dinner and celebration. The League was a founding organization of this event in 1993.
April 2018: The Steering Committee had a special meeting to review and cull our archives, in hopes of creating an essential collection of League paper records and photographs that can be stored and saved for history. The Library does not have the capability to store our archives at this time, so they continue to be stored in a member’s attic. We also reviewed and discussed the display panels that were created for our 60th Anniversary in 2008, and decided to repair and update them for a fall display celebrating our 70th Anniversary in Melrose.
May 2018: The Melrose High School voter registration drive was held on 2 days, April 30 and May 1, and we registered approximately 12 new voters from the high school.
Also, in May, we held our annual Meeting with the Mayor, the first time we have met with our new mayor, Gail Infurna, a long-time League member. Approximately 15 members and guests attended for our discussion.
The Joan Moore Scholarship was awarded to Alex Vanderhorst, a 2014 graduate of Melrose High School. After 4 years, he is returning to school to pursue a degree in Forest Technology at UNH Thompson School of Applied Science.
June 2018: Annual meeting is scheduled for June 12, 2018.
