April 2018
By Lois Maharg
Now that we’ve got an online newsletter, the “mailing parties” we had to prepare the old newsletter for mail out won’t be happening anymore. The last one took place on March 8, when seven NAMI WC volunteers gathered at the NEW Center to fold, seal, and put address labels on the 270-odd newsletters that went out.
I can’t honestly say I’ll miss doing those repetitive tasks. But even repetitive tasks can be agreeable when you’re doing them together with others likewise engaged.
It’s the camaraderie of those come-as-you-are mailing parties that I’ll miss: the unspoken permission to talk or not to talk, depending on my mood; tolerance for conversation that was silly or serious; the quiet appreciation and total lack of judgment I felt from every other person focused on getting our newsletters ready for delivery by mail.
As mentioned in the last newsletter, a condensed version of some of our online newsletters will still be printed up and mailed out to readers who want them. If you are one of those readers, let us know (if you haven’t already) by calling the office (734-994-6611) or typing in your contact information on this Google form.
To date, few readers have asked to continue receiving a print newsletter. It looks like most readers are content to receive Connections online and can appreciate the benefits: more frequent newsletters; more flexible content, including more photos; and interactivity, enabling readers to comment on stories and let us know what they think.
So it’s goodbye to mailing parties and thank you to staff and volunteers whose many hands have made light work in the past few years: Barb Higman, Penney Acosta, Sandy Gale, Mike Dolan, Kavitha Reddy, Marty Lipton, Carolyn Ellingson, and Rusty Sprauer.
Will miss this.