New Chapter - Twin Cities, MN

With only a week notice, the Twin Cities area pulled about 30 people together for an informational meeting to learn about DiscvoeryBound at 3rd Church in Minneapolis. I stated from the start that the objective of the meeting is to form a chapter board, schedule the next board meeting, and start planning an OTM event for November. All of these were accomplished.

There were lots of good questions asked about local and national events. Emily and Anna of the National Leadership Council (NLC) gave a great presentation on what the NLC is and what their experience has been. The two of them joined the adults in the formation of the board and with a third friend have taken on the responsibility of planning the OTM events.

After the basic introductions of people and what DiscoveryBound is, we split the kids from the adults (save the NLC gals). The kids brainstormed on what sort of events they would like to do and the adults slotted themselves into board positions. After forming the board and scheduling the next board meeting (they were just jumping to get into agenda items for the next meeting!) we all regrouped with the youth and they rattled off a list of great events. The activities included a balanced assortment of parties (actually, they tagged 'party' on the end of all the events to make the sound more fun - clever, eh?), service projects, and fundraisisng events.

We talked some about how to build sustainability into the program as there was once a chapter here years ago, but petered out. This awareness is a crucial part of keeping it going and setting up a system that will continue on. There's already talk of a Boundarywaters trip... I'll be back for that!