Cohousing-L Mailing List: THE CONFERENCE--July 20-22 in Berkeley

[Joani Blank (joani]

Dear Cohousing Friends,

Those of us on the conference planning committee are getting real excited!
What conference, you ask. Why it's the bi-annual North American Cohousing
Conference to be held in Berkeley, California July 20 to 22. If you weren't
in Amherst, MA for the last conference in the fall of 1999, you may have
heard tell that you missed a wonderful time. And we don't want you to miss
out again, so mark those calendars, get your plane reservations, save a
little money for registration and travel costs, and we'll be expecting you.
[You will be able to register from the Cohousing Network's web site:
http://www.cohousing.org very shortly.]

Folks from around the country have been volunteering to help out with a
number of aspects of the conference, but there are a couple of slots left
that we are eager to fill soon. We need someone to agree to run the
COHOUSING STORE.  This job has been more than ably handled by Debbie
Behrens for many years, and we are all very grateful to her. But Debbie has
recently become Treasurer of the Network and she has her hands full! And
Ann Zabaldo (who has given Debbie a lot of help in past years) is now the
Network's esteemed President and is just a tad preoccupied with other
Network business. Not only that, but she just moved into Takoma Village in
Washington DC, a project she shepherded from the beginning and is involved
as a professional in three (or is it four) other projects in various stages
of development.

Should you volunteer for the job of running the Conference Store, you won't
have to do a whole lot before the actual conference, but you'll be a busy
bee on site, coordinating  volunteer helpers, keeping track of the money,
and setting up and "breaking down" the store.  Although you won't have to
sit at the store every minute of the conference, you may miss a few
sessions, and you are taking on a big responsibility, so we are offering a
very big discount on registration fees to the person who agrees to take on
this important task. Don't be fearful if you've never done something like
this before. There are only a few dozen products to keep track of, and
Debbie will show you how and will be there to deal with any complications
should they arise.

The other job that is up for grabs is SWEATSHIRTS. It's not too early for
us to put out feelers for a design (picture and/or slogan) for a Conference
2001 sweatshirt. We haven't decided whether or not to have a proper
contest, but if you have an idea you'd like to sketch out, or if you are
great with words but would need a collaborator to do the graphics please do
send your idea along. We are hoping, perhaps against hope, that the
designer chosen will want to arrange for the silkscreening of the shirts as
well, and have them delivered or brought to Berkeley for us to sell in the
Store.  If you are interested in one piece of this job and not the whole
thing let us know that too.

Just in case a Bay Area person is catching a glimpse of this announcement,
we want you to know that we are still seeking a person to arrange
coordinate CHILDCARE we'd love to hear from you if you'd be willing and
able to help out in this way. Does that sound like you? We are unlikely to
have more than a handful of kids attending with their parents, but we want
to be sure childcare is available for those who may require it.

For more information or questions or to (pretty please) volunteer, you can
contact :Joani Blank by phone or email.  510-834-7399

Or you can contact any one of the following (members of the Conference
Planning Team)

Raines Cohen:  TCN-Raines [at] raines.com
Katie Mccamant:   Katie [at] cohousingco.com
Karen Hester:    hesternet [at] jps.net