We welcomed two new people today. Mark, who is the NSA Chapter Leader at Penn State and doing a Summer internship in Philadelphia, and Cat a junior college student. We had pizza donated by Giovanni’s today too.
We started with chapter business such as the upcoming NSA Annual Conference. Also reminded to everyone that our next meeting, which would have been July 7th, has been cancelled due to our attendance to the conference. The NSA has asked all chapters to donate $50 gift cards to be used at the Conference for raffles and silent action baskets. If you would like to contribute please contact me at gredos@verizon.net.
We learned about what brought Mark and Cat to their first meeting at our chapter and we went on talking about what we get out of coming to meetings. Some of the answers were:
- learn what others do, what worked and what their mistakes were so that we don’t repeat them,
- being part of a group, getting a sense of community,
- for some of us that have been members for a long time, we like being there for the newcomers and be able to give back,
- meetings are reminder that we are not alone. There are people that help you and support you,
John didn’t know what to expect when he first started coming a few months ago. He didn’t expect to get help and although he can’t pinpoint anything specific that he has learned or done since then, he has found that just coming to the meetings has helped him. Just seeing how other people approach their own stuttering and relate to it, how they accept it.
We are planning a picnic next month, Sunday July 17 at Valley Forge Park. A separate announcement will be sent shortly with more details. Hold the date!
The meeting was cut a little short because a fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate the building. We continued our meeting outside for a little longer and then called it a day.