First things first…

by Bill Kingsley

New ABATE Office Manager. Please welcome Marie Furrer as our new Office and Administrative Specialist. Marie brings solid business and nonprofit work experience and history to ABATE of Wisconsin. She is well versed on the aspects of office / membership management and the tools required to be effective and efficient. Marie can be reached at the current office phone number and e-mail address listed in our newsletter. Please welcome Marie to ABATE of Wisconsin.

ZOOM Video & Chat Webcasting – more and more of our meetings are using ZOOM in conjunction with our face-to-face meetings. I just attended the March BOD via ZOOM, and it worked really well. Plus, it saved me the travel time to and from Waupaca. This was quite helpful with my schedule and allowed me to fully participate from the comfort of my home. Please consider using ZOOM in your regions and district meetings. Please contact your ABATE rep or me for assistance.

This is a great low cost, easy to use software program that will allow virtually any of us to attend any ABATE of WI meeting using our mobile or computing devices. Many of you may already be using it (or a similar program) already to stay connected with family, friends, or other organizations.

ZOOM has great potential for ABATE. It can be used for smaller meetings (regional, committee, remote locations) to larger statewide meetings and events. Some of the benefits are more member inclusion, no limits on any meeting you choose to attend, regional meetings can either be in-person, virtual or both, full interaction, the list is endless… Think about the possibility of attending the monthly BOD meeting from the comfort of your home or get with other ABATE Brothers and Sisters to tune in together.

Region Reps and District Directors are asked to start incorporating these ZOOM meeting into their regular meeting formats. We are going to start by crawling with Zoom before we try walk and run. Please check it out and stay open minded to how we can all benefit by using ZOOM.

Region Reps – Please be sure to plan for your appropriate raffle/event licensing for 2021. Thanks again to Ken Nelson for presenting the “Raffle” info at Officer Training. Also, please be aware that an Incident Report will need to be completed in the event of an injury or damage to property at an ABATE event in your region. Consult your Red Book for the form and details that need to be included. Please reach out to me for any questions on this.
Insurance – Our General / Liquor Liability and insurance policies were renewed in March. This year we adjusted the deductible amount and assigned better, realistic values to our assets and products on hand, and used better estimates for number of events/attendees. All of that without any compromise on liability or coverage. The overall result was a $4,000+ cost reduction compared to previous years averaged cost. Thank you to all at ABATE who worked with me to provide information and input. It was truly a team effort that result in substantial saving for us.
I will be working on the Vehicle and Summer Hummer insurance policies next.
As I become acclimated to this new role and its responsibilities, I will be posting pertinent information in my newsletter articles for the members (at all levels of participation) to use and become more knowledgeable of the behind-the-scenes details. Sometimes there may not be much news to report, however, I will try to find something timely and of interest. Contact me if you have a topic you would like to see covered.

We are always looking to reduce our costs and spend our Member’s money more wisely while maintaining necessary insurance and licensing coverage to serve our Membership. Suggestions are always welcome!
Should you have any questions regarding Insurance or Licensing (Raffles, Fundraising, etc.) please contact me. My info is listed towards the end of this newsletter. I may not have the answer, but I will get you the answer.

See you at the next Big One!

Bill