In attendance:  Sandy Anderson, Allen Gall, Ken Hill, Ellie LeBaron, Mary Helen Madden, Valeria Olson, Linda Scheffer, Dave Weinman, and John Wintrol.  A representative from Ashoka, Seyda Taluk, also joined us.

NPCA
NPCA wants to develop a system where NPCA and the individual Group(s) will be paid directly through an on-line system so that neither will need to “rebate” dues payments to the other and is asking for some financial help from Groups to construct and implement such a system.  Both the NPCA and individual groups should benefit. 

NPCA  bought a new database system, which is web based.  Eventually, NPCA will use Pay Pal or a similar system and provide the technology to individual groups who want it so that a joint payment can be paid directly.  However, just to adjust their current database is $25,000.  They currently have 90,000 in their database, with 187,000 currently in the Peace Corps community. 

However, Arkadaşlar already has a good database, and we don’t really need to rely on NPCA.   We could offer our database to NPCA; however, they are no longer sharing with us.

NPCA is to be credited with saving Peace Corps from being connected to the military.  And they are our mother group and should have support from us.

People need an interest group to align with an organization.  We are the outreach for NPCA.  Perhaps we should give to the cause, not necessarily just this technology effort.

One opinion is that we should instead put our money where it benefits us.

We could make a contribution conditional on their sharing their database.

The motion was made and approved that we give NPCA $500 as a general contribution with no conditions attached. It passed with 4 – yes; 1 – no; and 1 – abstention. 

Cumhuriyet Bayram Dinner

The dinner will be at Kazan’s on October 29. 

We will accept checks, which John will head up.  He will mail out the letters which Linda and Sandy will prepare.  The letters should go out by October 1. Sandy will send John the set of labels and a set of return labels. We should have name tags, which Mary Helen will do. We need to put it on the web and on the listserv.

Ken will work on the program.  Ambassador Sensoy will meet with Dave and Ken. Burak Akcapar will come. Someone from the Peace Corps will attend. We are also asking Bulent Atalay to attend. Anatolian Artisans will be there. 

Esra Kalci, the niece to Zeynel has had twins and will not be able to show rugs.  Should we consider another vendor, such as the Bizim Brothers?

Mary Helen will handle the Raffle Tickets. 

New Directory
Mary Helen investigated and found that we can send the directories for $2.79 first class.  Media mail would be $1.75, and may take 10 days delivery.  Priority Mail, which protects the directories better, costs $4.05.  We can also add a form letter. 

We will organize to send the directories out from Ken’s house.

Ashoka
In Turkey Ashoka has 19 fellows, in Diyarbakir, Fetiye, Istanbul and Ankara.  They sponsor 15 camps for the handicapped across the country.  Some women are working in the area of micro-economics.  There are also pre-school programs. 

In Van there’s a program for preservation of the mullet – this is mostly a Kurdish project.  Diyarbakir has an economic development program. Erzurum has a rural development program with organic horticulture. A mountaineering project does international recovery and includes 3 women.

Kurds have immigrated to Istanbul.  In 1998 a woman came from Kahraman Maras.  She began cleaning houses.  Now she has a conflict resolution and community center for women.

Ashoka is slowly becoming known in Turkey.  They plan to expand the program to show the things Ashoka is doing.  Turks like to donate funds to feed people.  Ashoka is more into social entrepreneurship.  Seyda wants to address the roots of problems.  She shared a metaphor that Turkey is like a boat:  It won’t sink, but you’ll go with half your backside in the water.   

Turkey – 15 Reunion
The Turkey 15s are holding a reunion next year in San Francisco.  It’s only for T-15s.  Karen Hagewood and Carolyn Bragg are the coordinators.

Thank you letters
We have thank you letters for our contributions from Anatolia Artisans, Ashoka and Beekeeping Project, and Post-secondary scholarships.

Turkish Festival
There will be a Turkish Festival on the Mall on Oct. 8.

--Notes taken by Sandy Anderson