[New-hampshire-students] washington seminar

[Marie Johnson]

Ed, I will address each comment in order beneath your questions.
* you wrote, > Trying to put together what our plans are for the Washington 
seminar. We go
> down on Saturday so the students can do their seminar Sunday. Non-students
> can do sight seeing that day. Monday there tours of headquarters and
> workshops, and that evening we have the Great Gathering meeting. Tuesday 
> we
> visitor congresspersons, report in the evening, and disperse Wednesday
> morning?
my reply, Yes, unless anyone  chooses to stay at their own expense, we will 
leave early Wed morning.
Julie and I have a friend  who is a minister and she has offered to put some 
of us up while we are there to save us some money.
I will keep everyone posted on the outcome.
* you also said, > This IS our most important activity of the year, but 
money is very short. We
> sold our stock when it was down, and are getting very little interest now.
> Can we survive on the reduced dividends, or do we have to lose more of our
> net worth?
My reply, > The mutual funds have continued to plummet since the sale of our 
funds, so I am actually very pleased that we sold them and put them into 
secured places. Otherwise, we would have lost substancially more already.
 We may be getting a pathetic rate of interest but it is an upward amount in 
our favor and not a further loss.
I realize the long term affects this has on our accounts, but it was a 
legitimate board decision and we will make the best of it until otherwise 
reviewed at a later time to see how the economy stands.

* you continued, > The rooms are so bloody expensive, we might have to put 
up wirth discomfort
> and cram in very closely. To save money at SF conventions, Sandy & I have
> crammed up to 7 in a room, mixed company, some of putting bedspreads on 
> the
> floor as cocoons. Sandy & I are willing to travel by Bolt Bus to save 
> money.
> At the board did you propose that the affiliate cover the rooms, and we
> cover travel, meals, and incidentals?
* my reply, I believe it was left that everyone really needs to help out the 
affiliate by selling as many raffle tickets as possible so that we would 
have extra funds to help , but once again, otherwise we cannot afford to 
cover travel for everyone. Meals and incidentals were never covered anyway, 
so that is up to the individual.
If there is any further questions or comments, don't anyone hesitate to just 
ask!!