Fill the #yegfoodbank box at the Feb Shindig

You ever sail in a Firefly?

A few of our members have gotten their hands on copies of the new Firefly board game. Each game accommodates 4 players and approximate play time is 2 hours.

Not enough time to play Firefly: The Game? We’ll have a variety of Fluxx games with us as well. This card game can be quick and fun.

Happy Harbor Comics has pop and some snack food available for purchase however players are welcome to bring their own snacks.

COST: Food Bank donation

When you come to board game day at Happy Harbor Comics (2pm Feb 15), please bring a non-perishable food item with you. We’re going to try and fill a donation box for the Edmonton food bank.

The Food bank’s most needed items are:

  • beans with or without pork
  • canned meat
  • canned fish
  • canned fruit or vegetables
  • peanut butter
  • macaroni and cheese dinners
  • pasta and pasta sauce
  • cereal and oatmeal
  • school snack items such as juice boxes, fruit cups and granola bars

Let’s show the world we’re mighty and do some good this month!

Name that Event – Voting

Our annual movie screening/auction event has been a lot of fun over the years. From 2010-2013, we hosted our charity screenings under the umbrella of the Global Can’t Stop the Serenity (CSTS) event.  Now we’re branching off to do our own thing. As with CSTS in the past, our event is designed to raise funds for the charities we support. It includes a screening of the movie Serenity and charity auctions (live & silent). Past events have also included live entertainment (musician Vanessa Cardui), alternate Whedon ‘verse related goodies (screening of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog), and contests.  While the event currently takes place in Edmonton, our members are from all over the province and many people travel to attend the festivities each year.

The event naming process is being crowd sourced.  We received 18 submissions for the Name that Event contest. Some of you appear to share the same brain; a few submissions were quite similar and one or two were exactly the same!

Now that we’ve received the suggestions, it’s time to vote.

We ask that you keep in mind the goals of the charity event AND that the name selected will be used on movie theatre marquees and all advertizing.

Voting:
Voting is open from January 27 – 31st, 2014 and we will accept votes from all over the world.

While we usually applaud aiming to misbehave, the ridiculousness of recent voting events has forced us to reconsider our voting platform. We have decided to reset the poll and change the system to disallow anonymous, repeat voting. So as not to unfairly penalize the people who suggested the options due to the actions of others, the two submissions with the highest votes prior to the reset will receive Alberta Browncoats Society memberships (the original award for the “winner”) along with the contest winner.

Gearing Up for 2014

Congratulations to the new Board of Directors for 2014 and thank you to all our nominees and voters.

Chair: Sheelagh Semper
Vice Chair: Wendy McCormack
Secretary/Treasurer: Beverley Williams

Directors:
Dr. Doug Reid
Jeri Noyes
Drew Semper
Andy Dempsey

In addition to the Board of Directors and Can’t Stop the Serenity votes, we also decided to create two committees to help us move forward as an organization.

An information/media committee, headed by Andy Dempsey, will be responsible for formal communications to media outlets, writing articles for the newsletter, website and our Facebook fan page. If you’d like to assist Andy on this committee, please send him a wave.

Our social committee will be managed by Wendy McCormack and Jeri Noyes. This committee is responsible for planning and organizing the monthly shindigs. If you’d like to help them out, please contact Wendy & Jeri.  Monthly meet-ups, or shindigs, will  be scheduled for the 3rd Saturday of the month. Details of each shindig are posted on our Shindig calendar and in our newsletters.

Board of Directors Nominees

The nominees for the 2014 Board of Directors election taking place during the Annual General Meeting (4pm on Saturday, November 30, 2013 at 11321-166a St, Edmonton, AB) are as follows:

Andy Dempsey – Andy has been volunteering with the Alberta Browncoats Society since Can’t Stop the Serenity 2011.  Attendees might remember him best for his bright smile and spot-on impression of Vanna White during the live auction portion of the event. Most often, Andy’s involvement takes place behind-the-scenes, helping organize and obtain items for our annual charity auctions, packing items for charity events, organizing stock and ensuring financial accuracy post-events. Andy has been involved in charity convention booth process in Edmonton since 2013.

Anita “Pokee” Pocky – Pokee has been volunteering with the Alberta Browncoats Society since 2013. In addition to choreographing the Hero of Canton flash mob dance and volunteering at Can’t Stop the Serenity, she has written articles for our newsletter (also posted on the website) and manned the membership information booth at the 2013 Pure Speculation Festival.

Beverley Williams – Beverley is a founding member of the Alberta Browncoats Society and has acted as the organization’s Secretary/Treasurer since 2010.  In addition to her volunteer obligations as a member of the Board, Bev is part of the Browncoat knitting group that supplies the ABS with “not afraid of anything” toques and has helped organize the annual Can’t Stop the Serenity event in Edmonton since 2010.  Bev has volunteered at our charity convention booths in Calgary and Edmonton since 2012.

Doug Reid –  Doug is a founding member of the Alberta Browncoats Society and has acted as the organization’s Vice Chair since 2010.  In addition to his volunteer obligations as a member of the Board, Doug has helped organize and run the annual Can’t Stop the Serenity event in Edmonton since 2010.  He has helped organize and man the charity booth at the Pure Speculation Festival in 2011 & 2012 and has volunteered at our charity convention booths in Calgary and Edmonton since 2012.

Drew Semper – Drew is a founding member of the Alberta Browncoats Society. Our “Jack of all trades”, Drew does a bit of everything for the organization; most of it in a behind-the-scenes manner. Occasionally he does step into the spotlight; most notably when he’s MC’ing the Can’t Stop the Serenity event. Drew makes pompoms for our “not afraid of anything” toques, gathers auction items, researches and purchases merchandize, organizes and volunteers at our convention charity booths (since 2011), and helps plan and execute Browncoat shindigs.

Jeri Noyes – Jeri has been volunteering with the Alberta Browncoats Society since 2010 and joined the Board in 2013. In addition to managing the merchandize table at the Can’t Stop the Serenity event since 2010, Jeri has volunteered at our charity convention booths in Calgary and Edmonton since 2012 and been instrumental in the organization of the Browncoat shindigs held in Edmonton and Calgary in 2012 and 2013. The on-going joke is that Jeri has never seen Firefly or Serenity (we’ve discovered that’s not entirely accurate); her main motivation for working so tirelessly for us over the past 4 years is raising funds for charity. And she’d like it noted that she’s very, very good at raising funds.

Sheelagh Semper – Sheelagh is a founding member of the Alberta Browncoats Society and has acted as the organization’s Chair since 2010. Our “Jill of all trades”, Sheelagh plans and organizes the annual Can’t Stop the Serenity event as well as all facets of the charity convention booths since 2010. In addition, she purchases booth merchandize, negotiates contracts, obtains auction items, pays bills, writes for the newsletter and website, answers emails, and knits the “not afraid of anything” toque at conventions (at knit-a-thons or just because we’re running low on stock) and as part of the Browncoat knitting group.

Wendy McCormack – Wendy joined the Board in 2013. In addition to her volunteer obligations as a member of the Board, Wendy is part of the Browncoat knitting group that supplies the ABS with “not afraid of anything” toques and has helped organize the annual Can’t Stop the Serenity event in Edmonton since 2010.  Wendy has been involved in the preparation and manning of our charity convention booths in Calgary and Edmonton since 2012.

Registered members who live within 100 kms of Edmonton must attend the Annual General Meeting in order to vote in the Board of Directors election.

Registered members who do not live within 100 kms of Edmonton, as indicated in our member database, may record their vote on any agenda item via email using their registered member email address between November 26 – 29, 2013. Eligible in-absentia voters should list which board members they choose vote for in the body of their message. Members may select up to seven (7) nominees but are not required to do so.

We are currently working on a method for out of town members to dial into the meeting via internet based calling service. Details will be posted once testing is complete.