• President's Report for 2011
• President's Report for 2010
• President's Report for 2009
• President's Report for 2008
• President's Report for 2007

FORGET ME NOT FAMILY SOCIETY

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

For the period of February 1, 2011 to January 31, 2012

Presented 5^th,  May 2012

I can’t believe that another year has gone by.

Since the AGM in May of 2011 your Board has met consistently on an almost monthly basis to discuss what we need to do for our members of the Forget Me Not Family Society.  Many thanks go to our members who support the Board as we continue to facilitate our support groups and publish the amazing Adoption Circles newsletter.  The Board has continued to work on offering our annual fall workshop and at least one movie night a year as a way of continuing the support that we believe our membership needs.

In the past year we have been busy as beavers.  The ongoing support from our membership is important and so we do need to know what we are doing right, what services we are providing that meet your needs, and if members aren’t renewing  their memberships,  why?    To address this concern, we have sent out a  “where are you?”  letter seeking feedback about how we are or are not meeting their needs.  We do understand that people are busy and sometimes just are… where they are… in their adoption journey and may need to just move on.  To those past members, we thank you, we miss you and hope you will visit us again soon.  

We were very pleased to have produced a Forget Me Not Family Society pin that was designed with help from a co-worker of Audrey’s.  Another item that had been on the agenda finally came to be in the form of business cards.  Whew!  This all takes time and hard work, and I thank Audrey for all of the time she spent making both of these happen.

At our last AGM we had a fun workshop that was very informative.  Those who participated learned about their personalities represented in colours.  Thanks to Betty Conroy I learned that I am an organized …….people oriented personality (gold and blue).  I am not at all an orange…not spontaneous, nor do I have much green……being analytical…one of the traits of a green person.  Perhaps both of these colours would be a good thing to add….but I yam what I yam, and that’s all that I yam……as Popeye would say!

In April 2011 Bernadette and Gail represented our society at the American Adoption Congress’s Conference in Orlando. They were both hugely impacted by who they met and what they experienced.  And thanks to their attendance our workshop this fall will be presented by someone they met there.  Brian Stanton. Audrey and I attended the conference last week in Denver.

In the summer we held a movie night, Jean Strauss’s “Adopted for the life of me”.  This event was well attended and  a big “thank you” to Diane Willcott for donating the goodies…..and goodies they were. Popcorn, pop and the favourite…..liquorice, at least mine!  Diane, many thanks for your support.  The movie was well attended,  with a great conversation afterwards.

In October we held our annual Fall Workshop, with the crowd pleaser….Joe Soll.  Despite his health issues, Joe was amazing.  I believe that this was our best workshop ever with Joe.  Thanks to all of the Board who gave more of their time to choose the new venue and make it all work.  Even though the venue wasn’t great, we at least took the chance on using a new location in response to members concerns about the location we have used for many years.    The Richmond location is perfect as it is much  easier for our members who fly in, and access to public transportation still works.   Thanks to Gloria for helping me in checking out a new venue for the workshop this year.  Glo, I think we have a keeper in this choice!

And now…..I would like to thank this amazing Board who work behind the scenes to make the Forget Me Not the organization it is.

Heather……I am sad that you haven’t been able to make more meetings, however I know that you are doing an amazing job of putting together the history of the Forget Me Not.  I look forward to seeing what you have done archiving our past.  I know it will be an A-1 job!

Amy … Bernadette and I are so grateful for your editing expertise with the newsletter.  Your attention to detail has for sure made Bernadette’s job so much easier.  I also appreciate the help that you have given to those who are searching…

Bernadette, sigh…..where do I start?  The newsletter is amazing….I love how you are so focused on keeping the focus.  Your decision to keep each issue on topic I believe is making Adoption Circles even better!  And, I loved it already!  The time that you take to research the topics and then make it all come together is making each issue a stronger statement as to what is important to those of us in the adoption “tribe”.  Also your tireless efforts in regard to the Education Program I know is going to make this something huge.  The Forget Me Not was already on the radar, but I think this program is going to put us on the map!  I would also like to mention that Bernadette, after much effort was able to finally start and Interior Support Group.  She started working on this long before the first meeting that took place in Kamloops in February.

Thank you!

Audrey…sigh, what can I say about my right hand “woman”?  You are my go to, Audrey……..I need this, Audrey…….I need that.  And…..what do you do?  Produce it or help make it happen.  Not to mention the fact that your enthusiasm for the Society is just plain awesome.  Not to mention the energy that you have put into the Continuing education program with Bernadette.

Thank you!

Gail, has been with the Society since, as I said last year, before it was the Society.  Gail has done the books, taken the minutes, and then done the books “only”.  Believe you me, I don’t minimize for one second that doing the books is an “only” task.  Gail, you have once again been patient with me and explained what is what.  I may never be a book keeper or accountant, but I am starting to catch on.  Gail, thank you for what you do, and your willingness to produce what is asked of you.

We all have busy lives outside of the Forget Me Not, and for the Board to take the time from their lives to do what they do requires time and commitment to this amazing Society.

Last but certainly not least.  Gloria.  I thank you for all that you have done and for what you do to make this Society workable.  You have always made sure before a Board meeting is over that we have a date for the next one.  Many thanks for that because by the end of a Board meeting we are all tired….and forgetful (at least I am) and so you have always made sure we have a date to meet again.  I don’t ever have to think about our members receiving the newsletter, as you do this effortlessly.  I am sure that when the AC arrives in their mailboxes that our members haven’t thought about how it got there.  Please note….it’s thanks to Glo.  Do you know when your membership is due?  If not… it’s Glo who has sent you that reminder.  Oh yes…..just one more job that she effortlessly does for us.  Now, do you want a T-shirt or a Forget Me Not pin?  Oh yes….go to Glo.  Do you want to borrow a book from our library.  Yes……Glo.

So, to each and every one of you on the Board, I thank you for all that you do, and all that you have done.  Because of all of your efforts it appears that workshops just happen, newsletters are produced and sent.  But I know the real scoop!  It’s because of each of you that it has all happened.

To those of you here today, I thank you for your continued support, and for your willingness to give up a Saturday to spend time with your Board and your fellow members.

Marnie Tetz, President

Forget Me Not Family Society

FORGET ME NOT FAMILY SOCIETY
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
For the period February 1, 2009 to January 31, 2010
Presented 24 April 2010

 
This past fiscal year has been a busy one! Thanks to Gloria, we managed to hold more meetings in the past year than we have for a very long time! These were productive discussions about how to move forward and helped to bring awareness to the Board members on what is required to run our successful Society. Attendance at our support group meetings is strong and “new” people are showing up all the time.

 
Sandra Walters has produced some excellent editions of our newsletter over the past year. They are thought provoking and often challenge the way people think. This year we covered “Celebrities”, “Youth”, “Sexuality in Reunion” and “Disabilities”. We could definitely use more contributors and additional resources to assist with the newsletter. Earlier in the year we were able to provide Sandra with a subsidy toward a new computer – this was the result of a grant received from the Wolridge Foundation for this purpose. We would also like to acknowledge Lynn Mayhew for her layout/design of our newsletter. Lynn actually lives back East and modern technology has allowed her to work from there.

 
Although our website is up to date with respect to content, it could use some refreshing. Unfortunately, we do not have the expertise required to maintain and design a website. Narius Dastur is contracted to assist when we need something done; however, he does not have responsibility for content or look – we could use some help with this. It’s a great avenue for getting information out to the community and our “pulse check” surveys have been quite interesting! With respect to reaching out, we are about to move away from our Yahoo site. We have set up a Facebook page and this is much more readily available to people. We also discontinued the “chat” feature with Yahoo.

 
Gail Davies, our Treasurer, has put together a program for managing our membership renewals. She now invoices our membership which has resulted in an increase in renewals. Our financials are in good shape as you will see from her report. Audrey has been reviewing the By-laws and our Constitution against the Societies Act to ensure we are in compliance, and capitalizing on the rules where appropriate. We also need to understand our limitations as well.

 
The AGM was held on April 18, 2009 with very low attendance. Lunch was provided and catered by Michael Hodgson (thank you Michael!). Following lunch, we showed the movie “Obaachan’s Garden” – the story of a woman who left her children in Japan and never told anyone until her 100th birthday. She was reunited with her 84 year old daughter at the age of 104.
In October 2009, we offered a 2-day workshop with Nancy Verrier. This was a very successful event with approximately 50 people in attendance, representing all sides of the adoption reunion triad. It was great to see Nancy and hear her perspectives. As usual, there is never enough time and she was on her way back to California before we knew it.

 
With respect to our Support groups:

• Surrey monthly support group – this is a group for adopted adults only. They currently do not have specific office space where they meet; but the group is okay with meeting in a local coffee shop. They continue to look at issues they feel are adoptee centric.
• Cloverdale support group – congratulations to Marnie for starting a group in Cloverdale. This is all-inclusive and is held at the Public Library - the initial response has been very positive.
• New Westminster support group – we are now in year 18 for this group. The New Westminster Public Library continues to be sporadic in allowing us to have a block of time booked; however, Douglas College has been a fairly good alternative. It is anticipated that attendance at the meetings will go down now that Cloverdale has opened, allowing for more in depth conversations and exploring of concerns and issues.
• Vancouver support group –thanks to Lee Crawford who ran the Vancouver Chapter for almost two years. She has decided to end the meetings as they were becoming much more therapeutic than support. She is going back to focusing on therapy and offering group sessions.

For the 2010/2011 fiscal year, we will need to update our brochure. We will keep working on our Continuing Education Program. Sandra Walters has completed two segments and will be starting a third shortly. Sandra submits periodic status updates to the Victoria Foundation as they provided us with a grant to create the program. Fund raising is something we need to always be conscious of and one proposal is to bring back our “movie nights”. Consideration also has to be given to a new phone number for the Society.

 
Nancy has spoken many times over the past year to pre-adopting parent education groups, and has bookings for the upcoming year. It would be a good plan to mentor others to go out and speak at these sessions (or for anyone else who wants information on reunion). The Ministry for Children and Family Development is always looking for speakers (for example, the office in Nanaimo would like someone to come over for a half day).

 
During this past year, we lost 2 pioneers in adoption – one was Lex Reynolds, lawyer, advocate, and strong supporter of adoption reform who helped push forward the change of the 1949 BC Adoption Act. The other was Helen Mark, Adoptive Mother, founder of Adoptive Families Association, Inter-country adoption specialist, and long time friend of Forget Me Not.

 
I would like to thank Marnie – she has been a willing student and I’m proud of what she has done. The same can be said for all the Board members, Gail, Gloria, Sandra, Amy, Heather, and Audrey, who have shown dedication and commitment to the Society and have a sincere desire to see the Society continue on and be successful. Thank you Dan – although you weren’t able to attend our meetings, I do appreciate that you want to give back to our community and perhaps there is something we can get you to do in the future! And thanks to Lynn Mayhew for stepping up and taking on the job of newsletter design and layout. A number of our members have stepped forward this year to volunteer with the coordination of our workshops and that is very much appreciated.

 
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 
As many of you are aware, this was my final year on the Board of Forget Me Not Family Society. I have decided to “retire” after 19 years of being involved in the adoption reunion reform movement. It has been an amazing journey to say the least! From my first conference where I wouldn’t even tell people my name, to where I stand today – outspoken, advocate, speaker, conference organizer, reunion specialist, peer counselor, confident, media contact, writer, fund raiser, and reunited mom and grandmother. I have seen the opening of records in British Columbia; I have fought the battle of photo listings; I have shared in the frustrations of opening records in other Provinces; and stood toe to toe with radical reform groups. I have served on the Boards of the Adoption Council of Canada and the American Adoption Congress; and been an active participant of the BC Adoption Network. I have stood alone in a room full of adoptive parents at a NACAC conference in Toronto and shouted, “Where are the books on being a birth mother!” and I have stood at the podium at the NACAC conference in Vancouver to receive the Adoption Activist of the Year Award (along with my good pal Cecelia).

 
I have met hundreds of people with incredible stories and cried buckets of tears over the loss of family connection. I have met fascinatingly interesting people – Dolores Teller, Peter Dodds, Michael Grand, Ken Watson, Carol Schaeffer, Brenda McCreight, Ted Myers, Monica Bryne, Damsel Plum, Joyce Pavao, Joan Vanstone and dozens of others who have made me laugh and cry and forge ahead when some of us felt the battle would never end.

 
I discovered organizations and agencies all around the country that I could connect with and the people who work there – Parent Finders of Canada, Saskatchewan Adoptive Parents Association, Concerned United Birthparents, Adoptive Families Association of British Columbia, Bastard Nation, Origins, Washington Area Reform Movement (WARM), various Governments and government offices, and many, many more.

 
I have watched the Forget Me Not Family Services Society grow to become an internationally recognized organization; respected by many for its expertise on adoption reunion. We offered national conferences before anyone else, and continue to offer exceptional workshops. We have managed to survive with no other income other than donations, memberships, and a couple of small grants received here and there. The services we offer are still needed today, even 12 years after open records in B.C., and we are the only agency in BC to offer these services.

 
We all had a common goal – to ensure that every adopted person knew their origins (& received their original birth certificate) and that every birth parent and adopted person had the opportunity to meet each other. We were the pioneers who made a difference in how the world looks at adoption and reunions today. I have stood, and stand, in awe of the people I have met who have done so much more than I ever could, and whose stories have moved me, astounded me and motivated me.

 
I became completely impassioned with the drive to make a difference, to ensure that no other mother, or father, would ever have to live not knowing what had happened to their child. It was a story I knew, I could walk the talk. My experiences and association with the Forget Me Not Family Society have helped me grow in ways I could never dream of. After all, I had no dreams – relinquishment of the right to parent my daughter took care of those! I had no dreams, I had no self-image, I had no sense of self-worth. The Society embraced me with all its empathy and compassion and allowed me to realize that I was so much more than the life I was living in my “secret shame”. It helped me to find my voice … and I have certainly used it! It helped me to heal the deeply imbedded wounds caused by the loss of my child and to allow love in my heart again. I no longer had to seal out the world or people or relationships. I am forever indebted to the Society – its’ members, its’ network, and its’ Board, for giving me the opportunity to reclaim myself in a safe and welcoming environment.

 
I will truly miss the Society and all it has come to represent for me. Walking away today is going to be very difficult. I have developed lasting friendships with people like Cecelia Reekie, Gail Davies, Michael Grand, and Monica Byrne, just to name a few from the early days, plus so many more over the ensuing years. Adoption is what brought us all together almost 20 years ago and yet, at times, it feels like it was just yesterday. It has truly been a rewarding experience!!
But don’t worry – I won’t be too far away. I plan to continue running my support group and speak for the Ministry and I will be available for anyone who wants to talk to me.

 
I am very grateful to Marnie Tetz who has agreed to step forward and be nominated for the position of President. I believe she has the compassion and empathy necessary for this group and all it has to deal with. I know that she has been a good friend to me over the past few years and she has been willing to jump in with both feet to get the job done. I do have to remind her though that it is important to delegate now and then!!

 
Thank you Gail for being here all these years and for your friendship – the stories we could tell!! I’m glad you are staying with the Society – they need you.

 
Finally, I want to thank the countless people who have entered my life. Your stories have touched me in so many ways, and I have learned so much from each and every one of you. I can’t tell you enough how important it is to continue telling your story. We need to hear you; we need to learn from you … and each other … and we deserve the right to know the truth and to heal. All of you have made my past 19 years an incredible experience which has helped me to mature and grow and dream again, and learn to accept others for who they are. I cannot judge what I have not lived; what I have learned is that you matter, your lives mean something and you are valued. It has been an honour to know you, lead you, and hear you.

 
Thank you.

Nancy Kato
Mother, now Past President

FORGET ME NOT FAMILY SOCIETY
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
For the period February 1, 2008 to January 31, 2009
Presented 18 April 2009

 
I’m happy to report that the Society continues to hold its own – our membership continues to grow (slowly), and attendance at our support groups is strong, with a steady stream of new people coming through the doors. As usual, the personal lives of our Board are involved and busy, and we all do the best we can with the spare time we have.

 
Thank you to Sandra Walters for her continued commitment to the quarterly newsletter. We have dealt with spirituality, celebrities in adoption, and the male perspective of adoption. Lynn Mayhew is doing an excellent job with our layout and design, even from Stoney Creek, Ontario!

 
Our website is looking great now, thanks to a grant from the Mahon Foundation. Many thanks to Narius Dastur, our website designer. He has done an excellent job and has been teaching Marnie how to administer the site, but remains on board to help out with major updates and changes. We have included a members’ only section and a link to “i-give” – this is a link to a number of on-line services where if you purchase something on line, a percentage of your purchase is given to our Society. As a part of our commitment to provide support to our members, Marnie runs an on-line chat night once a month.

Ontario is winning their battle for open records and members of Forget Me Not have continued to write letters of support. It’s important that we all continue to help in the fight for openness on an individual basis – your personal experiences and stories need to be told so that others can learn.

 
We received a grant from the Victoria Foundation in the amount of $5,500 that will allow us to put together our Continuing Education Program. Sandra Walters has been commissioned to complete the work started in 2007, ie, the building of a 6-week education program on search and reunion. On February 28, 2008, we led a two-hour forum at the New Westminster Secondary School. We prepared a high-level overview of what we might cover in a 6-week program and asked for feedback. Unfortunately, this was not well attended as we were not involved in the advertising (this was done by the School Board). We hope to run another forum later in 2008 (with more advertising by us), with a potential program start date of September 2010.

 
On April 4, 2008, we ran our second Pub Night. This was another huge success for our Society. We made approximately $1,500 and thank everyone who contributed to our raffle prizes. We also celebrated our 15th anniversary as a registered non-profit organization. It was great to meet up with past members of the Society. We said goodbye to Cecelia Reekie who retired from Forget Me Not Family Society at the end of her term in 2008. Cecelia was with the Society since the beginning and we are sorry to see her go – her knowledge and commitment are very much missed. She is moving on to other adventures and we wish her all the best.

 
On October 24 – 26, 2008, we conducted a two-day workshop with Joe Soll. It was wonderful to have him back in Vancouver and obviously our participants felt the same way! We had 34 people attend this event. It was filled with laughter and many tears and it was all very healing for everyone. We would like to thank the Victoria Foundation for their grant of $1,500 to cover Joe’s expenses. We are grateful for these grants as they allow us to keep the workshop costs to our members at a minimum.

With respect to our Support groups:

• ŸSurrey monthly support group – this group has been meeting for a couple of years now (for adopted adults only). They have changed the meeting night and are also working on a different location. Because the group is smaller, they have more of an opportunity to delve into issues specific to being adopted.
• New Westminster support group – we are now in year 17 for this group. The New Westminster Public Library has been our meeting place for all these years, but it is becoming more difficult to secure the meeting room. We have been bumped out on a few occasions and were lucky enough to find a classroom at Douglas College that we could use. We will remind everyone to check our website regularly for meeting location updates.
• Vancouver support group – thanks to Lee Crawford who continues to run the Vancouver Chapter meetings. They meet on the first Wednesday of each month. I understand she has a steady group of attendees and we appreciate her willingness to continue facilitating this group.

 
Next steps for the society include the updating of our brochure, the completion of our Education Program and the search for my replacement. We are working on a system of keeping in touch with those whose memberships have expired (with automatic renewal notices, etc). We will continue to speak to pre-adopting education groups. This is an invaluable service to the Ministry and the feedback we receive is always positive.

 
Our farewell to Lisa Chan Couling who stepped down in 2008 as our newsletter layout/design person. Lisa has been doing this work for as long as I can remember and she felt it was time for a break. She graciously agreed to train Lynn and we thank her very much for all her years of service to the Society.

 
We also said farewell to long time member Robert J. Marcus who passed away in the fall. Robert was a staunch supporter of the Forget Me Not Family Society (financially) because of the work his wife Claire Marcus did. She was a pioneer in adoption search and reunion and he stayed connected with our world, even after her death.

 
I would like to personally thank our Board members. Thank you Gail for your commitment to keeping our financials in order. Thank you Gloria for your wonderful work on the minutes and setting up the meetings – she never lets us leave without committing to the next meeting! Thank you Audrey, Heather and Amy for your commitment and contribution to the Society (helping with funding, building surveys, and more). Thank you Sandra for your fabulous work on the newsletter – she is not afraid to put her own thoughts out there and create controversy – it’s all about getting people to speak up (remember how many of us lost our voice?). And thank you Marnie for your support and energy and hard work. You have had a rough year with your husband’s health and yet you were always available on line, on the phone and at our meetings. It’s been a pleasure working with all of you – my most sincere thanks to everything that you do.

 
And finally, thank you to our membership – it’s all of you who keep this Society going and give us, the Board, the energy to keep going. Your stories and experiences are incredible and there is so much to learn from all of you. Thank you for your continued support.

 
Sincerely,

 
Nancy Kato
President

FORGET ME NOT FAMILY SOCIETY
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
For the period February 1, 2007 to January 31, 2008
Presented 25 April 2008

 
This has been a steady year for the Society with little growth in our membership and a regular number of people who attend our support groups. Life continues to throw curve balls at all of us and the members of the Board has had it’s fair share of personal events to deal with.

 
The quarterly newsletter continues to be very successful and we’ve had some wonderful issues. We had one that dealt with the issues of genetic attraction, one about music, and our latest, the “dark” side of adoption. Sandra is not afraid to put forth difficult points of view and encourage dialog! This is how we learn, by sharing our differing points of view and sharing our personal experiences. Great job Sandra!

  
We are very happy to report that our website is undergoing some major revamping and we look forward to it’s launch in the spring. We would like to acknowledge Narius Dastur – a wonderful young man who agreed to take us on and help make our site look more crisp, more user friendly and more modern. And we must thank Ms. Marianne for kicking us off in the first place. She generously donated her time to help create our current website and it’s been wonderful to have our organization back on the ‘net and available for people to find. We do get a regular stream of enquires from the net and our new look should generate even more business and attention for the Society. All we need now is someone to act as our administrator and work on keeping the site current!

 
Our friends in Ontario are still fighting for open records and Forget Me Not continues to write letters of support. We have prepared a number of grant requests this past year and are happy to report that we received three grants this year – our proposed continuing education program, Lee Crawford’s workshop (both from the Victoria Foundation) and one for the development of our website (McMahon Foundation).

 
Our Pub Night 2007 was held at the Royal Towers Hotel and was quite well attended. We were able to give away about 30 raffle items and the 50/50 draw was about $285 (this was won, again, by Tamra Daeschel, a FMN member). The big prize this year was a brand new golf bag, won by the manager of Clancy’s Bar. A good time was had by all and the Society raised $1,100. Many thanks to everyone who contributed gifts and time to help out – we couldn’t do it without you. Due to time constraints, we held only one movie night this year “The Other Mother”. During November’s Adoption Awareness Month, we held a one day workshop with Lee Crawford, “Take the Next Step: Healing Your Adoption Story”. There were over a dozen participants and the feedback would indicate this was a very worthy workshop.

 
Following is a snapshot of some of the other activities accomplished during the past year:

• Surrey Support group – this adopted adults only group continues to meet every month. The number of attendees is small and this allows for some great discussions.
• New Westminster support group – the group continues to be well attended and there is a steady stream of new comers. Others come and then leave for awhile and that’s okay!
• Vancouver support group – Lee Crawford is coming up to her one year anniversary of running the Vancouver support group. She has a regular group of attendees and we look forward to her continued involvement!
• Public Speaking/Awareness – this year has been a bit busier for me with many requests coming in for the adoption education program put on by the Ministry. I have a number of dates set up for 2008 and look forward to these sessions. It’s a great opportunity to help educate people on the issues of relinquishment, the closed adoption system, and grief and loss.
• Web Site – we are almost ready to launch the new site. A couple more bios and some other reference material and we will be ready to go!
• Lee Crawford Workshop – this was a success!! We will continue to try and offer workshops on a regular basis. Thanks to Lee for making herself available. Ÿ Adoption Circles – the articles, profiles and focus for each edition are excellent.

We are currently working on an outline for a Forum we would like to give in the Spring of 2008, at the New Westminster Secondary School. We have talked to them about conducting a 2 hour free forum that would introduce the subject of adoption reunion. The goal is to see how interested people are in possibly attending a 6-week program on search and reunion. Stay tuned!

 
The Board this year has met more often than in past years, thanks to Gloria Sweder and her keeping us on track. We can’t leave a meeting without booking the next one and I appreciate this. She gets the minutes out in a timely manner and is willing to jump in and take on even the smallest job. Audrey brings a wealth of knowledge about funding and grants – something we have needed for a long time. Because of her, we found Narius and received a grant to pay him – well done Audrey! Sandra keeps very busy with producing our well appreciated and respected newsletter and we love her insights! Keep up the great work Sandra – thank you. Marnie takes care of the people – she chats with them regularly on line, sends out meeting reminders, acknowledges birthdays, welcomes new people, responds to queries to our web site and keeps connected with others in adoption around the country. A huge asset to the Society and much appreciated.

 
I am very saddened by the loss of one of our long term board members. Cecelia Reekie decided it was time to retire after 18 years (she had tried for many years but I wouldn’t let her go – you know how we in adoption hate to lose people!). Cecelia has worked tirelessly for this organization and I think one of her personal major accomplishments was her drive and commitment to change the 1946 Adoption Act of BC. She participated in meeting with politicians and the press and would not let go of her conviction that adopted adults, and birth parents, had an inherent right to their birth information. In 1996, this dream came true and I remember how proud she was of the hard work by so many people to accomplish this goal. She and I have spent many long hours stuffing envelopes, planning conferences, speaking at conferences across the country, and traveling through the journeys of our personal reunions together. I am proud to call her my friend and will miss her deeply.

 
Without the membership, we would not be here. It is so important to connect with others who “get it” and share our stories so others can learn. Thank you for your support of Forget Me Not.

 
Sincerely,

 
Nancy Kato
President

Marnie Tetz, FMNFS President