ARRM News: March 7, 2007

Experience Practical Magic In May
By Putzie Fryklund, ARRM Events Coordinator

The 2007 Spring Conference is on its way! The dates this year are: May 9-11, 2007. The place is (again) at The Crowne Plaza St. Paul Riverfront Hotel in downtown St. Paul. We are pleased to offer it again at the same location as the last several years.

The Annual Meeting where ARRM member agencies elect Directors to the Board will be held on Wednesday evening. Nomination materials and voting delegate information will be coming to the desk of every member CEO. Every one is welcome to attend the Annual Meeting. Come and hear about the accomplishments and plans of your association, and witness the election of new board members.

The preliminary brochure should be in your hands soon. We have a fantastic line-up of speakers; you won’t want to miss this conference! Don’t forget the early registration discount on registrations received with payment by April 18th. Do your planning now and decide who you will reward by sending them to this great conference and then get that registration material in to the ARRM office. We will also make available on our website, www.arrm.org the brochure as a PDF; you must register using a hard copy. There is no on-line registration for this conference.

The ARRM Cares winners have been selected and notified. We sincerely believe all those nominated are winners, and we will honor all the nominees at the ARRM Cares Awards ceremony on Thursday, May 10th at lunch. Please make arrangements for your nominees to attend the conference and luncheon.

Auction donations are starting to come in, but we need more! Please join in this fun event by going to www.arrm.org and completing the donation form found there under ARRM News – Donate to the ARRM Auction. Experience the joy of giving to a great cause; there’s nothing like it!! We have several vacation packages to great destinations like Disney World, New York and Lake Tahoe, there will be lots of gift baskets and wine, framed art, St. Paul Saints tickets, assorted theater tickets, overnight get-aways, tasty restaurant gift certificates and much, much more. We are looking forward to hearing from you . . . and thanks for your continued and generous support to ARRM. We can’t do this without YOU.

Exhibit space is getting scooped up with those early bird exhibitors getting their information and payment into the ARRM office. Over 2/3 of the booths have been claimed already. If you are interested in having a booth at the trade show, get your registration in now. If your packet has grown legs and walked away, we have more packets and would be happy to send you another one. Call or e-mail Putzie at the ARRM office, 651/291-1086 X8, or putzie@arrm.org if you have any questions or concerns.

We have an exceptional band lined up for the dance on Thursday evening: Wain McFarlane of Ipso Facto and his Extreme Celebrity Band will be jammin’ to help us dance the night away. For more of our listening and dancing entertainment, nationally known blues singer Barbara LeShours will join the band.

The conference bag art contest has closed, and the winners have been chosen and notified. We are very excited to once again highlight this art, which was created by people with disabilities. They receive royalties for their work, so pick your favorite one!

There were 64 entries submitted from member agencies. Congratulations to those agencies whose clients were selected: Harry Meyering Center, Empowerment Services of MN (ESIMN), Duluth Regional Care Center (DRCC), Oak Ridge Homes, Orono Woodlands, Northern Habilitative Services, Orion Homes, Legacy Endeavors and Creative Care for Reaching Independence (CCRI). Many thanks to Hope Renskers from SoHo Art for helping to put this all together.