Greetings CAMNation, and Happy New Year!
I want to close out my year as CAMN President by expressing my gratitude for having had the opportunity to serve this amazing group of volunteers! I really had no idea what to expect when I said 'yes' to Anne and David to being President, and while there were a lot of surprises and challenges along the way, it has been a wonderful experience made so by the support you all have given me.
Over the past year we have seen a number of sad changes to CAMN including the loss of some of our members and 'member adjacent' folks. These folks will all be sorely missed. In addition, the loss of the former St. Joseph (SJ) orphanage to a fire in March has had far reaching effects to CAMN, both in that many of the St. Joseph Center for Arkansas (SJCA) members, including some of the SJCA leadership, are CAMN members and were impacted directly, but also in practical ways with the loss of our CAMN storage space at the SJ campus, the loss of a space to hold the Junior Naturalist Camp, and other losses. Together we mourn with the families of members who have passed, and our hearts go out to the SJCA family we work so closely with.
On the brighter side, as we enter 2026, CAMN's and AMN's 20th Anniversary, we will celebrate the good things that happened over the past year. First, CAMN's membership has reached 200 with the admission of the 2026 NiT Class! Wow! And speaking of NiT class, Corbin and his team have bumped up enrollment for New NiTs to 50 per class from just 30-35 a couple years ago, made possible by he and his team's dedication to providing a 9 month program that includes ~120 hours of instructional opportunity so NiTs have every opportunity to successfully complete the program. In addition, we have seen changes to the Arkansas Wild Spaces (AWS) program that now includes a shared leadership model that has reduced workloads on some individuals and made the program more efficient, as wells as faster for property owners seeking to have their yards certified. The Trails Team has also seen changes this past year with Bill and Bert stepping back some and Paul Gosnell stepping up to help reorganize the teams and oversee the temporary move of all of CAMN's trail tools to Burns Park until a permanent home has been established. The Greenhouse/Native Plant Sale team has also seen changes, again with Bill taking a step back and Katie Sakevicius moving into a shared leadership position, all while Bill renegotiated a new deal with PMSP to continue use of the greenhouse after the disbanding of Friends of Pinnacle Mountain State Park - the organization that (as I understand it) started CAMN/AMN back in 2006. There have been so many other changes and highlights over the past year, it honestly is hard to keep track of and list them all. Forgive me if I didn't mention something you were involved with.
The Board has also made some changes, or is in the process of doing so. First, we decided at the beginning of the year that we needed to get all of our electronic assets (computer files and the like) "under one roof.," so to that end we made the decision to open a Google Workspace Account and begin the task of pulling our files off of the multiple accounts we have now and gathering them together. in one spot. To aid in this effort, Dianne Skinner has been spearheading an effort to scan paper records, newspaper articles, etc., from 20 years for inclusion in our Workspace online file library. The Workspace account will also allow us to move into the 21st century in regards to email with each Board member, project lead, and other notable POSITION such as the newsletter editor to have their own email email address. This means that while the person in the CAMN President position may change from year to year, the email address will not, allowing people to not have to intermingle CAMN business with their own email, and make continuity in the face of change far easier. There will be other advantages too, such as having a Google Meet account which will allow for Zoom-like meetings that will be recorded automatically into our Workspace account, and the ability to connect CAMN's You Tube account as well (did you even know we had a You Tube Account? LOL). We also decided to invest in a new laptop computer for CAMN since our OLD one is very old and we had been using Anne Holcomb's personal laptop. Finally, in the vein of reorganization, the Board, or a sub-committee thereof consisting of Dave and Anne Holcomb (past presidents 2023 and 2024), me (2025 president), Frank Olinde (2026 president), and the recent addition of Katie Sakevicius (2027 president), to reevaluate all of the Board and Board-adjacent positions to identify gaps in organizational responsibilities and reorganize job descriptions for more evenly shared responsibility, better efficiency, and more complete coverage of our needs. The "All Under One Roof" project and the Board Reorganization project will continue well into 2026, so look for announcements of exciting changes over the next few months!
All of the positive changes you have read about here simply reflect a growing organization that needs to adjust in order to continue to succeed and meet the challenges and needs of the community we serve. It is amazing to consider that just 2o years ago, CAMN/AMN was just a 'thought experiment' and a group of six people who thought they could make a difference through their volunteer efforts on behalf of The Natural State. Now, 20 years later, that little group has spawned six chapters covering the better part of the state with over 900 members. For a group focused on service and not fundraising, that is a monumental achievement, and with that growth change is necessary. I am proud of CAMN, and consider the past year with its changes a privilege to be a part of. I am very excited about the leadership team I am passing the mantle to. With Frank at it's lead this next year and Katie in the wings, I see nothing but good things ahead. And again, I feel honored to have been allowed to serve you all and this organization over the past twelve months. I appreciate all of you and what you contribute to CAMN to make it what it is today! Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this important work.
John Sommer
CAMN Immediate Past President (effective tomorrow!) |