Planning Meeting: March 21, 2026

The Board recently decided that EMGW is due for a broad-based discussion of our future direction. The Guild began as a small group in the fall of 1999 and has grown significantly since then. Lately, we've ramped up recruitment via social media, member benefits, and the occasional woodworking show, and we've been more active with soliciting tool donations from outsiders. These efforts have borne fruit, which raises questions of how much we want to grow and how we articulate a case for giving.

Additionally, the Program Committee must scramble each month to beg for suitable meeting venues. Do members have thoughts about resolving this problem?

We want this to be an open discussion with no pre-conceived outcomes. We expect that many members are happy with the way things are, and we still think there are things to talk about. 

PLANNING MEETING Details

Note that this is not the main library, but a smaller location. There is a small parking lot behind the building and a much larger lot around the corner, adjacent to the Concord Children's Center.

OBJECTIVES: The Board wants to involve the membership in defining some goals for the next few years. 

We want this to be an open discussion with no pre-conceived outcomes. We expect that many members are happy with the way things are, and we still think there are things to talk about. Chris Haeni will lead the discussion. Please come to listen, offer ideas, and participate. We’re  arranging for Zoom support for members who cannot attend in person, and it will help our planning to know if you expect to attend in person or virtually.

WHEN AND WHERE:

Meeting Room, Fowler Library, 1322 Main Street, Concord, MA, 01742

Note that this is not the main library, but a smaller location. There is a small parking lot behind the building and a much larger lot around the corner, adjacent to the Concord Children's Center.  Please consider carpooling.

Saturday, March 21, 2026, 1:00 — 4:00 PM

REGISTRATION and HYBRID ATTENDANCE

Hybrid attendance is available.  Either way, if you haven't already registered, please register your attendance.  You will be asked whether you will attend in-person via Zoom. You can register by selecting the event in Upcoming Guild Events section on the EMGW HOME page.  Look for the March 21 event entitled "Planning Meeting (members only)". For Zoom attendance, a Zoom link will be distributed via email prior to the meeting.

Cleanup should commence no later than 3:45 PM so that the room is vacated prior to 4:00 PM to accommodate the next booking.

PREPARATION FOR THE EMGW PLANNING MEETING.  To reduce unnecessary expenditures, you are asked if you can supply any if the following supplies needed for the strategic planning session.  Perhaps you can loan or donate some of these items you already own but don't use frequently. Some of these items may be only one time use for this meeting or could be integrated into our monthly meetings.

Flip Charts -I think we could use two or three flip charts to write ideas down. These are usually around 25" x 30".   

Easels for these flip charts would also be very helpful. Many companies drag them out infrequently for meetings such as this or do you know any woodworkers who would want to make and donate them from wood they already have in their shop?  That would also be great.

Colored Post-It sticky notes are helpful for collecting ideas and topics and then sorting them. Standard ~3" x 3" is fine or larger if you have any want to get rid of.

Colored Markers for writing on above.

Lined Note Pads for attendees to take notes. 

Pens or Pencils for above. 

Push Pins - for Voodoo or flip chart paper

Blue Tape - also for flip charts -  Blue Yellow or any removable adhesiveness

Adhesive Dots - Helpful for voting

And anything else you can think of that would help us for the meeting.  We can gather these items at our March 14 Meeting or before, so I know what we still need to procure before the meeting.  Contact me via email at jrlejeune@gmail.com to make and arrange donations.  Thank you in advance for any and all contributions.

A popular topic among woodworkers is what to do with the scrap.  By now most of you have a location designated for such material - corner in the shop, fireplace, dumpster, wood fired stove/oven, cutting boards, and others.  You've heard the phrase, one person's trash is another person's treasure.  Well, when I visited the Smith College Art Museum in Northampton a few weeks ago, I discovered an art installation that could paraphrase of the original.  Someone's trash is another person's art.  See the pictures below for what I witnessed - One Half Log Divided into a Chair and Scraps by Gina Siepel.  Maybe we are too close to our work to see the art.

The image at the right reveals the description on the wall-mounted museum label by Brooklyn Quallen about the installation.  I've copied it here in case your eyesight of tiny words is as bad as mine.

In November 2020, Gina Siepel salvaged a downed red oak tree from a park in Greenfield, MA and used the wood to learn green woodworking.  Green woodworking relies on hand-splitting and shaving freshly harvested "green" logs, which are pieces of recently cut wood that have not yet dried out.  Siepel's installation demonstrates not only the result of green woodworking, but her process of learning by doing.  The installation exists as a sort of frozen explosion, with the finished chair surrounded by the scraps and shavings that she removed from the log to make it.  Siepel puts on display every remnant from the multistep process of chairmaking, embracing what is usually discarded.

Committee Positions. (Rob Carver)  We are still in need of volunteers to team up with committee members already on staff.  Committees are short staffed so please consider joining a committee in order to ease the effort to maintain successful outcomes.  Any amount of time you volunteer is helpful.  Here are the ways you can become a bigger part of the guild. One of the most rewarding ways to connect with other EMGW members is volunteering to help on a committee. Many tasks are very light lifting and can be fun and lead to long-term friendships.

• Newcomer Committee: Make a phone call or otherwise contact a new member after they join, and become the first person they meet. We'll provide guidelines for that first conversation. newly elected VP Mike Bossin is the person to contact.
• Program Committee: Help plan the Saturday programs a year in advance. We meet about quarterly on Zoom for 60-90 minutes. Shape the substance of our meetings and make personal contact with cool presenters. Let Rob Carver know if interested. 

• Presenters: Long-time guild members remember the good old days when more presentations were given by guild members. Is there a topic or technique that you are willing and able to present to the group on a Saturday morning? Don't be shy. Raising your hand is another huge way to help the Program Committee.
• Development Committee: We're starting to get more serious about fundraising and soliciting & collecting tool donations for auction. Mike Bossin is leading the charge. Anyone is welcome, and people with backgrounds in non-profit finance or marketing/advertising are especially welcome. We anticipate needing to gather and move tools, so a truck and healthy back are assets.

John LeJeune reports the photo  (L to R) of Ray Tice, Vic Kelman, Carl Tappan, Michael Bossin and John LeJeune is from the Woodcraft of Woburn October 25, 2025 Tool Swap.  They are standing in front of our new wood banner that Vic Kelman made with her wood burning tool for guild events such as these.  Other items on the table are recent guild projects. (Shaker stool, wavy cutting board, hand made brush and dustpan and hand carved owl and bear.  Additional volunteer/participants at Walpole Woodcraft on 10/18/25 were Dan Sichel, Cindy Forkner, and Matt Forkner.  Money raised from the tool sales from members and the public totaled $443.00. There are still some tools left if members are interested.  Thanks to all who participated and who bought tools. The event has also yielded the recruitment of several new members. We welcome them to the guild. 

Considering getting into woodworking?  A team of members of EMGW has written a guidebook targeted for new woodworkers and a refresher for other woodworkers.