Fall 2016 "Ask Granny"© Newsletter

"Ask Granny"© Newsletter    Fall 2016

The "Ask Granny"© 2016 Certificate of Appreciation and Chapter Recognition 

The African-American Historic and Genealogical Society of Prince George's County, Maryland

Congratulations to Nathania A Branch-Miles and the African-American Historic and Genealogical Society of Prince George's County, Maryland, the 2016 "Ask Granny"© Chapter of Year!

Thank you to the Chapter for all that you have done over the past year!

Below are some interesting thoughts on the program from responses to questions I sent to Nathania.  You will see that she and her group have been creative in their outreach, in getting publicity in local media, and in finding ways to finance more sessions.

Julia Porter, Guy Charity, and Nathania Branch-Miles
 at Spauldin'gs Library, Prince George's County, Maryland

Granny: What is your exact department within Howard?  Nathania Branch-Miles: I am still a full-time employee at the Howard University working in the department of Student Affairs in their University Counseling Service. As a member of the Prince George’s County Maryland Chapter of the Afro American Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc., I am an officer and program coordinator for special programs.

How did you hear of us? Learned about it on the internet – read an article in Reunions Magazine – I followed it up with an email to ask.granny.us@gmail.com to express my interest and to get more information.  I submitted a proposal to my chapter that we incorporate the "Ask Granny"© program into our community outreach.  It has been a huge success.  Other chapters are interested in following suit. It has been written up in our quarterly newsletter.

Use the materials or re-create them for your particular needs? Yes, the Afro American Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc. – Prince George’s Maryland Chapter, we incorporated our logo on most of the printed materials to show a joint project. We have been repeatedly asked to do more as the participants feel that one hour is not enough time.

Spaulding's Library, Prince George's County, Maryland

How many granny sessions and students have you had? Three (3) sessions which were co-sponsored the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System  (PGCMLS).

Oxon Hill Branch -  50 people registered - 38 people showed up
Spaulding’s  Branch - 30 people registered - 25 people showed up
Fairmount Heights Branch - 15 people registered – 11showed up


There are 18 library branches in the county.  Mr. Guy D. Charity is the Outreach Services Specialist
Senior and Homebound Services for the PGMLS.  The Oxon Hill Library Branch is one of the largest libraries in the county and Fairmount Heights is one of the smallest.  We are scheduled to do a presentation with the Accokeek Library Branch in October and the North Brentwood Historical Society in November.  We have also been put on the Calendar in December and January with Maryland National Capital Park & Planning Commission’s (M-NCPPC) Senior Citizen programs.

Maryland "Grannies" and "Grandpas"

How did you handle the costs...what is your estimate, over the course of your project, of costs per student?  For the first presentation, the chapter incurred the cost of printing, purchase of pencils, labels, cards, folders and other needed items.  Because we were in the middle of the summer, staples, Office Depot and other merchants had not yet started their school sales, including the cost of printing out the directions, charts, and evaluation sheets it came to $3.49 per person.  Now that the library is printing, the cost has been lowered considerably.  The library has given us in kind support by now printing out all of the handouts and providing pencils and folders.  Maryland Park and Planning will give us a stipend so we will use that money to purchase whatever materials are needed

How did the local media hear about you and what type of interviews did you have? Initially I submitted a proposal to the Library, Senior Citizen groups and Park & Planning.  The first group to accept our proposal was the Library.

Each time we prepared for a presentation, the library did an email blast to all of its patrons at the individual libraries, AAHGS-PGCM sent out notices to the calendar of the local Gazette and Washington Post newspapers as well as the local cable TV channel.  After the first program, mostly word of mouth.  We have been seen on the local cable channel.  We have been asked by local senior citizen groups and other historical societies to do a session for their groups.

Nathania Branch-Miles and Judy Russell, 22 September 2016

New Association with the Georgia Genealogical Society

Your "Ask Granny"©  co-founder, Judy Russell, and husband Tom made a big move in May. After 55 years in and near Athens, GA, we moved to Brookhaven (formerly a part of Atlanta), GA, to enjoy some fun times with kids and grandkids. We brought boxes and boxes of GRANNY material with us, as well as all of our computer materials. Finally do have things up and running with a new computer, built to emulate the old one.

We hated to leave Athens and co-author Greg Crane.  But Tom has been the new GRANNY assistant, accompanying me and being the IT guy at speaking engagements. Our first speaking date was at the Summer Festival of the Georgia Genealogical Society at the Georgia Archives building in Morrow, GA.  We had a large session with lots of folks interested in using "Ask Granny"© materials at family reunions and other events. Two women also had an idea to use with the Hospice patients where they work, which is another very workable idea.

At that June Meeting, President Susan Sloan announced the new committment of the Georgia Genealogical Society to assist "Ask Granny"© both locally as well as nationally and internationally.  The first big step is in place now: an "Ask Granny"© tab on the Georgia Genealogical Society homepage, http://www.gagensociety.org, with some brief information about the program and, most importantly, our contact details. This will be a new step in visibility for our program and will make it easier for folks to find us. Future plans include training of volunteers for outreach and for local sessions in Georgia communities.

Judy and Greg send our thanks to the Georgia Genealogical Society for their interest in and committment to "Ask Granny"© and for helping us find new ways to foster the outreach. We look forward to many new and interesting GRANNY activities in joint effort with the Society.

A word about Finances

We often get questions about how to finance GRANNY projects in light of our stipulation that no one is ever charge for attending an "Ask Granny"© session. It has always been our contention that since we freely share all of the GRANNY materials with those who ask for them, those people in turn should also freely share.

So, who pays? When Greg and I started out, we kept some very detailed notes about costs and averaged out over a year.  All told, it turned out that each session cost about $20, about $1.00 per student. Since we were doing about one session a month, we shared the expenses and counted this as a hobby expenditure ....much less than, say, a round of golf or a lunch for both of us after the session.  So when people ask us about finances, we always recommend just starting small and paying for the first couple of sessions yourself.  If you want to continue, then you can look at some cost saving measures.

As you read in Nathania Branch-Miles's interview, you will see that she also considered finances very closely and was persistant in finding ways to pay for, especially, the printing and folders.

But we really recommend that you don't worry about finances at first. Take our challenge of picking up the phone and calling the nearest senior citizen residence or county day group. Ask to speak to the activities director, tell him/her briefly about the simple one-hour program of capturing memories using pencil and paper and emphasize that is is FREE. Offer to follow up by email with some sample materials.  I can honestly say that I’ve never been turned down using this approach.

Next, do a session or two and see if you don't feel, as Greg and I did, that the experience and fun that the presenters get out of their GRANNY involvement is worth much more than the personal expense. Where else in the world would I personally have met two Granny-sisters whose father was born into slavery in Greene County, Georgia, or a woman whose great-grandmother was Louisa May Alcott? Each session is truly an enrichment for the presenters as well as the attendees!

After your first few sessions, if  you decide to committ to doing several sessions, then look for sales of basic materials and/or buy online at such places as bulkofficesupply.com, our best source for binders with brads and pockets. The goal is to leave people with a substantial gift folder that won't get easily lost, but at a miminal cost to the providers.

If you are having trouble with getting started or with expenses, please feel free to send questions or comments at any time. We will help you take those first few steps.

Keep us Posted!

Always remember, too, to send us reports of your GRANNY activities and photos.  Our rough estimate is that over 2000 senior citizens have created their "Genealogical Gift to My Family" in sponsored events and family reunions. Our goal is to reach 5000 in the next year!  

Best wishes to all!

Judy Russell and Greg Crane
judith.f.russell@gmail.com
ask.granny.us@gmail.com
www.gagensociety.org