Dear Friends of IAPE,
2020 – What a year!
My hunch is that you, like me, never had any idea what was ahead for us as we began 2020. The IAPE calendar had its usual full schedule of classes. In March, we were scheduled for a class in Westchester County, just north of New York City. Our former Board member from Long Island, New York, Bill Kiley, was going to join me to co-present the class. It was late February when Bill called me and said that due to high-risk medical challenges he needed to skip the class.
We had just learned about the COVID-19 virus and Bill told me that it was beginning to widely spread in the New York City area. Suddenly, we began to get calls about folks dropping out of the New York class, and then the dam broke. Class after class was cancelled due to the global pandemic. But that was just the beginning.
The phones at the IAPE offices and our email inbox were busier than ever. Our members were contacting us for guidance on handling property and evidence in this new, upside-down world where people were quarantining food and Amazon deliveries in their garage for days. How could IAPE provide assistance to our membership? With incredible speed and agility, we retooled for the use of Web-based video to provide Webinars. In the middle of the pandemic, we all pulled together and launched this much needed new venture. The Webinars were a huge success. There was great feedback from the hundreds of members who signed up for each of them. We tried to leverage technology to address our mission, and that we did. However, like millions of small businesses, IAPE has suffered very significant financial losses this year.
The IAPE Board has been careful stewards of the association budget, but we need your help in order to continue to provide the professional training, the Evidence Log (ELOG), monthly newsletters, Webinars, etc. The Board and I are asking you to pay your 2021 dues as quickly as possible once you receive your invoice on or about January 6th , 2021. Your dues will enable us to continue to serve you.
I join with the IAPE President, Joe Moralli and the Board members to wish you a
Happy and HEALTHY holiday season. May 2021 be a much better year and hope to see you in at one of our upcoming live classes .
Regards,
Joe Latta
Executive Director
