Q. 1 How important is keeping your Heritage Alive? - answered by 56 people

25% said it was not important to them at all

38% said it was somewhat important

38% said it was very important to keep it alive

I think low 63% indicates that we need to focus on and teach more about our roots and make people proud of where they came from and what our ancestors did. They can’t be proud, find it important, and pass it along if they don’t know the history. This can be done by sharing History and encouraging elders to pass on their enthusiasm and knowledge of their family lines as well. We need to bring it alive at the reunions in fun ways so it becomes important to keep their heritage alive.

Q. 2 How important is knowing your Distant cousins?- answered by 57 people.

33% said it was not important

32% said it was somewhat important

36% said it was very important

Cousins aren’t important unless you get to know them and have a relationship. Reunions do not consist of many first cousins anymore so this is an area we need to work on. We need to get people to interact and get to know each other better at the reunions. This idea is heavily supported with answers given later in the survey.

Q.3 How important are new Genealogical finds?– answered by 59 people

20% said it was not important

34% said it was somewhat important

46% said it was very important

This 80% importance shows us that people still have a good interest in their heritage but just may not be connecting personally to family and the reunions. Possible reasons for not connecting could be low reunion attendance, not knowing cousins, travel distance, time of year, etc…..as mentioned later in the survey, but at least we know there is interest.

Q 4a How important is it that your family know Pa where our roots were established? 63 people answered *Note: I grouped the answers as follows.

38% said it was not important 0-3

25% said it was somewhat 4 -7

37% said it was important 8-10

These numbers were not a surprise given many of our participants are probably from the Pa area and do not think about getting to know Pa. The high end 37% are probably those who live further away and want their families to see and know Pa where they came from (their closest history).

Q 4b How Important that your family know Germany where ancestors came from? 51 people answered * Note: I grouped the answers as follows.

41% said it was not important 0 -3

20% said it was somewhat important 4-7

39% said it was important 8- 10

I think the 41% (not important) could indicate that some people may not be aware of our German heritage and our current contact with people there. Many cannot afford a trip there either. The large numbers 59% (20 + 39) indicate at least some interest in Germany and should lead us to encourage more to attend reunions there and to create excitement about our German heritage. This can be done by giving history and having those who have gone over speak about their experiences and possibly inviting them to our reunions as well.

Q 5. How often should we hold reunions? – 40 people answered

35% said every year

40% said every other year -

25% said every five years 

This shows us that 65% of the people do not think we should have a reunion every year. The most popular option was to have a reunion every other year. Some people later in the survey mention that this might make the reunions a little more special if they are not held every year and would encourage more people to come when they are offered.

Q.6. Asked about the location of the reunion? – 44 people answered

45% said the same location

39% said the same area different location

16% said another part of the USA – 

This shows that 55% of the people want a different location but 84% still want it in the same area. The most popular idea is to keep it in the same area but at a different location. This was mentioned a lot in later parts of the survey. People said the park is not accessible and not handicapped friendly. I think these are areas we need to be sensitive to, with many elderly, some handicapped individuals, and out of state guests we need to keep these things in mind when choosing a park. I think offering reunions at different locations would help create a little variety and making the reunions more unique as well.

Q. 7a .Only people who wanted the reunion in another part of the USA

answered this question – 12 people answered

50% mentioned the Midwest area for a reunion

8% East Coast

8% West Coast

8% Florida

8% Vegas

8% Atlanta

Not enough interest here to bother with the idea of having a reunion elsewhere in the country

7b. Reasons people wanted reunions elsewhere

66% Reunion would be closer to them

25% thought more people might attend

17% Other parts of the country would be more interesting

could make a vacation of it

Q. 8. Interest in a one time reunion in the Midwest with the Galle family

54 people answered this question

35% said yes they would be interested

9% said they would not be interested

33% said they wouldn’t go

22% said they didn’t care

This indicates that there is some interest in a Midwest reunion and that we might get a small number of our Galley’s to come and mingle with the Galle clan for a reunion of the two families. This would also encourage history and getting to know distant cousins better. If we opt to have Galley reunions every other year, then it would be possible to offer this reunion in the Midwest between those reunions. Otherwise, the idea should be dropped.

Q. 9. What people like at a reunion – 50 people answered

* note: people made more than one comment totals do not = 100%

62% said they wanted fun activities to get to know cousins & family

60% said we need to have fun children’s activities

54% said they wanted a more modern reunion format

52% said they would like history given in interesting ways

40% said we need to have fun adult activities

20% said we need tennis/Swimming/golf activities

14% said we should have it at an amuzement park

I found it very interesting that many people want to interact to get to know people and also learn more about our history, more so than outside activities. These speak for themselves. We just need to plan well for the reunions.

Q. 10 Changes people want to see in our reunions – 26 people answered

* note: people gave more than one answer totals do not = 100%

54% said they want history given in fun and interesting ways

31% said they want tours of the Galley homes (not every reunion)

31% said change the location

27% said make sure we get a group photo

27% said they want informal/modern meeting

27% said keep reunion themes

23% said they want fun games for adults and children

15% said they want catered meals for a small fee

12% said they want the date of the reunion changed

12% said to send reunion notices earlier in the year to plan

7% said to hire kitchen help

7% said they wanted amuzement park/swimming/golf etc..

The kitchen help comments are low percentages because it is only a few people doing it all the time that answered. I think we need to consider this so the same people are not burdened with serving all the time and can enjoy the reunion as well. We need to consider catering as well, with most people coming from out of town. I’m sure most people would gladly pay a small fee for a catered meal if we can obtain a reasonable service. This would require a response card in the invitation with payment and return by a certain date to accurately count how many would need to be feed. People could be encouraged to just bring a dessert. This might lock people into coming as well.

Once again we have people asking for the history in fun new ways. The tours of the Galley homes were mentioned but also said that they did not have to be at every reunion. Changing the location came up once again which confirms that should be a priority.

As to the meetings, they are time consuming and make the reunion boring for many. I think we should ask why we have a need for a meeting at the reunion? We have a board the family votes for. Are they not there to have meetings among themselves and make decisions? Perhaps we should do away with meetings and make the reunion a time of fun, games, history, and get to know you activities. The format needs to change. Special votes and info gathering can be done at the reunions with Ballots or other ways.

The reunion themes seem to be a hit and if we can make it fit into a fun history activity all the better!

Q. 11 Obstacles to people attending reunions – 59 people answered

* note: people answered more than once , totals do not = 100%

53% traveling distance

23% other plans/vacation/date of reunion in August

22% Age

17% Work schedule

15% Don’t know any cousins

15% Their family’s lack of interest

10% Health

10% Expense (travel, hotel, etc..)

5% Disabilities

3% Few people attend, not getting notices, kids in school,

family scattered.

It is obvious that distance, age and health will keep people from coming and we can do little about that, however, there are some things here that we can alter to help increase our attendance. By changing the reunion date we may make it possible for many more to come. I suggest varying it from year to year and not keeping a scheduled date every time. This will allow different people to come as they are able. Mentioned later in the survey, people want the reunion notices mailed to them earlier which will be key to getting more people to attend, especially if dates are changed. Also, here again we find "don’t know cousins". The get to know you part of the reunion is becoming very important. This might pick up the family’s interest in attending as well.

Q. 12 Changes People want to see in our reunions – 21 answered

* note: people made more than one comment – totals do not = !00%

38% said we need more interaction among family member to

get to know them.

29% did not know what we should change – no ideas

19% said change the location

19% said get more people to attend

10% said don’t have the reunion so often so they are more special

5% said earlier reunion notification, stronger more regular contact,  give history in fun ways,
       tours, more activities like golf, swimming, tennis, baseball field etc.

These are pretty clear cut and outline things we can change and work on.

Q. 13 What makes people want to come to a reunion – 34 people answered

31% said a closer location to them

9% said larger attendance

9% said keeping heritage alive

9% did not know

6% said if there were a family celebrity

6% said having reunions every 2 or 5 years

6% said the updates on history/genealogy

6% said meeting family and learning new things

6% said their retirement

6% said their families attending

6% said seeing relatives

other comments included: more accommodations, advanced notice

good health, and elders think it’s important.

We can do little about reunions being closer, and people’s health but we can make some of the other changes mentioned here. To boost the attendance and get people interested in coming, we need to make changes to the format, games, history giving, meals, reunion locations, etc…. as discussed in previous sections.

*** The Galley Family Board and Officers are currently discussing the survey results and what changes we will impliment. I will post the results of that vote after it is official.

Summary and My recommendations:  Deb Walsh

I believe that many people still have an interest in their heritage and family but we can do a lot to educate them on their history, make it fresh and exciting and bring that to a personal level by getting them to know their distant cousins and where they came from. We can do this through making the reunions more exciting with games and activities to learn about history and get to know other members. I think this would encourage attendance and make people want to attend reunions. The larger the attendance the more it will draw. This should include a one time reunion in the Midwest with the Galle’s and also planning and encouraging our family to attend reunions in Germany.

I would recommend that we begin after this Aug 2007 to plan reunions for every other year. This will allow us more time to plan for the reunions and come up with ideas and activities and put more into each one. I also think we need to change the location, possibly every reunion for a while and then rotate to locations people seem to enjoy the most. I don’t think we should stick with one spot all the time. Vary it up for some change. One year a park with golf, the next time a park with a swimming pool, etc...

Another recommendation is to change the date of the reunions. By having reunions anywhere from the second week of June to the second week in August we will allow for different people to attend when they can. I think we need to get out of this routine of having the reunion at the same time every year. Try different dates and we may begin to see different times of the summer that we get more people attending. We also need to get reunion notices out a lot sooner. I personally plan my summer in early spring (April) if not sooner, and people requested this on the survey. I think the notices need to be sent by the end of February for a June reunion and sent by the end of April for an August reunion. I think we also need to revert to the mailing of a letter or card instead of postcards. I throw away many postcards as junk mail and don’t look at them. This maybe happening as people mentioned not receiving reunion notices but did get the survey. If we go with a catered lunch we would also need to include a response card they would mail back (their stamp) by a certain date and we could allow for a few last minute entries. This response card would allow us to know how many are coming and aid in planning activities as well.

I recommend that we do research on catering a meal. We have too many people coming from out of town and it is difficult for them to bring food of any quality and it is a hassle. I think most people would pay a small fee to have a catered meal and we could just have people bring desserts. We would need to include a response card with the invitation to be returned by a certain date with their checks for the lunch. Some caterers will also stay and serve the food which would free up our family members to mingle and enjoy the reunion. We also need to eat at the time posted and keep to a schedule, which will have to be managed by the President or officers at the reunion.

I think we need to eliminate the formal meeting at the reunion. As I stated earlier, what is the reason for a meeting at the reunion? We have a board in place to make decisions and that can be done outside the reunion. If we need people’s input we can have an "informal discussion" or a notice written up with ballots for new board members, etc. that they can then vote on during the course of the reunion if necessary. I feel we have a board in place to make most of the decisions we need to make. I would recommend eliminating the meetings all together and just enjoy the reunion. Have more fun, games, mingling, history giving, etc… Let’s do away from the serious, boring and formal meeting. I know Stuart and some of the current members have done what they can to make things interesting and it’s been better, but I just see no reason for " the meeting" which usually takes up a good chunk of our reunions.

We need to focus on activities for the reunion to bring it to life. If we eliminate the business meeting that will free up a lot of time for activities. The photo of the clan is something everyone still would like to keep and I think the best time for that would be directly after the meal. Maybe we can offer one "silly" shot and one serious pose!

We can brainstorm for ideas on how to present history.. One idea might be to encourage (in the invitation) individuals to sign up for a history trivia challenge, having categories for Children, teens, and adults. Tell them it will cover any written history in the blue book and any history on the website. They could even use their books. Those who wish to participate can sign up for that event and win prizes as well as being the history buff of the family. You can do it with individuals or as groups. We could also have little skits written to be performed that tell about some history in our family and we could have volunteers meet in groups for 15 min. to work on them and come back and perform for us. The script would be written and costumes/props brought for visual aids. There could be competitions between groups as well…. Kids vs. adults? Some people do great monologues as a historical character. Or Families can volunteer and plan a presentation ahead of time to perform at the reunion. We also need to come up with ideas/games for people to get to know each other. We might have people mail back with their response card one fact about themselves no one knows, then at the reunion have a list of these facts and you have to search for that person and have them sign your sheet. This encourages interaction and conversation. We should have some good prizes for games as well. If we go to reunions every other year this will give us time to come up with activities like this. I think we can get some creative people in the family who would like to volunteer to work on some of these activities and help execute them at the reunion as well.

I think we can keep reunion themes going and try to correlate them with our history or games we are going to use for that year. It might require a little more thought and research but could be fun. I think we should keep this to a minimal cost though. We also need to put a little more thought and focus into children’s games. We might even offer a " life guard" safety person to be at a baseball field, swimming pool, or elsewhere young people want to spend time when not involved in the reunion. We should also have that person equipped with a cell phone and number to one of our staff at the picnic site in case of an emergency. I also think we should come up with some crafts and creative history lessons for the kids as well and also try to involve them in the games with adults when we can. We can have "family fun" with kids, teens, adults, and elders. We may need to spend a little more money and time to make things more exciting but I think we can do it. I think it would generate interest to post the itinerary of the reunion on the invitation and it will show changes we have made and get people curious to come.

Let’s do a 180 degree turn and make this Galley reunion a more modern, fun, education and exciting experience for our family members. We stepped out in faith over 200 years ago taking a chance on moving to a new country lets do the same things now as we start on a new adventure to move the Galley family forward into the 21^st century. Let’s make them wish they were Galley cousins when they hear about OUR reunions!!!!

Submitted by,

Deborah Walsh