NASHUA – As an increasing number of people are being forced to work from home or away from the office either because of self-quarantine, companies asking people to work from home or children who aren’t in school and, therefore, require care, meetings are changing as well. More meetings are taking place to talk about the impact of COVID-19 on business and a greater number of meetings are happening virtually.

With social distancing now the fast norm, Nashua Rotary West is the latest organization to go with virtual meetings.

Karen Lascelle, a CPA with Melanson Health, said Rotary West will meet on Tuesday, but the meeting will for now, occur via email.

“At first, we voted as a board to cancel our meeting for two weeks,” she said, “And then once the Center for Disease Control guidelines came out regarding gatherings of 50 or more, we said let’s just hold off until at least the end of April.”

In an email, Lascelle wrote that West is optimistic they will be able to reconvene meetings by May 5 (for Cinco de Mayo) but that could likely change.

In the interim, Lascelle’s plan is to create a virtual meeting, tracking ideas through spreadsheets and make that information available via a Google document.

“We all thought it would be a good idea if we had some sort of virtual meeting just so that our members can stay engaged,” she said. “Honestly, we’re like a family in Rotary. We get together every single week, so we want to make sure that everyone is still engaged, and if they need assistance, they can reach out for help.”

Starting on March 24, the idea is for Lascelle to put out some sort of program, with anticipated suggestions from the program committee.

“It may be a video or something to read,” she shared in an email.

Members will be asked a couple questions to answer, and if they respond back with answers, they will receive meeting credit.

“Right now, we’re doing an email blast,” she said. “We’re going to still have what we call our ‘weekly fines’ where we fine people for silly things, like appearing in The Telegraph, or ‘happy fines,’ which help raise money that we can give back to the community.”

Rotary West also does weekly auctions; next week’s will be a $50 Amazon gift card, courtesy of Kim Kleiner from the mayor’s office.

The $1 “fines” imposed include if you are Irish (in honor of St. Patrick’s Day), if you are hoarding toilet paper, or if you had a trip that got canceled.

Happy fines are left up to the individual, as is the amount they wish to donate.

Lascelle acknowledged that with people practing social distancing, West doesn’t want to see completely alone.

“We’re just trying to keep members involved and (to) associate with one another,” she said. “And part of what we talked about after this, as I’m open to ideas, is maybe having a private Facebook group, where people could be more interactive instead of just responding to me.”

They’ve also discussed having a Zoom meeting, Lascelle mentioned, if people were interested in pursuing that.

“To actually see each other live on their computer would be a plus,” she said. “We’re still trading ideas and seeing where things go.”

The schedule ahead includes a finance meeting conference call on March 24, a board of director meeting conference call on March 26 and a bowling outing – fingers crossed, Lascelle said – on May 14, with Big Brothers, Big Sisters of New Hampshire.