Pledge & Prayer, 4-way Test: President Gary McCauley
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Happy Bucks: Not raining, happy members seem to be ok, smiling faces, happy to join in and seeing everyone, Pete's birthday, Marty's birthday and a Zoom party, Joe ran out of crossword puzzles, Charlie R will talk to Brent about joining us, attendance improving with the help of Zoom,Christina's son improving after an accident, looking forward to meeting again in person.
Let Gary know if you know of a member who cannot log on to our Zoom meetings
Presidents Update: Gary is excited about what the club is doing for our communities in this challenging time.
Pat Devito has applied and received approval for a grant to benefit the Shoreline Soup Kitchens. The grant is for $525 and the club will add $375 to make a total of $900. The soup kitchens are very thankful and will use the money to buy food from wholesalers as part of their regular order. Director Amy Hollis will do a Zoom presentation at our May 13 meeting. The need is great, the money will be put to good use!
A second grant will aid disaster response. Money will be used by first responders to purchase PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). The grant is for $2,500 and the club will add $3,500 for a total of $6,000. Pat Settembrino is getting additional documentation for Linda Hammond. Gary said we are a couple of details away from approval.
Fundraising: John Aforismo
This is a new committee that addresses the club's need to raise money for our many projects such as scholarships, community based needs, etc. Knowing this will be a difficult year and our golf tournament in jeopardy, its important to come up with novel ideas for fundraising. The club is asked to participate in this endeavor. John visited Firemans Field and is thinking about a macaroni dinner the club could do. The committee will meet via Zoom afterwards.
Community Restart: Pat Settembrino
Idea #1: Pat met with Jan Perruccio to discuss the graduation commencement that will be taking place online in our 3 towns. There will be a video which the club would help fund. Jan is lining up speakers (Congressman Joe Courtney, Gov. Lamont are possibilities) who will be given talking points.
Idea #2: Do something for people out of work and help area restaurants. Details need to be worked out but the idea is that we buy vouchers or gift cards for restaurants and distribute them to 300 people identifided by social services. The cost would be $7500. Which restaurants and how many are yet to be determined and the method of distribution is also not decided. One idea is to set up our tent and give them out at a specified location and time.
Discussion ensued with one comment suggesting we buy vouchers from supermarkets, more bang for the buck. Pat answered that part of the intent is to help the restaurants as well. Joan suggested we keep people anonymous in the giving process. Tara asked how the restaurant selection worked, that it has to be transparent and fair. Pete suggested we open the number of restaurants to more than the initial 3 (1 per town).
Scholarship Update: Charlie Renshaw will meet with his committee to screen applicants.
Budget: Gary stated with various grants and matching funds, our spend/income has been neutral. We are anticipating $25K for scholarships plus $7500 recently approved. There is about $4700 left in the Outreach budget but given the circumstances with less money coming in, we can expect a shortfall unless we pare back some expenditures or take from the foundation. The foundation has been a source of income but lately our investments have not performed well. A discussion concerning the foundation and tapping it to meet obligations followed. Charlie Norz, Foundation Chair was not present so this discussion will resume at a later date. Marty pointed out that our strategy as a club has been to build up the foundation and take about 7% yearly. Because of interest this has meant no money has been taken from principal.
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