GUEST: Marjorie Carter and Jean Deputy, Senior Center Members STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Jill Hall, Senior Center Supervisor & Melissa McKenna, Senior Center Secretary A motion to approve the March minutes with revisions was made by Rusty Embrey and seconded by Mary Barber. Motion carried. TREASURER'S REPORT/BUDGET: We spent more this month than we took in. The New Attitudes spent the money designated for them on new shirts for entertaining. Duplicate Bridge is at 57% for the year and it should be at 75%. This lower amount is a result of Duplicate Bridge moving their Monday and Friday games to another site. There was some discussion about the $20,000 that RSI gives the city each year. There was concern about having to use money from the investment funds to cover the donation since the rest of the money is tied up in CDs. RSI is committed to the $20,000 to the city and it will come out of Vanguard investments. There was discussion about the loss of revenue. We need to concentrate on bringing in money to the center by improving and increasing our fundraising programs. A copy of the draft budget for FY09 was attached to the financial report. Some changes need to be made to Supper Club and the Maryland tax preparation and sales tax. We vote on the final budget in July 08 with the new board of directors but present for it review in May 08. Betty Ball made a motion to approve the draft of the budget and Betty Hughes seconded the motion. Motion carried. A motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report was made by Mary Barber and seconded by Ron Barber. Motion carried. STANDING COMMITTEES: A. Ways & Means: The Young In Heart will donate a basket to the Spring Raffle. We have 18 paid crafters for the Bazaar. Betty Hughes will contact crafters who came in December to find out why they aren't coming back. She sent out letters to crafters from the past three years. Recreation and Parks will have a fundraising event at Welsh Park on the same day as the Bazaar. We will hand out flyers at their event and sell raffle tickets. We will have to reduce the number of items we sell at the Bazaar since we have to purchase a lot of the food. If RSI buys the food instead of volunteers making it we will not be making as much money. It was decided not to cook the hot dogs outside on the grill but to steam them in the kitchen. The Hispanic group will not be donating food to the Bazaar but will have volunteers to help in the kitchen. Betty Ball put up posters in the local grocery stores and to local churches. If we want to sell outdoor bedding plants her son will pick them up and she has volunteers to help sell them. She will check on the prices. Lorraine Schack asked if she could sell hanging baskets and container plants at the Bazaar but the money will go to the Senior Assistance Fund. The board decided this would be okay to do. We will not have a Grandma's Attic and we will not have a 1/2-price sale on all Thrift Shop items at 1:00pm. Triple F Club will make a donation of a gift card to the raffle instead of a basket. B. Correspondence/Memorial: Condolences were sent to the families of Ray Crossley, John Kozar, William Glass, William Miles and Martha "Dolly" Mentzer. Notices of memorial donations were sent to the families of William Glass, William Miles and Martha "Dolly" Mentzer. A donation was made to Ron Barber for the Bingo volunteers that was given to him as a tip from the wife of Henry Rapalus for making the end of Henry's life so happy by having Bingo every week, which Henry loved. Ron told her he could not accept it as a tip but asked to have it entered as a memorial in Henry's name from her for the Bingo volunteers. C. Bingo : We did pretty well this month. Not as many expenses because we bought a large amount of supplies last month. We have not made as much money in the past two years as we did before. Participants are not spending as much money at Bingo as in the past. We need to get more people to come in. We will still charge $2 for entrance but no more free food. We will charge $1 for the hot dogs. We are considering cutting out the Good Neighbor tickets. We are still giving the volunteers free food. The ad on the Rockville Channel will need to be changed to show that the $2 admission is for entry only but that food is available for purchase. There is a problem with the flashboard and its lights. The Bingo company looked at it and the plastic is so brittle that if you change the lights the plastic will break. It would cost $2,600 to replace it - we are getting an estimate to repair it or to find a used board for sale. D. Gift Shop: In the month of March the Gift Shop made $1,390.55. The consignors were paid $462.00. RSI netted $855.08. E. Thrift Shop: The Thrift Shop netted $557.86 for the month of March. F. Publicity: We will have an ad in the Gazette the Wednesday before the Bazaar. There will also be an abbreviated ad on the Gazette's web page. It will also be on the Rockville Channel and on the Senior Center’s website. G. International Clubs: Rinn is concerned about the different ethnic groups, such as Iranian, Indian, Korean and Chinese, not communicating with each other. He has spoken with Sultana Begum to help communicate with the non East Asian groups. One concern is that some of the members cannot read the Volunteer board because they cannot read English. Teresa Harn will introduce Rinn at the Chinese lunch as a messenger for the group. Rinn, Teresa and Miriam Minera will get together and discuss how the groups can get together. H. Outreach: No Report. I. Fundraising: Betty Hughes is currently working on the Bazaar. She would like to see Duplicate Bridge brought back and have the senior center run it as a fundraiser. Jill suggested that we have Duplicate Bridge or Texas Hold 'Em tournaments to raise funds. We could also have a Festival of Wreaths. We sell corporations or community businesses wreaths which they decorate and then they are auctioned off after being on display for the month of November. Rusty brought in information about Basket Bingo to give to Betty Hughes. J. Volunteers: No report. K. Senior Citizens Commission: The Korean intern attended the meeting and gave a brief summary of what she does with the 17 members in her group. The commission discussed getting a medical outreach worker in a central location for answers to questions about diseases. They also discussed whether or not new members get a greeting card and a map after join. They are given a membership packet with a map when they join. OLD BUSINESS: Earl Estelle, Nahid Limber, George Galasso and Betty Hughes are running for the four open positions on the RSI board. Volunteer of the Year has four nominations and the committee will meet after the board meeting. We also need suggestions for the Corporate Award. Some suggestions were Animal Exchange and Top Banana. George reviewed the FY08 goals with the board to see if they had met them. We need to focus on #8 - Improve and increase our fundraising programs and #10 - Increase volunteerism at the Center and encourage members to become active in the work of RSI. Sometimes members need to be asked in person if they would like to volunteer. Jill checked with other centers regarding lifetime memberships. Many centers had it but got rid of it. The Myerburg Center in Baltimore charges a one-time fee of $125. Other centers offered it before thinking it through. They actually lost money. NEW BUSINESS: Some of the board members will meet after the board meeting to select the volunteer gift. STAFF REPORT: Jill will prepare a program for the Volunteer Party. We will purchase beverages and cookies and paper goods for the party. The $20,000 check will be presented to the Mayor and Council at the Volunteer Party. We are working on the invitations. Jill, Betsy Thompson and Dwayne Jenkins met with Jim Revchosky regarding the Woodley Gardens/Senior Center Liaison committee. Mr. Revchosky is trying to get a newsletter going and we plan to have an article in each one. Jill will attend neighborhood meetings. Woodley Garden Neighborhood Association Board Members have been invited to the RSI meetings as well. Jill also wrote an article asking for neighborhood residents to submit an application to serve on the Steering Committee for the expansion project which has been combined with the assessment of a possible Gude Drive entrance. Mr. Reshovsky said he would be interested in serving on that committee with another community representative. Two other people have expressed interest in serving on the Liaison Committee. Great news! We received a grant for $700,000 from the Maryland Department of Aging to help with implementing the Senior Center Master Plan. The first half is budgeted in FY09 and the second in FY10. Combined with the $100,000 State Bond Bill we received in FY08 and RSI’s $50,000 we have $850,000 in funding toward this project already! Karen Lumpkin asked if RSI would donate a $25 gift certificate to the May Gala. Mary Barber made a motion to donate a $25 gift certificate to the Bazaar. Ron Barber seconded the motion. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 3:17 p.m. The next meeting is Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at 1:00 p.m.
| 
