The business meeting was held at the Holmes House, Elkhart, Ind. The meeting started at 3 PM and was opened in due form by President K Holmes.
President K Holmes gave the opening (and closing) prayer.
President K Holmes declared the business session open. He also welcomed Jeff Tapp, Jeff Mast and Topher Buoscio.
- Roll call of Officers: Completed by Secretary Jeff Schrock.
- Reading of Membership Applications: See New Business.
- Reading of the minutes: Secretary J Schrock read (emailed) the minutes from the last meeting, and asked if there were any corrections or amendments. BoD M Kauffman made a motion to accept the minutes as read. Media Coord L Zeugner seconded the motion and the motion passed.
- Treasurers Report: President K Holmes reported.
- Bills: President K Holmes reported all the bills are currently paid. However, a motion was needed to pay said bills. H/R Dir J Schrock made a motion to pay the bills. E Dir S Holmes seconded the motion, and the motion passed.
- IT: BoD A Buoscio reported that he believed all the problems had been fixed. However, it appears that some emails going out, have not been received. Tony added he had been instructed that all the BoD will be needing to use their FSO email & Teams. Some people are using their personal email and not checking their FSO account. Please, ALL BoD, start using your FSO account. Tony said he’d be sending out, as a one (1) time only thing, a step by step process on how to sign into your FSO account. Please make sure your sign-in and password work. If you need help, please contact Tony for assistance. Instructions will be sent to your FSO and personal email – this one (1) time. The filtering system for spam emails was discussed. An option of paying for outsourcing the filtering system was discussed. Some companies charge around $70 per/year. A lengthy discussion ensued.
Unfinished Business: President K Holmes brought up the upcoming Bike Ride/BBQ. The floor/BoD went over the Action Items list. Tasks were assigned and refined from the current list. H/R Dir J Schrock was asked to make the changes and re-email the listing. Brooke from Fresh Thyme said she needed to be contacted today, to get what she could off the list in time. H/R Dir J Schrock said he would email the Action Items list to her too.
New Business: 1) President K Holmes brought up the Fundraising Dinner. He reminded the floor that it is scheduled for Saturday, 18 May 2024. Captain Chad Flemming (his team/staff) approved him for our event. Adding it would be at a reduced rate for us. That would still be $7,500 and would include a hotel, and driver/vehicle for him. A hotel was discussed, hoping we could get the military rate. The Hilton and Hotel Elkhart were both discussed. General Board J Schlorke said she knows people at the Hotel Elkhart and would find out who to talk to and see about a discount. 2) A venue, larger than the Goshen VFW is now needed. And, it must be booked all but immediately. The Crystal Ballroom was discussed. It is thought that the booking fee is $10,000 and we must use their cook/wait staff. Mishawaka Events Center, Lex Center (Jackson & Main); Masonic Temple or the 112 Club; the RV Hall in South Bend and Matterhorn were also discussed. Since we are not going to use the Goshen VFW, due to size/people restrictions, we are going to have to pay for the hall. Can we recoup the cost was discussed heavily. E. Dir S Holmes made a few calls and scheduled a walk-through for the Matterhorn (on N Cassopolis St) for this coming Friday at 2 PM. Kenny, Sarah, Jenn, Lauren and Jeff S thought they would all make it. The hall is available through. Some of the venue considerations are: kitchen space/cooking; catering in-house only or can we still hire Tony Alberry; size or total number of people allowed; and parking. 3) E. Dir S Holmes brought up ticket prices, do we want to keep them the same or hike the price slightly. After a lengthy discussion, it was decided to hike the ticket price slightly. From $30 per/person, $50 per/couple, and $200 per/table to $40, $60 and $250. 4) Media Coord L Zeugner brought up advertising. We need to do more Press Releases, and re-send them afterwards again. Do media interviews, additional to what we did for this year. We also need to attach a bio for Captain Chad Flemming. Additionally, we need to notify/invite veterans’ organization such as the: Marine Riders, Get Wet for a Vet, Elkhart Co USMC League, VFW’s, American Legions, DAV’s, etc. 5) H/R Dir J Schrock was asked to check w/Tony Alberry and see if he meets the requirements for some of the above venues. His credentials, permits/licenses, health inspection(s), etc. Some of the venue’s require this to be allowed to cook/serve food in their establishment. 6) President K Holmes reported that some of the old sponsors wanted to do it again for next year. The Prime Table wanted to sponsor (or help sponsor) the speaker. President K Holmes asked J Tapp if Big C Lumber would do the same, since he’s worked there for the last 20+ years. VP F Schlorke said that Goshen Health would again sponsor something. Media Coord L Zeugner said that the media would probably show up in force at this event, having Cpt Chad Flemming. In the past, she had always been shoved to the back of the room. We should make sure this didn’t happen if TV stations show up this time. It would be much better coverage if we moved them up front, off to one side. 7) E Dir S Holmes brought up underwriting. We need to streamline the current request letter. We also need to be more focused on some personalized requests. When we have current donors, especially the higher dollar ones; we specifically need to address the individual/company by name. 8) President K Holmes added we need to address Kevin Deary, as the Elkhart County Foundation didn’t donate this last year. They did donate a couple years ago, but for a nominal amount. 9) IT T Buoscio asked if we sent out “thank-you” letters to sponsors. This is a very good motivational tool when asking for donations for upcoming events. E Dir S Holmes said she would do this, it was already on her list but hadn’t gotten around to it yet. Something like thank-you for the $X donation, it went to XYZ and all money stayed in the community. 10) When promoting our Fundraising Event for next May, we should send a pamphlet or something telling who Cpt Chad Flemming is, so those who don’t know him will get a sense of his importance. 11) E Dir S Holmes brought up the guest’s in attendance. Jeff Tapp is going to be on-board for IT support. Jeff Mast agreed to take over the Treasurer’s position. With that being said, a discussion ensued regarding nomination of Board Members. President K Holmes opened nominations. Media Coord L Zeugner made a motion (excepting Treasurer) to nominate all current officer(s) for re-election into their current positions. Additionally, Jeff Mast was nominated for the position of Treasurer; as current Treasurer Adam O’Toole turned his resignation in – due to work and schedule conflicts. H/R Dir J Schrock seconded the motion and the motion passed. NOTE: Each person was nominated, gavel rapped three (3) times, and nomination of offices were closed in due form. For the vote(ing), Media Coord L Zeugner made a motion to cast one (1) ballot for each non-contested office. H/R Dir J Schrock seconded the motion, and the motion passed. 12) E Dir S Holmes brought up a Committee Structure or flow chart. It was discussed at length and basically was broken down into “teams” (Governance Committee, Internal Affairs and External Affairs). See attached flow chart for who are on what teams.
Good of the Order: No Report(s)
Next Meeting: Saturday, August 19th, at 3 PM, at the Goshen VFW.
President K Holmes asked if there was any further business. Seeing none, H/R Dir J Schrock made a motion to adjourn the meeting and M Kauffman seconded the motion. The motion passed.
President K Holmes gave the closing prayer and the meeting was adjourned.
J Schrock
Secretary
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