Attending: Rob Dwan, Justin Overdevest, Evangelina Sundgrenz, Wayne
Thompson, Rolly Thompson, Jack Meacham, Deb McLaughlin, Shannon
Micheel, Felicia Kenney, Dorothy Soper
Special guest: Jen Hagenow of the Seattle PC office.
Wayne chaired the meeting since James was unable to be there and
Rolly had to arrive slightly late. Before beginning we agreed on
the agenda and time limitations for each item.
Evangelina gave the treasurer's report which is summarized below:
| Balances as of 9/29: |
| WCPCA checking account at OCCU: | $2,247.45 |
| 6 month CD: | $2,512.30 |
| Subaccount at OCCU of money being held to deposit in
Beryl's Memorial Fund: | $2,061.90 which is money returned
to WCPCA from the Calvert Fund at the conclusion of our
3 year investment with the fund. |
| Beryl's Memorial Fund invested at Edward Jones
Bond: | $19,649 |
| Cash and money market: | $2,97.98 |
Dorothy reported that our membership is about 65; as a result of
our having a table at the Eugene Celebration and helping out at the
PC table at the current U of O Street Fair we have added some new
student members who can now join at no cost. We hope that they'll
take part in some activities.
WCPCA recently filed federal income tax returns for 2005, 2006, and
2007 as requested by the IRS. They weren't filed earlier because
previous boards didn't realize that this was required. The IRS
requested that we file when we applied for 501 status.
Dorothy followed the advice of our volunteer account in completing
the returns. These figures indicated that the organization doesn't
owe any taxes. We hope that the IRS accepts the figures and doesn't
charge a fine for our being late. The state income tax returns for
these years will be filed soon.
Felicia has been working on three new designs for the WCPCA
website which she showed us. The board was very impressed with
their technical and artistic qualities. We would like the general
membership to see them and let us know their impression. Showing
them at a potluck would also bring the website to the attention of a
greater number of members. The board thanked Felicia for her work
and asked her to show the designs at the November potluck where we
can ask for member questions and comments.
Jen Hagenow of the Seattle PC office explained her work and a
little of what is going on now for the PC. She comes to the U of O
about three times a year to connect with the recruiter here and
speak to classes and help give presentations to students in other
venues. She's been here this week to take part in the Street Fair
at the U of O.
She explained that due to the devaluation of the dollar the existing
PC budget cannot go as far as it had in the past. The PC is 'paring
down,' that is retrenching somewhat as a result.
We reviewed the meeting of six of our members with Sara Brandt of
the Oregon Community Foundation regarding establishing an endowed
fund in Beryl's memory. For a nonprofit organization to do this
with OCF requires a 501 status and an investment of $25,000. We
have the former and hope to have the latter soon. We learned how
OCF manages its funds, now approximately a billion dollars. OCF
pays a dividend to its participating funds twice per year. The
amount is set by the OCF board. OCF charges an annual management
fee. Different levels for different kinds of funds. We had the
opportunity to ask questions. Full information can be found on the
OCF website.
The board wants to check with the three original donors of the cash
the we received in create Beryl's Memorial Fund to see their view of
the management of the endowed fund described above. Dorothy will
contact them.
The board had a careful discussion of the bond that we hold with
Edward Jones. We would like to sell it now and use the money to
create the endowed fund with OCF. Due to the turbulent stock market
we have to weigh carefully when to sell and how great a loss we are
willing to take now in order to sell soon. We realize that often
the decision to sell must be made quickly to get a favorable price.
Thus the board authorized Rob and Dorothy to make the decision of
when to sell the bond and to sell it.
We debriefed our participation in the Eugene Celebration. About
30 people took part in the parade. James had repainted the taxi and
it and the new flags looked great. We all liked the #3 position in
the parade and hope that we'll continue to be in the lead.
At the booth we had moderate sales of tee shirts and calendars. We
collected about 20 names and email addresses of RPCVs in the area
that we hope will affiliate with WCPCA. We answered questions of
many people and gave out a moderate amount of PC literature. Next
year we hope to coordinate more with the PC recruiter at the U of O.
We could use more of our own members to staff the booth. Those of
us who were there reported a very pleasant experience.
We discussed ways to market the 2009 international calendars.
This is one of our main fundraising activities each year. The
calendars vary in price depending upon the quantity purchased by a
single buyer.
Calendars are available online at our website. They are available
through a phone call to Rolly or Dorothy. Other members are
encouraged to sign some out to sell. Please call Rolly or Dorothy
to arrange that. They'll be on sale at the November potluck. We
also hope to sell them through local stores. Rolly is going to
check into the possibilities for us to sell them at both the
Saturday Market and the Holiday Market. Ideas for selling them from
the general membership are welcome.
The board authorized Felicia to arrange for the framing of a
gift print for the price of $100.
The board accepted with gratitude the report of Jim Beyer who
was the nominating committee for the 2009 board members. The names
and offices are listed below. The election will be at the November
14th potluck.
Officers:
President: James Cloutier
Vice President: Rolly Thompson
Secretary: Dorothy Soper
Treasurer: Jack Meacham
Communications Coordinator: Felicia Kenney
At-large board members:
Robert Dwan
Michael Kresko
Shannon Micheel
Evangelina Sundgrenz
Wayne Thompson
Bob Watada
Shannon let the board know of the opportunity of WCPCA members
to volunteer to help with setup and cleanup at the Festival of Trees
this fall. The board viewed this favorably. More information is
forthcoming on this event.
We set the next board meeting for Wednesday, November 5th, 7:00
pm, at the home of Shannon and Michael, 952 Polk Street. For
questions contact Michael at mjkresko@hotmail.com.
The next potluck will be on Friday, November 14th, 6:00 pm, at
Dorothy's home, 4430 Pinecrest Dr. For questions contact Dorothy at
dorothysoper@comcast.net.
The program will be presented by Justin Overdevest, the new PC
recruiter at the U of O. He'll introduce himself and his
anticipated program and then give us a power point presentation of
his recent PC experience in two countries: the Dominican Republic
and Peru.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 pm.
