General Membership Meeting
PLAIN Meeting Minutes
September 3,2009
The meeting was called to order at 7:45p.m. by Gwyneth Butera.
Attendees:Gwyneth Butera, President;,Lalah Manly, Vice President;Mary Stuckey, Treasurer; Linda Orgain, Secretary;Nicky Rosenbluth, Immediate Past President; Faye Ridling, Neighborhood Watch Chair;and Angela Holley-Bennett (new member -498 Spring Dr), Karen Bernheimer, Kathie deNobriga, andJames Schwarzlose.
Review of theAugustMeeting Minutes. The minutes for the August meeting were received and accepted as amended.
Treasurer’s Report. Mary Stuckey provided the Treasurer’s Report for August. PLAIN currently has a positive balance of $3,902.85. Deposits are mostly membership renewals or new memberships, plus proceeds from the Pancake Breakfast. She also said that we are not currently holding funds for any Pine Lake groups.
Mary said that she will continue to work on completing the paperwork for PLAIN’s 509(a)2-990PF status. Kathie urged that we complete the process very soon, since there is a time limit before our status will expire.
Annual Membership Drive. Lalah M. reported that we currently have 40 households on our membership list. At this time, there are 71 households that have not renewed their memberships for 2009. Lalah passed around the membership list so participants could see which neighbors they feel comfortable reminding about their membership renewals. Kathie said that we could mail reminders and that she has some Pine Lake postcards; she also said she would donate the postage. To print reminder postcards – Kathie said shehas the photo for these cards.
Monthly Pancake Breakfast. LindaO. and MaryS. are coordinating this month’s First Saturday Breakfast, which will be a continental-style breakfast rather than the traditional pancake and egg hot breakfast. They will be shopping for supplies tomorrow night. Mary will check with Pam Heiges to see whether there is sufficient coffee, and also will get the key to the cabinet. The continental breakfast will be provided from 8:30–10:00 a.m. Cost will be $3.00.
James S. will make the signs and put them up advertising “pastries, fruit and coffee.”
It was noted that there still is a need for new volunteers to cook the first Saturday breakfasts. We have breakfast crews (including the current crew) through December, and are looking for other groups to volunteer to cook breakfasts beginning in February. Breakfast will be cancelled for January because it was felt that few people would be in town on January 2, 2010. Anyone interested in assisting on the breakfast crew should contact Sheryl Feenan at(404) 508-5623 or through her e-mail atsherylfeenan@comcast.net.
Kathie deNobriga said that we have a lot of leftover individual packets of ketchup, mustard, etc. There was a suggestion that we donate these to a shelter. Nicky volunteered to take these to the Samaritan House shelter. She will pick them up over the weekend and take them next week.
Labor Day Activities. This year, on Monday, September 7, at 5:00 p.m., there will be a potluck cookout-sponsored by City Council. They will provide burgers and hotdogs for the grill, as well as beverages. Community members will bring a side dish to share. Entertainment will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be provided by The Surge.
LalahM. is investigating obtaining another locked cabinet for the Beach House. This will replace the open shelves that are currently in the kitchen. We have had a problem with items we have purchased that have been used for non-PLAIN events. Although she had intended to investigate state surplus supplies, we cannot use this source any longer. Lalah will continue to look at other sources for a new cabinet.
New Business:
International Dinner. The International Dinner is scheduled for Saturday, September 19,at 5:30p.m.-7:30 pm. Marie and Ivan Andrade will coordinate this;set up will beat 4 pm. People bring an international dish to share or pay $5. PLAIN provides the beverages and paper products.James and Nicky said that they will assist in decorating the Beach House. Mary will check to see what supplies are available at the Beach House.
Lakefest. Lakefest will be held the weekend of October 3-4. LalahM., one of the festival’s coordinators, informed the group that 33 vendors will be present at this year’s festival. She is looking for volunteers to assist in the Town Hall booth. Bitsy Pitts, Lakefest’s Volunteer Coordinator, is looking for some more volunteers; they currently have 10 people. We also need materials promoting PLAIN(e.g., PLAIN information, membership forms, PLAIN Talks), which can be made available in the Town Square area. Linda O. will review the current PLAIN brochure for updates and make copies to have on hand. Nicky R. still has some green Pine Lake volunteer t-shirts left, which she will bring. To close Lakefest, on Sunday, October 4, at 4 p.m., there will be a flotilla inside the berm featuring float-worthy vehicles, such as canoes and kayaks. People are asked to decorate these;prizes will be awarded. Lalah suggested that PLAIN consider sponsoring one of these floating vehicles. There also will be a sand castle competition on Saturday. This event will officially close the lake for the Fall/Winter season. Advertisements to promote Lakefest have been placed in the Decatur Times. There will be music from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, and from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. The Playground Committee will be holding a bake sale on Saturday that will benefit upkeep for the playground; Lalah said they are looking for some additional food offerings.
Kathie deNobriga said she thinks that there may be some profits from Lakefest that would need to be held in the PLAIN account and could possibly be used for future activities, e.g., next year’s children’s summer camp.
Executive Board Retreat. The Executive Board Retreat is scheduled for Sunday, September 13, at 4 p.m.at Gwyneth’s home on Spring Drive. Among the topics to be discussed are recruitment of leadership and getting new people involved in becoming more active in PLAIN activities.
Halloween Party. This year, the date of the Halloween Party actually falls on Saturday, October 31. It was decided to begin the party this year at 4 p.m. and will end at about 6 p.m. so there is adequate time for children to go trick-or-treating. Most of the children attending are 3-7 yearsof age. Activities were discussed. Kathy deN. asked if we want to feature story tellers again this year. Last year volunteers assisting with the party did a good job of keeping parents quiet so the children could hear the story. The challenge is making sure that people know that story telling starts right at a specific time. Once the story begins, we will hold people at the door until that story is concluded. This year’sschedule will be:arts and crafts at 4 p.m. games at 4:30, pizza dinner at 5:15, andstory telling at5:30p.m. Nicky suggested the party culminate in a hay ride.
Mary mentioned the issue of liability. However, if a private citizen had a tractor and wanted to do it on their own this might be possible.Games were very popular last year, as well as arts and crafts. The games have included sack races(a perennial favorite), witches’ bowling, wrap the mummy in toilet paper, and pin the wart on the witch. Faye has a bean bag toss. It was suggested that we purchase some new games, since several of the old games have worn out.
Nicky will buy the prizes. Need to make decision on what to do for dinner. In the past, this was a spaghetti dinner; however, this year the event falls on Halloween. It was decided to offer a simpler dinner of pizza and juice/soda. We can purchase pizzas from Little Caesar for only $5 each. Charge will be$1 per slice of pizza, and $1 for a can of juice or soda.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:30p.m.
The next meeting will be held on Thursday, October1, at 7:30 p.m. at the Clubhouse.