MINUTES

 

NEIGHBORS HELPING NEIGHBORS (NHN) FOOD PANTRY
BOARD MEETING
412 E. High, Boonville
3 p.m. March 3, 2008
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 Present:

Not present:

  • Bobbi Bauer

  • Tom Priester

  • Lesley Stock

Virgil Goodin, board president, presided. 

Handouts: Art distributed a University of Missouri Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security handout assessing Cooper County’s statewide ranking on food security and the county’s ranking for meeting those needs. 

He also distributed a handout developed through the Boonville Transportation Committee with the names, days, hours, cost, and phone number for transportation. Clients of the food pantry could utilize. He noted Michelle Howell of Advantage Medical Transport said she is willing to work with the food pantry so that if there are several clients at a location the costs could be shared equally.  He suggested that she be invited to attend the next meeting and asked the existing printout be posted at the pantry so patrons would be aware of times and costs.  

Companies listed were OATS, Mo River Taxi, O’Bryan’s Taxi, Advantage Medical Transport and Services for Independent Living.  

NHN Food distribution in February 2008: 276 families assisted for a total population of 742 people.

  • Thursday distribution: 123 families

  • Tuesday distribution 92 families

  • Saturday distribution 61 families

Only 136 of the 276 families receive foods stamps and 14 receive TANF. 

Board Secretary: Marsha noted that Todd Sanzaterra is no longer able to serve as board secretary. She moved that his position be vacated, seconded by Wanda. Passed unanimously. 

Randy moved Art Schneider be elected secretary. Hazel seconded. Passed unanimously. 

Food Product Warehouse Shrinkage: Virgil reported that some food has been “disappearing.” It was noted that a BDN employee had been in the NHN warehouse.  BDN employees are not permitted in the NHN section of the warehouse.  

Joyce is aware of the issue. The board affirmed that if the individual has a need for food that NHN enrollment procedures need to be followed. 

Policy for emergency: Randy said there is a policy for emergencies when the NHN pantry is closed. He noted that two individuals had been assisted the past month in this way—one who stopped by the pantry building when volunteers were there was enrolled and another who called. The cell phone number for emergency food assistance is: 882-9750. 

For emergencies, Randy or Virgil welcome to the NHN food pantry to assist the family fill out the registration form and distribute the food. Virgil has handled three emergencies. 

When a family is helped in an emergency, the family in enrolled and from that point forward is expected to avail the family during regularly scheduled NHN food pantry distribution day hours. 

2008 NHN food pantry board meetings: President Virgil noted that the board organization process required monthly meetings. Filing as a 501c3 still is necessary and in the process of being completed. As the board now has committees and established distribution procedures, he recommended that the board hold quarterly meetings. After a brief discussion on possible dates, Jeannie moved and Wanda seconded the following meeting times and dates for 2008:

  • 3 p.m. June 1

  • 3 p.m. September 8

  • 3 p.m. December 1

Passed unanimously 

Dumpster: President Goodin repaired the dumpster has not been emptied. Its location has been moved. Randy has taken trash to the landfill. Virgil and Randy will discuss the proper location of the dumpster with Veolia Environmental Services to pick up the trash this week. Consensus that the dumpster not being in the correct location may have resulted in the failure of trash to be picked up. 

Volunteer Sign-Up Sheet: For donors, grant agencies and reporting services, all volunteer hours and donations need to be recorded. Virgil reported that by March 4 there will be a sign-in sheet at the pantry entrance for volunteers to sign in and report their volunteer hours. 

Donation Sign-In Sheet: For donors, grant agencies and reporting services, all donations need to be recorded. There will be a donor sheet at the NHN entrance. It will have a line for name, address of donor and what was donated. Randy moved and Joyce seconded that the food pantry send thank you noted to donors.  Bobbie Bauer is on the NHN Needs Committee and be asked send thank you notes to donors.  It was noted that thank you noted need to be sent to: Boonville High School, Prairie Home High School, and Ss. Peter & Paul School. 

At this time we do not have a scale to weigh food donations. This would be very helpful for the future. If any are aware of a scale, please let Virgil or Randy know.  

Shopping carts:  Randy and Virgil are pleased to report that NHN now has 12 shopping carts tat clients may use to gather their monthly food supplement. Steve Potter is working on welding the wheels on some carts. 

 Volunteers: Randy and Virgil and Marsha reported that the volunteer help for February was excellent and having three board members there was helpful to the volunteers.

Linda Lacey and Connie from the Juvenile Court will meet NHN next week to look at the needs for possible future community service hours. 

Scheduled Deliveries: Next scheduled Food Bank delivery is March10. The Central Missouri Food Bank will make two deliveries in March and April of Second Harvest foods and one delivery each month of USDA surplus commodities. 

Need for box truck:  After April the food bank is expecting the food pantry to pick up food. Virgil asked board members to consider contacting businesses or individuals who have a box truck. It was mentioned Ken Herlinger had a box truck and possibly he would donate or sell it if there no longer is a need for the truck.  Securing a box truck falls under the Needs and Volunteers Committee, chaired by Randy Richards for follow-up. 

Current list of committees: Virgil will send out an e-mail to the board with a current list of committees. Board members not having e-mail will be sent a list snail mail. The Needs and Volunteers committee also is responsible for drivers to pick up food.  

Tom Priester chairs the fundraising committee and with the tax season and his upcoming marriage, he probably will not be able to devote much attention to this unt6il after April 15. 

Logo:  Jeanne presented several adaptations of the NHN logo as a result of last month’s board meeting with Pat Hanna.   

Newly introduced was the NHN name with a heart as a background. Also shown were versions with all capitals and upper and lowercase, different type fonts, etc… Pat had spent quite a bit of time creating variations of the logos selected for modification after last meeting. Board members were very excite about the quality of the logo renditions that Pat prepared. 

After several positive comments about the Neighbors Helping Neighbors in all caps with bold letters and a stylistic background heart, Marsha moved that this be adopted as the NHN logo. Joyce seconded. Unanimously passed. 

Sign location on building: Consensus of the board to seek Pat Hanna’s advice on size and placement of logo on the NHN building and also for street sign placement. The latter will also needs to go before the city for approval. 

Safety Railing: Point of information on the western NHN entrance walkway next to the truck delivery drive with a drop-off that might be a safety risk.  This will cost $600 or less. It will be chain link and bolted to concrete. The length is approximately 25 feet. Joyce noted the liability issue and pointed out there is about an 18 inch drop-off. Arrangements have been made by Randy to fix this hazard. 

Aluminum awning over entry door: The food pantry has been offered a free awning to cover the doorway entrance. Currently it is an open area. The Boonville Daily News will be asked for permission to install the awning.  

Food Drives: Per discussion, responsibility for food drives falls under the Needs and Volunteer Committee. Also discussed was securing drop off barrels or drop boxes for food at various locations in town.  

Virgil reported the Movie Gallery is interested in sponsoring a food drive. Also discussed was the possibility of a food drive in conjunction with the Cooper County Youth Fair in July. 

Randy also suggested regular food drives at the local grocery stores. 

Other suggestions for food drives were the major employers, such as Nordyne and the Isle of Capri. Regular food drives with the churches also was discussed. 

Tee-Shirts: Also discussed was the possibility of creating tee-shirts for volunteers to wear when assisting at the pantry or working on drives.  No decision was made. 

Volunteer of the Quarter: It was noted that many people contribute considerable time and resources to the food pantry and that it would be appropriate to recognize a volunteer of the quarter. Board members would not be eligible for such an honor. The honoree would be selected from recommendations brought to the board. The BDN would be contacted to take a photo of the honoree at a presentation. Also discussed was presenting the volunteer with a NHN tee-shirt and placing their picture on a wall of appreciation at the pantry.  Joyce moved and Jeanne seconded board recognition of Volunteer of the quarter with a tee-shirt and placing the photo on the wall. Unanimously approved. 

It was suggested that Bennie Leonberger be the first honoree. Wanda moved and Marsha seconded the nomination. The board unanimously approved. 

Monthly treasurer report, budget and annual audit: Art Schneider noted that the by-laws do not have much detail on the treasurer’s responsibilities. He suggested that each board meeting include a treasurer’s report noting the funds available, monies collected and monies spent since the last board meeting. A yearly budget also would be prepared for approval by the board at the end of each calendar year. He also suggested that there be an annual audit by a volunteer or the board each calendar year between January and the March board meeting. Consensus that he should put together by-law language on this to present at the next board meeting. 

Children present when families receive food: Joyce noted that a child was in the BDN building during the Thursday night food distribution while other family members were at the NHN building.  It was noted that if a person needs to use a restroom at BDN a NHN volunteer will escort the person to the BDN restroom and back. Otherwise, NHN users are not to enter the BDN facility. It was agreed that a “No Admittance” sign will be placed at the entryway to the BDN building. 

Meeting adjourned at 4:45 p.m. 

Respectfully submitted by Art Schneider, NHN board secretary

 
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