MINUTES
NEIGHBORS HELPING NEIGHBORS (NHN) FOOD PANTRY
BOARD MEETING
Open Bible Praise Center
Boonville, MO
2:30 p.m. November 3, 2008
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Present: Virgil Goodin, Randy Richards, Tom Priester, Jeanne Pascale, Wanda Vonderahe, Marsha Goodin and Art Schneider.
Not Present: Bobbie Bauer, Louise Bolin, Hazel Stone and Joyce Roach.
Rev. Randy Richards opened the meeting with a prayer.
October Minutes: Discussion to clarify two issues in October minutes. Tom, Randy and Jeanne noted that much of the product donated by the Central Missouri Food Bank does not meet nutritional needs. Clarified to read “Tom, Randy and Jeanne noted that much of the product donated by the Central Missouri Food Bank does not meet fundamental nutritional needs”.
.A second clarification was:
Local grocers have been very helpful in selling bulk food at discount
prices. Was corrected to “Local grocers have been very helpful in
selling bulk ‘boxed food’ at
discount prices. “ Bulk, Marsha noted, typically is in quantity and
sorted by the recipient into smaller units.
Randy moved minutes be approved. Wanda seconded. Passed unanimously.
Treasurer’s Report: Tom reported the October 1 balance was $599.66. Since then NHN has received an income of $2,374.50 and had expenses of $783.45. This leaves a balance of $2,190.71.
Expenses included postage, groceries, truck fuel and supplies. Income included several private donations and $50 from the Church of Christ, $1214.50 from the Chamber Festival of Lights and booth rental, $500 from the VFW and $40 from Nordyne.
In addition, Tom reported $4,000 revenue from the City of Boonville’s gaming funds. This was deposited in the savings account. With $14.91 interest it has a balance of $4,437.31.
Randy moved to accept the treasurer’s report and Marsha seconded. Passed unanimously.
Logo Status, Truck Logo Sign, Center Logo Sign and T-Shirts: Randy reported that three logos have been ordered for the truck and a separate magnetic sign noting the pantry entrance for the NHN distribution center. NHN will be directly invoiced. It is expected that the designs will be ready by the end of the month.
Randy will get a check from Tom and order four dozen t-shirts. Marsha asked about the shirt logos and Randy said there will be one on the front and one on the back of the t-shirts. These should arrive by December 1.
Food For A Spell: Virgil reported Tim Fairley provided significant assistance in this drive that resulted in $610 in the Food For A Spell contest and $1000 from Dave’s Country Market. In addition, 1154 pounds of food was donated to the pantry.
Virgil said this is about the same amount as in the past. “I consider it very successful, he said. “It was wonderful. I think it can be more successful with advanced planning.” He said the event will be held next year. It will be the last Saturday of October; the traditional Make A Difference Day. NHN also did not win the $10,000 national drawing.
Organizational spelling sponsors were C&R Market, Daughters of Isabella, Knights of Columbus, American Legion, Conway & Blanck Law Firm, Browning Hardware, EUCC Women’s Fellowship, Abele Law Firm, Nordyne, Community of Christ, Cooper County Retired Teachers Association, Westminster Church, Westminster Presbyterian Church and Kiwanis Club. Several individuals also donated.
Other Donation Reported by Virgil: $250 from Festival of Lights Chamber booths and $964.50 from Festival of Lights Retail Committee. This is the breakdown from the Treasurer’s report where the $1214.50 overall total was reported.
Donated Food Weight in October: Data has been collected but not totaled.
Total Hours Donated in October: Jeanne has data for October 18-31 from volunteers at the center plus additional board data. This comes to 247 hours. This does not count volunteer time for the Food For A Spell fundraiser. When fully totaled, volunteer hours should surpass 500 hours.
NHN Food Distribution:
NHN Food distribution in October
· Total families assisted 415 and total people served 1101
· Tuesday distribution 147 families
· Thursday distribution 105 families
· Saturday distribution 106 families
· Total families on Food stamps 193 families
· Total families receiving TANF 19 families
Virgil noted that families qualifying for food from the NHN pantry should also be eligible for food stamps, yet fewer than half of those eligible make application.
We have seen the following increase in families and individuals receiving food from the NHN food pantry:
· August 356 families and 1,003 people
· September 361 families and 1,016 people
· October 415 families and 1,103 people
Direct Deposit: Art said he has sent another e-mail to Gayla Smith inquiring on the status. She indicated that Citizens Community Bank is nearing getting this set up. This is the first direct deposit that they have handled so they also are learning about the process.
Tom said he saw Gayla and she reported that she is actively working on getting the direct deposit process started. Tom said that because it is the first direct deposit program, the bank is being cautious to avoid problems.
Art will re-contact Gayla.
Some concern was expressed that implementation is much later than planned. Art suggested that the bank look at an implementation by November 15 as we are almost in the holiday season.
Art also discussed a
household mailing list form from
the county and preparing a direct mailing. The Extension Center will
make its bulk mailing permit available and will do the photocopying
without charge. NHN would pay postage, paper, envelopes and mailing
cost. The mailing will include a pre-addressed envelope to return it to
the Extension Center.
Volunteer and Needs Committee: Randy said that his volunteer church construction crew has agreed to build the office in the Boonville Daily News annex/NHN distribution center.
The newspaper will wave
waive $400 in rent
utilities for the project and buy all
materials. Currently he is awaiting the newspaper’s decision to move
forward on the project.
Fundraising Committee Report:
Best Choice UPC Code-- Tom Priester created a deposit container from a large plastic coffee container for use at the food pantry. Recipients will be asked to remove the Best Choice UPC code. For each bundle of 1,000 UPC codes the food pantry would receive $30.
Dave Country Market—Tom Priester created a deposit container from a large plastic coffee container for Dave’s Country Market. This will be used to collect cash register receipts that can be turned in for cash. For each $1,000 turned in, the food pantry would receive $10.
Missouri Department of Conservation Share the Harvest -- Hunters donate their deer and it is processed at a certified station. The fee for dressing out the deer is paid by a statewide organization. The meat is ground into one pound packages. Tom has signed NHN up for the program. One limitation may be the lack of nearby packing houses handling deer. Jennings Food Locker in New Franklin is not. There are possibilities in Fayette, Pisgah, and California. Tom will contact them and get the information to Art for a news release.
Holiday Parade: Annual Boonville Holiday Parade will be at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, December 6. Wanda is working on volunteers to secure donated food from the parade audience. The NHN truck will be in the parade to move the food to the pantry. Art suggested that the 4-H youth assistant at the Extension Center be contacted to see if 4-H as a community service project would distribute NHN flyers and possibly collect the canned goods. Wanda will check on Wednesday.
Local Schools Fundraiser: Randy reported that Sue Brimer of Boonville High will give leadership to a six-school effort to collect 20,000 canned goods for the food pantry!
Pilot Grove School: Virgil reported that Pilot Grove School held a Trick or Treat night the evening before Halloween to raise food for the food pantry. He also noted Ss. Peter & Paul and St. Joseph’s had raised food for the pantry.
Legal Forms Committee: Art reported that he just needs March minutes and a correction to the 2008 income budget to finalize the 501c3 application. It is hoped that these can be completed in November.
He also reported that personal time sheet of working alone for the food pantry was sent out, but that some were unable to open it because it is the latest version of Word. He will distribute the sheet to the board with a 1997 version. Virgil had several copies available from the original version Art distributed.
Nominations Committee: Marsha Goodin noted the three member nominations committee needs to meet before the December NHN food pantry meeting to suggest nominations to the board for board membership and officers.
Warehouse Product Shrinkage: Marsha reported that she had talked with Joyce, the board member newspaper representative on the food pantry board. About two weeks ago a case of NHN beef stew was missing and also some potatoes. Two BDN staff were terminated as a result. Marsha noted the newspaper was very concerned and that as soon as product is believed missing it should be reported to the newspaper immediately.
The newspaper also is meeting with employees to reaffirm its policies and to re-emphasize restrictions in going into the food pantry area. It was noted that even with cautions there is no way to assure that some product at some point can always be secure.
If people need food, the board would rather they let the volunteers know about their food needs. This should be emphasized.
No other business, the board adjourned at 4:16 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Art Schneider
NHN Board Secretary