Date: May 10, 2005
Location: YMCA Clifton Park
Present: Mike Peluso (President), Spencer Raggio (Vice
President), Becky Bonn (Secretary), Susan Wright, Herm Lintner, Steve Mintz,
Rebecca Stanley, Ron Byrne, George Painter, Jeff Sullivan and Dave Whalen
Meeting Called to Order at 6:25 pm
Welcome: Mike Peluso welcomed everyone and handed out an agenda for the meeting. Jeff Sullivan was introduced. Jeff was elected April 1, 2005 as Chair of the Board of Managers for Camp Chingachgook. His role allows him to visit with all the different programs of the YMCA camp including Y-Knot.
Boat Delivery & Budget: Spencer Raggio
The two new boats are at the camp.
Steve Alvey shipped the needed part for the auto helm directly to the camp;
the rest of the unit was in the boat already. The boats need some repair
that was not planned putting us over budget by approximately $800.00,
leaving the designated fund about $800 short. Also $845.42 still needs
to be paid to Pete Hogg for travel expenses.
George Painter reviewed the new boat expenses and was curious why San Diego got such a great deal of $1000 each. Spencer explained that San Diego's budget allowed for $2000. We, the Board, agreed to go above that amount and incur the expenses if necessary to reap the benefits of this great opportunity. Spencer will forward the invoice from Steve Alvey and will follow up with Challenged America to see when they will be making their payment. Overall, Y-Knot needs to pay out ~$14,000 and has come up with ~$13,000 to date.
Committee Reports
Volunteer Training 5/15/05: Mike Peluso wants to remind everyone that Sunday, May 15th is Volunteer Training Day. Also, although Maryellen Rudolph, our Program Chair in not present, she is to be commended for doing an AWESOME job. Need to have the Board promote the Volunteer Training Day. Last year’s Volunteer of the Year, Don Miller, will be attending and will be presented with a gift. Rebecca Stanley suggests that sailors should be there as well.
Work Day Reviewed: Don Miller and Ganga showed. Dates are set and supplies needed are at the camp. The camp will send out an email and make phone calls about the next scheduled workday, June 26th.
Sailor, Volunteer & Board Outreach: Mike Peluso commented that Theresa Paeglow came to the cancelled board meeting and was supposed to show for this meeting. She wants to help with the outreach portion with Rebecca Stanley. Don White, who survey sites for accessibility also mentioned attending to see where he might be of service. Mike also wants to commend our Treasurer, Rex Moon for his hard work on detailing the database. Any volunteer leads need to be passed along to Rex and Maryellen. George added that Camp Chingachgook has the official database and Rex is monitoring a second more specific database. The Y-Knot Listserv is something people need to opt in for. There will be three appeals sent out throughout the year to join Y-Knot and the appeal will ask If they would like to subscribe to the Y-Knot Listserv. Y-Knot can then enter a name and an email will be generated and sent to the subscriber and they can then either accept or deny.
Herm Lintner raised a question of how the sailors originally got interested in sailing and how this could help to attract new sailors to the group. Would the new sailor be given a mentor sailor to help eliminate the fear factor as well as educate them on the program and the sport and provide a warm welcome? The database Rex is working on is trying to link the names of the referees with the referrals to help with Herms question.
Mike Peluso also mentioned that we have access to a Van to transport sailors to the lake. The van is in Troy; we are looking for a volunteer to drive the van. A valid drivers license is needed.
Fundraising Letters and Leads: Mike Peluso passed out a contact list and asked for feedback. Ten packets with pictures are ready to go out. Spencer will reformat the letter and send the revision to Mike. Before another grant can be applied for from the Christopher Reeves Foundation we need to recap what last year's money received, was used for. Rebecca Stanley will work on that and let Mike Peluso know.
Upcoming Events
May 29th will be the 2nd Annual Sagamore Chowder Fest. Adam DeSantis needs volunteers on the mark boats and committee boat. Four sailors, Mike Peluso, Rebecca Stanley, Steve Mintz and Dave Whalen have committed to sail and Rebecca Stanley is hoping for two more to utilize the six-boat fleet of Martin 16s.
June 18 & 19 will be the Corinthian Ti Race, the dinner and social will be held Friday evening the 17th. Rebecca Stanley is recruiting sailors for the Martin 16 Fleet. Restaurant coupons, spare change cans and the sponsorships are among the fundraising efforts for the Ti Race. To capitalize on Fathers' Day, Ribbons with honored Dads names will be flown of the stern of the boats.
Spencer will create a Sponsor page on the Website and George has a meeting on May 11 to discuss this years T-shirts and a banner.
Meeting adjourned 7:55 pm
Submitted by Becky Bonn 05/18/05