Friends of Southwest Charter School

Monthly Meeting Minutes

February 4, 2014

In Attendance:  Christina, Liz, Hanne, Chris, Aileah, Nicki

Review January Minutes & Open Community Comments

When Sarah Mutal asked Lumberyard Bike Park for an auction donation, she also asked if they would be willing to host a community event similar to our Black Friday Roller Skating at Oaks Park. The event would be scheduled during our school conferences on either March 6 or 7. The Lumberyard needs to have an approximate head count and then they will give us rates.

Community Life Update (Aileah)  

Aileah has scheduled several upcoming restaurant nights:

• Wednesday, 3/12 Laurelwood Public House & Brewery located at 6716 SE Milwaukie Ave, Portland, OR 97202 (Sellwood-Moreland) will give us 10% of sales. They will provide promo materials.
• Tuesday 4/22 Pizzicato “Dough for Dollars” located at 6358 SW Capitol Hwy (Hillsdale). Enjoy dining in or take out at the Hillsdale location or pre-order par-baked pizzas delivered to school for afternoon pickup.
• Tuesday, 6/3 Fulton Pub & Brewery located at 0618 S.W. Nebraska St. (John’s Landing). They give us 50% of day’s sales.

We are also looking to set up a restaurant night at Hopworks in SE for late September or October 2014. We are also considering scheduling a couple restaurant nights during the summer break.

Aileah’s baby is due at the end of April and she will need some help with Community Life. Christina will put out a call for someone to help with Community Life for the rest of the school year and hopefully continue on to next school year.

Community Movie Day is scheduled for Monday, March 31 at the Clinton Theater (1:30 pm). We discussed possible movies to show and agreed that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone would appeal to a range of ages and would provide excellent dress-up opportunities. Along with the movie, we would like to do a book drive to benefit the Children’s Book Bank. We’ll need someone to coordinate the book drive. Liz will contact Katherin Flower at the Book Bank about conducting a book drive.

Financial Update (Nicki)

Nicki gave out copies of the Friends budget for the school year. Liz will add to the blog under “About Friends” and do a blog post about it.

Our net income at the end of the school year will goes towards helping to defray the cost of overnight education.

To date, we have spent $250 on staff gifts and $150 on the weatherproof banner to publicize monthly Friends’ meetings.

From the auction budget, we have spent $4150. This includes deposits for the venue and auctioneer as well as the auction software. These are all expected expenses.

Zidell Yards Space for Fundraiser

At the last Board Meeting, Board Member Dennis Allen let the Board and Friends know that Zidell’s outdoor space under the Ross Island Bridge, where they have had drive-in movies, is available if we would like to hold a late spring or summer event. Board Member Josh Kirby liked the idea of planning a dance party or concert. Since none of us know too much about the space, we agreed we need more details. We believe it is just a gravel parking lot. Hanne suggested offering the space as an auction item. Here’s a link to the location of the space: http://festivals.nwfilm.org/zidelldrivein/venues/.

Crafternoon Updates (Liz & Hanne)

Crafternoon will be Sunday, February 9^th from 3-5 pm. Set up begins at 2:30 pm.

We will have 6 hands-on craft stations for kids and about 8 people selling crafts, four of which are middle schoolers.

There will be light snacks. We will pop popcorn and Hanne will bring sliced apples. We’ll use ceramic mugs and bowls from the Griffin Den.

We’d like to have some background music during the event. Nicki will bring in her portable speakers and drop off in the office on Friday. Liz will also look into bringing speakers from home and an iPod with a playlist.

Jessica Nichols’ husband Chris suggested a craft station for next year. Jess does a pinhole camera class with kids.

It should be a fun event!

Auction Committee Update (Nicki)

Nicki handed out copies of the final draft of the sponsorship recognition and opportunities document. Lorien is working on a press release and other supporting materials to go out to potential sponsors. We’ll have an email blast about sponsorships going out soon.

Dinner menu options are being considered. We will have a vegan option. The meat options are either pork or osso buco. We agreed beef was a better choice.

Entertainment ideas are also being considered. One suggestion was the touring band from School of Rock. While the School of Rock band is very cute, we would like to have entertainment that goes along with our riverboat theme.  Christina will also check with Jessica Bell. She may have piano students who could play at the auction.

Nicki will email Denise Gardner about assembling the video. She will talk with Sarah M. about doing video interviews with students and teachers. Many of the photos come from Marlene.

We don’t have any slot parties yet. We have some good ideas though. Harmony is the coordinator of slot parties. We may explore the possibility of offering slot party spaces on the auction website prior to the actual event.

We are getting close to narrowing the message for the ask campaign during the live auction portion of the evening. Student technology and hiring a fieldwork coordinator are still high on the teachers’ wish list.

Closing – Final Comments and Questions

Pennies for Patients to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society campaign occurs during our spring break March 19-28. Chris has contacted them and will see if see if we can do the campaign at a different time.

Fred Meyer has just started a Community Rewards program where you can link your Fred Meyer Rewards Card to an organization which will receive a monthly donation from Fred Meyer. Anna has applied for SW Charter to be included and is just waiting for final approval from Fred Meyer.

Next Meeting: Tuesday, March 4^th Social time 6:30pm, Meeting begins at 7pm

For a Google docs version of these minutes click here.