Executive Board Meeting minutes

December 9, 2019—Attending: Janice Merrill Brown, Trevor Menagh, John Barber and Diane Snell.

Janet: treasury report Janet sent report by email to each Board member.

Janice 1. Who’s at our table at CASC this Saturday? John & Kate Barber, Janice M. Brown, Tracy Bier, Jim & Diane Snell, Thurston Muskelly and Karen Daubert

2. Presentation of mural on Jan 15th. Artist has confirmed and does not need any equipment; will bring handouts.

3. Reiterate our 2020 plan, so we can do “save the date” stuff. January meeting: mural presentation; February: John Wilson, Tax assessor and March is Women’s history; the struggle for the right to vote 100-year Centennial.

Janice will set date for coffee with Randy & Buzz for Star awards.

John: Peppi’s Woods disaster: Parks went into this small area with big equipment to trim trees and much of the volunteer work was disrupted. Janice suggested a letter of regret to Parks. John said Liz Ohlsen would write the story for the newsletter. John said the incident is written up on their website: Friends of Peppi’s Woods.

Leschi Natural Area: the loyal volunteer force is aging. Fran and Bunny Wood have moved to an elder community in Oregon. Both Betsy Z. and Rich A. are experiencing some of the mobility issues of aging. A new volunteer force is needed with maybe just once a month clean-up and trail restoration. He will write a plea for a new volunteer force for the newsletter.

John attended the Seattle Neighborhood Coalition this past Saturday and reported on the proposed HUBS. If communications are knocked out during an earthquake, neighbors could go to a Hub to get information like what is open or closed, i.e. is there an operational hospital in the area? A volunteer has come forward to manage a Hub in Powell Barnett Park. Diane suggested that it might be a good idea to also have one in Leschi Park as some of the elderly residents are not going to be able to walk that hill to Powell Barnett Park. There is a storage area (locked) where equipment is kept and perhaps Hub materials could be kept there. As it turns out, John has a key to that storage area.

Diane: Newsletter deadline: Dec. 16

Kiosk changes: new format of newsletter is too big for kiosk. Calendar was posted along with poster re: Holiday Party. Diane suggesting that we have it printed in the original format for posting; Diane replied that Jim had tried that, and the font was so small that it would not be legible in the upper part of the kiosk.

Donations: made by Council in December: Leschi School; Senior Center

Offers of help: Tonna, Eva, Peggy. These folks offered to participate in ArtWalk (Tonna), Council (Eva) and note taking (Peggy). All offers of help greatly appreciated!

ArtWalk: Suggestion that we don’t start until after the holidays. Janice agreed but wants to start earlier than April this year.

Diane asked about charities; in the past, we have offered suggestions in the December newsletter with some examples of what the organization does. We didn’t have room for anything but the Giving Garland in this last issue, so she asked for suggestions…what do we as the Board donate to? John Barber has donated in the past to environmental groups but feels he will be donating more to the Senior Center with his concern about the Center going it alone. Trevor donates to Amara (adoption agency), Epilepsy Foundation and Leschi School. Janice donates to St. Jude’s, the Boyer Clinic and Oregon Tiger Sanctuary, and Diane’s utmost concern is homelessness and she donates to LIHI (Low Income Housing Institute, creator of Tiny House Villages), Real Change and Leschi School. We all recommended Charity Navigator to check out how much the organization you are considering actually gives to the cause.

~Respectfully submitted by Diane Snell