Date: Sunday, October 19, 2014
Place: Tanglewood
In Attendance: Board members and men who attended weekend
Minutes submitted by: David
1. Quilt – Joe R. has the quilts and offers them to anyone who needs one or would like to have one for a while. It was suggested that Frank might enjoy having one at this time as he goes through recovery.
2. 50th? If this is the 50th how to mark or celebrate this event? Separate get together? Cook out? Gathering next summer? BA will look into renting a space that he knows about in Camden. Board will discuss and decisions will be made at May weekend. A suggestion to have a workshop on generating plans could be interesting. Tom J and Dan agreed to do a write up for the celebration.
3. First Aid Kit– Joe R. has the first aid kit and will be responsible for keeping it updated and to be sure it is at the weekends.
4. Minutes from past two board meetings were available at the registration table. It was suggested that they be posted on our website. David H. will look into it.
5. Finances – MCM is in good shape with $1743.83 before the weekend. All outstanding bills are paid. It takes approximately 22 men in attendance to pay for a weekend. After this weekend is paid for we should still be in good shape. Reminder, scholarships are available if times are tough. Contact John B. – registrar for additional information. The brochure will continue to state that funds are available upon request.
6. Next weekend is May 1-3, 2015. Jobs and volunteers are as follows:
Program Committee: Vincent/Ham
Coffee Meister: Carl (back up: David)
Workshop Organization: Charles, Joe
Tanglewood liaison: David
Food: Master Chef: Brad
Fri Night: Pot Luck
Sat Breakfast: Daniel W., John C.
Sat Lunch: Ham, John C
Sat Dinner: Tom J, Vincent
Sun Breakfast: Sepp, Tomas
7. Ideas for possible programs in the future:
Why does 50 matter? Music
Love Honesty
Degeneration 50-Midlife
Health Tools
8. Website – Discussion centered around having additional information posted on the web. Items such as other men’s gatherings, organizations, helpful tools, board members and contacts numbers, minutes and upcoming meetings. The website format was also discussed as to the ease of finding information and navigating the site. Tom will look at it and make recommendations. David offered to assist. (In a private discussion with Tom it was felt having a liaison from the board would be helpful. All items to be posted should be approved by the board.) Website Master is Tom B with Vincent as support. The topic of Website Liaison will be on the Board Agenda .
9. Mail Chimp: Ham has the key to this tool and will get it to Tom.
10. Dan K. will continue to help with media for the weekend – brochures and press releases.
11. Facebook – Vincent, Ham and Dan will investigate and discuss how this resource can best be accessed and used especially by men who do not have a face book account. This information will be shared with the board for further discussion and decisions.
12. Opening and Closing Circles: A suggestion was made to limit the time each man has. Sharing could be brief and to the point about the theme and what it means to him or what he hopes to gain from the weekend. A suggestion was made to have “check in” during Fri night dinner. The Program Committee for the up coming weekend will consider this and will decide the procedure for check in/out.
13. Outreach – Incoming – Reaching Out – Topics discussed:
• Develop Handout for newcomers
• Buddy System during the weekend, someone to check with
• Mentor System – John will collect names for those interested
• Board Agenda Item: What does mentoring mean? How does it work? Responsibilities of mentors, “Check off” on brochure? Etc.
• Newspapers, website, e-mails, posters
• One to one encouragement, Email from Lew to past weekend attendees to bring one new person was helpful for this weekend
• The question was asked if we need someone to come in and re-organize the board and/or the weekend. A woman consultant was suggested as a person who could help redesign the structure to bring in more men as well as money to the MCM. This will be a board agenda item for discussion.
• How many men do we feel would be healthy number for the weekend (board discussion)
• Board needs to decide when the brochure goes out to give plenty of time for outreach (Agenda Item)
14. The search for the missing box continues. This box possibly contains past minutes, pictures, mission statement, procedures etc. Wayne L. or Espabarb may have knowledge of it. Please ask around and contact David H if you have any ideas or knowledge of this past history.
15. Other:
• Philanthropy, should we be looking at ways to bring in money to help others? Item moved for Agenda for Board meeting.
Board approved minutes, Dec. 9, 2014