Category: MCM Board & Membership Minutes

In Attendance on Zoom: George, John B, Maine Bob, Charles, David, Joss

1. Check In
2. Treasurer’s Report – John
   a. Joss received bank statements and checks from Bangor Savings Bank – nothing came to John B
   b. John B to check w/Tomas to see if he has the MCM checkbook or if Ian still had it when he passed
   c. Letter and $100 check from non-profit – “The Blackbaud Giving Fund by its agent, Your Cause”. Check is made out to Maine Coast Men, Inc. Check is dated 1/21/2021 and is good for 90 days. John will investigate to see if it is legitimate.
   d. Current MCM balance: $5246.24
3. Board Minutes from 1/14/2021 were approved and accepted by the Board
4. Mini Series
   a. Jan 22^nd session on Grief. Congrats and kudos to Charles for stepping up and narrating the Jan 22^nd session. Charles is involved with a hospice/grief series in his area. The other grief/hospice workers were surprised to hear that there are men’s groups doing grief work – good for MCM – men’s work is unusual and special
   b. George is hosting w/Maine Bob the upcoming session on “Non-violent communication”. The date is Feb 25 7-9pm. George and Maine Bob to send out a notice via Mail Chimp. Hoping for 15-25 men to show up for Zoom
   c. Future Sessions:
   i. March 26, Breaking Bread (No facilitator)
   ii. Maine Bob volunteered to host the April 22 session; Some incites gained from “Council of Circles”
   iii. David will contact C T Nguyen to see if he is still interested
   iv. At past presentations we asked men to consider facilitating…no takers at this point
   d. Possible topic: “How are you doing with the Covid pandemic?” Media fears and anxieties; co-morbidities. “Endless lists of things you might do” – Charles
   i. Tomas, Tom J, Phil E, Holbrook – four men to ask if they’re interested in creating/presenting an evening
5. Council of Circles (update by George)
   a. Discussed information the Mail Chimp gathers when we send out emails
   b. We will offer to men of MCM another Council of Circles workshops  in late April/May
   c. WE need to figure out how to get the word out to MCM
   d. George and Maine Bob will attend next  – “A Council For our Times”
   e. Need to review and Clean-up of Mail Chimp
   f. “Can we use this list (Mail Chimp) to reach out and recruit more men?” – People we know who did not open the link -David
   g. Charles – “Could George put out some advertising about what “Non-violent communication” is about? Maybe u-tube video to watch first before session? George will look into this.
6. May Retreat at Tanglewood
   Maine Bob – It would be difficult to be ready
   Charles – Have to have policy; Possible Zoom link for anti-vaccine people
   John – Tanglewood doesn’t know what the rules and restrictions will be in May; We won’t be ready to do the Spring retreat as normally was
   Board consensus at this point – Three day program probably not happening, will make final decision at next board meeting.
   At the next Board meeting – Discuss what our options will be if we do not meet.
7. Website: Dan needs opening statement for the MCM website
   MCM Mission Statement – send this to Dan – go with the mission statement for now. David to speak w/Dan: “use MCM mission statement”
8. Other: A rare sports discussion
9. David away from March 12^th until April 11^th
   Next Board Meeting: Wednesday, March 10^th 6:30-8:30 Zoom meeting

Minutes accepted: March 18, 2021

In Attendance on Zoom: Joss, Charles, David, George, Dan, Maine Bob, Guest: Dan Kirchoff
Minutes Submitted by: David

1. Check In. (Dec 9 Board Meeting was cancelled)
2.  Treasurer’s Report (John B was unable to make the meeting so a new report was available.)
3. Board Minutes from 11/11/20 were approved and accepted by the board.
4. Dan Kirchoff – Dan shared the changes that are being made to the current website to make it   easier to use.
   a. Dan and George will explore ways for the members in the future to “Register and Pay” on line. This option will be tested by the board before posting it on our website. It was decided that with current technology this makes sense for us to have this option. We will use what we learned from the last time we tried this to be sure that it is simple and that the registrar has the information he needs.
   b. Dan was asked to put a “Contact Us” tab for men to be able to be able reach us. The people on the board  can be named on the webpage but their contact information will not be posted due to security concerns.
   c. The opening statement on the draft website was put in by Dan as a suggestion. We all agree that it is important to think about the message we want to send in the opening paragraph. Our Mission Statement could be enough. The board will think about this and be prepared to discuss at the next board meeting. Feel free to write up a statement that to be discussed and possibly used on the website for this next board meeting.
5. Council of Circles – Thanks go out to George for working on ways to advertise and get the information to the MCM Community to sign up for these workshops. There is a cost and scholarships are being offered.
   a. We need a minimum of 6 people to have the course happen.
6. Mini Series:
   a. Charles will facilitate the next session on Grief, Jan 22, 2021 from 7-9PM
   b. The next session is on February 25, 2021. George offered to facilitate this session on Non-Violent Communication.
   c. Future mini-series sessions will be March 26 and April 22, 2021. The Board feels that series is important to help men from MCM stay connected. The series averages between 15-20 men and the feedback has been very supportive. Facilitators will be needed for sessions in the future. A possible suggestion for a session is “How are you doing living with the Covid Virus”
7. Tanglewood: David spoke with Patti our contact with Tanglewood and we are still on the books for the May and October Retreats. Tanglewood is not currently open for weekend gathering but may be by May depending on what the status is on the virus. Tanglewood will decide what they will require and develop procedure to help men stay safe.
   a. MCM board discussed our obligation to our members and expressed that we will wait and see what the state guidelines and recommendations are for meeting. The decision to have the May weekend Retreat will need to be made by March 25, 2021 to give the board tome to prepare for the retreat. This discussion will continue at the next board meeting. Our top priority is safety.
8. Next Board meeting will be Feb 17,2021 at 6:30-8:30 Via Zoom

Minutes accepted Feb 17, 2021

Zoom Meeting. (Zoom Master) Maine Bob
Present: David Hanc, John Bangeman, Maine Bob O’Connor, Tomas Levesque, George Aguiar, Joss Coggeshall

1. Check-In
2. Update from Brad. Brad is resigning from the MCM Board due to personal issues.  Thanks go out to him for his many years of being on the board
3. Treasurer’s Report. Nothing new to report at this time.
4. Review MCM Board minutes from 10/21/2020. Minutes Approved.
5. Mini-Series Update and discussion
   Tomas: “no registration needed; first come, first serve”. This is in response to an earlier suggestion to have men register for each mini-series presentation.
   MaineBob: “go ahead w/series schedule we have put together – timing is good”. We will do labels. Mail Chimp information can go out. 150 postcards made. Bob will print 130 labels and print 2 return address labels. David to talk w/MaineBob about post cards. We will use Tomas’ address as the return address on the postcards.
   a. Description of “QuaranTeaming”
   i. How do I (we) find people to bring into the “pod”?
   b. MCM website discussion – Invite Dan K to share the new website. Be sure to provide him feedback.
6. What still needs to be figured out for the Dec. 17 Mini Series faciloitated by George on Quran Teaming.
   a. Need Mail Chimp message – encourage men to go to MCM website
   b. Write-up for the website. MaineBob will format the Mail Chimp and put  a Zoom link on the Mail Chimp. If the man isn’t on the MCM mailing list, have them send an email to Tomas and he will send the person a link.
   c. Directions or assistance on how to use the Zoom link. The person can contact MaineBob if having problems getting Zoom connection. David will pull the postcard together, then send it to MaineBob to check for technical issues.
   d. Board decided that no registration is needed.
   e. Registering for all workshops?  The issue made moot by “d.”.
7. George offered to the Board two new workshop suggestions: Non-Violent Communication and Council of Circles. Possible date for the Non-violent Communication workshop would be Feb. 25^th, 2021 date.
   a. “How to prevent a Coup”. George: Robert Jensen book; Marshall Rosenberg-Non-violent Communication; Joanna Macy – modernize Non-violent work; George Lake? – Quaker.
   b. Council of Circles
   i. Attendees 6-8 MCM members. $80/person.
   Question on who would pay for attending. MCM? The person? No final decision made for non members of MCM
   ii. Theme: “People aren’t good and bad – People do good and bad things”.
   iii. “Spontaneous Communication”: offer this to MCM community. Put the information out on the MCM website, on Mail Chimp.
8. Other: David and MaineBob to discuss postcard tomorrow. George to contact the Council of Circles and let them know MCM is interested. MaineBob – didn’t get a corporate account for MCM set up yet – continue going ahead with that action.
9. Next meeting: December 9^th, 2020 at 630pm (Zoom meeting).

Minutes accepted Jan 14, 2021

Meeting via Zoom. “Zoom Master: Maine Bob
Attending: Maine Bob O’Connor, David Hanc, John Bangeman, Tomas Levesque, George Aguiar, Joss Coggeshall, Brad Purdy, Charles Guilford, Ian Collins

1. Check In
2. Treasurer’s Report – Creating a bookkeeping ledger is a work in progress (John)
3. Review minutes from September 24, 2020 and October 8, 2020 MCM Board Meeting – Minutes were approved.
4. Discuss MCM future events
   It was decided that we would present a mini-series on topics that men may be interested in. We will start with 4 sessions.
   a. Format for a 2-hour event
   Check in, Presentation, Discussion, possible check out
   Facilitator will run the session
   Host will control the Zoom technical end
   Maine Bob could also create “co-host”
   b. MCM will buy its own Corporate Zoom account. Cost – $120/year.
   Maine Bob will set up account and email address to be used. The decision to establish an MCM Zoom account was voted on and approved.
   c. Etiquette during Zoom event will be in introduction of event. Time is limited so check in should be about how you are doing, Other members will not be able to ask questions or turn this into a discussion time but could use the “chat” to privately check in with a man during this session.
   d. The facilitator will determine how to run the check in for his session. We could just go in rotation, men could raise their hand to speak, facilitator can call on next man with hand raised.
   e. Limit number of people who can participate is 20 people
   f. Possible Topics
5. TOPICS
   a. Frances Weller – Grief
   “Pick a topic that we’re excited about leading”
   b. “Quaran team” (pod idea)
   c. Building Men’s Zoom Group – David to expand this more
   d. Live Presentations: Tom J, Chuck N
   20 minute presentations
   David to talk to Tom and Chuck
   e. A 2-hour time to just talk about a subject
   f. What nights:
   1^st Session: Friday, Nov. 20^th 7-9 pm. George A volunteers to be moderator for “Quaran Teams”
   2^nd Session: Thursday, Dec. 17^th 7-9 pm. Check-In: Open Topic. Facilitated by David Hanc
   3^rd Session: Friday, Jan 22^nd 7-9 pm Tom Jamrog to moderate Frances Weller – Grief
   4^th Session: Thursday, Feb 25^th 7-9 pm Check – In event
   5^th Session: March date not chosen yet
   g. George to put together a write-up of what’s going to take place in the Nov. 20^th Zoom session;
   Maine Bob to email Zoom link
   i. Moderator/Facilitator – needs Training? Do we have a trained moderator do this? Host does the technology piece of the event
6. Advertising. It was decided that we will invite MCM members and their friends only at this time. These session will not be advertised via the paper or radio until we have a handle on how these will go.
   Focus on MCM Community and friends;
   Information will be sent out via mail chimp and postcard.
   “What we’re doing; First four sessions; Watch for email about the events; Check your email; Mark your calendars!; stick this postcard on your refrigerator to remember the dates!”
   David Hanc and John Bangeman to produce the postcard and get it sent out. Maine Bob  to send labels to David
7. Next meeting:
   David to contact Dan Kirchoff and Tom Beal to let them know what we’re planning and thinking. Next MCM Board “Zoom” meeting on Wed, Nov. 11^th Check – In at 630pm.

Minutes Accepted Nov 11, 2020

In Attendance: Charles, David, Ian, John B., Maine Bob, George, Brad, Tomas, Joss and guest Tom Jamrog
Minutes Submitted by: David

This meeting was set to try out a format of a Zoom event that we can offer to the general membership of MCM.

Charles was the facilitator and the topic was “Francis Weller on Grief 2018”.  Men were asked to watch the 15 min film and if they wanted to to do a follow up with one of the hour presentations.

It looks like we accomplished what we set out to do. We tried out the format and it seems to work fine… maybe some tweaks along the way.

We will proceed with a 2 hour event
Check In
Discussion
Possible check out

-Need to decide the rules of check in
-Pick a theme or central starting point
-(WE could have men check in with the theme in mind)
-Live presentation or film. (viewed before or during the 2 hour segment)
-Need a facilitator to keep things moving 
-Should we do one session and then present a series or do we just set up a series?
-MCM may just want to introduce a “check in” hour or two – maybe where men can talk about what is happening in their lives and members can ask questions

Think of possible themes, things to tweak, all suggestions are always welcomed.
Nothing is set in stone.

Minutes accepted Oct 21, 2021

Next Meeting will be October 21, 2020. 6:30-8:30 Use same Zoom address that we had for the past two meetings

Meeting via Zoom. “Zoom Master”: Maine Bob O’Connor
Present: Maine Bob O’Connor, David Hanc, John Bangeman, Tomas Levesque, George Aguiar, Charles Guilford, Jonathan Coggeshall, Ian Collins, Brad Purdy

1. Check In
2. Acceptance of minutes from MCM Board Meeting of September 10, 2020. Minutes accepted.
3. Treasurer’s Report (John B and Jonathan “Joss” C). Both men’s signatures are now accepted at Bangor Savings Bank of Rockland on the MCM checking account. The two still need to get together to work on the “line item tracking system” for revenues and expenditures of MCM.
4. Fall MCM Event
   So far, the Board has the following ideas:
   a. Event would be 2 hours
   b. “check in – presentation – discuss – check out” is the general format
   c. Is this a one-shot deal or the start of a mini-series of events/presentations?
   d. What is the goal of the event? The goal we decided on was to generate discussion among the men.
   e. U-tube or Ted talk vs live presentation – both have value, limit it to 20 min.
   f. Who or what is needed such as moderator(s), Zoomologist(s), etc. The board made no decision until we figure out a format.
   g. Possible theme: (Tomas) “Thriving and connecting in the time of Covid.”
   h. (Charles) “present something for people to consider (example – something from the Minnesota Men’s conference)”
   i. (Ian) suggest we consider “Tim Wilson – Minnesota video”
   ii. David sent out 2 suggestions in the last e-mail as an attachment for men to consider from the Minnesota Men’s site
   i. (David) “Tom J and/or Chuck N. are willing to do live presentations – need direction from MCM Board”
   j. (Tomas) “Check in could be enough – don’t be rigid with time schedule – let people speak as long as they need – we don’t know what men need – we don’t know what we need”
   k. (John) is a two-hour event long enough?
   l. (Maine Bob): recently hosted an 80- minute documentary on Quaker history – an example of how our event could be run
   m. (David again)  Suggestion: “Check in: facilitator sets the stage and then let people discuss “Thriving in Time of Covid” and let the conversation flow – we wouldn’t need a “check-out”
   n. (David) “if the event were a miniseries a suggestion was
   1^st one – check in only
   2^nd one – live presentation
   3^rd one – check out which would include a person’s reaction to the presentation
   o. (Charles) “common starting point”
   p. David to Maine Bob: “how could we do a check in and then a presentation?”
   “I (Maine Bob) hosted an event to over 400 people; people could raise their hand to chat; need good moderator”
   q. (David) “how do you have discussion with 25 people that show up?”
   Maine Bob described several ways to moderate a conversation. One way is to use Breakout rooms
   r. (Charles) “Men could question people at the end of their check in – was there anything in the check in that prompted you to further discussion?”
   s. (Tomas) “David’s mini-series idea is a good one”
   t. David suggested we have a monthly or biweekly check in – men need to talk!” Tom Jamrog believes this is what men need and encourage the board to look into this idea.
   u. (Ian suggests) “Ted talks – 10 to 17-minute theme; set the mood with a Ted talk and then do the check in; facilitator need skills to keep on target”
   v. (George) “previous Zoom experience 2 hours -went by very quickly. Important: have a topic – published and have a well-run meeting; needs to be well-defined; people should want to be there; people – enthusiastic about being there; watch video ahead of time and then join in w/discussion”
   w. (David) “are we ready to pick a mini-series such as or have a one-time event and go from there:
   i. Check in with Covid theme
   ii. Watch this movie then discussion
   iii. Check in then breakout rooms with different areas to explore
   x. (Charles) “try out one video on our MCM Board and then discuss it”. Charles was asked to facilitate the trial run with the board first. We can start with a check in and discuss the film and then check out with suggestions for a total MCM offering.
   y. (David) “would rather just offer it to MCM members and learn from the experience”
   z. (Brad) “Frances Weller movie – ‘Men in grief’. It was decided that we will do a trial run using Brad’s suggestion.
   Synopsis of this movie is a 15 min video. Brad encouraged us to watch the entire movie (more in depth) which lasts at least one hour
   Board decision: Maine Bob to send link out on the Frances Weller movie that Brad spoke about. Each Board member will watch the short movie and then we will discuss our reactions at the next Board meeting as part of the trial.
   a. (Brad) “watch the video and then connect w/feelings rather than intellect”
   b. (Tomas) “Thrive Two movie by “Foster Gamble” (Thrive One came out in 2011) is out
5. Discussed above – Men are encouraged to view these films
6. Item (MCM role) tabled for this meeting
7. Item (Rainey day fund) tabled for this meeting
8. Item (spending money beyond the $3500 threshold) tabled for this meeting
9. No other items brought forth
10. Next Zoom Board Meeting: September 30^th @ 630pm. The first part will be a trial run of an MCM event. Any time left will be devoted toward deciding what we will do and then continue with item 6 if there is time.

Minutes were accepted on Oct 21, 2020

Meeting via Zoom. “Zoom-Master”: MaineBob
Members present: Bob O’Connor, David Hanc, John Bangeman, Brad Purdy, Tomas Levesque, George Aguiar, Joss Coggleshall

1. Check In
2. Acceptance of Minutes from MCM Board Meeting 08/13/2020 – Accepted.
   Acceptance of Minutes from MCM Board Meeting 05/28/2020 – Accepted through e-mail to David Hanc.
3. Treasurer’s Report (Ian reports $5246.24)
   a. Possible discrepancy between May balance ($5442.24) and August balance ($5246.24) was investigated by John Bangeman. John met with Kim Hammond of Bangor Savings Bank in Rockland and reviewed monthly statements of the MCM checking account. The period reviewed was from 03/31/2020 thru 08/31/2020. There was no discrepancy found. The difference in the May balance and the August balance is due to i) a $400.00 check written to “MMG Insurance” on 04/25/2020; ii) a $35.00 check written to Charlie Crane (reimbursement for the check he wrote to the Maine Secretary of State for the annual filing of MCM non-profit status); and iii) a deposit of $239.00 from registration receipts and auction receipts from the October 2019 MCM Weekend.
   b. Official Treasurer and Co-Treasurer/Back-up status. John and Joss have signed bank documents to assume the above positions. Joss has one more document to sign and return to Bangor Savings bank. The form was sent to him by Kim Hammond.
   c. Update on the line-item budget idea for MCM finances. John and Joss need to get together and outline a structure that would help track the revenues and expenses/scholarships for an MCM weekend as well as any auction receipts generated at a weekend. Additionally, we may reach out to friends and/or spouses of MCM Board members who possess prior experience in bookkeeping.
4. Results of the survey conducted in August 2020 (MaineBob)
   a. Discussion of this subject postponed until next meeting.
5. Upcoming October retreat (in person/virtual)
   a. Update from Patti Chapman of Tanglewood on the use of Tanglewood facilities by MCM for an in-person event:
   i. MCM could use certain buildings at Tanglewood
   ii. Attendees would have to wear masks
   iii. Use of the kitchen would be hard to justify due to the extensive cleaning and disinfecting Tanglewood (or MCM) would have to do before and after the event
   iv. Tentative schedule would be a Saturday event with Sunday as the rain date. Date was not picked but would be sometime in October 2020 in keeping with the normal Fall MCM retreats
   b. After a discussion, the Board members present were polled about the question: Should MCM host a 1-day In-person event this Fall?
   The Board voted to NOT HOST an In-person event this Fall, due to the risks involved to the attendees.
6. Zoom account for MCM future (MaineBob)
   a. MCM is currently using the Zoom account of MaineBob
   b. Bob: MCM can get an account for $15/month or $144/year
   c. The idea for a Zoom account for MCM (corporate account): good use of MCM time; ie “Ted talks”, You-tube
   d. Would give MCM option to host weekly or monthly Zoom Check-ins
   e. Concept of Zoom Check-In: “Content is key” (George)
   f. Statement: “we want to keep this brother group going” (Joss and MaineBob)
   g. Do we (MCM) want to do an MCM virtual day/event? Possible structure: Check-in; workshop or workshops; check-out or discussion.
   i. What is the topic of conversation? Ideas floated: Minnesota Men’s workshops videos, Inspirational speaker(s): Chuck Ngyn? Topic of “water”. “on connections”.
   ii. Inspirational: men in our community who are inspiring; “story-telling around campfire” -who would share inspirational story. Do we want to set-up a virtual 2-hr MCM Fall Campfire?
   a. Check in
   b. Inspirational story
   c. Check out
   h. Need program committee; Announce it (the event); Mail Chimp; Set up Zoom; Monitor Zoom; one inspirational story – continue next one in November, then December; keep event to 2 hrs; go visit Minnesota Men’s Conference website (Brad)
7. Clarify our role as MCM
   a. Tabled until next Board meeting
8. Reference to Rainy Day Fund
   a. Tabled until next Board meeting
9. Spending money beyond the $3500 “rainy day fund”
   a. Tabled until next Board meeting
10. Other
    a. Tabled until next Board meeting
11. Next meeting (via Zoom): September 24^th 630-830 pm.

Minutes accepted 9/24/20

Meeting: Zoom, hosted by Maine Bob
Present: David H, Maine Bob, Tomas L, John B, Joss C, Charles G. Guest: George A

1. Check In
2. Approval of Minutes from previous MCM meeting (5/28/2020)
   a. Approval was postponed. All the board members had received copies of the minutes. Please review them after this meeting at your home and submit your approval (with any corrections) to David via email.
3. John Sommo is leaving the board for the time being. John B to fill in during this meeting to take notes. With John Sommo leaving, the position of Secretary for MCM is vacant. Thank You John for your service.
   a. John B volunteered to become the MCM Secretary.
4. Treasurer’s Report
   Balance is now $5246.24 This is slightly less than the balance that existed in May. (May balance was listed at $5442.24)
   a. John B to check with Kim Hammond of the bank. Have we spent something? What about the three check deposits that were recently made (Dan K’s check, Ham N’s check, and John S’s check)? That should have increased the balance, not reduced it.
   b. Line Item budget. How do we track the money coming in (new men, scholarships, auction receipts, etc). Joss and John B to work on this subject.
5. Review of previous Zoom Check In Event (July 17^th)
   Tomas: positive experience
   Charles: positive experience
   John B: positive experience
   a. Do we have another Zoom Check In? “hold off on this at this time”
6. Zoom Variety Show scheduled for 08/22/2020. WE will hold on this event until we get info from the survey we will be putting out via mail chimp.  Discuss next meeting
7. Next scheduled weekend in October/Tanglewood
   Due to the uncertainty of the Tanglewood facilities being available for our October weekend as expressed by Tanglewood in an email to David, the MCM Board discussed the issue. Question: Who on the board would attend the weekend in October – One person said they would go. The rest would not attend.
   Alternative to the weekend – hosting a 1 day in person workshop on a Saturday
   a. Tomas, Maine Bob, Joss, George, Charles agreed on this concept.
   b. The Board voted to see if the traditional October weekend would be held.
   c. The Board voted NOT TO HOST THE REGULAR OCTOBER WEEKEND IN ITS ORIGINAL FORMAT.
8. Alternatives. Now that the Board has canceled the traditional weekend, what are some alternatives that we can do to keep men in communication and in community?
   a. Virtual weekend using Zoom
   b. One – day workshop (a condensed weekend held at some large open space (Tanglewood, Camden Hills State Park, Union Fairgrounds were mentioned as possibilities)
   c. A survey to go out on Mail Chimp (Survey Monkey) was suggested to get input from men about alternatives: [Question to men on the survey: If MCM hosts a one-day workshop, will you come?  Yes    No] [Name: optional]
   i. Charles to write up something about this, get it to the board asap, and then to Maine Bob to send out on Mail Chimp.
   5*) Zoom Check In (back to Zoom Check In topic for discussion)
   i. There will be no Zoom Check at this time.
   ii. A possible Variety Zoom during the 1 day workshop was discussed.
9. Rainy-Day Fund for MCM.
   a. As previously discussed in the last two meetings, the Board is once again looking at the question of what do we want to be and what do we do with the money that men have entrusted to us?
   b. Hosting a course on how to do something. Robert Morehouse? Minutes from 5/28 refer to this? [Send out to men: “MCM is offering a course to men on how to xxxxxxxxx. Would you be interested?]
   c. The discussion on the Rainy-Day Fund and what to spend it on was tabled until the next Board meeting.
10. Large Financial Donations to MCM (Ian). This has been briefly discussed previously. Who are we? Are we a Philanthropic organization?
    a. Are we men who get together on the weekends to assist ourselves and each other but not to have any outreach in the community? After a brief discussion, the subject was tabled until the next Board meeting.
11. George A volunteered and was accepted to become a MCM Board member.
12. Next MCM Board meeting date: September 3^rd, Thursday at 630pm.
    (via Zoom).

Minutes accepted through the e-mail process on September 3, 2020

Via Zoom — In Attendance: David, Brad, John B, Bob, John S, Ian, Charles, Tomas, Joss,
Guest –  George
Minutes Submitted by: David assisted by John S

1. Check In
   a. Minutes from 3/25/20 were reviewed and accepted
2. Treasurer’s Report: Balance $5554.00
   a. John B reports that the bank sent a packet of forms to be filled out. Banks wants to meet with John B and Joss
   b. Checks from Dan and Ham deposited
3.  The Zoom Variety Show was a success. It was attended by 18 men. Five men were from Mainly Men and inspired by the performance.
   a. Audio quality was difficult to get right. A man from Mainly Men helped with adjusting the quality of the audio using “Advanced Audio”.  Bob understands what to do and can give a tutorial about the setting at the beginning of the show. This cuts out all the background sounds.
   b. Sing a longs are impossible or at least very difficult…Allow the performer to sing, mute everyone and let them virtually sing along at home to themselves.
   c. Men from the MCM Variety Zoom Show encouraged us to plan another event later in the summer
   d. Tomas reports that being the MC as well as the Tech person is difficult for one person. Suggests that 2 people do it in the future. Tomas did an awesome job for our first show. Thank You.
   e. Maine Bob , the Zoom Czar,  supported Tomas for this past gathering and will mute all the people in the future zoom performances.
   f. We will not post the taped version of the show as we do not have signed permission from the participants. This supports our confidentiality statement from MCM.
4.  Tomas reported in about the Mainly Men Virtual weekend experience. He experienced the opening circle and 1 workshop and found the experience worthwhile.
   a. We need to consider a virtual weekend down the road. Maine Bob attended the Mainly Men virtual workshop and was impressed with the 2 presentations he witnessed
   i. MCM should consider asking men to put together workshops and then we can post them on out on our website. (Discuss at the next board meeting)
5. MCM will have a virtual “Check In”, an opening circle, on July 17 using Zoom.  John S will write up a statement stressing confidentiality and send to Maine Bob for editing and posting using the mail chimp.
6. A second Variety Show will be planned for 8/22. (needs to be finalized at next board meeting)
7. A suggestion was made that we, the board, look on YouTube to identify videos that we want to list on our website. These could be Ted talks, inspiring speeches, motivation topics etc.
   a. Could we sponsor a class that is offered on the web and MCM will pay for it. We would have to find courses, how many men can join, costs etc. We could then ask men from MCM who would be interested. The board members will look on line and make suggestions at the next meeting. Further discussion to follow.
   b. Brad strongly suggested that we check out Minnesota Men’s Conference – google them. They have approximately 160 videos to choose from.
   c. Maine Bob spoke about a course presented by “Guy Michaelmore” had on the web as an example of paying for a 6 – hour course.
   d. We would need a volunteer to coordinate this effort – Table to next meeting.
8. Currently we have a “Rainey Day Fund” set at $3500. We have been using money over this amount to support the New Man’s Initiative. Any monies beyond that can be used for the New Man’s initiative, supplies etc. Still to be decided is how much money do we feel comfortable with holding. At this time the money we have is to support our MCM and money is not given out to support other groups, people or memorials.
   a. John B , Treasurer and Joss, Co-Treasurer were asked to follow up on a past suggestion to detail the areas of where we make and spend money. How much we take in for weekend retreats, the auction, donations. Where it is spent: Tanglewood rental, food, supplies, scholarships etc. This will help us have a better idea on how best to use our funds. It is also a good accounting practice should we be audited.
   b. We need 16 people to attend a retreat for us to have it. This accounts for new men who would have the fee waived as well as men who may be on scholarship.
   c. At this time, we will not spend any money from the bank account until we know where this virus is heading. Exceptions can be made by the board.
9. Dan K continues to work on our new website.
   a. Maine Bob will contact Dan and discuss if part of the website can be public and part can be password protected.  The website should be open to the public so people searching for this type of experience can find us.
   b. Facebook page for MCM is currently closed. It was decided that people who use Facebook from the board and the FB administrators get together and make recommendations in making it public or keeping it private. If it is private, new men will not be able to access it and its use is limited.
10. October Retreat: David will contact Patti at Tanglewood to find out the status of the camp. Discussion on having a retreat will be held at the next board meeting.
11. Large financial donations. We, the board need to figure out who we are and what is our purpose. What would we do with a large amount of money if it was left to the group. Are we a service organization or are we a philanthropic organization? Currently MCM supports the men who want to attend MCM retreats as new members or with scholarships. Monies at this point are used only to support the efforts of MCM.  Tabled to next board meeting for more discussion.
12. Other: Next board meeting will be August 13 at 6:30 via Zoom

Minutes accepted via e-mail on August 15, 2020

Via Zoom — In Attendance: Maine Bob, Tomas, Charles, Ian, David, Brad
Minutes Submitted by: David

1. Check in
2. Current Balance is $5442.24. 
   a. Dan K is asking that we look for a check that he made out for the Oct 2019 retreat and get back to him.
3. Minutes from 3/25/20 were accepted by the board
4. Variety show…email will go out to all MCM members, people need to respond to let us know if they want to perform or be the audience. In the message confidentiality will be discussed realizing that we have little control of this. A second e-mail will go out to invite the men who responded.   MCM needs to accept that other people may hear and see the acts.  Variety show will be May 2 from 6:30- 7 for chatting. Show begins at 7 until it’s over. If time allows people can stay and chat. Bob will tape the show so we can discuss at the next meeting if they want to make it open on the website.
5. Reaching Out
   a. At this time we are using our website and mail chimp to contact men.
   b. Ian spoke about reaching out to men who are lonely and need help. It would be difficult to identify men who need help. We can send out a message that men should consider contacting men to check in with them.
   c. We will not resend out lists however men can contact David, Maine Bob or Tomas and we will try to help men with contact information.
6. Website
   a. Draft went out to the board for feedback. Please send feedback to Dan Kirchoff
   b. A blog will be included on the new website
   c. John McBee wrote a note that was shared with the board and would be a great example of what can put on the blog.
   d. The board needs to OK the final website
   e. No date is scheduled for release. David will check with Dan for any updates.
7. Tree Project
   a. John Bangeman suggested we plant a tree or a forest of trees to honor men who has passed.
   b. We would need to work with Tanglewood to see if they would be interested and if they would be willing to provide us a space for this project.
   c. Tomas suggested that we graft a variety of apples on to an existing tree. A different variety for each man who has passed or a graft each year for the men who have passed.
   d. The tree does not need to be at Tanglewood. Tomas offered a tree on his property.
   e. First step will be to contact Pattie at Tanglewood to see if they like the idea. Plan to start in Spring 2021 if approved.
8. Mainly Men Workshop will be held May 16 on Zoom. We are all welcomed to join by checking out their website and signing in.
   a. Should we be developing small workshops to put on our website?
   b. Concern was voiced that we are getting away from personal contact. We need to stay connected in the times that we are dealing with.
   c. MCM should consider putting the idea out there to all men asking if they would do 15 -30 video for this effort. They would send their video to the MCM board to vet and then we would put it on website if appropriate.
   d. The board did not decide who would organize this effort. Discuss next board meeting.
9. Using the money we generate at MCM weekends:
   a. Brainstorm ideas
   i. Donating money to foodbanks
   ii. Discount Oct meeting
   b. How much had we decided to have in the rainy-day account and how many men would need to sign up to hold a weekend. This info was not readily available and was requested. David research and report next board meeting.
   c. No decisions should be made about money until the Covid 19 situation plays out and we see where we are. Tanglewood may or may not be an option depending on what happens. The decision with the money in the treasury is to be very conservative and guard what we have.
   d. Large donations- Discussion to start thinking about what we would do if a large donation came our way and how would we use this resource. It is better to discuss this before it happens rather than at that time.
   e. One idea is not to accept any large donation and refine who we are. Is MCM  a group that just puts on a weekend twice a year or are we a group that will solicit funds and work toward being a philanthropic organization. Discussion to continue.
10. Next meeting; May 28, 2020.  6:30-8:30

Minutes accepted by the board during the Zoom meeting on May 28, 2020