Thursday, November 6, 2008

Minutes From Our First Membership Meeting

WITH Care
Open Meeting
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
7:00 p.m.
at Wildthyme Restaurant


At 7:03 p.m. the meeting was called to order by Delaney. She greeted the group, welcomed them to Wildthyme and introduced herself to new faces.
A quick overview of WITH Care and its mission statement was given verbally to the group. She then introduced Kim.

Kim announced that WITH Care would be offering a self defense class on December 3rd at 7:00 p.m. at the studio of John Turnbull. The class will be free and open to 30 members on a first come basis. She followed up by pointing out to the attending membership that they had each been given a list of possible seminar topics and classes to be offered in the future and emphasized that their answers would affect upcoming programming.
Kim announced Darra.

Darra spoke about the December 7th Wish Upon a Star Family Fun Event – that it would be held from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Bridgehampton Community House. That there will be no formal admission price and that each child will be asked to bring an unwrapped gift and that each adult will be asked to bring a non-perishable food item. Face painting, craft tables, cookie decorating etc. will be offered as activities.
Terry asked about craft tables…and jewelry making as an activity and offered to help with this table. We need to follow up and find out exactly what level her involvement will be.
Darra stressed the need for volunteers for the event, underwriting for the event and that the Founder’s Circle is open to ideas and suggestions from the membership.
Darra introduced Lois.

Lois explained the WITH Care concept of collaboration vs. competition and that WITH Care has paired with Have a Heart Community Trust to distribute the toys and food collected as a result of the December 7th event. She also announced that WITH Care has partnered through the South Fork Breast Coalition and the Retreat to help two women and their families in need this holiday season.

Membership asked many questions regarding the monetary amount that WITH Care would be giving these families…Amanda Guglielmi offered that she had a garage full of children’s clothes to donate to the Retreat family in need and asked if WITH Care “picked up.” Ginny & Kim both volunteered that they have trucks and would be happy to go to West Hampton to pick up her items.

Ivy volunteered to help underwrite the assistance given to the families in need.

Membership questioned the protocol for determining a family or women and need – the Founder’s Circle explained how the determination was made for the holiday season and that a strict application process was being created. Terry questioned whether the membership would vote on who would receive assistance. Delaney pointed out that a true family in crisis would not be able to wait 4 – 8 weeks for a general membership meeting to vote on who received funding. This will be determined thru the application process and a vote of the Founder’s Circle.

After many questions back and forth – Lois introduced Ginny.

Ginny reiterated that WITH Care is a volunteered based organization and that there would be no paid salaries. She emphasized that thus far the members of the Founder’s Circle have used their own paper etc. and there has been no expense to date other than a $60 mailbox fee and the money outlaid for tax filing. She went on to explain that we are a pass thru organization…
Patricia Kab questioned whether we would run down to zero or if we would build up some savings for larger projects, investments etc. Lois interjected that it was a very premature question and again emphasized that we are a fledgling organization and would not have large chunks of money for some time.

Tanya Luss suggested we approach Rotary. Lois explained we are not quite ready for that but that when the time comes she is welcome to make a presentation to Rotary on WITH Care’s behalf.

Ginny introduced Jennifer.


Jennifer explained that she is in charge of Community Outreach and would be the liason between school systems etc. and WITH Care. She asked that membership distribute flyers within their workplace, children’s schools, churches etc. She emphasized that we are all of different backgrounds and that we anticipate diverse participation in our programs.

The membership asked what the best way to contact us is…Delaney explained through the WITH Care gmail e-mail or by contacting a member of the Founder’s Circle individually.

Jennifer Bockhaus talked about a friend who belonged to a Leeds (sp) organization in Colorado where there was an effective barter system within the membership and asked if this is something that WITH Care would do. It was tabled for future discussion.

Joan Tutt volunteered that if WITH Care decides to join the Southampton Chamber of Commerce that she is happy to be the liason between the chamber and the group.

Several members signed up to volunteer at the December 7th event.

14 new members joined. 7 at the Founding Member level.


All in all it was a great meeting.

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