CONFIDENTIAL
MINUTES
79th MP Company - Family Readiness Group Meeting
May 4, 2003
Officers Present:Karen Butler, Group Leader / Mary Dolezal, Acting group leader
Shannon Larsen, Group Leader
Robyn Gifford, Secretary
Number Present: / Members / 14
Guests / 0
Minutes of the last meeting:
Discussion:
§ Minutes of the April 6, 2003 79th MP Company Family Readiness Group meeting were reviewed.
o Susan’s name was spelled incorrectly; it should be Susan Trombley.
Action:
§ The minutes were accepted with corrections.
Announcements:
§ The Hayfield parade activity has been cancelled due to lack pf participants. They will find another group to carry the flag.
Action:
§ No action required.
Treasurer’s report:
Discussion:
§ We now have a Tax ID number and a checking account. Thanks to a gift from Ken and Mary Zubay, Mike Zubay, and Mike Currie from City Café--formerly Wellingtons Restaurant—we have $1,000 in our checking account. This is the largest amount we are allowed at one time. We do have some activities coming up that this will help cover.
§ Nicole Grack has volunteered to be our FRG treasurer.
Action:
§ No action required.
Old Business:
Discussion:
Semi-annual family training
1. July 19th Family Picnic: DATE changed to July 26th more details to follow. The picnic is required to be held the week of a drill.
a) Training topic:
(1) KC Reed contacted someone from the crime prevention unit at the Rochester Police Department to conduct a presentation on personal safety at 10am.
(2) One of the group members asked where the picnic is being held. The place is unclear and Mary Dolezal said Karen Butler would find that out for us.
b) Family activities:
(1) We need a volunteer to chair/coordinate activities for both adults and children at the picnic
(2) The need to send invitations out to the 79th was discussed and it was agreed that one should be sent.
(3) A child program on deployment and emotions was previously requested, and we need a volunteer to contact the 88th RSC.
(4) Mary Meline will look into trying to set up some kind of daycare for kids during the picnic. Volunteers to contact Mary at 763-424-2308 so that a headcount can determine the need for further volunteers
2. December 13th Holiday Gathering:
a) Training topic:
(1) The unit suggests that once a year we have an update on the benefits. The holiday gathering might be a good time to do this, but we don’t have to have anything set in stone right now. A volunteer will be needed.
(2) Another suggested topic was to have a speaker on re-deployment. Again, a volunteer will be needed.
b) Family activities:
(1) We will need a volunteer to coordinate activities. There is a photographer formerly of the 79th unit who is willing to take a picture of the FRG group. There may be a small fee, but we may be able to work with him to get holiday pictures of the families at a reduced cost and one of the group picture for each family. Any extra pictures would be the responsibility of the family. A fundraiser may be needed to fund this.
3. Newsletter Name:
a) Mary read off the list of names and the favorite was Keys to the Home Front. It works well with the unit key insignia.
Action:
§ Mary Meline will look into daycare possibilities for the Picnic.
§ Karen Butler will find out where the Picnic is being held and report back to the group.
§ Mary Dolezal will create flyer for the picnic.
New Business:
Discussion:
1. Fund Raisers:
a. We need to think of things to do to make money as the $1,000 won’t last long. The shoeboxes to be sent will take money unless we can find a place like the USO that would send them for us. We cannot solicit donations, but we do accept donations. If you have any suggestions for a fundraising event, please contact Karen Butler.
2. Shoebox Packing:
a. The unit has a received a large quantity of shoe boxes and items being donated to send to our soldiers. We need to set a date to go through the donations and pack things up and mail them out. Brian Meline is working with Karen Butler on this. We may be able to post the day arranged to pack/send the boxes on the family initiative web site, the www.soldiersfieldmemorial.org website, or the www.army.us.mil website on the reserve link.
Action:
§ Volunteers need to contact Karen Butler or Mary Meline.
Question / Answer / General Discussion
Discussion:
§ The next scheduled FRG meeting is June 8, 2003 at the armory in Rochester. Keeping to first Sunday of the month schedule puts the July meeting around the 4th of July. The July meeting important for any last minute picnic details; it was suggested that we try for July 13th at 2pm, which is the Sunday before the picnic.
§ Meeting every other month in the Twin Cities is working well, but we might have a higher rate of attendance if the meeting was advertised a little more. Mary Dolezar offered to run Oakdale meetings if Karen was interested.
§ Mary mentioned that Karen is overwhelmed, and would appreciate any help you can give. Please call Karen if you have free time to help her with some of the tasks to be done.
§ We’ll merge last month’s and this month’s newsletter.
§ Susan Trombley asked that everyone introduce themselves. This was done.
§ There was also a request to have name tags available at the FRG meetings so that we can learn everyone’s names.
§ People need to know what platoon their soldier is in; how/where can we locate this information?
§ Tri-care insurance cards are the military ID cards and can be updated at Ft. Snelling.
§ One of the members mentioned that calling cards are a great gift to the soldiers. They also said that they get phone card for soldier, take down the card number so that they can monitor usage, and add minutes on our end as needed so that the soldier doesn’t have any trouble.
§ Another member questioned what is being done for those members that are out of state and unable to attend our meetings. She also wanted to know what is being done about notifying people in the cities about meeting times, dates, and activities. Getting the website will help with this. Jess Estrem said she knows someone who knows how to set up websites and will see if he’d work on it.
§ It was suggested that there is a need for a support group need in this area especially for the “single parents.”
Action:
§ Karen Butler will find out where we can locate our soldier’s platoon information.
Meeting Adjourned: 3:13pm Minutes submitted by Robyn Gifford, Secretary
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