Cuesta Del Norte Service Unit Meeting
Meeting Minutes
September 1, 2016
Opening
The meeting of the Cuesta Del Norte Service Unit Meeting was called to order at 6:40pm on October 6, 2016 by Kimberly Summers-Everett.
Old Business
Council Update
Dana presented a council update. There are new staff positions being added which means more help for the SU and troop leaders. Dana is available anytime help is needed. Kim is transferring to her new position, but will also be available if needed.
There is a newly hired Troop Support representative. Karen Ellis was introduced. She has a great volunteer resume and will be available to any troops that need support and assistance. Karen will be covering nine service units and will be working in the Atascadero office.
Additional staff is being added and the SU will be updated as that occurs.
Treasurer’s Report
The Treasurer’s report was presented by Melissa. The end of year report is available. Total income for the year was $14,381.40. Total expense was $14,554.57. That leaves a loss for the year of $173.17. The budgeting process is new for the service unit and Melissa explained where the service unit stands now. The service unit managers will continue to work on budgeting and continue to work on staying within the budget.
Bank statements for all troops are in the distribution boxes. A reminder was given to fill out a new BACA form if there have been any troop leader changes for banking.
End of year banking reports are due by October 31st. The forms can be found at http://www.girlscoutsofcdn.org/troopbanking/.
Event Chair Update
Venus provided an update on upcoming events. Volunteers are needed for every event. There is an ongoing issue with lack of volunteers and events will need to be cancelled if there is a lack of volunteers. Clip boards were passed around for volunteer sign-ups for community events, Cookie U, monthly events, Girls Night Out, and monthly SU meetings.
There was a discussion about the need for all adult volunteers to be registered and background checked. All girls should have a registered designated adult. With the fall booth sales coming up and the need for adult volunteers, have registered adults is very important.
There was a discussion about the cost of events. Melissa advised the service unit is taking a loss at most events. There was a discussion about the cost of badges versus patches and whether troop leaders would prefer to order their own badges or have the cost be included in the event cost. A vote was taken and the majority voted to include the cost of the badge or patch in the per girl cost of the event. Venus will take that into consideration when setting up the fee for the event.
The service unit still needs volunteers for babysitting, flag presentation, set-up, and take-down. Kim explained how babysitting will work in the current location. Please advise a service unit manager if babysitting is needed or if your troop would like to volunteer for babysitting during a service unit meeting. A clip board was passed around to sign-up for any assignment. Sign-ups are also available on the website.
Day Camp
The day camp committee will be starting to meet this month. If anyone is interested in participating on the committee, notify a service unit manager.
Thank you’s were presented to Naomi and Amanda for their excellent work on day camp and the Star Farms event. Naomi and Amanda presented thank you’s to all volunteers that helped during day camp week. Day camp cannot be run without all of the amazing volunteers. We appreciate every volunteer that helped to make this year’s day camp great.
Star Farms Event
Naomi and Amanda gave information on the Star Farms event. The event went well this year, and the girls and their dads had a great time. In the future, more volunteers will be needed as all of the work was done by Naomi and Amanda and their husbands. Leaders will also need to RSVP sooner so the planning isn’t left to the end. This event is a great event to start the Girl Scout year. The owner of Star Farms has provided a special rate to the Girl Scouts that we do not want to pass up.
Fall Product Sales
Keith presented an update on fall product sales. The start of the sale is going well. The girls are currently taking preorders. Keith does not have a final delivery date yet, but expects the delivery to be on Saturday, November 5th. If anyone has questions, contacting Keith by e-mail is the best method of communication.
There was a discussion on the incentives this year. Many leaders think the incentives are not very good and should be higher quality. A discussion about the decision making process for incentives ensued. Leaders brought up missing incentives from prior sales. Dana asked that she be e-mailed with any incentive issues at .
Jeanne has sent an e-mail for nut booth sign-ups. Please do not contact booth locations on your own. Jeanne will coordinate all booths. E-mail Jeanne with any questions.
New Business
Need for Storage
The service unit is looking for a storage facility to store service unit event materials and day camp materials. A request was made to all in attendance for any referrals for inexpensive storage facilities. No suggestions were offered. The service unit will be booking a facility in Templeton. The cost of the storage unit will be split by the service unit’s general account and the day camp account.
Product Swap Idea
Renee presented an idea to swap Girl Scout supplies at a swap event prior to the service unit meetings. She will volunteer to chair this event. The event will be from 6pm-6:30pm before the start of the SU meeting. Troop leaders can bring overstock of Girl Scout materials that the troop no longer needed and exchange for items needed for the troop. Thank you to Renee for this great suggestion. We look forward to this event.
Silver Award Presentation Troop 40792
Troop 40792 just completed their Silver Award. The troop’s project was on emergency preparedness. They held a booth at Farmer’s Market. They also made a flyer on how to prepare for an emergency and passed it out in neighborhoods. The flyer was provided to all that were in attendance.
Upcoming Events
The October monthly event is this Saturday. The RSVP deadline is Friday, October 7th. The event is a movie night (faux sleepover) and should be a very fun event for the girls. This event will be a drop off event. Anyone wanting to volunteer should contact Venus.
Due to meeting time constraints, information will be sent in weekly e-mails and posted on the website for all November events.
Service Unit Update
Dana discussed the open SU Manager position. Dana and Jeanne met to discuss the option of having Jeanne take over the SU Manager position. After much discussion, Jeanne has decided to remain as registrar. The service unit is very thankful to Jeanne for all the work she does in her current position. At this time, the service unit will run without a manger. Dana, Kim, and Karen will be working closely with the current SU Managers board.
Kim provided a reminder to visit the service unit website and the council website. Both are updated with full calendars. There are multiple upcoming trainings coming up. All trainings will be in the weekly e-mails, and on the service unit website and council website.
Jeanne is working on troop registrations. Some troops have registered and are not on the registrar list. She will be working with those troops individually.
Melissa reminded everyone that Operation Christmas Child boxes are due at the November SU meeting. Honor Troop forms are due at the end of this month. Please be sure to have a SU manager sign the form before submitting to council. Heidi provided additional information on how to send in the form. The honor troop forms can be found on the council website.
Next Meeting
The Service Unit board is looking for suggestions for locations of the SU meetings. Input is needed for location, days of the week, and time of the meeting. If you have any feedback, please let one of the board members know.
The next meeting date is scheduled for October 6th at 6:30 at The Barn. Any changes will be sent out by e-mail and posted on the website.
Adjournment:
Meeting was adjourned by Kim Summers-Everett at 8:10 PM
Minutes respectfully submitted by: Donna King