John Hamilton, Marie Kay Hansen, Ann Walker, Art Rosenblum, Sandy Grant, Kathy Osbun, Gloria Stubbs, Suzanne deKozan, Davida Brautman, Ed Brautman, Marc Alexander, Nancy Wilson and Barbara France
Members Absent:
David Getzoff and Dana May Casperson
Call to Order:
The meeting of the Board of Directors of the Parkinson’s Support Group of Sonoma County (PSGSC) was called to order by Chair, Kathy Osbun at 10:00 a.m.
Approval of Minutes:
The Minutes of the September 16, meeting were approved with the following correction: Under November Sharing Meeting, “as well as coupons for the Mary’s Pizza Fundraiser” should be omitted from the first sentence.
Treasurer’s Report:
Sandy reported the Income for the month included a $1000.00 donation from May Beth Greenway, .65 interest income, $27.53 from the Oliver’s Community Card and $60.00 so far for the Leading Lady tickets. Income total is $1,088.18.
Expenses were, $21.00 for submitting a biannual report to the Secretary of State and $21.74 Library expenses.
Dance for PD took in a total of $467 in donations, but only one of the deposits was made. The other deposit for $225 was deposited in October, so that will be in the next financial statement. We paid $300 to the instructors for the month and $136.00 for the room rental. Without the second deposit for Dance for PD, the cost was $194.
The Singing class, in August and September took in $138.00 in donations and paid out $270 to the instructor. For August and September we paid $132 for the Singing class.
Total expenses were $368.74. Net income for the month of September was $719, with a cumulative total for the year of $3764.48.
In response to recent queries about how to contribute to PSGSC, Kathy said that she has added information about how to donate to PSGSC. This will be found under the contact tab on the website.
Art verified that financial statements match bank statements.
Programs:
Dance for PD: Nancy said that 30 people were at the last class. She has noticed that the members are bonding as a group and she thinks that some who did not attend monthly meetings previously are now doing so.
Singing Group: Kathy reported that the attendance holds steady and that they are just about at the capacity of the room though it continues to serve the class nicely. Jamie, the instructor, said she had another possible location if the group becomes too large to be accommodated in her space.
Sharing Meeting: Twelve people have indicated that they will be sharing their hobbies. The issue arose about selling some of their items but it was decided by the Board, via an email exchange during the month, that it would be better to have information available if people wanted to sell some of their items at a later date. However, Suzanne said that she would like to sell her display items and 100% of the proceeds would go to PSGSC. It was decided that if the members wished to donate the proceeds of their sales in total to PSGSC, sales would be allowed. Sandy will send out this information to all those participating.
Raffle items will be included in the email going out to members before the meeting.
Refreshments will be served and Break-out groups will meet as usual.
Holiday party: Jaime will lead a sing-along at the Holiday meeting. Davida wondered if Tori could come as well and some of the class members could do a part of one of their routines. It was agreed this would be nice and Nancy said she would check with Tori about their availability.
Facilitators: John and Ed said their groups went well at the last meeting. Ed directed traffic so both of the patient groups were of equal size. This seems to be a big help. Ed and Marc said they would be available to facilitate at the November meeting.
Outside Caregivers group: Marie Kay said that a husband of a patient wanted to join a support group. Their group discussed this and decided that they would feel more comfortable remaining women only. However, they do feel this man should be able to find a group and Marie Kay asked for suggestions. Sandy said she would get information about a group she knew of which was not specifically for PD caregivers, but was a group for male caregivers. She will get the information to Marie Kay.
New microphone: The new microphone was in use at the October meeting and was a huge improvement in sound quality and well worth the investment. Thank you John for taking care of this for the group.
Fundraising:
Mary’s Pizza told Kathy that the proceeds from the October 7 fundraiser were $148. The check will be coming this month. We started with the Mary’s Pizza fundraising in 2012 and over that period the proceeds have averaged around $200.
NPF has grant money available for qualifying Parkinson’s Support Groups. There are guidelines about eligibility and Kathy doesn’t know if we might fit the criteria of the grant. The grant application is due by the end of October but Heather, David and Ed’s daughter, has volunteered to help file the application. Since the Dance for PD is a new program that might fit the criteria of the grant, Nancy will work with Heather to see if applying is feasible at this time.
Long Range Planning:
Dance for PD: Nancy raised the question about continuing the Dance for PD group. It was unanimously agreed that it was a successful program that brought a great deal of benefit to members. Nancy made the motion which was seconded by Sandy to continue the Dance for PD program through 2016. This motion was unanimously passed on a voice vote. Nancy will make the arrangements with the Hall and Tori.
Singing group: The Board also agreed that the Singing class was doing well and provided benefit to its participants. Sandy made the motion, seconded by Davida, to continue the Singing group through 2016. The motion was passed with a unanimous voice vote. Kathy will make the arrangements with Jaime.
2016 Board: Kathy said that she would like to hear from Board members soon about their desire to serve on the 2016 Board. We will .need to recruit new members if we have openings. She said she is willing to continue as Chair but feels that if there is someone else who would like to take on the position she would be happy to just be a Board member. The present Board members expressed their hope that she will continue as Chair.
Clinical trials: Marc talked about a drug that has FDA approval for leukemia patients
but is thought to also be helpful to PD patients NPR had a report on this drug last week. The drug which is already FDA approved for leukemia has only cleared Phase 1 testing for PD patients. The drug would have to undergo both Phase 2 and Phase 3 testing before it could be available to the general population of PD patients. The Phase 1 trial was very small but had astounding results, which were lost when the trial ended and the patients had to go off the drug. It shows great promise but is a long way from availability.
Strategic Planning:
Kathy feels that we are following up on our objectives for the year in the area of aiding facilitators and gathering information about the medical coverage we need in our search for a Movements Disorder Specialist. But we need to continue with our efforts to help new members become a part of the group. Gloria said that she does try to speak with each new member about the group and give them helpful information. She will follow up with a phone call to welcome them again and to see if the meeting was helpful and if not what they had been hopeful of gaining from the meeting. We can use this information to plan future programs.
Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 11:45 a.m. The next Board meeting will be Wednesday, November 18, 2015, at the Brush Creek Senior Living.
Respectfully submitted, Barbara France, Recording Secretary