In Attendance:Bob Bruhin, Raffaella, Maria Sawczuk, Nancy Lebovitz, and Paula

Board Members Not Present: 

ITEMS UP FOR DISCUSSION

Newsletter

Submissions

Raffae advised the Board that she has received, or will be receiving the following submissions for the newsletter: a book review on the Magical and Ritual Use of Perfume from Kirsten, an article on Smudging from Kirsten, Terry ‘s article on Herbs, Mangus Silverwolf has sent in an article on Unified Diversity, Rayn submitted an article on the Ritual Art of Tattoo, and Elayna submitted an article on Dream Interpretation.

Bob brought up the Vernon Maulsby letters.He has read several articles Vernon has had printed in other publications and would like to see how we can also print them.Due to the rules and regulations of the prison where Vernon is currently residing, Bob will handle this personally.He will also look into getting the rights to publish Vernon’s articles.

Raffae has also received inquiries as to why we are not publishing more articles at the “Wicca 101” level.The Board agreed with her assessment that our target audience is more advanced than “Wicca 101.”

Ads

Raffae reviewed Rayn’s progress selling ads.She is doing very well.No one from the Board has contacted Fran regarding an ad, and the Board agreed that Rayn should contact her since that is her area.Raffae will advise Rayn to contact Fran.

Ad Trade

The Board discussed the request from Busy Bee/Pan Gaia to do an ad trade.Raffae reviewed the e-mail sent by Rayn to everyone on the Board outlining the request.

Maria then expressed her concerns over why this is not a good move right now.She stated we need to get more co-ordinated.The Charter Committee needs to meet to establish membership guidelines.We need to announce the Fund Drive at the Ball.She does not feel that we need national publicity at this point until we can get these other issues resolved.

Raffae stated that with our proposed concert we would need the exposure.And by the next newsletter we would be better able to accommodate this request.

Bob pointed out that by doing the ad trade we would attract people from outlying areas to the Ball and increase our attendance.

Maria then stated that with the next issue we will have the Ball to advertise, the Fund Drive, the Summer Social, be better able to say what we do, put more together to make our ad in their publications more effective.She said she has no problem with the principal of the trade, just the timing.

The Board agreed to table this until the next issue.But overall, the Board agreed that this will be a good thing for us to do.

Printer

Raffae brought the printing issue to the table.The Board agreed that a printer needs to be contacted for pricing.Paula brought in copies of “Yoga Life,” a local publication, for everyone to peruse.Paula suggested we contact them to see who does their printing.The Board agreed that was an option.The Board was also interested in the publication's ad rates. Raffae stated she will be forwarding copies to Rayn for ad leads.

The printer issue was then tabled for a future meeting until printers can be contacted and bids obtained.

Newsletter Committee

Bob brought the creation of a newsletter committee to the Board.He stated that the Board was receiving a lot of e-mails about every day newsletter business that the Board does not need.

The board unanimously agreed to create the Newsletter Committee.

The committee will be chaired by Raffae. Members of the committee will be: Nancy (editor), Paula (subscriptions), and Rayn (advertising).Raffae also suggested that George be on the committee as he is running the Pagan Personals.

Finances

The Board asked Maria for the state of our finances.She stated we have approximately $236.00 plus the money from the ad sales.

Crystal Ball

Location

Bob and Paula discussed their visit to see the space at the Germantown UU Church.Both feel that to use this space we would need the assembly room ($350.00 rental fee), the dining room ($250.00), and the kitchen ($100.00 rental fee). Bob and Paula felt that this space would be a good location for us.

The Board discussed the viability of having the event planned by February 17^th.No one thought this was possible.The Board then discussed alternative dates.After reviewing the Moon calendar the Board determined that March 31^st would be the best date to hold the event.

The Board voted 5-0 in favor of moving the date of the Ball to March 31^st. 

Raffae and/or Paula will contact April at the Germantown UU Church regarding the availability of that date.

Vendors

The Board discussed how to set up the vendor space.According to Bob and Paula the dining room had approximately eight (8) large, round tables.To accommodate the vendors we would need long rectangular tables.This would ensure uniformity.We will also have to ask April if they have rectangular tables.

The Board also discussed how much to charge the vendors.The consensus is to charge $25.Allowing for 10 vendors.The Board also agreed that we should encourage the vendors to bring lower ticket items.This would help to increase the vendor sales.Last year the experience seemed to be that the larger the ticket item the less sales the vendor had.

The Board unanimously agreed to limit the number of people allowed per table.It was determined to allow two (2) people per table.

The Board also determined that we would set a cut off date for the vendor’s to sign up for space.Allowing one vendor per table.After the cut off date, if tables still remain, then the vendors would be offered the option of having a second table.Vendors will not receive a discount for reserving tables early.

Door Prizes

Paula and Raffae will go to Bey’s Rock Shop to get the door prize.

Food

The Board agreed that for this year’s event we would contact a caterer to provide food.In order to do this we will need as many pre-paid orders as possible.Bob will set up a ticket purchase form in conjunction with our pay pal account so that tickets can easily be sent out.

The Board also agreed that we will sell snacks at this year’s event.All proceeds from the snack sales will benefit DVPN.

Speakers

Our tentative list of speakers is as follows:Kirsten Houseknecht, Matt Thomas from Berks Pagan Alliance, Jane Sibley, and a friend of Kirsten’s.

Paula will speak with Ivo Dominguez about the possibility of his speaking at the event.Ellen has offered to help and will speak with Helena.

The Board also agreed that if the space is large enough, we can also have a folk dancing work shop and a drumming seminar.We will need to talk to Franklin about the folk dancing seminar.Bob suggested we ask Andre’s, teacher about a drumming seminar.

Contacts

The Board agreed the various contacts for the Ball will be designated liaisons.

Nancy will handle the vendors

Maria will handle the entertainment & volunteers

Raffae will handle the catering

Raffae and Paula will handle the site

Bob will handle the decorations since he is still in contact with Carol who handled the decorations at last year’s Ball

Badges

Maria will look for name badges like the ones worn at PhilCon.Nancy will make the master copy of the badges and we will copy them.There will be vendor badges and attendee badges.This will allow those who paid or are vending to move freely in and out of the building.

Other Projects

Blanket Drive

Bob’s sector was successful.There were a lot of blankets turned in at Fran’s

Maria’s sector was also successful.

Paula did not receive any blanket donations.

Bob is waiting for a final update from George.

Frost Talk

Bob has been in contact with Gavin and Yvonne Frost’s daughter through another list. He told her what our goals are and she offered to speak to her parent’s.Gavin and Yvonne have since offered to do a talk in late April or early May.In exchange, they would want accommodations and a meal.The other condition stipulated was that they want the talk to be connected to a University.

The Board agreed this is something that we want to sponsor.

The Board discussed various university contacts we have.Bob will speak with Grant about the possibility of doing this in conjunction with UPenn’s Kelly Writer’s House (it’s a space the university has for writer’s to do readings).

The Board agreed this will be a paying event with the money being split between DVPN and the other organization which is able to sponsor this with us (i.e. Kelly Writer’s House).

The Board also agreed that this is they type of event that we would like to advertise in Blessed Bee and which would make it well worth doing the advertising trade.

Event Scheduling

Bob motioned that we have the Crystal Ball Date set by the Summer Social and the Summer Social date set by the Ball.The Board unanimously agreed.

Paula had her Full Moon list, and the Board agreed that the Summer Social will be on July 21^st.The date will be announced at the Ball.

Interfaith Working Group

Bob received another newsletter from the Interfaith Working Group.He asked the rest of the Board if this was something we should get involved in.A number of questions were raised.What is it?What is their statement of purpose?Bob will investigate the organization and report back to the Board.

Fringe Art Show

Raffae has not spoken to Samantha recently so she is not sure where we stand with the Art Show.Bob did speak with her at Roxanne’s.He said that Samantha does want to do this, but does not have the time.It was agreed that we need to set up a meeting with her to work on the details.The application for Fringe is due by March.

Bob will speak with the other people involved in a new organization, Astral Wilderness , he is working with to see how they could help.In return they could get promotional consideration.The Board agreed this is a good idea.Bob will report back.

Board Side Notes

Nancy has been crowned the “Badge Czar.”

Maria is a proud homeowner.

Bob’s new organization, Astral Wilderness.com, is having a gallery opening on Friday, January 19th in West Philly.

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