Update about Web Cam and Bank Contribution Account ...

I'm (James) writing to inform that Charley now has webcam access to communicate with us during our next meeting. We were able to make the connections over the weekend. It was good to see and hear Charley and a few others that came by to visit him in home in North Dakota. The temperature that day was a brisk 15 degrees. (brirrr). I'm going by the Women's center classroom to see if there will be internet access for our connection.

I've sent a letter to Michelle Higgins (coordinator) for the classroom as requested for us to use the space the remainder of this year on Thursdays. I look forward to hear from her soon.
Our next meeting is still scheduled for March 26, 2009, 6:30 p.m. in classroom D.

I've shared a few flyers to a few friends who plan to share the news about Treys Transition and to do some fundraising as well. Other family members are planning to contribute before the March 26th meeting as well.

Jerrett Slacum (board member) shared about his plans to move to OHIO later this year. He still wants to be involved in the development of Treys Transition. We plan to get together next week to discuss how he could still be active with the organiation.

The final item today has to do with my contact with Gayle Rabon, Senior Bank Manager @ Bank Of America. I appealed to her good nature about possibly waiving the bank maintanance fee for our efforts to earn the funds needed to become a Non-profit. She agreed to waive the fee until we were able to earn the minimum amount needed not to incur the fee. (That is awesome!)
She was excited to know about the progress being made and reminded me to contact the Bank for grant opportunities when the 501 app is comfirmed. She also shared that deposits can be made at any Bank of America branch. Just inform the teller you'd like deposit into the "Contributiuon Account" for the James D. Irby in Irmo SC Medical Spending .

Thanks again everyone for your support.

Update on 501 fundraiser effort

Here are the current donations raised for Treys Transition 501 application.

We now have a total of $103.00 in the medical spending account. Here is a list of those that have given @ this time from 9/08 to the 3/5/09:

Margie Mitchell
James Irby
Robert/ Sharon Croissant
Valencia Whitehead
Jennifer Pearson
Delrio Chesteen
Blondelle Bell
Shannon Wiley

We have only $647.00 left to meet our goal of $750 to process the 501 application.
Thanks to everyone that has made a contribution. We will keep you up on our progress.

February 26, 2009 board meeting

Attending the meeting were: Milton Kimpson, John Hancock, Angela Whitehead, Beverly Clyburn, James Irby and by phone conference-Charley Spencer

Absent were: Lyn Whitehead, Tom Anderson, Erika Kitrell, Vickie Muller, Robert Croissant, Vivian Mixson

We opened the meeting with conversation about future plans for Web Cam conferences with Charley by the next meeting and discussion about assigning an assistance Executive Director to run things when I'm not able to facilitate. Web Cam access will hopefully give other access to participate in our meetings and activities. The next meeting is scheduled for March 26, 2009, 6:30 p.m. @ the same location (Palmetto Baptist Breast Center Classroom D) . I shared having contact with Dallio Moore, (CEO, Arche Designs, LLC) in the Spartanburg area to consult about doing a virtual tour of the program once our program is ready to showcase the building. We also talked about using the internet to promote the business and show transparency. We talked about the benefits of having the BLOG and how it may continue to help promote the business.

We then focused our attention to the Article of Incorporation. We were in agreement that Milton, Charley, and I would endorse the articles. We needed to find out if there would be any reason why Charley could not endorse the articles being out of state (North Dakota) . Milton would find out if there would be a problem or not. We would send the Article to Charley if there was no problem.
We discussed fundraiser ideas to earn the $750 needed to process the 501 3 C application. We agreed to contact family, friends , and personal funds to reach the goal by the next meeting. Phone, email, personal contact and using the Power of One campaign is one of several ways we plan to reach the goal. Once we have 501 status, we plan to commit to some of the following fundraiser events: Bake, doughnut, pizza sales;
Contact local fraternities, sororities, local grocery, and radio spots retail stores; DECA, and BETA clubs @ local schools, Midlands Technical Institute (Mr. White), Mary Rawls, director of Gerontology, and Government Official (Richard Riley ).

I gave an update about that Bank of America charges $11 each month for keeping the Medical Spending Account open for us to access fundraiser funds for the program. We talked about getting in touch with Bank of America to see if they can waive the charge because we are to small an organization to absorb any loss of income toward our goal of raising funds for the start up cost. We plan to contact All South and Regency Bank to learn if they have a plan that we can use to store our funds without a monthly fee.

We then focused our attention to setting up committees among those in attendance. I've had conversations with other members that have already agreed to participate on a committee. Here are the committee assignments @ this time:

Policy Manual : Milton Kimpson,
Training Manual: Charley Spencer, Robert Croissant
Grant Writing: Lyn Whitehead, Angela Whitehead
Marketing: James Irby
Food Storage and Prep: Beverly Clyburn, John Hancock

We expressed much excitement during the meeting about the plans we discussed and the efforts.

The next meeting is scheduled @ the Palmetto Baptist Medical Women's Breast Center, Classroom D (Sumter Street Parking Garage location)

Board Member in attendance. Please let me know if I omitted anything @ the meeting.

Good Luck on the fundraiser opportunities. Remember to spend some quality time talking with you family and friends. Every day is an opportunity to embrace a new day!

THANKS

James