501 c 3 update

I sent the annual accounting period information to Mr. Mink of the IRS. I also left him a message in that regard. I hope to hear from him soon as to what else we can do to be accepted as a non-profit.

I'll share more as information comes along. We need to schedule our next meeting for October, 09'.

I'd like to have a full board meeting this month if possible before the November, December holiday season. Let's look @ meeting sometime during the last week of the month.
Thanks everyone and chat with you soon.

James

board meeting and first invite to inform about 3's Transition

A board meeting was held last week @ the Richland County Library. Thanks to Lyn Whitehead for suggesting having the meeting @ the Main Library campus and Ms. Lorraine Catoe, from the Library for confirming the reservation on short notice. It's a free space to county residence and non-profit organizations. John H., Charley S., Jarrett S., Lyn W. , Beverly C., and Errika K. were not able to attend because of previous engagements. No word from Angela W., Richard C. or Tom A. So Milton K. and I held the meeting.

The primary discussion centered around getting the 501 application approved. I shared about sending the response back to the IRS, Mr. Gerald Mink is the case manager handling the application and looking forward to their response as to what else we needed to do for the application to be approved. We talked about continuing efforts to fundraise in order to earn $ for the program. We talked about possible golf tournament with assistance from an event planner. I shared about an invitation from Ms. Essie Ford, Self Contained teacher @ Dutch Fork High for a representative to share with her parents during their Open house about Trey's Transition. I made contact with Lyn, Charley previous to the meeting about attending the event. Milton also ageed that we should share with the school about our program plans in an effort to getting the word out about the program efforts. We talked about putting a brochure together to share the mission , purpose...
Our mission statement and why the program came into being, picture of Trey and other participants and the need we hope to serve. The motion to attend the meeting and prepare the brochure was Approved. A copy of the brochure was prepared and handed out during the meeting held @ DFHS.

There were several parents, students and special education teachers @ the open house and expessed excitement about our efforts. Inez, Trey and I presented the brochure and information how the idea of Trey's Transition was started. We were well received and several parents were interested in viewing information from the blog about our progress. We talked about the 501 status and plans for growth in our board of directors in assisting to create the funds necessary to confirm the old attage, "Many hands make light work". It was good to see Trey's teachers again, sorrow to learn about the passing of one teacher, Ms. Thomas. We were also excited to know there was a new teacher (I'm sorry I forgot her name and will annouce later) from Pennsylvania in their mist. She brings new life and experience to the classroom and information that may in fact help our program in the near future.

I also shared with Milton about my contact with county councilman Malinowski for the Irmo area. He shared about us possibly receiving a portion of a tourism grant from Richland County by having others to spend time in our area during a function that we organize. I asked him about getting a commercial license so that we can start our program in a smaller building or home costing less money to get up to DHEC code, the program stated. He shared for us to get in touch with the county office for details about those plans. Milton also shared about the St. John's Baptist Church special needs and Puppet Ministry church for all ages. We hope to be able to coordinate their talent into our program activity plans.



I received phone message from Mr. Mink, case manager for the IRS handling our 501 application. He's ready to close out the application status and needs us to confirm one more item on the application (having to do with the annual reporting period). I've left message with him to contact me in that regard and plans to submit in writing a response to the issue.



We're getting closer to making the program a reality and thank you one and all again for your support. I left several brochures with Essie's class and hope those that read the blog will encourage others to contact me with interest about efforts to help this organization grow.



I hope your Autumn season is coming along well. Watch the summer fade, the leaves fall, get out rakes and lawn mulchers. It's getting COOL!


I will be discontinuing my AOL email account and using yahoo. You can now reach me @ james_irby2000@yahoo.com. economics!
James II

501 C 3 update

We received a response from the IRS about the application. They needed us to explain a few answers from the application. Several board members got together over a 10 day period to review the questions. The response was sent back to the IRS on September 4, 2009.

We may hear from them before the end of October regarding our status.

We're still working on the operations and training manuals. We're also accepting donations for our efforts to create the program.

Trey received $10 at the Wofford College football game this past weekend from a young man.
His name is David Hatcher. We were watching the ballgame together, cheering on the Terriers to victory. David came up to Trey and wanted him to have the money to help. Trey smiled and we accepted the fund. We shared with David and his family the program plans and they were excited to hear about the plans and shared their own personal story. David's mother expressed how pleased it was to see her son show compassion. Thank you David, parents and grandparents again for your contribution.

I also met a friend from Wofford who's interested in helping the community thru vocational means of assisting the hearing and visually impaired in packaging product. Keiser Thomas III is the director of Operations for JSAC LLC. The New Balance in Manufacturing out of Spartanburg SC. His email address is jsackt@charter.net. I hope to learn more about their business plan in an effort to help our program vocationally in the future.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Septmenber 24, 2009.

The location and time have not been confirmed yet. I hope to have the meeting @ my home if plans work out.

I'm excited about our future, keep the faith, continue to do good work for yourself and others and contact me if you hear of any other fascinating ways to build our program.