Woodlawn Neighborhood Association General Meeting minutes – draft until approved at next meeting
Your voice matters in our community-let it be heard here. All are invited and welcomed.
7:00 – 7:15 Welcome and Introductions. Please share your name, pronouns, and something you are enjoying right now
Board present: Melody Randolph – chair, Beth Heins – secretary, Dennis Kennedy – treasurer, Anjala Ehelebe – Land Use & Transportation Committee Chair, Chida Chaemchaeng – Vice Chair, Keith Baich – at large + Woodlawn Farmer’s Market liaison.
Board absent: Thelma Diggs, Nancy Flynn, Shirley Minor, Barbara English, Liz Kennedy
Community members: Rick Reynolds, Francisco Gadea, Maria Gould, Brian
7:15 – 7:20 Approve March meeting notes – Dennis moves, Beth second; all in favor. Approve April agenda – Rick moves, Dennis seconds, all in favor.
7:20 – 8:00 General Business
- Proposed by Nancy Flynn: Donation for Stride for Seniors team for Meals of Wheels from WNA as we have given in years past. Melody proposes $300.
- Treasurer’s comments: We have no income, we haven’t made any money, it seems a little random that we’ve chosen this charity – why do we habitually give to Meals on Wheels if it’s not really related to Woodlawn aside from board members are affiliated with it? He questions the ethics there. We annually have an outlay of about $400; raising funds from businesses has been stated that it would benefit the neighborhood, not another non-profit. We did all discuss donations last fall and said we’d hold off until we had an income.
- Beth comments: Funds raised from businesses have in the past been used to offset expense like our music in the park,
- Rick comments: Do we have seniors in the neighborhood who benefit from Meals on Wheels services? That was always his assumption. Dennis’ point is fair, would we consider donating $150 instead this year?
- Dennis: other non-profits also benefit the neighborhood yet we don’t support them. We did just get a grant from Metro but it’s restricted funds, for the cleanup project specifically so we shouldn’t consider that money we can spend.
- Rick: the $5000 will offset our expenses from the clean-up but we anticipate bringing in donations so feels that we could afford this donation.
- Dennis proposes we agree to give Meals on Wheels 5% of whatever we earn at the clean-up (the Woodlawn share only; assuming we agree later in the meeting to split with the PTA). At the last two cleanups we made $2000, so 5% is a $100 donation. Chida suggests publicizing the Meals on Wheels walkathon team to let them collect donations outside of that coming from the board. We could also put out the word to collect information on other charities.
- The people most involved in the Meals on Wheels program are not present tonight; we can handle offline outside the meeting.
- Anjala agrees with what Dennis said – we have historically supported Meals on Wheels partly because of the involvement of board members; it seems clean to support 5% of the cleanup this time, but what do we do about other worth organizations? Anjala suggests: We can discuss the whole topic at later meetings and make a rough policy for how to support organizations going forward.
- Anjala moves: we do not support the request this year since we don’t have any income and haven’t had. Dennis seconds. Majority of the board approves
- Rick points out we’re already giving 50% to the PTA, do we want to revisit this idea in general after that discussion?
- Rick Reynolds-follow up on clean up planning: BIG thanks from the board to Nancy for writing the grant and to Rick for picking up from Nancy to move the event forward.
- Still planned for Sunday June 5, 10am-3pm
- Received $5000 Metro grant (check is in the mail)
- NE Coalition of Neighbors will cover our insurance
- Will be held at Woodlawn School – confirmed today we can use the parking lot and the building (bathrooms, water access). We have to pay for overtime for the custodian but that’s less expensive than closing off a street.
- Rick has been working with the PTA and they have set up a form to collect volunteers to staff 90-,minute shifts (feel free to volunteer for more!)
- Expenses anticipated:
- 6 dumpsters
- Custodian
- Marketing – including postcard & mailing
- Other participants:
- Ridwell will be there to accept plastic donations
- Other partners in like Trash for Peace for community involvement and communication
- Child care will run all day so parents can volunteer
Do they need anything just yet? Rick will be in touch with the board in the next week or so. Could we also get sponsorships for summer events, or for the cleanup? What might we ask for? They could be listed on the flyer that will go out for the mailing. It could go on the flyer Shelly is going to create, or we could put in language on the flyer with contact information if anyone wants to be a sponsor. Melody and Rick and Dennis will do a little asking around at local businesses.
Side note: this year’s movie in the park is back on but they’ll use the parks and neighborhoods who were selected for summer 2020 (not Woodlawn).
Will we do National Night Out this year? Some interest – it’s the first Tuesday in August, would be August 2nd.
Back to the cleanup – any other comments? Rick had been talking about splitting it 50/50 with the PTA; Anjala wonders if we could offer a lesser amount? Rick reminds us it’s a lower-income school and there will be a lot of volunteers from the PTA at this event; their participation is likely to make this a huge success. After discussion, Rick proposes that we split 50/50 with the Woodlawn PTA: Beth seconds. Board-only vote – passes unanimously.
Further questions: Do we have a fundraising goal? Hoping for $5000
How can we accept payment? Paypal, can set up Venmo with the QR code, cash, probably use the Square reader with the Farmer’s Market
- Replacing the WNA secretary – Beth Heins needs to step down as of the June meeting. Typical duties of the secretary role:
- Posting agenda to gowoodlawn.com
- Sending mailchimp email with the agenda
- Adding subscribers to the mailchimp list as requested
- Taking and posting minutes to gowoodlawn.com
Dennis comments that the secretary position is required to be filled to maintain our non-profit status (the chair is the other position that must be filled).
8:00 – 8:20 Board Business-
- Treasurer’s Report-Dennis Kennedy: same amount as last month $6,744.95
- Land Use and Transportation-Anjala Ehelebe
- At last month’s meeting Anjala was asked to contact the city about the vacant houses at 10th & Stafford; as she started researching ownership she drove by and saw that it’s fenced off and is being demolished. She didn’t contact the city given that information.
- Each month she checks online for land use decisions that we should know about – none this month.
- Farmer’s Market – Keith Baich: it’s a slow time right now; waiting to see if they get a couple of grants. They have just over $2500 in the account – have been getting a few market applications and fees in for this coming year. The market will kick off Saturday June 4th.
- NECN-Dennis Kennedy:
- NECN is looking for a secretary – a volunteer board position. That person’s role is making sure the proper letters are sent to the city, the proper forms are filed, and some archival duties.
- They have volunteer note-takers, that’s not part of the secretary’s position. Anjala is volunteering as note-taker currently. Meetings are the 3rd Tuesday of the month at 6:30-8.
- NET-no updates
8:20 – 8:30 Final thoughts, announcements, other upcoming events
- There was a successful planting of native plants recently – ferns and other native plants in place of ivy. The next planting – the last one for the season! – is happening April 23rd. RSVP ahead of time is required: https://forms.gle/6tdFYepfBBs4GzcR9
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Shared by the Woodlawn PTA contact Amy Fauver:
Woodlawn Elementary School PTA invites you to support your neighborhood elementary school by participating in our annual plant sale! We partner with New Leaf Greenhouse to bring you beautiful flowers and delicious organic herbs and vegetables for your garden. You can choose between many varieties of annual and perennial plants, offered in a range of containers and sizes.
Orders must be placed by Wednesday April 13. Pick up at Woodlawn for plant sales is Thursday, May 5th – just in time for Mother’s Day!
All the details and the link to order can be found on our website at
https://woodlawnwildcats.org/spring-plant-sale/
Funds support our school community including staff appreciation, support for families and classrooms, and school events. More information about all we do is on our website. Please contact bethany.wofford@gmail.com with any questions or for help with your order or pickup coordination.
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John: thanks Rick and Krista for organizing a native plants planting around the school with a bunch of 2nd graders. Look by the portable classroom for the plantings!
8:30 Meeting adjourns
Thank you for coming! Hope to see you Tuesday, May 4th at 7pm for our next Meeting! Next time will be hybrid, with special online guest
Mayor Wheeler (barring changes in his schedule!)