EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING OF CHAPTER 18 MN PIONEERS Feb 16, 2018 Pages 1 & 2 Attachment A Page 3 Arrowhead Council Report Page 4 Central Council Report Page 5 Harley Forsyth Life Member Report Page 5 Metro Council Report Page 6 MS TRAM Report Page 7 Web Page Report Page 7
Minnesota Chapter Executive Board Conference Call 02-16-2018 Present: Kathy Hanson, Al and Carol Barthel, Dale Axtell, Mary Ann Neuman, Dave Hemmer, Jan Swenson, Pat Jeukens, Nick Lucy Meeting opened with pledge of allegiance. Dale Axtell gave a self introduction, began career in Mpls 1966, transferred to Sioux Falls 1973 and retired 2008, past treasurer of So. Dakota Pioneer combined club Nick Lucy gave a self introduction, had a 40 year career in Dubuque as a COT, past president of Iowa Hawkeye chapter, very active with VFW bugle corps Minutes from web page Mary Ann moved to accept, Jan 2 nd, motion passed on voice vote Treasurer Report Jan states some questions re: discrepancies remain to be resolved. Dave moved to accept with corrections, Mary Ann 2 nd, motion passed on voice vote Old Business Kathy reports was unable to capitalize on approved 300.00 donation to a double opportunity Pat reports she was able to triple the approved 200.00 donation to Salvation Army Election of MN officers 2019 Dave and Mary Ann reported all incumbent candidates were certified eligible and were re-elected to office Iowa Council status Dave read a letter sent to all emails for Iowa Pioneers shared by Legacy West which stated need for and a request for officer nominees in Iowa. (Contents of letter are attachment A.) Dave reports 841 e-mails were sent, 341 were returned as undeliverable, 3 responses asked to be removed from the mailing list and no other responses were received. As a result, no officers and no council in Iowa was formed. Nick says it s good to remember that pioneers feel connected internally and should also realize a community connection is important. Kathy will put out a president s letter on web page addressing this thought New Business Dale Axtell reports that South Dakota will have a working council. The officers of that council are: Bob Denny-President, Joyce Martinez-Secretary, and Dale Axtell-Treasurer Dale will send all contact info for these officers to Dave Hemmer for web page and to notify the PAC. Dale will send copy of PAC Approval names and titles to Jan Swenson, Chapter Treasurer, which he states has already been sent to the PAC. Kathy will send to Dale, Bob and Joyce pertinent and necessary information to remain a viable council of the chapter Kathy asked for articles regarding articles of interest to be included in a new newsletter from Legacy West send articles to Laura Whitlock lwhitlock@pioneersvolunteer.org. Jan suggested an article Kathy is working about Talking Book repair also be sent for inclusion in the Retiree Guardian. Kathy will do this Mary Ann reports she will submit Hug-A-Bear material expense voucher. She is looking for stuffing Page 1
Pat suggested this chapter prepare and serve one meal at Mpls Ronald McDonald House and fulfill a need from the Ronald McDonald House Wish List of items it could use. Pat will send out feelers on a possible date to serve the meal. Dave moved to approve spending up to 200.00 for Wish List items, Mary Ann seconded and motion passed on voice vote. Dave moved to approve spending 350.00 for food prepared at one meal at Ronald McDonald House Jan seconded and motion passed on voice vote Kathy suggested many organizations have these wish lists and we could provide In Kind donations rather than money. Finding enough people and time has become problematic and we can still help our communities this way. Nick said there is a large veteran s home in Marshalltown Iowa with 450 residents. And there are Ronald McDonald houses in all 3 states Carol says she has input 2017 hours into PALS via a new but cumbersome process. Kathy reminded participants to use the link for reporting hours on www.mnioneers.com Jan asked Iowa and South Dakota representatives to send info to her about retirements, deaths and address changes so she can keep member information up to date in the PALS system. Nick says he will be in Minneapolis for the VFW 100 th Anniversary gathering on August 24-29 and would welcome a face to face meeting. We will try to see that happens. Dave reports he s not receiving info on Iowa obituaries for the web page. Nick will re-spread the word Participants were polled on whether a conference call or Skype call for these meeting was preferred and the most people responded a conference call was best. Dave made a motion to adjourn, Pat seconded and meeting adjourned. Al Barthel Secretary assisted by Kathy Hanson Page 2
ATTACHMENT A Central Council Pioneer E-Mail Hotline you are receiving this email because you have been assigned membership in the Central Council of Minnesota Chapter #18 Telephone Pioneers. To be removed from the mailing list please email your request to dhemmer1@mnpioneers.com www.mnpioneers.com Informative newsletter for Iowa Pioneers. The Telecom Pioneers Board has made the determination that the former Iowa Chapter no longer meets the requirements to maintain Chapter status. This was determined by the criteria in Attachment A of the Merging Pioneer Units Document.docx The unit no longer has an active executive board of officers. The unit has not held regular documented meetings in the past 6 mos. The unit leadership has not participated in Group calls. The unit has not sought out leadership in the past 6 mos. Therefore, Iowa Pioneers were merged into the Minnesota unit as Iowa Combined Club #5091. In order for the Iowa Combined Club to continue it would be required to elect officers, complete officer and financial training, and begin holding regular meetings by Dec 31st 2017. If the Iowa Pioneers fail to meet this requirement the executive board of Minnesota Chapter #18 of Legacy West Pioneers, along with the members of Minnesota Central Council, has decided to merge the Iowa Combined Club into the Minnesota Central Council on or about Jan. 1st 2018. Central Council and the Minnesota Chapter welcome all Iowa pioneers and want you to know that we have our web site www.mnpioneers.com and encourage you to visit the site. You will find current news, obituaries, pictures, meeting minutes, and many other items of interest for Pioneers. Dave Hemmer, Central Council President 320-290-2127 dhemmer1@mnpioneers.com Kathy Hanson, Minnesota Chapter #18 President 952-292-4858 hansonkathy9@gmail.com ========================================================================================= The above letter was sent to 841 Iowa Pioneers via email list provided by the Region or PAC, not sure exactly. 340-400 emails were bounced back as undeliverable by the email servers. 3 email responses were received, all requesting to be removed from the email list. 0 responses were received with questions or comments about the purposed changes to Iowa Pioneer status. Dave Hemmer Minnesota Web Master Page 3
Arrowhead Council Telephone Pioneers Duluth, Minnesota Summary of meetings and projects nov. 2017 thru Jan. 2018 We sent sympathy cards to several Pioneer families. Thank you notes received from all organizations we donated monies to. Quarterly Arrowhead Council Meeting: 6 attended, January 17, 2018 meeting Our next meeting will be April 18, 2018 Donations: Voted to donate $200 to Damiano Center; $200 to North Central Second Harvest; $600 to Northern Lakes Second Harvest; and $200 to CHUM. Donations: Hug-A-Bears to St Luke's and Life Care Center Nov 52 0 Dec 25 0 Jan 25 0 Head coverings: Nov. - 38; Dec. 21; and Jan. 27 to Essentia Cancer Center. Received a donation of fleece for 6 hats and 27 bears from Janice Wagner. Life Care Center is moving, we will not be making donations again until September, or later. Note: new center is soon opening. Big Red Book Shelf-Books being collected every day, Books were delivered: 35 in November. Volunteer hours reported: Oct. 579; Nov. 475; Dec. 434. Submitted by Marlys Wisch, President, Arrowhead Council Telephone Pioneers, Duluth, Minnesota Page 4
CENTRAL COUNCIL REPORT FOR 2/16/18 Central Council continues to volunteer for many projects; Wellness bags, Nursing homes, Knitting caps for homeless, Red Cross, Chore Club, assisting Elderly, Options, Talking book repair, Place of Hope, maintaining the MN Web site, volunteering at the MS TRAM, providing Computer Assistance, volunteering at the VA Hospital & Cemetery, building wheel chair Ramps. We held meetings at the downtown Perkins in St. Cloud on Dec, 12 th, Jan, 9 th and Feb, 13 th. Each was attended by 25 30 Pioneers. We have been working with the Region, and the MN Chapter to finalize the transfer of the Iowa Pioneers into the Central Council. The paper work has been completed and we now await its processing and the final word from the Region. Submitted by Dave Hemmer President Central Council HARLEY FORSYTHE LIFE MEMBER CLUB Central Council ---Taking over the world, one council at a time. The Life Members of the Harley Forsythe Life Member Club continue to follow the time proven tradition of Pioneering; -- Fellowship, Loyalty, Service. The Central Council Life Members met at Perkins in downtown St Cloud on Tuesday, November 14, December 12, 2017, and January 9, 2018. Our Perkins breakfasts are always well attended. 24 Pioneers and Partners attended our November meeting --- 28 our Christmas Meeting in December 27 in January. Our Christmas meeting included collecting toys and food for the Food Shelf. Over 200 pounds of food was collected and a multitude of toys also delivered to Catholic Charities in St Cloud. In addition our Council made charitable cash donations to the Red Cross and Quite Oaks Hospice Center. The Harley Forsythe Life Members are very concerned about the Me-To phenomena. We re not entirely sure what sexual harassment is. However to be on the safe side all attendees were instructed to keep at least one hand visible at all times. It doesn t take much to bring a little excitement into our lives. The next meeting is scheduled February 13 at Perkins in St Cloud. It will be a combination meeting celebrating Valentine s Day, Fat Tuesday, and Ash Wednesday the beginning of Lent. Most of us will be trying to remember what we gave up for Lent last year. We meet the second Tuesday of every month and all are welcome, especially the cute Chapter Officers. Life isn t always tied with a bow But it s still a gift. Bob Lewis, Life Member President. Page 5
Metro Council/Life Member Club MN Chapter - First Quarter Report February 12, 2018 Since we submitted our 4 th Quarter reports in mid-november, these are the final activities of the Metro Council/Life Member Club for 2017. A small but hearty group of Pioneers attended a fun event at the DayTripper s Theater on November 28th. If was our first time going there and it was sure was fun. We had a great buffet lunch and saw a cute Holiday play we could relate to. It was called The Nutcracker s Nuts. It centered on a group of seniors deciding to put on a new holiday show at their senior apartment. They selected The Nutcracker, not realizing it was a ballet. Imagine if you will, the final scene --- seniors with walkers doing the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. It was a hoot. On December 13 th thirty-seven Pioneers and spouses gathered at Elsie s for our annual Holiday Luncheon. Our community collection for this meeting was Fun & Fuzzy presents for St. Joseph s Home for Children. Which meant toys or warm winter clothes for the kids tots to teens. Mary Ann dropped off the gifts along with $150 donated by those who didn t have time to shop. At the meeting we voted to donate $200 each to seven organizations: Salvation Army, Eagles Healing Nest Project, PRISM, Jeremiah Project, Caring and Sharing Hands, Union Gospel Mission and Dinner at your Door. Our 2018 activities started out with our February Casino trip to Treasure Island. We had 42 Pioneers and friends on the bus..five dollars from each person attending (less cookie treats on the bus) are raised each time. This trip brought in $210. Reservations are currently coming in for our Valentine s Lunch which will be held on February 22 nd. Gary Greb continues to collect cell phone from various organizations and those donated by the company he works for. He shipped several boxes of phones into GRC Wireless, Inc. at the end of the year and we received $213.84 for the phones in January. The Hug a Bear group continues to meet the second Tuesday of every month. We got to work right after the first of the year. We stuffed butts to beat the band and donated 89 bears to Hennepin County Medical Center. Respectfully submitted, Mary Ann Neuman, President Metro Council/Life Member Club Page 6
Chapter report Feb 16 2018 MS Bike Tours MS TRAM Bike MS: TRAM Ride 2018 Date: Sunday, July 15 - Day 1 (Monday, July 16): St. Peter to Northfield - Day 2 (Tuesday, July 17): Northfield to Owatonna - Day 3 (Wednesday, July 18): Owatonna to Waseca - Day 4 (Thursday, July 19): Waseca to Mankato - Day 5 (Friday, July 20): Mankato to St. Peter This year the Pioneers will be volunteering at the MS TRAM ringing the bell to cheer on the riders and selling buttons to raise funds for the MS Society. Submitted by Dave Hemmer Pioneers ride team Wheel Deals report. 2018 will be another successful fundraising year for the Wheel Deals ride team. 7 riders are registered this year. Our goal is set to raise $10,000 to fund research that will discover new successful treatments and most importantly a cure for people with Multiple Sclerosis. Fundraising also helps put support systems in place for families and the cares of those with MS. Already we have $315 raised. We are on the way to reaching that goal! Submitted by Kathy Hanson, Wheel Deals team rider and proud Pioneer Web Site Report 2/16/2018 Site total 1040 Chapter Minutes 34 Exec. Board 57 Projects 27 Arrowhead Council 13 Central Council 18 Metro Council 33 Current News 112 Products for Sale 36 Family Campers 15 Links 8 Calendar Winners 7 Web Master 15 Just Pictures 63 Go Green 11 Web hits are up since last quarter. Just Pictures page is doing well. Calendar Winners hits are still coming in even though we no longer have calendars. Current news page is good. Dave Hemmer Web Master Page 7