Unity of Springfield
Meeting of the Board of Directors
March 21, 2016, 6:00 PM
Board Members Present
Mary Hilsabeck – President Simone Hite - Director
Jim Kaatz – Treasurer Paula Armknecht - Director
Tom Long – Director Dee Richardson - Administrator
Kari Brashers - Director Norma Vinson – Emeritus
Sue Baggett-Spears—Spiritual Leader
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*The meeting was called to order by Mary at 6:05 p.m. Mary lit Christ Candle. Sue opened with prayer. Check in was conducted. All attendees read the Core Values, Mission, and Vision Statements together aloud.
*The Minutes of the February meeting were sent out for review prior to the meeting. The following corrections were requested: Mary should be listed a President. Jim didn’t present the budget at Feb meeting. Dee did not lead. Volunteer services needs to be removed. Simone made a motion to accept as amended. Paula seconded. All voted affirmatively, motion carries.
*Financial Report—Financial Report was provided prior to the meeting for review. Discussion was held about revenue being down and possible reasons/solutions. Continuing to run on a deficit. Attendance remains low. Kari moved that the Financial Report be approved as submitted. Tom seconded. All voted affirmatively, motion carries.
*Committee Reports:
· Adult Education: Talked about possible educational courses for Summer or Fall – Prosperity Plus – Dee would facilitate.
Building and Grounds: Norma Vinson reported that we will hold a grounds clean-up on April 2nd.
Employment: No report
Fundraising: The Easter Basket fundraiser only made $100. We probably won’t do this one again. Planning Fashion Fair for May 6. Indoor yard sale will be in June.
Long/Short Range Planning: No report.
Marketing /Publicity: No report.
Music: No report. Looking for date to do a concert.
Outreach: The women’s group is collecting donations for the community cupboard – Helen Cliburn is leading this effort. Mary suggested that the Board consider undertaking an outreach activity and inviting others to participate. Kenneth’s class is going to help Ambassadors for Children.
Volunteer Services: No report.
Youth Ed: Paula: Easter activities coming up. Wondering about spring book study and if it’s something they could use to make lessons for the kids. Blaine Stiles and Julie Thomson are helping with classes one Sunday per month. Kari Brashers is helping one Sunday per month. De DeArmon is looking at cabinets to install in the classroom, and they’re continuing to rearrange bins in janitor’s to help with accessibility. Stephen Bell modified chair caddy to get chairs out of the cabinet, which was much appreciated. Easter egg hunt and Easter Bunny will be visiting on Easter Sunday. Focusing on faith and the miracles of Jesus. Resurrection eggs to teach story of Easter. Snapshots of Mardi Gras on board, and they’d like to cover the board with faces. Asking people to bring in pictures to add. Asking for donations for community cupboard. TV should be installed this week. Dwane will be doing it, and Brenda has hooked mount to TV so all Dwane needs to do is attach it to the wall.
Teen Activities: No updates.
*Communications: Received $247.50 grant for website improvements. Grant application for livestreaming will be due at the end of April.
*Administrator’s Report: Met with Michelle regarding volunteer dinner. She’s excited and will buy a piñata and make sangria. Will plan a mixer, as well. Kim will organize food and decorations for volunteer dinner.
Michelle set up tables for sign-ups Sunday for various volunteer groups, but didn’t have a great response. The Easter Baskets may have been a distraction. Will try again next week in the main hallway.
Dee has recruited 8 or 9 group leaders for Spirit groups.
12 new members are joining the church. New member classes are being done differently and the response has been positive. Dee, Kenneth and Sue are each doing a segment to explain Unity principles and prosperity.
Dee ordered 100 reusable grocery bags to be printed as gifts for volunteers attending the Volunteer Appreciation Dinner.
Dee volunteered to teach a Prosperity Plus course again soon. (Fall?)
*Spiritual Leader’s Report: Sue did the opening prayer for the Better Business Bureau Torch Awards – good exposure.
Men’s and women’s groups are going well. 31 women and 11 men participated in the last meeting – Sue did FaceBook invites to encourage participation.
Soulful Saturdays on Emotional Intelligence have been well attended and well-received. Sue suggests that everyone go through this program – CD and DVD are available and Joe put them on FaceBook.
Kathy Winston’s service was today, and it was a full house.
Performed marriage ceremony for Kim and Sue last week.
Another celebration of life on Friday.
Old Business:
Mary: Audit topic tabled until next meeting.
Sue: Bazaar & Holiday decorating. The dates we discussed at the retreat for the Holiday Bazaar aren’t going to work, because it would push back the holiday decorating too late. We want to hold the Christmas Concert December 2, so need church decorated before then. We also didn’t budget for the Bazaar due to concerns about leadership of the event. Will either need to do the Holiday Bazaar earlier or skip it entirely this year. If we want to do it, we need to do it in November. Decorate November 27.
Sue: Wednesdays: Attendance continues to be down on Wednesday nights. Discussed concerns about financial feasibility of continuing Wednesday services in current format and discussed other ideas for mid-week spiritual renewal (Prosperity Plus, meditation, etc.). Noted that attendance is usually down in the summer due to people traveling and other evening obligations. Will discuss further in April.
Mary: Thrift Shop: We need a committee to write up a proposal to give to Dick Mills prior to the next board meeting. Stella has volunteered to help run it, and has extensive experience in this area. Paula, Jim, Simone, Jon (Jim will talk to John) and Kari were suggested for this committee. Kari will send the group a business proposal template that we might be able to use as a starting point.
Policy: pay for holiday pay: Unity of Springfield recognized the following holidays each calendar year for full-time, hourly, non-exempt employees:
New Year’s Day
Memorial Day
Independence Day (July 4)
Labor Day
Thanksgiving Day
Christmas Day
All full-time, hourly, non-exempt employees will have the designated holiday off and will be paid their regular wages for that day. If the holiday falls on a Sunday that the employee would normally be scheduled to work, the employee may substitute another day within the same work week for that holiday at the discretion of the Administrator.
New Business:
Sue: T-shirt design contest. Will ask people to enter ideas for T-shirt design and let congregation choose (like we did last time). No extra expense. Get Unity name out in the community. Simone found a good deal on T-shirts and will look into it further. Will need to verify that the material is good for screen printing.
Paula: Letter from Dwane. Dwane sent us some good ideas for outreach and to help our visibility in the community. Paula will pursue some of these for presentation at next meeting.
We will have a special meeting on April 3 to elect our new board member.
JoLynn shared information about prayer chaplain training held in Branson, and also shared that they are trying to focus on how they can make prayer more participative. She is continuing to research how other churches do live broadcasting and videography.
Closed Session: The board went into closed session to discuss staff issues.
Closing Prayer & Affirmation
Adjourned 8:17PM
Respectfully submitted,
Kari Brashers, Director (on behalf of Kimberly Lippelman-Nash, Secretary)