JC-FFF Regular Board Meeting
September 21, 2023
Called to order 7:13 pm
In attendance Becky Cotant. Sally Wright. Kristina Duarte. Kristina Geer (call in)
No Quorum (Jennifer was unavailable. Mike was ill. Pj was coaching).
Minutes from last mtg. Approved. Sally motioned. Becky seconded. Voted. Passed.
Minutes from special mtg. Becky motioned. Kristina seconded. Voted. Passed.
These need to be voted on again when there is a Quorum.
Coordinators report (Breean)
- Income ytd $264,136.
- Expenses ytd $142,842
- Review of pending grants
- Have asked the Wold Foundation to fund Kaycee activity trips ($5000)
- Cash in bank (regular acct $101,442) (Hughes $82,951)
- In kind donations (rent from Cotant dentistry, $7200) (Wyoming Food Bank, $41,700)
- Hughes grant tracking review
- 130 bags a week this school year currently
- We do not have funding for blessings in a backpack – need $30K
- Breean attended a grant class.
- Tucker Foundation grant due Oct. 15 – Sally will meet with Breean to complete – would like to use for Blessings in a Backpack if we get it. Should we go month to month and see how long we can afford? Can we include BIB snack packs less frequently?
- Food Van Update. Taking longer than expected – keep hitting snags. Still owe $8000 on getting it done. Van wrapping in Billings – have to pay 50% up front. Approx $2500. Putting in sinks and fridge now. Going to discuss upping the amount paid to Travis Hetland for customizing our van. Insurance and tags and licensing covered for this year. If you want to drive the van you must provide your driver’s license to the insurance company (State Farm). Would like to have the van in the Christmas parade if it’s done by then.
- Should we do the Monster March? Maybe hand out a healthy snack option or something different?
- Grant HUB Pro discussion: This is a program that we could purchase to help with grants. Cost is $200/month. Can we get a grant for that cost? Maybe something we can do in future? Currently 70% of our funds are going towards food and 30% to overhead. Any larger and on-going costs would change this number. Makes sense to look into a bigger packing facility before we consider spending money on Grant Hub or program like it.
- Discussion on finding a larger packing facility and office space..Commercial rent at Bomber mountain $900/month. Old Moose lodge $2000/month. Old car lot on Main Street $1200/month.
- Sallie reminded us that Jeff Spiering has office space for rent (Head Start building). Contact Spierings – also maybe /Amber Clark with HeadStart for storage.
- Race for the Rest of us question asked. What were the numbers?
- Breean will be taking over food orders from Becky. They’ll work together to make that transition happen smoothly. We could do a “makeshift” Blessings in a Backpack. Explanation of how bags get to kids and how the need is recognized.
- Public relations/marketing discussion. Breean pushing out blogs. Pamphlets sent out.
- Church group presentation by Breean coming up.
- Emergency management purposes – wants a discussion.
- Wyoming Hunger Initiative with First Lady Jennie Gordon retreat in Gillette for food groups coming up in October.
Old Business
- Strategic planning retreat follow up. Goals were reviewed and it was decided that we relook at and vote on at the January meeting.
New Business
- Revise board committees?
- Add a finance committee? Becky made a motion to develop a finance committee- Heather and Sally
- Food truck – wrapping up so shouldn’t need one
- Race for rest of us – seasonal
- Food –
- Public relations – pull Kristina G. off
- Grants – Sally & Breean
- Free Mini Food Pantries – Kristina D.
- Ask letters – Sally can help
- Wyo Gives discussion -what worked well and what didn’t?
- JC-FFF Website discussion. It is out of date and needs to be revamped. Current web manager/consultant, Greg Haas, quoted $300-500 to revamp.
- New mission statement. Will have board vote on it at January meeting
- Becky will be stepping down from the board – submitted letter of resignation
- Board application – Jennifer Burden – send to vote
Meeting adjourned – 8:30 pm. Becky made a motion. Kristina G seconded. Motion passed.