Organ Transplant Recipients of SWFL Inc.
Meeting Minutes
August 2, 2018
Opening
The monthly meeting of the Organ Transplant Recipients of SWFL Inc. was called to order at 11:45 a.m. on August 2, 2018 at The Sanctuary located at 8960 Colonial Center Drive in Ft. Myers by President, Shamie Kelly.
Announcements
• Anniversaries: Don Sorensen – Liver (8/16/1998), John Perry – Heart (8/18/2000), Frank Tutay – 2nd Kidney (8/21/2005), Phyllis Pavlak – Kidney (8/3/2003)
• Visitors: None
Member Updates: Carlene Brennan (Shamie’s mom) had a medical procedure done today which is why she is not in attendance and Shamie reports that she is doing well. Phil, a 2x kidney recipient, is dealing with cancer of the throat and tongue. Members are encouraged to reach out via email or phone his wife Aileen for updates. He is in a lot of pain but in good spirits. Joann and Zack are unable to attend todays meeting due to Zack undergoing a heart valve replacement in his efforts to get approved for the waitlist. There is a card going around for them, all members please sign it. Mike Terry’s daughter is having hear surgery today as well, she has been affected by a genetic heart disease that Mike also went through. Rick Keatley has also been having some medical issues related to his kidney function resulting in his absence from the meetings. Paige Fadeley has been hospitalized and undergoing some tests to diagnose what has been affecting her. She was just recently transferred to Tampa from Lee for further treatment. Please send healing thoughts and prayers to all members in need.
Reports
Melissa Tuff (Secretary) was absent last month and Kathy St. Clair took minutes, but they have not been posted to the website. Treasurer David Weinstein and his wife Janet are absent this month as they are attending the Transplant Games in Salt Lake City, but he emailed a copy of the Treasurers Report for last month over and it reads as follows: Previous balance $10,579.62 with contributions of $10.00 in membership dues, $17.50 from the monthly 50/50 drawing, $75.00 from the Pitch for Life event, and $366.00 from the Drag Queen Bingo event at the Moose Lodge resulting in $468.50 in deposits. $67.39 was paid to Shamie Kelly for the meetings food and $276.99 was paid out for the bowling social leaving an ending balance of $10,703.74 The Fletcher Fund Board met on 6/1/18 discussing Night 4 Life and Drag Queen Bingo. The Drag Queen Bingo event brought in just over $700 for the group! Half of the proceeds went into the groups account and the other half was given to the Fletcher Fund. As of 6/1/18 the total assets for the Fletcher Fund were $241,382.93 and 2 grants were paid out as of May 2018.
Old Business
Last month the group arranged a social event which was agreed upon to be bowling in Fort Myers. This event had to be reserved and paid for in advance based on the number of RSVP’s we had. Over 15 members requested a spot be reserved for them and 11 showed up, several of whom were late and did not get to utilize the full amount of prepaid time allotted to the lanes. This was one of the biggest reasons why there has been so much hesitancy for the group to pay for social events as not everyone makes the support group events a priority and when we are required to pre-pay to host a social event and people don’t show, we still have to pay and therefore we lose the money we have all worked so hard to raise. Going forward we will be looking at other, less expensive options for group socials such as Lakes Park as Donna Williamson suggests. Janet & David Weinstein would still like to host a social event in the form of a pool party and barbecue at their home in Cape Coral. Details on this will be discussed at a future meeting when they have returned from Salt Lake City. Due to Riverchase Dermatology’s busy schedule they have not been able to provide us with a speaker and will not be likely to send someone in until next year. At our next meeting we will have a speaker from the Social Security office who will discuss the disability benefits for dialysis and transplant patients. Members of the group have also expressed a need for the by-laws to be posted to the website and the secretary Melissa Tuff will forward the current by-laws to our website manager Bob Lucas to be posted. Since we are beginning to see some funds coming in from our Amazon Smile account this will now be added to the monthly Treasurers Report so members can track how their online shopping benefits the group.
New Business
This year’s Night for Life will take place on April 22nd 2019, the day after Easter. We are starting to plan much earlier this year and we should have some donation forms made up by next month so that we can begin soliciting donations and sponsorships. The play that the Broadway Palm is showing during the event is called “Second Chances” so Shamie will be following up with Broadway Palm staff to see if they would be able to do a scene from it during our event as they have done on occasion in the past. Entertainment has not been pinned down just yet but Donna Williamson made the motion that if 41 South was available again that we recruit them to perform, Paul Lewis seconded the motion, none were opposed therefore the motion carried. Melissa Tuff has been in contact with them via Facebook and they are in fact available for that day. Currently there is a $300 fee for their sound engineer (which they are going to try and negotiate down) and they have requested to be provided with some type of snacks or meal. If this is agreeable to the group, please confirm with them as soon as the decision is made so that no one else books them first. Section A will be reserved solely for VIP tickets this year and we will have Square and/or PayPal set up for the group to receive payments and expedite checkout. Tickets will also be sold online this year as we have gotten feedback that attendees would like to see this as an option. Next month (September) we will begin breaking into groups to begin planning and organization of the event. Paul Lewis would like to organize another comedy club fundraiser since we have had such success with them in the past. He proposed two options; in option 1 we (the group) would pay $600 up front and then we sell as many tickets as possible with 100% of the proceeds coming to us as the entire club would be reserved for out event. Option 2 is how we have done it in the past in which we share the club with other non-profits for the evening and $10 from each $15 ticket sold using the assigned code is given back to our group. Paul will check to find out if we can hold raffles or 50/50 drawing during the event as a way to bring in some extra funds. Donna Williamson made the motion that we move forward in the planning of this event in the same manner we have used in the past, sharing the club with other non-profits as to limit the amount of funds being put up from the groups bank account. Leanne seconded the motion, none opposed so the motion carried. Paul will contact the comedy club owner and find a Thursday in late October or early November to hold the event. Paul anticipates having a date penned down by the next meeting.
Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned at 1:52 p.m. by President, Shamie Kelly.. The next general meeting will be at 11:30 a.m. on September 6, 2018, at The Sanctuary located at 8960 Colonial Center Drive in Ft. Myers.
Minutes submitted by: Melissa Tuff, Secretary