Month:

Opening

The monthly meeting of the Organ Transplant Recipients of SWFL Inc. was called to order at 11:46 a.m. on November 1, 2018 at The Sanctuary located at 8960 Colonial Center Drive in Ft. Myers by President, Shamie Kelly.

Announcements

• Anniversaries: Mike Terry-Heart (11/2/2002), Tim Elkins-Liver (11/4/1999), Fred Brickley-Kidney (11/23/1998), Marshall Marlin-Heart (11/25/2008), David Weinstein-Kidney (11/26/1997)
• Visitors: Speaker- John L. Hogan III, Nursing Director for GCMC Surgical Progressive Care Unit
• Member Updates: Cheryl Abraham underwent a hip replacement on Tuesday of this week, she is doing well, there is a card going around for her. David Weinstein, Treasurer, is finally out of the hospital and happy to be home. He sends well wishes to everyone and thanks us for our support during his recovery. His wife and caregiver Janet Weinstein is just tired so she is not in attendance today either. The group is discussing if there is anything they can do like bring meals or something to help them. Mike Terry has been struggling with some type of infection that has spread to his head and is in a lot of pain. Shamie will reach out to them as well to discuss if we can be of any help.

Reports

The Secretary’s report was approved and submitted for posting to the website. David Weinstein, Treasurer, is still recovering from back surgery so Treasurers Report is unavailable. Donna Williamson reports that there are no updates for the Fletcher Fund.

Old Business

Comedy for a Cause is all set. There is a Facebook event to RSVP to and remember to share it and tell all of your friends, let’s pack the house! The American Heart Association’s Heart Walk is Saturday, December 8^th in Fort Myers at Centennial Park. The festivities begin at 8am and the walk begins a 9am. It is a 5k walk/run at your own pace event. Melissa Tuff has set up a team on the heart walk website under the name “Organ Transplant Recipients of Southwest Florida” and made the first donation to get the team started. Melissa has also been in touch with Savanna at the NKF about the kidney walk and found out that the cost for a table at the kidney walk for a non-profit such as ours will be $500. This will be discussed at the upcoming board meeting when we set a budget for upcoming events. Savanna also stated she could use some help promoting the walk so if any of our members have contacts in media (radio, television, print) please contact them and ask about the potential of them covering the walk. It will take place Sunday March 24^th at Lakes Park in Fort Myers. Discussion of a social event will be deferred until Janet and David (event hosts) can be present. Night for Life paperwork will be ready by Monday and they will be available at Comedy for a Cause, and the Holiday meeting they can also be emailed and/or downloaded from the website. Tickets will go on sale beginning at the January meeting so that they are not misplaced before the holidays. We will be doing $35 and $50 tickets per plan and Shamie will confirm to ensure ticket prices will remain the same but as of now that will be our general admission and VIP ticket prices. Please work on getting sponsorships between now and January, and we will work on doing a social event somewhere that our Night for Life band 41 South will be playing as to support them in exchange for supporting us. Details to follow.

New Business

Shamie Kelly’s term as President and David Weinstein’s term as Treasurer are up and there will be a nominations committee for nominations and self-submissions to be given to. Mariann Jefferson will oversee this committee. Nominations will be officially announced at the Holiday Meeting, and voting will take place in January with the new President leading the February meeting. Carlene Brennan and Joyce Rudder will assist Mariann. Gulf Coast Transplant Center was at 34 transplants completed at the time of its temporary closure. Dr. Jeac-Frank Gitue is officially gone, Dr. Biondi is still on maternity leave however it is still expected to reopen in December. Flyer is being passed around for the Holiday Party on December 6th, we have 2 rooms instead of 4 this year which will still be plenty. Group will do a potluck style for sides and desserts and the group funds will provide the meat. We will set up an online event where food items that are being brought can be listed. Bring an ornament for exchange. Room is reserved for 10:30 – 2:00pm so if you can come early to help set up, please do and bring guests! Board meeting will take place between today and the Holiday party to discuss a budget for marketing materials. Amazon Smile is still up and available, don’t forget to use it and recommend it to friends for their holiday shopping. We will also have a “Donate” button on Facebook so that we can have fundraisers using social media. We have a speaker today from Gulf Coast Medical Center, John L. Hogan III, Nursing Director for Surgical Progressive Care. He was a medic in the army where he got most of his credentials. He has been in nursing for over 30 years and has experience in many different areas and he discussed how to be a good advocate/caregiver without overstepping boundaries. He also discussed his experience in the many fields in which he has worked and their relation to transplant.

LifeLink

Service of Remembrance and Appreciation November 4^th at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Fort Myers near the Bell Tower Shoppes. The service runs 11am to 3pm and set-up begins at 10:30am. The Holiday luncheon and volunteer appreciation to take place on December 14^th at the Edison from 12pm to 2pm.

Announcements

Melissa Tuff will be speaking on an upcoming AAKP Webinar on Secondary Hyperparathyroidism on Tuesday November 20^th, if you’re interested in tuning in please contact Melissa after the meeting. Leftover food is being taken to David and Janet Weinstein to alleviate at least one meal for them while David is recovering.

50/50

$45 total group gets $22 winner gets $23

Adjournment

Meeting was adjourned at 1:50 p.m. by President, Shamie Kelly.. The next general meeting will also be our Holiday meeting on December 6, 2018, at the Fort Myers Library (downtown) Meeting Rooms A & B from 11 a.m. until about 2 p.m.

Minutes submitted by:     Melissa Tuff, Secretary

Opening

The monthly meeting of the Organ Transplant Recipients of SWFL Inc. was called to order at 11:46 a.m. on October 4, 2018 at The Sanctuary located at 8960 Colonial Center Drive in Ft. Myers by President, Shamie Kelly.

Announcements

• Anniversaries: Melissa Tuff- Kidney (10/7/2005) Paul Lewis-Kidney (10/26/2008)
• Visitors: Elle Funk visiting from our LifeLink group. Elle received a kidney/pancreas transplant at Tampa General and mostly volunteers in that area.
• Member Updates: Treasurer David Weinstein had back surgery this week. Recovery has been a rollercoaster as he is in a lot of pain. Visitors are welcome at Lee Memorial on Cleveland Avenue. A card is going around, please send David your well wishes. Secretary Melissa Tuff underwent a Parathyroidectomy last month and is recovering well. Mike Terry is recovering from a bone infection, please keep his recovery in your thoughts.

Reports

Melissa Tuff, Secretary was unable to attend last month’s meeting due to her surgery so there was no Secretary Report available. No Fletcher Fund report. Treasures report shows a previous balance of $10,703.54 with contributions of $5.00 in membership dues, $28.00 deposit from the 50/50 and $55.00 from Pitch for Life resulting in $88.00 in deposits. $150.00 was paid for food (bowling social?) and an additional $51.85 was paid for meeting food leaving an ending balance of $10,562.39

Old Business

We have a date for our next Comedy for a Cause fundraiser and it is Thursday November 8^th! Flyers are available, and an event will be created on Facebook so please share it once it is available. Let’s pack the house again! Our group recently had a table at the Walk like MADD 5k. Shamie, and Melissa manned the table with Frank and Mariann next to us with the LifeLink table. It was an interesting setup being behind the gates this year and we felt it was beneficial as we did make some connections. December 8^th is the Heart Walk at Centennial Park. Members are encouraged to bring events like this to the groups attention so that we can participate. Not all of our members are just kidney recipients, so we should be supporting ALL organ walks and awareness events. Melissa Tuff will set the group up as a team and more details will be available at next month’s meeting. Walk festivities begin at 8am and the walk starts at 9am. Please see Melissa after the meeting for additional details. Next, we will be looking into purchasing merchandise with our group name on it to hand out at events. This will differentiate us from LifeLink and help to get our name out into the community. New business cards will have a blank line for members to fill their own name in and some additional items we will be reviewing are reusable shopping bags, sunblock, paper fans with our logo on them and possibly pins. The Facebook page will be getting an update and will include a donate button so that members can create fundraisers with our group as the beneficiary. Amazon Smile is still active so don’t forget to utilize this when shopping online. We will be doing a big push for Amazon Smile usage with Cyber Monday and the Holidays coming up. PayPal setup is almost complete, we just need the bank connection and that will be done. We are improving our technology use going forward and getting up to speed with groups like ours. We will have the ability to check out at Night for Life using both Square and PayPal accounts which should greatly reduce the confusion that has taken place in the past. Subcommittees will be contacted and expected to report at the next meeting. We are going to try and be more of a “support” group and less of a “fundraising” group since that is what some previous members have felt that was what we had become. Night for Life and other fundraising meetings will begin to take place separately from our monthly meeting. Paul Lewis suggests we take a census regarding availability for these meetings in advance so that they are scheduled at times when all interested members can attend. Possibly create a Survey Monkey to take a poll. Night for Life plans are moving forward. Melissa spoke with 41 South via Facebook and they have offered to donate their $300 sound engineer fee back to the group so long as we provide them with food at the event. Norma Marlin Martin has offered her place once again to gather for our preparation meetings. Sponsorship paperwork should be available in the coming weeks. Tickets will be available online this year in addition to phone and in person. The new paperwork will also have an area in which sponsors can state whether they will be using their tickets or not so we can lessen the confusion that we had last year.

New Business

The 2019 National Kidney Foundation’s Kidney Walk is scheduled for March 24^th at Lakes Park in Fort Myers. Sponsorship is $500 for non-profits and we are considering having a table for this event. David Weinstein made the motion for the group to pay for an additional social event, his suggestion was Putt-Putt however considering David is recovering from back surgery Mariann Jefferson voted we table the discussion until David returns. Paul Lewis seconded the motion, motion carries. LifeLink’s next meeting is a travel meeting scheduled for Oct. 25^th to the Lions Eye Bank. Sunday November 4^th is the Service of Remembrance so keep an eye on your email for volunteer opportunities. Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon is December 14^th at the Edison again. Melissa Tuff proposed we hold at least one meeting a quarter, either in place of or in addition to our regularly monthly meeting for those who have scheduling conflicts and have been unable to make it to Thursday midday meetings. The meeting could be held in the conference room of a restaurant or at the Center for Spiritual Living in Cape Coral where Melissa is a member and has access to their facilities. We are looking at January as to give people time to make plans to attend. The Ruddy’s also have a club house in their neighborhood that they could use for meetings if need be. It was also discussed that we could hold another Jason’s Deli type fundraiser to inform the community of the additional evening/weekend meeting. A request has been sent to the downtown Fort Myers library to reserve their meeting rooms for our Holiday Party on December 6^th. We plan to do a potluck style dinner again with the group providing the meat and members bringing side dishes and desserts. Carleen will be putting together baskets for raffle as she did last year, and Melissa will be raffling off some awareness jewelry. All proceeds will return to the group fund. Also, LifeLink is being reached out to in regard to doing another group meeting. 50/50 was $32 so the group gets $16.

Adjournment

Meeting was adjourned at 1:40 p.m. by President, Shamie Kelly.. The next general meeting will be at 11:30 a.m. on November 1, 2018, at The Sanctuary located at 8960 Colonial Center Drive in Ft. Myers.

Minutes submitted by:     Melissa Tuff, Secretary