HOLDEN COUNCIL ON AGING
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Conference Room – Senior Center
Present: Richard Mansfield; Louise Charbonneau; Cheryl Owoc; Rev. Dr. Jerry Heslinga; Barbara Anger; Sue Sullivan; Albert Ferron; Maureen Buffone
Mr. Mansfield welcomed the board to the May meeting of the Holden Council on Aging. Albert Ferron moved to accept the minutes from the April 3, 2008 meeting, which was seconded by Barbara Anger and passed unanimously.
F.H.C.O.A. REPORT
Barbara Anger reported that the Friends met on Monday, April 7th. Town Manager Brian Bullock attended the meeting and asked the Friends to match one-third of the cost of a new senior van. The vote was unanimous in favor of matching one-third of the cost, but no more than $15,000.00. Mr. Bullock requested that some of the Friends' board members attend the Finance Committee meeting on April 9th, when he would present a request for the town to match the Friends' commitment.
The Treasurer's Report from the April 7th meeting is as follows:
Commerce Bank |
$8,477.55 |
Leominster Credit Union |
$18,056.06 |
C.D. |
$20,000.00 |
Barbara also reported that the Friends purchased a Wii video game machine. Rick asked Barbara to let the Friends know how much the board appreciates the Friends' generosity. Mr. Ferron donated a brain activity game for the system, which is challenging, as well as enjoyable.
COORDINATOR'S REPORT
Louise outlined May's events as follows:
Thursday, May 1......Movie "27 Dresses"
Monday, May 5........Cinco de Mayo Celebration
Tuesday, May 6.......Scrapbooking and Paper Crafts
Thursday, May 8......Hospice Program
Friday, May 9..........Mother's Day Program with skits by the Junior Girl Scouts
Thursday, May 15....Ice Cream Social and Movie "Sweet Land"
Monday, May 19.....Adding More Year to Your LIfe ~ Presented by Fallon Clinic
Thursday, May 22...International Day ~ Greece, Israel and Egypt
Thursday, May 29...Movie "Juno"
On April 9th, Town Manager Brian Bullock, Jacquie Kelly, Mr. Ferron, Rick Mansfield, Sue Sullivan, Cheryl Owoc, Louise Charbonneau and representatives from the Friends attended the Finance Committee meeting where Mr. Bullock proposed a fund-raising partnership between the Town, the Friends and the HCOA Sub-Committee to purchase a new van. The Finance Committee met last night, but as of today's meeting, it is not known if they voted on this proposal. According to Secretary Festa, there are less and less grants available for transportation. Per Emmett Schmarsow, it is a 15-month minimum process tow ork on a transportation grant. If we get a new van, we can then start working on the grant process for a third van. When we lose the WRTA bus service, we lose ADA service.
Louise is pleased and proud to announce that Cheryl Owoc was hired as the Senior Center's new Outreach Worker. Cheryl is more than qualified for the position, and best of all, she does not have to give up her seat on the HCOA board to hold the outreach position.
Louise and Maureen will be attending a Formula Grant training at the Worcester Senior Center on Wednesday, May 7th. Emmett Schmarsow from the Executive Office of Elder Affairs will be the facilitator for the training. Louise asked the board if they had any ideas on how to utilize the grant money. One-half of Cheryl's salary will be paid from grants.
Late Tuesday night, the House passed a consolidated Elder Affairs amendment to their FY09 budget that contained additional funding for COAs. This increase is the $650,000 MCOA requested and allows for $7.00/elder/year. These are the moneys that determine how much each community gets for their formula grant. This still may not happen, especially if the Senate does not concur with the House. The Senate Ways and Means Committee will begin their review Monday of the House proposal, with deliberations by mid May. Louise encouraged the board members to call or write Senator Chandler today and mention the line item #9110-9002 and the amount mentioned above.
OLD BUSINESS
Once we hear what the Finance Committee did, we will be ready to send out the fund raising letters to the banks, grocery store(s), car dealers, drug stores, Alden Research. Sue will pick up the stationery. Al Ferron will speak to Dan Harrington to get prices and literature. Rick asked what recognition people will get for donations and if the letter states what they will receive when they donate. Board members did not want to mention levels of donations in the letter, as it is possible they will get significant donations from just a few major merchants. There was discussion about establishing a fund (senior transportation needs fund) for future use, in the event that more money is raised than is initially needed. Rick will talk to Bob Oriol, who is a great supporter of the senior center, to get an idea of what Oriol Health Care may be willing
to donate. Also, the seniors should be a part of the fund-raising, in some way. Once funding is established, we should do something on local public access to inform people.
ADJOURNMENT
It was unanimously voted to adjourn the meeting of May 1, 2008 at 8:54 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Maureen Buffone
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