Monday, November 18, 2013
The meeting was called to order by Karen Halley at 4:00 pm.
In attendance: Jim Robinson, Brian Bullock, Faye Ellis, Marty Holman, Susan Marsh, Karen Halley. Absent: Joe Sullivan
1. Minutes were approved from the meeting of February 16, 2012.
2. The future of H@H was discussed, preceded by a review of its history and activity(s). It was decided to table the issue of roles and responsibilities (chairman, secretary, treasurer, CoA rep, booklet rep, clergy outreach, non-profit outreach and anything else) until the next meeting which will be early next year.
3. CoA: Faye Ellis was welcomed to H@H and will be providing information from Louise Charbonneau regarding the Council on Aging activity concerning Welcome Aldrich/Help at H.O.M.E., including Fuel Assistance/Heating sign-up information, as well as the # of families helped, in what manner, and how many applications are in the works
According to the pamphlet that went out in the HMLD November bills from 7/1/2012 to 6/30/2013:
Number of families helped: 26
Amount Approved/Disbursed: >$11,000 (~$425/household)
Monies typically have been approved for (but not limited to): HMLD bills; Heat
4. Food/WFP update Karen Halley gave a report on the Wachusett Food Pantry and other organizations with which she has been in contact. There were ~130 families helped at the WFP in October; the Holden Road Race will be on Thanksgiving Day and will benefit the WFP, Joseph’s Project, Hearts for Heat (Princeton); Be Like Brit. The Brian Wallace Road Race will be on Saturday, Nov. 30 and the proceeds will help benefit the WFP. There is enough food for the five towns, as well as homeless in Worcester and Friendly House in Worcester.
5. Treasurer's report: Jim Robinson provided an overview of financial activity since Help at H.O.M.E was established in the fall of 2008 including the financial relationship with the Welcome Aldrich Relief Fund. The annual fall fund raiser was just underway, with flyers going out in the November light department billings. The financial report for the period ending October 31, 2013 was presented and discussed. The balances in each of the funds are as follows:
Help at H.O.M.E. Fund $17,940.01
Welcome Aldrich Relief Fund $13,856.46
Total $31,796.47
A transfer from the Help at H.O.M.E Fund to the Welcome Aldrich Relief Fund was discussed, but not acted upon.
6. Emergency reference booklet: Susie Marsh reported that the booklet printing was successful and many copies have already been distributed since its printing (the 2nd edition) since April. There are copies available at HMLD, the Senior Center, and the Town Hall. Jan Wilbur, a Holden resident, checked all of the booklet entries for relevance and accuracy and HCTV paid for the printing of the 1000 copies. Susie Marsh did all of the formatting of the text. Susie will look into how the “new” facts are being captured and where they are being stored. It used to be that they were sent to the Town Manager’s Office and then put on the website.
7. Clergy outreach: Marty Holman was welcomed to H@H and will be providing information from the clergy group in Holden. The suggestion was made of a special collection at the Holidays which Rich Simpson used to lead at St. Francis Episcopal Church. Marty said he would look into leading something like this, but perhaps not this Holiday season! Marty suggested that we look into the possibility of an online-donation method. Brian suggested that we have our own website in order to be able to facilitate the online-donation idea. The comment was made that this would be difficult for some townspeople to do, so how to make the transition from a mail insert to an electronic method was discussed. This is a work in progress and will be addressed anew at the next meeting. We will find a guest speaker to provide information and
guidance.
8. The date for the next meeting: tbd in January/February.
9. Adjournment: The meeting ended at 5:00pm.
Minutes taken by Karen Halley.
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