Lenox Community Center
Board Meeting
December 16, 2015
6:00 pm
Attendance: Kim Graham, Director, Mike Cooney, Sheri Gaherty, Steve Coon and Francie Sheehan Sorrentino. Tony Patella is excused from tonight’s meeting.
Public Comment: NONE
Acceptance of Minutes: Minutes accepted
Senior Report: Today, Mrs. Isenhart from Home instead dropped of gifts for senior’s who do not have any; all 16 seniors were cared for. December 17th, we had 75 senior’s participate in our Holiday Luncheon hosted by Kimball Farms. Mary Masserio played the piano and the seniors sang along to Holiday music. The Student Council from Lenox Memorial High School students helped set up and serve the Lunch.
Craft Class was well attended, the group made Holiday cards and other special occasions. Lorraine Faucher, from Stampin’Up brought all the supplies needed for our senior’s to make 5 to 6 cards each, ready to mail with envelopes.
Jessica Torra came after Monday’s lunch this week to treat the group to a special hand treatment. The ladies loved the attention, the products, and especially the results.
SHINE counseling by Gini Tittrerton was extremely busy this year during the open enrollment period for Part D. Gini added several extra days to accommodate the 78 appointments needed to help everyone who needed it. The Center is fortunate to have Gini, who continues to do an outstanding job for our seniors.
The Smart phone Tutoring program with the Lenox High National Honor Society members (Jimmy jay Chasse and Emily Tibbetts) has been going very well. One of the three participating students meets with the senior for a half an hour lesson, and the lessons are scheduled on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30 to 5:00. Many of our seniors schedule several appointments to continue the learning. So far 19 appointments have been filled and both the students and our seniors are having a lot of fun.
We served 115 meals at the Monday and Friday lunches, and even more new people have started coming in December. 291 completed trips were taken on the van. Of those trips, 63 were medical, 788 shopping, 6 classes, 100 lunch program and 8 other.
Youth Report: The Hip Hop session that ran from mid-September to the end of October ended well with a performance done for all the After School kids up in the Ballroom. Sara thought it would be nice for the 9 students who worked hard to show what they learned. Although we had interest in continuing the Hip Hop class, Sara felt it better to take a break and start up again in January….we even have a few boys signed up.
Sewing on Tuesday’s with Deb Carter has become one of the most popular classes. Deb currently has 6 kids for a 6 week class. Deb decided to add a three week Thursday session to try to satisfy the long waiting list. The projects are beautiful. Ava Garlington, one of our fifth graders made a dress all on her own.
Chess Club is filled up again with 10 kids participating. Richard class is a regularly scheduled class that both the parents and kids love. Richard loves working with the kids and they enjoy learning new strategies of play.
Thursday Hockey is great as always~ Matt Merritt is great with the kids and we have new people asking to try it weekly. We even have a few girls joining the crew. We are hoping that winter will hit the Berkshires and we will be able to have our January/February session start on the Basketball court. The ice rink will be here soon and we will eventually move the program down to Orebed.
Guys Night Out was held on Friday, November 20th at Morris school and brought out a great crowd. We had 22 people show up. The guys played and ate pizza. We had a few new faces and it was good to see everyone enjoying themselves. Due to the Holidays there will not be a Guy’s Night Out in December.
Girls Night Out was cancelled due to lack of interest. There is not a Girls Night Out in December because of the Holidays. January will be the last time we try the Girls Night Out as a Dance Night with Tanya Shepardson. Hopefully we will get a turnout. Jenny will be looking to change the program, she has a few ideas, however does not want to give up on Dance Night with Tanya.
Two new classes have been added to the last session, a Lego Club with Tanya Shepardson on Wednesday afternoons and Beginner’s Watercolor Class with Mike Cohen on Friday afternoons. Lego Club filled up immediately with a waiting list of about 9 kids. Watercolor class has 9 kids and they are learning different painting techniques from Mike.
This year we will not be running transportation services for ski lessons at Bousquet. We will, however, be taking registration forms at the Center up until January 4th. It was not cost effective for us to run transportation last year, as only 3-4 kids used the service.
Many families came out for the Halloween Parade on Saturday, October 31. The parade began at St. Ann Church at 5, went through town, and we all ended up at the LCC where goodies were handed put.
Annual Wreath Decoration Night was on Thursday, December 3rd and drew a crowd of 24 ladies who left with some beautiful wreaths.
The Annual Christmas tree Lighting was held on Friday, December 4th and we had a great turnout. The Lighting took place in Lilac Park, with Santa arriving via fire truck. Many thanks to the Lenox Fire Department for all your help! Huge thanks to Mike Sullivan for providing music for our sing-along at Lilac Park.
The LCC’s Holiday Trip was Saturday, December 5th. A sold out group went to see Elf at the Want Theater in Boston. The show was great and then the bus dropped them off right in from of Quincy Market. Everyone had a great time with plenty of time to eat and shop before returning to the Center. Forty-nine people participated.
On Friday, December 11th the LCC in conjunction with the Lenox Library hosted the first, hopefully annual Holiday Pajama Night with storytelling and sing-a-long with David Grover. About 60 kids came out for a fun night, along with 30 adults. We had “celebrity” readers from around town come to read different books to the kids. There were six stations they could go to for about 10-15 minutes. Afterwards there were cookies cider, and holiday bookmarks, followed by an hour sing-a-long with David Grover.
Director’s Report: Kim reports that the Gift Giving Program fro families in need once again was a success with all families cared for. Kim reached out to the schools, a letter is sent, then each family have a business sponsor assigned to them. Nice to make everyone’s spirit’s bright.
At our January meeting- Simon and Mark would like to talk about their proposal for House League Soccer. Some high school kids did show this year, it was run by Captains NOT coaches. LCC would continue with uniforms and such.
BUDGET: Here’s a shocker……LEVEL FUNDED! Kim handed out a booklet of budget items. Kim is still waiting for Pignatelli Electric’s estimate for sensory lights. Flooring is an item as well. Building Inspector (Don Fitzgerald) sighted that 2 panic bars on doors in back, EXIT light to backdoor to Basketball Court, and an EXIT light in the Lunchroom.
Chris Ketchen, Town Manager is trying to acquire a DPW truck for Mike Sullivan to use. Mike uses his personal truck now and it takes a beating.
Meeting adjourned
7:10 pm
Next Meeting: January 20, 2016
Respectively submitted,
Francie Sheehan Sorrentino
| 
