Minutes from meeting Nov. 10, 2012

On Saturday, November 10th, 2012 at 10 am,   Maria, Celia, Elma, Abraham, and Dr. Leticia Nunez met at Elma’s home for the monthly review of budget and operations for October.

Children:  Casa Hogar currently has 89 children. 

Child Behavior:  At present the elementary-age children are being “home-schooled”.  The state wouldn’t allow for Casa Hogar to become a school because of building restrictions, so Elma has worked with the schools to have the teachers come in to test the kids, which would be satisfactory for state compliance.   Leticia said that they have finally received all the school books and papers to adequately keep up with the school’s curriculum.  At present they are testing below average but they hope that now that they have the proper supplies to teach in-line with the school, the kids will be able to bring up their grades.

Parenting Program:  Programs are resuming with between 35-40 parents attending.

Budget: The budget was accepted.   We voted to have Bill Quinn’s name taken off as a signer and Abraham’s name put on as a signer for all accounts.   

Celia has talked with Kathy and will research the amount that Casa Hogar MX has remaining from the monies the Wine party has brought in.   We will then be able to request that amount to be deposited into the Money Market.  

Abraham was asked to reimburse  the main account with money from the Money Market for the Grant seminar in Monterrey and for the upcoming trip to Mexico City that Leticia will be making.  He was also asked to reimburse Elma for the registration for the schools for the older children.  Elma had paid ($800) from her personal account.

Leticia was asked to re-emphasize the importance of the parents contributing as a donation to help with the expenses of school.

Grant writing:   Celia requested the information on grant writing through the CERI company, in English.  She will be looking for potential companies to write Grants to. She also suggested that she has a friend who writes grants for a living and that she will discuss costs, etc. with her.  Abraham stated that most companies want a certified accountant on the staff in order to receive a grant.  We decided to research that element when looking for a potential donor.

Staff:   At this time Martha ( Abraham’s wife) is helping in the kitchen so we  don’t need to hire another cook.  Elma fired one of the night time staff because she grabbed a child so firmly that it left a bruise.  So we are one staff short. 

Leticia was asked to revise the Organizational chart.

Building:  The owner of the building next door was not able to come to town last week to discuss renting her building for the boys unit for Casa Hogar.  So we are in a standstill for that request.

We need 2 washing machines and 2 dryers.  There isn’t an electrical outlet that would support an electric dryer in the boys current home, so we really need a gas dryer.  There also isn’t a washing machine so staff is having to take all the clothes over to the main unit to wash.    Also, one of the washing machines at the main unit was very old and had stopped working in the girls’ unit.   We discussed getting industrial washer-dryers.  LFD does not carry industrial machines.  Elma is looking for prices and washers with larger capacity and will get back with Celia on possible purchases.

Marketing : The wine party is coming up this Thursday at Celia’s house at 5pm.   We asked that everyone be there by 4:00.  Elma is having the girls make cookies for the party. 

We will be selling Christmas cards and the iron boxes at the party. 

Elma has made a new CD  for the party. 

The first newsletter for Casa Hogar went out a couple of weeks ago to around 80 companies and donors.   Celia asked if there are any other donors that we want to send newsletters to, to please forward her their addresses.   The next newsletter will go out right after Christmas.

Misc.

The official list of the new Board of Directors has been accepted by the government.   Elma had to put the original BOD members ( prior to LNF) as a provisional board for approval in order to have a quick turn-around on getting a renewed non-profit status.  Leticia is taking the papers to Mexico City in order to have them accepted as quickly as possible.  Afterward a revised list of Board of Directors will be accepted. 

Celia has taken the laptops to Pan American University to be fixed ( through a contact from a Rotary meeting) and she should hear back from him in the next week. 

Celia was asked to contact Alredo Monsalvo , Hermes Music,  for additional musical instruments for the kids.   Alfredomonsalvo@hotmail.com   Maria will be asking on Facebook if anyone has any used musical instruments that they would like to donate to Casa Hogar.

Leticia stated that she is looking to sell some of the older equipment and clothes that are not in use at Casa Hogar.  We discussed getting a booth at a flea market in Reynosa to sell some of the goods no longer needed.  Some of the older girls can help.

The winners of the Annual Christmas Card were announced, and monetary gifts were given to 1^st and 2^nd place.

Steve and Carol will be coming for a visit on  December 4,5, and 6^th.

The meeting was ended with a prayer.  The next date for a meeting will be on December 8^th at 10 am at the home of Elma Fonseca.