Dear {usertag:name}

After a quick discussion with Sasha Adams and John Jordaan I have scheduled a management committee meeting at Sasha and Byron’s house at 7:00pm on Sunday 21 November.

To make this meeting as brief and productive as possible I thought it might be useful to outline the issues to be resolved.

Our newly acquired equipment has enabled us to have a presence at a number of community outreach events like Arana Ausfest Ferny Grove Glideways and Hills Community Carols. Similar events including an occasional stall at Ferny Grove Markets are expected to continue. These have invariably led to forming some valuable new connections and/or recruiting new members.

The latest opportunity is participation in Social Inclusion Week 20- 28 November. The opening paragraphs on their web-site read:

Every Australian needs to be able to connect with family friends and work along with their own personal interests and local community in order to feel socially included and an intrinsic part of the fabric of Australian society and culture.

We must return to being a Nation that cares not only about our own personal wellbeing and security in all aspects but also a community that can look after ourselves as well as looking after those who cannot regardless of what external forces we may face.

We have registered and await approval for a simple Social Inclusion Week community event at Leslie Patrick Park Arana Hills. Please see budget item below.

Our regular monthly meetings at Arana Library continue to provide a good next step to deepen connections with new and prospective members and to start planning projects.

Now that we have established this community outreach capability it would simplify matters if we could plan ahead to budget and pre-approve the necessary expenditure.

1. Arana Library Meeting
I propose that we renew this booking for 2011. We can open an account with Moreton Bay Regional Council and pay quarterly. This would be simpler for everybody including the library staff. It currently costs $11.00 per month. It is possible that this will increase in the future and we may also decide to increase the length of the meeting. Therefore please approve expenditure of up to $20.00 per month to hold a regular Transition The Grove meeting at Arana library until the end of 2011.

2. Ferny Grove Market
There is considerable value in holding periodic community outreach market stalls at the Ferny Grove Sunday market. I doubt if we could manage more than four per year. The current cost is $16.00 but this could increase in the future. Therefore please approve expenditure of up to $20.00 per quarter to hold a regular Transition the Grove market stall at Ferny Grove markets until the end of 2011.

3. Social Amenity budget
An observable feature of successful community outreach events is the provision of appropriate and good quality refreshments. Our new Thermos Pump-Pots have enabled us to invite visitors to join us for a ‘cuppa’ and a chat and it works really well. Obviously this requires purchase of tea coffee sugar milk cold drinks and tasty nibbles. We keep a separate stock of tea coffee cold drinks and sugar for Transition the Grove but they do need to be replenished. Perishable nibbles and milk need to be purchased fresh for each event and any surplus can be shared among those members participating on the day. Based on experience so far and allowing for expected steady growth in number a budget of $20.00 per community outreach event should be sufficient. Therefore please approve an amount of $20.00 per event for the provision of tea coffee sugar milk cold drinks and tasty nibbles until the end of 2011.

4. Stationery and consumables budget
Part of our outreach is the printing of leaflets for letter-box drops or handouts. These are generally copied at no charge at Geoff Wilson’s office but we are expected to provide our own paper. There is also an occasional need for postage stamps and printer toner Therefore please approve expenditure of up to $10.00 per month for stationery and consumables.

5. Petty Cash Facility.
It is practical to pay cash for small but immediate expenses like the Ferny Grove market stall and the purchase of tea coffee sugar milk cold drinks and nibbles. This would be simplified by having a petty-cash tin. Receipts and change from purchases could be returned to the tin and replenishment of the facility made at a convenient time after the event. The normal procedure is to require receipts to be accompanied by a petty cash docket identifying: The date what was purchased for what purpose and by whom. The petty cash tin could be held by the treasurer or by us as the ones who normally do the purchasing. I propose that we start this by approving a float of $100.00 against which small cash expenses could be re-imbursed in cash.

6. Social Inclusion Week 20- 28 November
See the Transition the Grove events calendar for 26 November. We will promote this just within our own membership list but will use or banner and other signs to increase public visibility. We plan to cater for 25. For a BBQ it should be sufficient to budget for $2.00 per head. Therefore please approve expenditure of $50.00 for this event.

7. Income
To recover some of these costs we should have a donation box at each event to cover ‘Venue Hire and Refreshments’. Work continues on the Asperger Services web-site on a partly volunteer partly paid for basis. I have been working out an appropriate balance between volunteer and paid work and propose to invoice another $2500.00 on behalf of Transition The Grove.

8. Other business – reports from:
Treasurer
Sub-group coordinator
Web-master

Cheers

John Tennock