President Betty Bolerjack called the meeting to order. We met at her house for our January meeting and nine members were in attendance. Lori, Kathy, Penni Jo, Connie, and Betty brought items for Show and Tell.
Tom brought some small bottles for us to cover for Bottles of Hope and some wonderful ones were made! You can see a video of some of those in progress on our Facebook page here.
The minutes for December were approved. Penni Jo made the motion and Lori seconded. Since our secretary was not able to be with us, Penni Jo agreed to take the minutes this month and was helped by Connie. Betty agreed to write them up. Team effort!
Shirley was not available to update us on the upcoming programs, but Betty had the information. Lee Ann will be showing us how to make vase molds at our February meeting and Betty will teach us how to make roses in March. Our retreat is in April. The new VP will set the programs after that.
Lee Ann gave the Treasurer’s report. We ended the year with 26 paid members. We have 11 who have paid for 2020. Several of those paid at the meeting.
Jane gave an update on the Guild Library. The 2019 Polymer Journeys has arrived. Organics is on the way.
New officers were elected for 2020. The members Betty had contacted about holding an office declined which left us without a ballot. After much discussion and cajoling, Penni Jo offered to be Vice President if someone would take the job of President which Connie volunteered to do. Kathy made the nominations official and Angel seconded. Connie and Penni Jo were unanimously elected. Katherine had thought she would be back and would continue as secretary. No one has heard from her, so it was decided to wait on a decision for the position of secretary until the February meeting.
The rubric for State Fair judging was discussed and it was decided that we will get together with Chris Crossland at the Retreat to hammer that out.
Because of changes in Betty’s circumstances with New Day Church, it was decided that we will continue to meet at her house until we find out something about the new Arts Center. Other options for a meeting place were discussed. The Yukon Library is always a backup, but we can’t have our ovens there. Connie has checked into the Will Rogers Garden Exhibition Building. There is a one-year waiting list to get a room there, but she will check into putting us on their list in case we can’t get back into the Arts Center. Betty will check to see what Bethany First Nazarene’s policy is for groups to meet there. Angel will check into the possibility of meeting at Tinker.
Tom addressed the need to work on the letters to request sponsors for donations for the Retreat. Angel has already contacted some. It was also discussed to get a UPS box at $30/month for the deliveries that will be arriving. Other options were discussed including deliveries to someone’s home who is home much of the time. Betty volunteered to use her address and it was agreed to by unanimous consent.
Betty showed the new website with the options for registering for Retreat. We will be using PayPal to process payments. Since we will be having to process payments for the rooms in addition to other Retreat items, we discussed whether we should charge extra to cover the PayPal fees. Penni Jo moved for the Guild to cover the fees and Angel seconded. Motion carried. Part of the issue with the website was not having the ability to put multiple options for the rooms in just two listings instead of needing to make a listing for each option, e.g. the number of people in a room. It would be $49/year for a plugin that will give the ability to choose how many in a room which will make it easier both for Betty and for those registering. Penni Jo moved to purchase the plugin. Connie seconded. Motion carried. It was decided that we would have a 30-day cutoff for the Early Bird price after we open Registration to the public. The member coupon will be good the entire time. Tom will send out emails to the members as soon as Betty can finish the website which will be within the next week.
Betty mentioned the need for a Publicity Person and offered to take on that job. She will set up a Facebook Group for the Guild, create events for meetings and the Retreat, and will do Lives from time to time to help promote the Guild. Connie will work with her on other ways to promote the Guild.
We held our bi-monthly drawing. Tom, Betty, and ?? provided bags. The winners were Angel, Connie, and Tom. They will need to bring bags for our next drawing in March.
Betty reminded everyone that has not paid their dues yet that they are due now.
Our next meeting will be on February 8, 2020, at Betty’s home.
