Macy’s 1^st Committees/Planning Meeting Minutes

May 19^th, 2003

Present: Joyce Schaar, Susan Dybvig, Donna Rinckel, Carla Williams, Linda Clemmer,

Chris Allswede, Roberta “Coco” Cradick, Beth Popplewell, Maggi Schuman,

Terri Taylor, David Williams, Jill Budnick, Janis Stockhouse, Tom Wilson, John Budnick.

We convened the first Macy’s Committee/Planning meeting at 7:05 PM in the Orchestra Room. Jill will act in coordinating capacity with committees reporting via email, etc. on a regular basis (at least once a month) to outline progress. At least one more get-started meeting is planned (see below). To date, at least 95 students are signed up to go, with another group signed on just today.

Agenda items were outlined by Janis as follows:

1.) Promotion

2.) Group/Individual Fund Raisers

3.) Chaperones

4.) Itinerary

5.) Fan bus.

1.) Promotion

Roberta “Coco” Cradick agreed to chair a promotions/marketing committee. We discussed getting some HT stories/press releases together in the next few weeks/months to keep interest level high in the community. Any such stories should include fundraiser dates. Suggestions were to include the Indy media as well, since Macy’s represents the entire state. Beth Popplewell said she had some connections with Ch. 13 camerapeople and would make inquiries how to get some publicity on-air.

Tied in with any publicity should be a constant reminder that donations are gladly accepted to help the band and individual members defray the cost of the trip (costs discussed more in detail in 2.) Fundraising, below). Maggi said an account at Monroe Bank (and bank address) could be shown in such stories so people could just send in donations following such stories.

Yard signs were discussed; some people thought Jane Weiser may know of how these get made and/or any city regulations on such private signage. Other publicity ideas included Arts Fair On the Square opportunities (table?, small ensembles playing?), morning news shows on the Indy media, and Saturday morning Farmers’ Market. David Williams said he would call Jane Weiser to see if she knows anything about the city allowing such publicity at the market. The idea of having a ready “quote sheet” with statements from the kids over their being fired up for this was put up as well. This quote sheet could be used when soliciting businesses.

One of the overall intents of promotions/marketing was to make the Macy’s event so well known that potential donors instantly recognize the event and make contributions on the spot, if at all possible.

2.) Fundraising

No one has yet agreed to chair the fundraising committee. As discussed below, there is also a need for chairpersons for each individual fundraiser. Janis handed out sheets from the Pasadena fundraising as ideas to get started.

The need for fundraising was outlined as covering at least the following known costs, as well as what remains unknown so far:

--scholarships at 1/3 ($150) per scholarship

--new guard uniforms specifically for Macy’s. These must be substantially warmer than

the fall MB season guard outfits.

--truck transportation costs

--possible truck repainting with sponsors’ names

--some general reimbursement for students to reduce personal financial outlays, if

possible.

--partial chaperone trip cost offset.

--optional student activities such as Broadway shows, etc.

SILENT AUCTION/DINNER. This would be modeled somewhat after the Habitat for Humanity silent auction/dinner. A local restaurant would be contacted to see about arranging either a weeknight or Friday night dinner and auction. Fall would probably be best for this, but we don’t want a Saturday evening conflict with MB competitions. Sarah Laughlin was mentioned as having experience with this. Donna Rinckel said she would call Sarah. Janis said she would call Montessori as they have apparently done some similar things. Ideas for getting the auction items out for display at the band parent orientation night (and anywhere else there are gatherings) were brought up. Janis’ list from Pasadena had a good 20 or more items which were auctioned.

CAR RAFFLE: Pasadena raised $42,000 on a car raffle (a Nissan), but apparently the State rules on raffles have changed, making this harder. Susan Dibvig thought she might know someone to contact in the Dept. of Revenue or Attorney General’s office to ask about this. If we do such a raffle, the band students would be the ideal people to stand outside Target, the mall, WalMart, etc. and sell tickets.

BUSINESS DONATIONS. Susan Dibvig brought up the idea of Indy media publicizing the story with a tie-in to donations. In the more general sense, a form letter for businesses showing specific items (cost of truck transportation, cost of a new guard uniform, etc.) was suggested to give a tangible target for a business to hit.

GROUP GARAGE SALE. Maggi and others discussed the past group garage sales. Any such sale needs to have people responsible for their own stuff, with sales turned in on the honor system as people wrap up. August would be a good month as the IU crowd returns looking for bargains to outfit their apartments, etc. (Fritz Terrace right behind the school has a neighborhood sale about the 2^nd or 3^rd week of August, so perhaps tie into this since there will be lots of traffic in the area??). This activity definitely needs a chairman to make sure we don’t leave large amounts of goods littering the school parking lot.

CHRISTMAS CD. Janis and Tom pretty much took this one on themselves, and this is a fairly streamlined process which has been done before.

CORPORATE PICNICS. Tom was going to look more into details on this, but $1500-$2000 per event for using the band students for labor is not unheard of. Parents need to be there to supervise, though.

CAR WASHES. John brought this up, and WalMart is known to match dollar-for-dollar any money raised.

FOURTH OF JULY CLEANUP. Dave Williams brought up his experience with Scouts getting paid to clean up after the 4^th of July parade. They did most of the pickup while the parade was going on and had little extra to do once it ended so were done quickly. He felt they made good money (amounts not stated). Dave thought he would call Jane Weiser on this as well, since she works for the City, and ask how a group gets the contract.

3.) Chaperone selection

Janis, Tom, Jill, and John would meet in the near future to go over the chaperone submissions and select a group. There have been around 30 submissions so far, and around 15 chaperones or so are needed.

4.) Itinerary Changes

The only expected itinerary changes would be to get a decision on Broadway shows selected with MTC, the travel company. Tom brought up both The Lion King and Aeida (sp?) as being appropriate for this age group. There apparently are many possible choices, with some not being appropriate for this age group.

5.) Fan Bus

If there is enough interest, a separate fan bus could be chartered by MTC and would follow a “parallel” (though not identical) itinerary as the kids’ & chaperones’ itinerary. It was not known the exact minimum needed to charter a 55-passenger bus, and John suggested perhaps 45?, but this was guessing. John stated he would email our MTC contact and ask about details here. Also, a general email out to the listserv would be made to get a sense of how many people might want to take advantage of the fan bus.

We closed by agreeing to have a follow-up meeting Thursday, June 5^th from 6-8 PM in the orchestra room. We would check progress on these start-up issues and also try to get more participation and more chairpersons by then. We adjourned at 8:10 PM.

Submitted,

John Budnick