PTA Minutes November 17, 2009

St. Brigid’s School
PTA Meeting

Minutes for
November 17, 2009



Present: Kathy Berghela, Mary Anne Cecchetto, Amy Drzewiecki, Rita Fahr, Mary Anne McHarg and Ralph Provenza


Meeting began at 6:40 p.m.

Opening prayer led by Mary Anne Cecchetto

The minutes from last month’s meeting were reviewed and approved by all.

OLD BUSINESS
Ziti Dinner
Comments on the success of the ziti dinner – “delicious, best sauce – better than a restaurant.” Ralph Provenza reported that 130 dinners were sold and we brought in about $1,000 – little less than the year before. Mary Anne Cecchetto noted that this year was not a Presidential election year, as was last which may be why we had less turnout. Items to put down for next year – recycling bin, bottles of water and be sure servers (students) wear plastic gloves and that the students have an adult supervising the serving of the food, etc.

Saturday Night at the Hall Series – 11/07/09
All agreed that this was a great event, in spite of the low turnout. Mary Anne Cecchetto commented that if we do this event again in the future, we need to sell tickets in advance in order to ensure there are enough sales. Discussion about not advertising as a fundraiser (which we did not) and about having signs printed for advertising; spoke of areas to place signs to advertise. Amy Drzewiecki suggested a blanket email about events in order to get the word out. Rita Fahr suggested having local TV station video and then put the video on the public access channel. Mary Anne Cecchetto asked if we want to try this event again? Talked about having it in the beginning of March - there was talk about the timing of events – not having them too close together. She said we need to have individual committees; media, decorations, ticket sales, etc. Kathy Berghela suggested handing out flyers at events advertising future events.

After much discussion, however, it was decided not to do the Hall Series at this time. It was decided to host three major events during the year. These three events were agreed upon: the Gala, Block Party and Yard Sale.



Gala
A suggested time frame for this event would be sometime in March. Mary Anne Cecchetto has agreed to contact alumni that had offered to help out on this event. This will get the ball rolling and a chair would then be set up.

Block Party
A suggested time frame for this event would be sometime in May. Rita Fahr has agreed to chair this event. Suggestions for the block party were: dunking booth, three-legged races, egg toss, free throw basketball, batting cage, soccer kickoff, golf net, etc. We would charge for the food and dunk tank. There was discussion on getting police chief, fire chief, etc. for the dunk tank and blocking off the street. There was talk of an evening event for adults after the block party, i.e., hip hop dance-a- thon.

Yard Sale
Mary Anne Cecchetto has agreed to chair this event. A suggested time frame for this event will be in August.
Discussion continued on the planning of events: having a calendar for all events, setting up chairperson(s) for events and contacting people to work on the committees. Ralph Provenza will get information from the liturgical calendar for the parish. The benefit of events, i.e., monetary and bringing in more students was also discussed.

Rita Fahr suggested starting a binder with information about the planning of events. The binder will help the chairperson(s) for the same event next year.

Cheesecake Sale
The sale closed out this week; it was a success. Pickup is this Friday, 11/20/09 and cheesecakes will be distributed after school that same day.

Entertainment Books
It has been a slow sale this year, but we should see some profit on this. The official deadline is this Friday, 11/20/09 but we will have them available after this date.

Adopt A Family
Very slow – the deadline for donations is November 18th.

NEW BUSINESS

Hannaford Gift Cards
Rita Fahr suggested that Hannaford gift cards be sold at the school office. Ralph Provenza reported that they are going to be available in the school office.

OTHER NEWS
Ralph reported that Father Deimeke will be receiving the Neumann Award at the upcoming diocesan Mass. Sister Lucia was nominated for top teacher by Channel 13.

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 6:30 p.m.; there will not be a December meeting. The meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.