Michigan Blind Athletic Association

Board of Directors’ meeting minutes

December 10, 2008

Directors present: Richard Hodges, Tom Coyne, Frank Wolf, John Hulsebus, Mike Branch, Sue Fluri, Tom Vance, John Boes and Sherry Gordon

Guests present: John Kusku, Paul Ponchillia, Scott and Leanne Ford (by telephone)

Boes called the meeting to order. Minutes from the October 2008 Board meeting were approved as distributed.

Treasurer’s report. Hodges reported we have received $6000 from the Upjohn Foundation and $4834 from the Ann Arbor Track Club. In October Hodges had paid the annual liability insurance premium to the Ron Jackson Agency ($174) plus reimbursement for the Florida youth goalball tournament ($4904.12). Balance in our treasury is now $18,730.55. Report was approved unanimously.

Boes announced we had received a check from the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, in the amount of $10,000. There is also an $8000 matching grant available. This was compared to last year’s amount of $15,000 with a $5000 matching grant. Boes indicated he would write Gilmore a thank you letter tomorrow. Boes commented we will probably need to have a discussion as a Board, as to how much to give to Sports Camp, as well as to all other events we sponsor, due to our reduced income.

Boes introduced John Kusku, indicating Kusku has a funding request. Kusku ran the Boston Marathon in April 2008. Kusku had received some financial support from the MBAA and thanked the Board for that. Kusku is running in the 2009 Boston Marathon on April 20, 2009. Kusku is incurring the following costs: registration $116; plus transportation for himself and at least 2 guide runners. Estimate of the airline tickets, per person, is $400—for a total cost to participate of about $1300. Vance raised the question of whether the $300 amount, per athlete, applies to this request or should this request be considered as a team? There has been no precedence set for this type of a request. Motion was made and unanimously approved to fund Kusku for at least $300 toward his expenses for the Marathon. Kusku was also asked to return to the MBAA’s February 2009 Board meeting—with the possibility that there might be additional funding available—once our 2009 budget has been determined. Kusku was also encouraged to seek out other funding sources—such as USABA. Lions Clubs and Gazelle Sports. Vance requested that Kusku send him a picture of him running in the Boston Marathon, for inclusion in the next MBAA annual report.

Boes asked Vance if he had an opportunity to do anything with the frames for the pictures which will be presented to our major donors. Vance indicated he has not done this as of today.

At this point, Scott and Leanne Ford joined our meeting via telephone conference. Scott and Leanne are in the process of taking over the administration of the SEC. Boes brought up the fact that it appears that for the 2008 SEC, the budgeted cost was greatly exceeded. Following a lengthy discussion, it is Paul’s belief that the total amount of expenditures submitted to the MBAA is $18,317. Scott will forward this Excel spread sheet to Sherry, who will forward this information to all MBAA Board members. Unfortunately Hodges did not have his spread sheet in front of him—so he could compare the information he has with what Paul has. Coyne asked that Hodges replicate the $24,000 total from the SEC costs so these figures can be compared for clarification.

Branch reported the bowlers will be going to the Midwest tournament in March. Some of the bowlers went to an invitational tournament, held in Pennsylvania. Branch and his partner, Patricia Bailey, took first place in the totally blind category. Congratulations Mike and Pat!

Gordon reported on the 2008 youth national goalball tournament, held in St. Augustine, Florida, October 23-25. Both the boy’s team and the girl’s team made it to the quarter final rounds. Although both teams were defeated in these rounds, the athletes did a very nice job this year! There is talk about some of the kiddos from the national tournament playing in the Kalamazoo tournament which will be held February 28 and March 1, 2009.

Ponchillia indicated that for this year’s Kalamazoo regional goalball tournament, Luke Patterson will be the tournament director, with Gordon coordinating volunteers. Possibility of asking Luke to participate as a director on the MBAA Board was briefly discussed.

Fluri indicated the Michigan regional Ski for Light event will be held January 16-18, 2009. Cost this year is $102 for the weekend, plus $5 for ski rental. Fluri does plan to attend this event. The International Ski for Light is the second week in February in Utah. Boes noted that if there were any students from the Training Center who might be interested in attending the Michigan Ski for Light event, they could request funding assistance from the MBAA. Fluri will speak with Karen Cornell from the Training Center.

Wolf brought up the fact that for the past many years, when grant requests were submitted, they also included a report of what we had done during the past year. Wolf and Coyne talked and both feel that we are at a point now where we could have our annual report include a formal report from bowling, goalball, the SEC and skiing. The annual report could replace the “highlights” which have been given out in the past.

Wolf suspects we may be able to obtain some money from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation—possibly a couple of thousand dollars toward the cost of our Kazoo goalball tournament. Wolf also suggested the possibility of applying to the Kellogg Foundation. Wolf noted he had visited their web site; it appears to be quite obscure. Ponchillia noted at one point, the MBAA had visited with the Kellogg Foundation folks. One of the challenges is that an organization needs to show they have “sustaining funds”; otherwise the Kellogg Foundation will not offer assistance. Ponchillia thought one of our biggest donors could be the Michigan Braille Transcribers’ Fund—thinking the MBTF might give $10,000, if requested. Both Wolf and Ponchillia offered to take a look at the MBTF web site, regarding possible grant applications.

Ponchillia also suggested contacting the Michigan Department of Education/Low Incidence Outreach (MDE-LIO) program, especially when so many of the schools who send students to the SEC—end up giving the students physical education credit because the schools are not providing the appropriate gym classes for students who are blind or visually impaired. The SEC is actually providing services which the schools should be providing. These facts may give us additional leverage in requesting money from the MDE-LIO program. Gordon will contact Collette Bauman at the LIO program to see if additional funding might be available.

Discussion was also held, regarding the Portage Lions Club. At our June 2008 meeting, Sue Kemper was present and indicated the Lions had a fund of money and were looking for “projects” to utilize that money for. Leanne noted there was a gal whose name she could not remember, who assisted with the track meet and also indicated the Portage Lions would help with whatever they could. She also suggested the possibility that there be sponsor names printed on the back of the SEC t-shirts; sponsors could pay a fee to have their name printed on the t-shirt. This gal also suggested the possibility of approaching local food spots so that instead of having sandwiches every day for lunch, there could be more of a variety of food. Also, she suggested the possibility of having something a little nicer for the Saturday awards luncheon, rather than just pizza. Leanne will find the name of this gal who had all of these ideas and will get that name to Gordon.

Meeting was adjourned.

The next MBAA Board meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 14 at 4:00 p.m. at the Michigan Commission for the Blind Training Center.

Respectfully submitted,

Sherry Gordon, MBAA Secretary