Free Geek Michiana : Board Minutes 1/27/2009
FREE GEEK Michiana, Inc. - "Helping the Needy Get Nerdy"
Chairman Thomas Brown called the meeting of the board of directors of Free Geek Michiana (FGM) to order at 6:30 PM, Tuesday, January 27, 2009, in the Pokagon Room of the St. Joseph County Public Library, South Bend, Indiana.
Board members present: Thomas Brown,Chairman; Michael Cook, Secretary; Richard Zimmerman, Treasurer
Volunteers present: Chuq, Kevin, Jack, Phil, John M. (Forest), Jere.
Secretary Michael Cook read the minutes of the previous board meeting held on Thursday, November 13, 2008. The minutes were approved as read by acclimation.
The reports were delivered by:
Treasurer - Richard Zimmerman
Secretary - Michael Cook
Director - Thomas Brown
Full reports are included along with the agenda at the end of this document.
Tom stated the deadline to vacate our current warehouse facility is the end of July, 2009. We must have a new facility if we wish to continue recycling computers.
The following suggestions were made:
The following actions will be taken:
Tom moved that we expand the board by an indeterminate number. The maximum is 11 per our bylaws. We currently have 3 members on the board. The motion was seconded by Chuq.
The following suggestions were made:
The motion to expand the board of directors carried by consensus.
The issue is whether our data center donor will allow us to resell our bandwidth to non-profit organizations and individuals doing charitable work in our community and to raise funds for us. The data center allows its wholesale customers to resell bandwidth; however, because our bandwidth is donated, the data center might not let us resell.
Discussion was tabled until we can get more information about the terms of our colo agreement. Richard will contact our colo provider to clarify the terms of of service.
Penquincon will be held in the Detroit area (Romulus, MI) on May 1-3, 2009. Free Geek Michiana was invited to present at a track on the Free Geek movement and computer recycling/refurbishing.
Tom proposed that Mike, Richard and himself represent FGM at the convention. Richard was not interested. Mike agreed to be on the list with the caveat he might not be able to attend. Chuq and Phil volunteered to serve as alternates. The list of representatives (Tom, Mike, Chuq, Phil) was affirmed by consensus.
The issue, as Jack pointed out, is FGM will need 501c3 status to look for a new facility. Jack believes IRS tax-free status will encourage individuals and companies to donate space to us and lack of it might discourage potential donors.
Chuq made a motion to set a deadline for 501(c)(3) of March 1, 2009, to complete our 501c3 application. The motion was seconded by Mike.
Tom felt this was a reasonable deadline providing that others are able to lead the warehouse operation. Kevin, Chuq and Phil agreed to lead at the warehouse. The motion passed with Richard dissenting.
Jack will talk to an attorney who is also a CPA regarding reviewing our 501(c)(3) application pro bono. Tom said we might ask the Salvation Army South Bend Corps to serve a our 501c3 sponsor in case we don't get the application approved. They were our sponsor for the United Way entrepreneurial grant several years ago.
Chuq proposed that we purchase a Magic Jack VOIP device to provide VOIP telephone service to the warehouse and to use Google's Grand Central to provide local numbers, recording and forwarding services. After his presentation and discussion it was felt that telephone service at the warehouse was not needed at this time and the motion failed with 1 vote for and 3 against.
[Tom: Was there a second to Chuq's proposal?]
Chuq made a motion to purchase a digital projector to use for presentation. the motion failed without a second. The general belief is we wouldn't use a projector often enough to justify the expense. Forest says we can borrow his until we need our own.
Phil suggested that we institute an interactive forum style message board rather than rely on email for everything. We were short on time so Tom asked Phil if he would table his proposal until the next meeting. Phil agreed to do so.
Tom believes FGM needs to start a Linux Users Group (LUG) to support FreeBox recipients and to get them involved in FOSS advocacy. Time was short so Tom tabled the proposal and discussion until the next meeting.
Dates for the next several business meetings are set for the last Tues of each month. The motion passed without opposition.
[Tom: We need who proposed and seconded the monthly meetings.]
Tom moved that we adjourn, Kevin seconded. The proposal passed by acclimation. The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM.
DRAFT AGENDA, FREE GEEK BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING, 1/27/2009
I. Call to Order
A. 6:30 PM
II. Officer Reports
A. Director
1. New volunteers
2. Outreach programs
a. Perley
b. Wilson
c. Muessel
d. Colfax Cultural Center
e. Salvation Army
3. Web site
4. 501c3 application
B. Secretary
1. Read minutes of last meeting for additions, corrections and approval.
2. Additions to mailing list
C. Treasurer
1. Balance sheet and Profit/Loss report balances for
End of Year 2008 and Month-to-Date January 2009.
2. Major purchases.
III. Old Business
(not ordered)
. New facilities (warehouse and lab)
. Board expansion
. Colo server
. Penquincon
IV. New Business
. VOIP telephone/voice mail at warehouse
. Purchase digital projector
V. Next Meeting
Set date for next business meeting.
Roughly a half-dozen new volunteers have joined FGM since the last board meeting. I think all found us through our web site. We are weak on female volunteers and need to address the issue.
FGM is targeting Title 1 primary centers (K-4) in the South Bend Community School Corporation. We are also working with St. Casimir parochial school.
Title 1 is a federally legislated and funded program dedicated to early educational outreach and enrichment in schools where students are predominantly poor. Title 1 pays for free lunch and other services.
The South Bend Community School Corporation uses Title 1 fees to put Family and Community Specialists (FACS) in each Title 1 school. FGM is contacting and working with FACS.
South Bend has 19 primary centers. 12 of them are Title 1 schools which is 63% of primary centers.
Perley Primary School
Perley Primary Center is a Title 1 school. 71% of Perley students are eligible for free lunches and 7% for reduced lunch fees -- that's almost 80% of the students.
We've conducted three FreeBox classes at Perley. There are two scheduled classes left this semester and none planned, so far, for the summer break or the Fall semester of 2009. Nichole Smith is promoting Free Geek Michiana to other Family And Community Specialists (FACS).
Our next step at Perley is to plan for the rest of this semester, the summer break and next fall. We don't want the program to shrivel over the summer and force us to start from scratch next fall.
Wilson Primary
Wilson school supplies free lunch to 70% and reduced lunch fees to 11% of its students.
I delivered one FreeBox to raffle at a PTO meeting. Carol Sanner, the FACS at Wilson, asked for flyers to promote FreeBox classes. I have not supplied them with flyers yet because I'm not sure what kind of flyers will work best for primary schools. I spoke to Cindy in the Title 1 office who agreed that our lurid sci-fi and hard-boilded flyers are not appropriate. I offered to help Carol and Cindy design appropriate flyers.
Muessel Primary
Muessel school serves some of the poorest families in the city. 83% are eligible for free lunch and 6% get reduced fee lunch which is almost 89% of the student body.
Vida Bridges, who works with the Title 1 office at Muessel school, called me two weeks ago and inquired about FreeBox classes there. This morning Joann Fisher, the FACS at Muessel, and I discussed what it takes to set up a FreeBox program. Joann is excited about the program and wants to have a first class in late February or early March. She is approaching the Near Northwest Neighborhood Center regarding holding the classes at their center.
Colfax Cultural Center
The Center is a good choice for an LTSP lab and FGMLUG meetings since it is centrally located, provides off-street parking, is secure and well funded. The Center is located in the Muessel Primary school district. Colfax Center conducts outreach and educational enrichment programs for inner city youth and has some support from Notre Dame.
I spoke to the director, Gladys Muhammed, last week and this week about using the Charles Martin Center on the Colfax Center's campus for our lab and LUG. Ms. Muhammed said the basement flooded. Staff are painting and replacing carpeting. There is an unused computer lab in the basement, but it is full of material from the rooms being renovated. Ms. Muhammed will schedule a meeting between her, Warren Outlaw and me. Outlaw created the current computer lab which has set unused for several years. Ms. Muhammed welcomes an active computer program.
Salvation Army
I need to follow up with the Captains at the church regarding progress on the Kroc Center and the possibility of using the Kroc Center for an LTSP lab and LUG meeting place. The Kroc Center will also be well located, serve the same demographic market we target and will be well funded.
Our new colo server is up and running. Right now our web site is just two pages with links to the Archive.org version of our old web site. I have most of the Archive.org pages converted from HTML to Tcl/Rivet/HTML. We are not ready to start hosting web services for our volunteers and other non-profits.
The application has languished as usual although it is basically ready to type up. Richard and I need to produce financial statements for each year of operation to attach to the application.
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Page last updated: Thu May 14 08:35:17 2009