June 14, 2023: Global Connections Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
Members in Attendance:
Voting members: Bob Persiko, Bruce Truitt, Melanie Miller Foster, Anna Borisova de Valdez, Deb Leo, Shannon Holliday.
Call to order at 7:09 PM. May minutes were accepted as submitted.
Reports of officers:
President – Bob
Bob reported:
- Kieran attended a luncheon offered by the borough in which GC was honored. Moreover, GC got a $500 donation from the Borough for its excellent work.
- Bob has so far not succeeded in getting an Iranian team to cook at a possible Iranian luncheon. He’ll keep trying.
- Rita stepped down from being the membership committee chair. Bob will be looking for a replacement. There are 96 members in WA, and 91 of them are active members, 188 contacts (250 is the limit).
- Anna is going to step down from being the secretary in August/September 2023. Bob will be looking for a replacement.
Vice President – Kieran – absent
Treasurer – Bruce
Bruce reported:
- GC’s current balance in the checking account is $5,009 and $31,000 in the money market.
- Major bills of GC have been paid.
Public relations, website, and social media – Marco – absent
Penn State Global – Wenjie Fu – absent
Cultural Luncheons Committee – Shannon Holiday
Shannon has a negotiation with Unitarian Fellowship Church to utilize their facilities for GC luncheons with a feasible discounted rate.
2-3 luncheons are planned to be organized in 2023. The dates are still to be determined.
Possible luncheons:
- Scotland: the executive director of Hope Center County (Scottish) is willing to host, cater and provide a presentation.
- Japan: the pastor’s wife of the United Methodist Church has agreed to host it in their facility and cater a Sushi bar.
- Africa: working on
Small Groups – Debbie Leo
- The book groups (beginners and intermediate/advanced level) are on summer break till the end of August.
- Number of members this year increased, and each group will try to attain ten members.
Unfinished business:
Centre Gives: Bob proposed that GC will use the money received during the Center Gives to sponsor scholarships for English classes for immigrant family adults through the Mid State Literacy Council. GC will make those recipients members of GC. If this pilot is successful it could become an annual project.
Motion: Bob
Seconded: Shannon
Discussions: none
The Motion passes. Bob will negotiate terms with the Literacy Council and report back to EC members.
New Business
- Bruce said that the Google Drive of GC needs to be put in order. Decisions need to be made: Who should have oversight of the site? Should we delete old documents? Should we limit what gets posted? Should we share links with EC/publish on GC Website? Bob offered to go through the documents and delete old ones. Melanie said that a previous secretary had culled a lot. Bruce said that it’s important to make one person responsible for maintenance. It could be a responsibility of the Secretary. Melanie cautioned that we not overload too much on the Secretary. Anna agreed that this could be assigned to the Secretary, but she noted that a new Secretary would not know what is important. It was decided to assign this as a secretarial responsibility. Access to all documents needs to be given to all EC members. Make the Drive a repository of all key documents. The Bylaws and Standing Rules only provide vague guidance on such responsibilities. Bob will draft a list of duties and responsibilities of the secretarial position and circulate it to the EC members for consideration. Bruce will review the Standing Rules to see how they can be amended to reflect what the Secretary should do.
- Discussion on Membership Picnic was tabled to a future meeting.
- State College Spikes baseball home game on June 21. Need an event reminder to be sent to all members.
Meeting adjournment: 8:15
Prepared and submitted by Anna Borisova de Valdez 06/25/2023 with edits by Bob Persiko, 6/26/23.
The following GC EC meetings will be in August.