--There have been concerns about the coach/parent relationships. The coaches want to reestablish the coaching/parent communication. We can do our part by coming together as a parent group. We want to make a fresh start this year with CAF.
--Please email questions and concerns about the CAF group to the executive committee or Mat Clark (President) mcfivepower5@msn.com. Please voice your concerns, but also voice a solution to the problem. Furthermore, how do you see yourself helping with the solution?
--If everyone involved in CAF helps out with answers to the problems, we all benefit
--We are reviewing tonight what CAF is doing this year for 2007/2008. Please allow the executive committee time to catch up on running the group. We should be in full working order by the end of the summer. Please be patient while we catch-up. Please remember we were left with a huge mess in certain areas and we need to clean up the mess to function well as a CAF executive committee and membership group.
--In order to turn this parent group around we have a lot to learn and a lot of fixing to accomplish.
--Executive meetings are always open to everyone. We will have dates for the upcoming meetings coming out this summer for the entire next year. Please feel free to come and express ideas. Please plan on coming with your input to help CAF out for the future.
--Does the executive committee have ideas for the future of CAF? Yes, but the CAF executive committee is not perfect. Please help us out.
--Tonight we will discuss filling all our CAF committee slots, fireworks stand, and the December 2007 state meet
--What prompted the need for change in the CAF group?
It started with observations at the gym. There was unhappiness by many at this gym all the way around Gold Star. We had to confront certain parents in order to stop the rumors and badmouthing that was going on. We lost some families in the process.
--Miscommunication at the beginning of the season caused much discord and badly written emails brought this ugliness into our homes. Because of this, these issues were dealt with and we have now moved on.
--Recently we had a previous CAF member who sabotaged the fireworks stand fundraiser, but we have fixed it.
--In regards to participation as a CAF member, what does that look like?
--We need a team atmosphere. Why do we have an attitude of every man for himself? We need to change that.
--What should we do about that attitude of ever man for himself?
--What is that attitude doing to our gymnasts?
--Coaches are doing their job at the meets and at the gym, so why all the discord?
--Mat Clark has met with Coach Chere and has clarified a lot of questions and concerns. He has bypassed the rumors and gone straight to the source for correct information. He has gotten the real story. We have begun to mend the relationship between the parents and coaches.
--CAF members, what does it really entail? The executive committee is going to put themselves out there and lead by example. We will start with the goals for this year in regards to putting this group parent group back into one piece.
Goals: * To bring clarity to the definition of a CAF member. What does that require of me as a parent?
*Keep parents informed about CAF matters and issues
*Re-organize CAF, return back to and follow the written by-laws and rules
(IRS requires us to do certain things as a non-profit group. There are certain things that aren’t negotiable.)
We will be re-implementing certain items in the CAF by-laws. These are not new items, just re-starting things that were dropped. This is to keep us in compliance as a non-profit organization.
The beginning of the new CAF calendar begins July 1, 2007 and ends June 30, 2008.
By-laws we are re-instating
*Active participation to be in CAF
*Attendance in meetings etc, see the notes handed out
-Active membership is in the by-laws, and required to be 501c3
-A weak CAF group doesn’t benefit the gymnasts. It doesn’t help with the financial burden of being a gymnast. When we have money, it allows the gymnasts to go more places, enter better meets, attend summer camps. Without money the gymnasts are limited to the local gym only.
-If everybody does a little, we can accomplish a lot, and ultimately the gymnasts benefit. That is why CAF exists.
-Active attendance begins July 2007 with membership meetings, one each month. One family member needs to attend each meeting. One person needs to represent the athlete of the family, and each family to attend 85% of the meetings which is 10 out of 12 meetings. Another CAF member cannot attend the meeting for you, but it can be a grandparent or an aunt that can help you out is acceptable.
-We need you to attend to the meeting. We need everyone’s input for more ideas. Members have already had several good ideas. Please come to meetings prepared with your input.
We will give a calendar of the meeting days and times. We will get the schedule out early summer. We will have a definite location for the meeting. It will try to make it a place of convenience for people. We don’t want meetings to be a surprise. These meetings are scheduled well in advance.
-There will be a meeting make-up date as well. We are all very busy and we want to help make it easier with our busy lives. The week we have a meeting, there will also be a make-up date. We will have the make-up date on the CAF meeting calendar.
-Please pick one date and come, whether it be the actual meeting day or the make-up day.
The minutes of the meeting will be emailed out as well within 24 to 48hrs of the meeting. We need everyone’s correct updated email addresses where we can reach you. The minutes will be a re-cap of the ideas that were presented at the meeting. Having the minutes to read following the meeting will allow you to re-visit topics and be able to reflect on ideas and maybe respond to certain items if need be.
Changes for fundraisers—
*We want to have a few big fundraisers rather than several small fundraisers. It is necessary to have fundraisers. It is the reason why CAF exists. We are here to make money for the gymnasts.
If everyone does a little bit of the work, the whole CAF group and ultimately the gymnasts will benenfit.
*We need to enhance the general fund. We have to have an operating budget, and we need to increase the minimum amount that exists in our account.
*We need to give families a chance to reduce the competition fees.
3 mandatory large fundaisers ad book/state meet (combo), golf tournament, and fireworks stand
--The golf tournament ground work has been established. The golf course enjoyed having us there. The golfers enjoyed themselves at the tournament. There is the potential to make a substantial amount of money. We plan to have it again next year.
--Fireworks stand which is coming up very soon. This one coming up for July 2007 is not mandatory. We will start the mandatory fundraiser requirements with the ad book/state meet in the fall.
--Ad book/state meet-Chere will give us more information shortly
As a CAF group, we are trying new things. We need input as we go. We need to start somewhere if we are to accomplish anything. This is where we are starting in terms of fundraising.
-There will be a minimum amount of time that will be required for each family member to fundraise at each large fundraiser.
-This means there will be a little bit of work for everyone, but the work will be obtainable.
-Like always, a small percentage of each fundraiser will go to the general fund before money is put into individual accounts. We want to start getting away from the “me” attitude and begin thinking “team” attitude.
-We all know the amount of money to compete increases as the level of the gymnast increases. We are going to give each gymnast a percentage of the total amount of money earned to make it fair and equitable. (However this does not apply to the upcoming fireworks fundraiser. This one will proceed as normal. (10% to CAF and the rest earned into your child’s account.)
-Let’s keep in mind equitable. It can be confusing. We need to make it worth while for all depending on the amount of fees each gymnast has for the competition season.
-There will be one optional fundraiser each year. It is not required but optional. Laura Skinner has suggested some past fundraisers that have worked. We are open to suggestions on the optional fundraiser. If you choose to participate, the funds will go to your child’s individual account. Like always a small portion will go towards the general fund. The general fund portion will be a lesser amount than the larger fundraiser.
-To meet the rules set by the IRS we need active participation. The last few years we have not been in compliance. We need to get into compliance
-We have had many situations where a few people are doing all the work. This needs to change.
-Are these jobs that need to be done horribly time consuming? No. Really, the executive committee has a lot of work, but the other committees aren’t so bad. They aren’t overwhelming tasks to be completed.
-There have been complaints like “why aren’t things getting done”? Filling the CAF jobs will help fix this problem.
-Hosting our own meet? This is coming. What do we need to do to help with the meet? Chere will talk about this soon.
--The committees are posted behind us on these poster boards. Please look at them.
--There are a lot of people here who believe we can re-organize and re-establish this CAF group. We need to work as a team to be successful. We have already had people volunteer for committees.
--To be a required active committee member it means one family member on one committee and no more than 2 committees.
--Only executive committee members are on more than 2 committees.
-CAF committee members have stepped up to the plate and filled slots. There are 45 total jobs and so far 31 jobs are already filled. In terms of committees, we are doing terrific.
-We have up here the committees listed. Please fill in a spot. One representative for each family shoul sign up before you leave here tonight. These are active member positions. These are helping positions.
-This is part of our compliance as a non-profit group to have these jobs filled.
-We don’t want members to feel left out. There may not be a slot for you to fill so please let us know. We want people in spots of strengths for these committees.
-We can shift people from different jobs if we need too.
-If a board is filled, don’t let that stop you. Please fill in your name at the bottom for your committee of choice.
-Next the fireworks stand will be discussed. Although we had some problems, we will be in good shape this year for the stand and for years to come.
Fireworks Stand--Unfortunately, we had a past parent call Bomber Brothers and tell them that CAF did not want the stand anymore. This was not a true statement. Bomber Brothers was not happy with CAF last year and really did not want to work with us anymore. They did not call us to confirm the desire to not have a stand. I assured bomber Brothers that we did want a stand this year and for many years to come. I assured them that CAF would be a lot more organized and prepared this year. If there is something that you do not understand in regards to the fireworks stand, please contact Mat, Michelle or Doug. We need to do this right and we must conduct this stand professionally.
Our location is the same at Golden Skate parking lot. Our visibility is going to be better-we are going to be a little further east and closer to 4th Plain BLVD.
Here are the slots of shifts that need to be filled. (See the poster board)
We need everybody to have the opportunity to get a chance to make money for their gymnast. Please only sign up for 2 time slots for now.
As of Wednesday June 13, it will become “open season” and you may sign up for as many slots as you would like or that are available.
We need to make sure that we have at least one male helping close the firework stand on each night. If we can’t get this, we need somebody to have their husband come and help for security reasons.
We are going to need a crew to help set up the stand, June 27 at 8AM.
We are going to need a crew to help tear the tent, July 4th at 9PM.
Change of shifts are going to be done at the same time every day. This will help us keep track of money better and make sure that anybody who is not sure of their job can be properly oriented. Mat, Doug, and Laurie will be there to help with this at change of shifts. Everyone should be comfortable in how to do their job correctly.
State Meet--Chere talking—I put the bid in to host the Level 4,5,6 meet and they really wanted Vancouver to host it. We got it because of this and because we have held meets before. This is the biggest meet with the smallest amount of judge expenses. It is meant to be a showcase for our Gold Star gymnasts. Our gymnasts may or may not compete depending on the schedule.
It will be either at Prairie High School or at the Clark County fairgrounds.
This meet has the best potential to be the most profitable for us.
I have to rent an18 wheeler to move equipment. There are many other specific requirements that I am expected to comply with for this meet.
There are many other costs that I am responsible for as well.
Typically, my deal with the parent group (CAF) is that we split the gate, sell the ad book,--ultimately the CAF group is making about 4000-5000 dollars for themselves.
Chere pretty much organizes the whole thing and then the jobs get filled. Families typically have to…
--Help with either set up or tear down
--Work 1-2 sessions of the meet
--The gymnast helps with 1 session of the meet
These meets in the past have went very well for us and have been very successful.
I need to provide a coaches hospitality, I need to get hotel rooms for judges, and any possible connections that you have to help us with this would be great. We really want to find ways to cut costs on these expenses so it will help everybody’s bottom line. There are a lot of set fees and expenses.
I will post the areas that I am going to need help with “outside connections” to help the meet.
Concessions are an area where we will need help. We want to make sure that we are selling things that we can actually sell.
We are going to be hosting other small meets this season as well, not a lot of money to be making but it is good promotion for the gym.
Any questions use the email addresses, please find your place on the committee board
Executive committee members elected see the board to the very left.
Please sign in that you attended the meeting.
Thank you for coming,
Executive Committee