St. Mary’s Mother’s Guild Meeting

October 15, 2007

Refreshments provided by the Mother’s Guild Board. 7:30 p.m. Meeting opened with a prayer.

President – Lisa O’Rourke

• Explained purpose of the Mother’s Guild as the main source of fundraising for St. Mary’s School.
• Thanked parents for the wonderful turnout for the first Mother’s Guild meeting.
• Class with the largest participation will receive free ice cream.
• Parents receive an hour of Parent Participation for attending the meeting.

Monsignor Bellew

• Installation of Diane McGregor – Executive Board member.
• Spoke about how the Mother’s Guild fundraising efforts fit into the budget of the school.
• Mother’s Guild is projected to raise $24,785 this year to offset the $231,546 supplement that the church provides to the school.
• Parish is committed to the school.
• Parents are requested to be Ambassadors of good will for St. Mary’s School. Please talk up the school, participate in the Mother’s Guild, and come to church on Sunday with your children.

School Report - Mrs. Mary Ellen LaRose

• Thanks all the parents for supporting the school. Grateful for the volunteerism in school, as the school could not operate without parent volunteers.
• Looking for some volunteers to help sort out areas of the school where materials have accumulated. Particularly one of the closets off the lunch room.
• To add to Monsignor’s comments, please say good things about St. Mary’s, to outsiders and amongst yourselves as this is uplifting. Talking negatively does more damage than we know. Please bring problems to Mrs. LaRose’s attention first.
• Olweus Bullying Prevention Program is underway and an impact has already been seen with the students. This is a long-term program that becomes ingrained in the culture of the school. St. Mary’s was featured in Catholic New York and the local news for participating in the program.
• Winter uniforms begin Monday October 22^nd. Please be sure to review guidelines, no short white socks, must have sweatpants and sweatshirts for gym days. Gym shorts are optional but must be worn under sweats.
• Class picture day is Thursday October 28^th – must be in full winter uniforms. No dress down passes allowed this day.
• Individual photo retakes will be scheduled.
• Thank you to Verizon, Mr. Thomas, Mr. Jempty and other volunteers for painting the map of the United States on the blacktop. Thanks to Christina Ungar for bringing this to our school.
• Thank you to Christine Hickey and the volunteers at the Thrift Shop for the work they are doing.
• After school program is going very well, the children seem to enjoy it.

Treasurer’s Report – Mrs. Kim Saba

• Current balance: $6,867.51
• Mum sale earned $272.00
• Macy’s Shop for a Cause - $170.00
• 124 26-week club tickets have been sold.
• Craft Fair results at November’s meeting.
• $2,400 transferred to the school

Financial Secretary’s Report – Jennifer Lindros

• 92 paid Guild members to date.
• Guild dues are $10.00 per family and help to offset some of the expense of the Guild.
• Dues paying members are allowed to vote at Guild meetings.
• Paying members receive a Mother’s Guild listing containing the names, addresses and phone number of school families.

Family Fun Night Report – Diane Madden

• Family Fun Night to be held Friday, October 19th
• 106 children attending (to date), and 18 parent volunteers
• Will include games, limbo, ring toss, refreshments, etc.
• Chris Argiento will be providing the music again this year

Craft Fair Report – Christina Ungar

• Craft Fair to be held Saturday November 10^th
• Will open early this year at 9:00am, set up will be Friday 11/9
• 54 vendors booked, 2 spots left in lunch room
• Raffle table doing well with over 100 items to date, preview weekend for raffle table will be November 3^rd and 4^th.

Please get any raffle donations to Lisa Monaco by Friday 10/19.

Breakfast with Santa Report – Diane Madden

• To be held Sunday December 16^th
• Pictures with Santa, breakfast, crafts, etc.

Cookie Walk this date as well. Families will be asked to bake cookies, which will be sold by the pound.

Script Program – Patricia Yearance and Lynne Simonetty

• Program in which gift cards are purchase through the school and the school receives a percentage of the purchase.
• Many retailers to choose from. Great for holidays, gifts, or daily use to supermarkets, gas stations, etc.
• Orders will be placed monthly, 1^st Friday deadline for orders.
• Turn-around time to receive the cards is said to be 7 – 10 days.
• See full list of retailers at www.shopwithscrip.com

Other Items:

• Sabrina Pilon created a listing of the many volunteer opportunities within the Mother’s Guild.
• Box Tops – we’ve raised over $200 so far this year. Campbells Soup Labels – School was able to purchase a digital camera and an easel with a dry erase board from collected labels. Please drop off Box Tops and soup labels in box in the school lobby.
• Thrift Shop – Celebrated being in business for one year in August, raising over $10,000. Would like to find a volunteer with Advertising experience to help promote the shop.
• BJ’s Memberships – 43 sold to date.
• Price Chopper – sign up online with your Price Chopper membership card to earn school points which Mrs. LaRose can use to purchase items online. Family members outside the area can also sign up and have their points go to St. Mary’s.
• Uniform exchange – feel free to take needed items. Located downstairs near lunchroom, closet doors should be unlocked. When donating items, please be sure they are in good conditions, no holes, stains, etc.
• Internet Safety Presentation will be held at the school on Thursday October 25^th at 7:30pm.

Motion to close was made by Trish Santiago and Diane McGregor.

Meeting ended with a prayer.

Respectfully submitted,

St. Mary’s Mother’s Guild