Community Cultural Celebration
Gathering meeting minutes
Aug 12, 2006

Gathering opened at 10:05 am, Karen Hawkins (recording secretary)
Attendees: Mody Botros, Alan Crabtree (took photos for PR), Sally Chappell, Rev Chong Choi, Joan Emerson, Ruth Glantz, Henry Hamilton, Karen Hawkins, Janet Jones, Bob Kearney (Irish American Club),Chief Dave Lyons, Mary & Brendon McVeigh (Irish American Club), Joanne Morse, Judy Randall, Virginia “Jinx” Staples, Nancylou Stiles
Ruth played a beautiful Native American song on a handcrafted flute and Joanne spoke with thankfulness and encouragement
Introductions were made, Nancylou made a birthday cake for Mody, we sang to him and wished him a Happy Birthday, and the last gathering’s minutes were accepted as corrected
Treasurer’s Report by Sally Chappell - $300 in account

Questions & Concerns
* question as to whether a screen for viewing slides etc would be available – yes
* Henry suggested sending info to the “Bellyacher” (Advertiser Democrat) and to Maine Public Radio
* Joanne asked about who to contact should there be a power outage, Dave recommended contacting CMP directly
* Traffic control would be discussed later at gathering
* Nancylou praised the organizers for all their awesome hard work in making this event a reality, contact her at 475-6009 (cell phone), 693-4535 (home phone) or nancyloustiles@yahoo.com

Discussions
* Brendon and Bob spoke about the Irish program they will present, they also asked a few questions about the celebration and how it will be run (www.irishofmaine.org)
* Door Prizes: Joan has a list of about 20 businesses to approach to ask for donations for door prizes, she will start this week, Karen will provide a receipt form with the church’s letterhead for Joan to use, Joan’s friend in Calif. sent a “Coca Cola™ jacket (valued at $100) for a door prize, it was suggested small “sign up cards be made for prize drawings
* it was suggested we have a suggestion box with comment cards available
* Fundraising: Nancylou met with Mike from the Chamber and Woody Woodward, the Chamber Chatter Newsletter is requesting donations from business members for the celebration, Nancylou also spoke with MacDonald Motors and Poland Spring (they may donate water and maybe sponsor T-shirts), Hannaford and Food City may each provide a road entrance banner with the CCC and their logo on it, it was suggested we try to have the banners made with a changeable date for future events
* Ruth is organizing a garage sale (10 am – 3 pm) and spaghetti supper (5 – 7 pm, $6 adults, $3 children) fundraiser on Aug 19, garage sale items may be collected and/or brought to the church on Friday Aug 18 from 10 am – 3 pm
* Henry asked about a donation box for people as they leave event – make conspicuous
* Ruth asked about program containing all sponsors to pass out
* Sally sent $50 for postage to Sister Rose for crafts from Marshall Islands, Sister Rose spent $30 on crafts, a second box of crafts is expected, all profits are spent on education for the Marshall Islands, Karen made a motion to pay Sally $160 to cover expenses (crafts and shipping), Janet seconded the motion, motion passed
* Publicity: a second brochure will be created with the schedule of events and general information, Karen will create a web site page on the BUMC web site, the URL will be: www.bridgtonumc.com/ccc.html
* people need to get the details (who, what, when) of events to Janet by Wednesday Aug 16, times and synopsis of presentation, she will send out PR weekly to media, her contact info is 233-4138 (cell), 693-5566 (home), GOJJTWO@aol.com (email), the extended areas she is focusing on include Farmington, York, N. Conway, Ossipee, Sacopee, Portland, Lewiston, Oxford (public tv, radio, regular tv stations, LRTV, area chambers, visitors centers, local schools (flyers will be sent home with students)
* Dave suggested LRTV be asked to lend a sound system
* Parking: parking areas include the church (BUMC), by the fire station (orange cones to designate to NOT park in front of the station!), town office, banks, Mody will speak to Glen Garland (fire chief)
* Food: Janet will contact civic organizations to be food vendors and organize dates (none need on Sept 21 or 22), the Melting Pot will have a cook out rather than turkey due to set up constraints, Ingrid made a beautiful menu for the German presentation (Joanne provided a sample menu)
* the church may legally hold 300 people, 250 was suggested number, if any more than that, people will need to wait at the door to come in
* presentations may be inside and outside the building, depending on the weather
* Scheduling:
Sept 15 – Shakers the Shakers sent a letter respectfully declining to participate due to time constraints and small number of group (maybe China on this date)
Sept 16 - Irish
Sept 17 - Korea
Sept 18 – Marshall Islands, Arctic People (Gwich’in), speaker on climate change and global warming (Sally is coordinator)
Sept 19 – Uzbekistan (Woody is coordinator)
Sept 20 –Afghanistan (4-6 pm) (Nancylou is coordinator), Nigeria (4-8 pm) (Ruth and Karen are coordinators)
Sept 21 – Native American (Ruth and Karen are coordinators)
Sept 22 – American Melting Pot – Cook Out Supper by UMW (for a nominal fee) (Mody is coordinator)
Sept 23 – Germans (Joanne is coordinator)
Sept 24 – Diversity Celebration Day (wind up with info from each previous presentation), Tim Wilson from “The Seeds of Peace” will be the keynote speaker (Nancylou is coordinator)
* T-shirts (tabled until next meeting), Mody commented that Chuck Hammety might sponsor part of the cost of shirts
* Karen asked for someone to offer to take the minutes of the Sept 9 gathering as she will be unable to attend, Janet offered to take minutes (Thank You, Janet!!)
Gathering closed at: 12:00 pm   Next Gathering – August 26 from 10:00 am - noon