Texas Gulf Coast Regional VOAD

Quarterly Meeting Minutes

April 7, 2008

Salvation Army

Members (And visitors) Present:

Rolan Chambless—The Salvation Army

Chris Fults—Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Carol Flores—Lutheran Social Services Disaster Response

Carolyn Shell—American Red Cross

Brinson Icenogle—End Hunger Network

Sandra Ray—United Way

Teresa Perez—FDIC-Dallas

Stan Edde—Houston Food Bank

Twyla Lee—Harris County Community Services

Herb Weaver—Texas Baptist Men

Tim Kidwell—American Red Cross

Ken Wang—Tzu Chi Foundation

Zealina Epson—Career and Recovery Resources

Linda Hebert—Harris County Housing Resource Center

Roy Ewing—The Salvation Army

Captain Edward Alonzo—The Salvation Army

Don Nguyen—Boat People SOS

The meeting was called to order at 10:10 am.

January Minutes:

The motion to adopt the minutes from our January meeting was made by Carolyn Shell. Brinson Icenogle second. The motion carried.

Financial Report:

Chris Fults presented our current financial report. We have opened an account at Washington Mutual. Rolan Chambless, Chris Fults and Carolyn Shell will be signatories on the account.

We currently have $275.00 on deposit with no disbursements to date.

Some discussion ensued about the best use of the funds. It was decided that the executive committee would make decisions as necessary.

Announcements:

Everyone was reminded to order T-shirts. Orders are due by May 1. Order forms can be found on the website.

Our next meeting will be May 5, 2008 at 10:00 at the Fort Bend County Office of Emergency Management. Watch the website for more details.

There are several upcoming trainings and other events. Please check the website often for upcoming dates.

The business portion of the meeting concluded at this point. We were then treated to a presentation by the Salvation Army. Thanks to Rolan Chambless, Edward Alonzo, Victor Rutledge, and Michael Cox for a very helpful and informative presentation. Thanks also to the cooks at the Aldine-Westfield Salvation Army Community Center for a wonderful lunch and to the drivers who brought the large and small cantines for us to see!

April Executive Committee Meeting:

April 10, 2008

End Hunger Network

Members Present:

Jennifer Posten—Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston

Rolan Chambless—Salvation Army

Carol Flores—Lutheran Social Services Disaster Response

Carolyn Shell—American Red Cross

Brinson Icenogle—End Hunger Network

Sandra Ray—United Way

Linda Walker—Adventist Community Services

Thanks again to Rolan and the Salvation Army for hosting the quarterly business meeting. The program was well received by those in attendance.

There was discussion about a membership drive. Each committee member was encouraged to be in touch with those agencies in their circle of influence. We will also call previous members that we have not seen for awhile. Brinson will put together the list.

It was decided that we would participate as a VOAD at the June Hurricane Conference at the George R Brown convention center. We will have a banner printed featuring all the member agencies. Carolyn will put out an email appeal for those who wish to be included to get their dues paid, their membership information current and a copy of their agency logo for print.  Jennifer will work on designing a brochure about TGCR VOAD for this event.

We discussed the need to develop our own disaster plan as a VOAD. The discussion was tabled for a later meeting.

We encouraged the education and training committee to plan a time when we could invite someone from the Texas State VOAD to our meeting to hear about what is going on around the state and what the State VOAD sees as the roles and responsibilities of local VOADs.

The meeting closed with a tour of the facilities of End Hunger Network. Thanks Brinson!

Respectfully submitted:

Carol Flores