WISNAPA
Meeting Minutes - June 7, 2008
No board meeting held this day.
John Kelling opened the meeting with a welcome to
all members and the new 2012 families at 11 a.m. followed by the
pledge of allegiance.
The 2012 families and incoming plebes were invited
to stand and be recognized.
Cindi Larsen asked everyone to seek out new
perspective candidates for the academy. She also encouraged members
to seriously consider becoming Blue and Gold Officers.
Thank you to Janis Scherer for making the lovely
table decorations for the meeting. Each new mid was able to take one
home with them.
Updates on mids and grads were given by their
families. Then the 2012 families introduced and shared information
about themselves.
The business meeting started at 11:40 a.m. The
minutes from the meeting of March 1, 2008 were on the tables. A
motion was made to accept them as written, seconded, voted on, and
carried. The treasurer’s report was also available on the tables.
Currently we have $4,300 in a CD for the next time Navy hosts the
All Academy Ball. A motion was made to accept the report, seconded,
voted on, and was carried.
Thank you to Jeff and Gerianne Prom and to all who
worked so hard to make this past All-Academy Ball a huge success.
The Army will be hosting the Ball on December 27, 2008, the Air
Force in 2009 and the Navy again in 2010. A request was made for a
parent or parents of a Youngster to meet with the Army Ball planners
to listen and gather information that will help when our turn comes
in 2010. John stated that this year’s Ball went very well, the
Casino portion was very successful, and the dinner was great. Tony
DeVuono explained to the new families what the Ball is and
encouraged them to attend.
It was stated that as an organization our goal is
to be supportive of our mids and deployed grads. We support each
other as families.
WISNAPA’s status as a registered 501(c)3
non-profit organization has been approved although certification
papers had not yet arrived. Duplicate copies are being sent.
Jan Haupt explained the
purpose of
Yardtales. She
thanked those that submitted articles and pictures and asked that
people continue to send information for the publication, which is
E-mailed three times a year. Pictures with captions from Plebe
Parent Weekend are being asked for. Jan spoke about a handout she
had available for the families; it contains the addresses of helpful
web sites and a summer of the Plebe and Plebe Parent handbooks,
available on the WISNAPA web site for families to view or print.
Incoming Plebe families were encouraged to bring a copy along to
I-day. John stated that
Yardtales
is one of the best parent club newsletters in the country. John
thanked Jan for her fine work.
Prayer was given by John followed by a buffet
lunch.
After lunch the meeting continued.
Craig Walker congratulated the incoming Class 2012
on their acceptance to the Academy. There were 127 candidates, 23
offers of appointment and 19 were accepted. On May 10, a group of
appointees attended a Brewer’s game.
Craig thanked all of the Blue
and Gold officers for their dedication and hard work and encouraged
more members to become officers. The
USS
Freedom will be commissioned this
fall. Craig hopes that our organization will be invited to attend
the commissioning. He closed with advice and words of encouragement
to the new incoming plebes.
There was discussion on the
Army/Navy game in
Philadelphia
and tailgate party. Rooms are available at the Holiday Inn in the
Historic District. Please book your room early. The tailgate parties
have been expensive in the past; options for this year are being
looked into.
We split into two groups at 12:45 p.m. The
incoming plebes met with current midshipmen and grads to answer
questions and discuss what to expect at the Academy.
Election of Officers: A motion was made to keep
current officers, seconded, voted on, and carried.
An increase of yearly dues was discussed. The dues
go toward postage, care packages, tailgate party, gift for Firsties
and luncheon expenses for mids. Last year $800 was spent to get the
501(c)3 set up. We were encouraged to increase the number of members
in order to gain more funds. Cindi Larsen asked about raising the
associate membership dues which are currently $15 a year. John
suggested we do more fundraising over the three years leading up to
hosting of the Academy Ball. Linda Kasten had some handmade
bracelets to sell at $20 a piece with $5 going to our funds.
Jan Haupt made a motion to raise dues to $35
regular membership, $20 associate membership and $20 single
household membership. After a little more discussion a new motion
was made to make membership $40 regular, $20 associate and $20
single household. The motion was seconded, voted on, and carried.
These new dues will take effect in 2009.
John asked that all members
gather ideas from what other groups do for fund raising and to think
of ideas. Please e-mail ideas to him at
jkelling2@wi.rr.com.
Parents shared their experiences of I-day with the
2012 families. Linda Kasten will be attending I-Day offered her
phone number to the Class of 2012 families.
Veteran members suggested sending many letters,
pictures and non-perishable foods during Plebe Summer. The Academy
wants them to succeed and they will be taken care of.
Parents of grads mentioned the one thing that
stood out for them during their son/daughter’s Academy years.
The two groups came back together to finish the
meeting.
Closing comments and well wishes to the 2012
families were made. The next three meeting dates are tentatively set
Oct. 4 at the Delafield Brewhaus; March 7, 2009 at the Milwaukee
Yacht Club and June 6, 2009 at the Country Springs Hotel in
Waukesha. All are the first Saturday of the month. Members were
asked if there were any concerns about the dates; there were none.
Sponsor family forms were
available and explained for those seeking a sponsor. Also, it was
mentioned what a great help the sponsor families in
Annapolis
have been to our mids. Order forms for name tags were also
available.
A motion to adjourn was made, seconded, voted on,
and carried.
Our next meeting is scheduled for Saturday,
October 4, 2008 at the Delafield Brewhaus in Delafield.
Submitted by: Greg & Nancy Bose,
Peter Bose (Class of 2009)
Co-Secretaries |
