FOLML November 9, 2016 Meeting:

President Judy Schroeder called the meeting to order at 01:30pm

Attendance: Judy Schroeder, Amy Kaminski, Evelyn Diorio, Carolyn Mezzadri, Marie Schrieks, Justin Watrel, Laraine Crawford, Lorraine Valente, Marilyn De Molli, Pamela Averso and Karyn Gost.

Absent: Barbara Staine and Edith Witte

Secretary Report: Barbara Staine was on vacation and the minutes were sent to all the membership. A copy was not available so we abstained from reading the minutes from the last meeting. Motion to abstain the minutes. Motioned by J. Watrel and Seconded by Lorraine Valente. Passed.

Treasurer’s Report: Edith Witte was on vacation and the treasurer’s report was read by President Schroeder. Our current balance as of today is $6,132.73. We are right now receiving the bills from Library Director Karyn Gost for the purchases for the Children’s Room décor.

Vice-President’s Report: No Report

President’s Report: We have a $200.00 application for the Aviation Hall of Fame membership for the library. This will provide four passes for the museum to patrons of the library.

We have arranged a discount program with Party Box on Route 17 for discounts for decorations. We will receive 10% off certain items and we have three membership cards, one for me, one for E. Witte and one for J. Watrel. The Tree Lighting Ceremony is on December 2nd at 7:00pm. We just needed a few Friends members to man the table that night and she asked L. Crawford if she could put together a guess the amount jar for the event for the kids which she agreed to do.

Please remember that the Friends Holiday Luncheon is at the Crow’s Nest on December 14th at 12:30pm in lieu of our meeting. She needed to know who would be attending so she can make the reservation. About 12 members will be attending.

Director’s Report: The rugs for the Children’s Room have arrived and are on the floor. We have had a nice response from the kids. We are waiting for the cushions and bean bag chairs to come in. More books have arrived in the back and need to be organized. Do we want to continue accepting books at this point? There was a discussion on this and it was agreed that we should keep accepting books for now or we may not get the donations again.

No one signed up for the zoo event with the library. J. Watrel said they did the same thing with the Miss New Jersey event and they just showed up. The yoga programs went by very well in October and K. Gost would like to continue them. Would the Friends consider helping with the cost of the event? We would like to run either 6 or 8 classes and charge a minimal fee for them of about $5.00. The whole program is about $450.00. It was discussed that some of the older patrons would pay a small fee for it. The series cost would cost around $25.00. The motion was made for the Friends to help with the cost of the Yoga instructor. Motioned by M. Shrieks and Seconded by J. Schroeder. Passed by the membership.

The Tree Lighting Ceremony for the Borough will be on December 2nd at 7:00pm. If we can have a few people to man the event for the Friends. We are also planning Gingerbread House making for December 10th from 3:00pm-4:00pm. It seemed to be a big success last year. We also have a Dr. Seuss event planned for March 2, 2017 with the same people that did our Bubble event for the Summer Reading Program. Would the Friends pick up the cost for the event?

The event was put to a motion. Motioned by J. Watrel and Seconded M. Shrieks. Passed.

Committee Reports:

Membership Report: There have been no new members who have joined the Friends since the last meeting. I have updated the active list of Friends members and I will distribute it out tonight.

Scholarship Report: M. Shrieks said in the last meeting that she needs to step down a chairman due to other obligations and said she will help out any way she can to the new chairman. The letter to the merchants is all ready for mailing.

J. Watrel brought up that since we have an excess of funds in our account to set aside another $1000.00 for the second scholarship. This lead to a heated discussion with members on the status of the scholarship program. M. De Molli felt that the money is raised for the library and put to that use. J. Watrel said that the scholarship program created a lot of good will to the community and puts the Friends in a good light to the Lodi Educational System. M. Shrieks said that the kids that won last year were thrilled and the parents were happy with what the Friends were doing. Other members discussed this as well.

P. Avero said that she would donate $1000.00 to the Scholarship Fund to fund a scholarship and L. Valente said that she would donate $500.00 to the Scholarship Fund to do the same. The Friends graciously accepted the donation. The Friends said they will table the discussion until the January meeting. We have to have someone to run the Scholarship Program in the Spring.

Special Events: J. Watrel said that the Miss New Jersey event with Brenna Weick was very successful. We had about 60 people show up for the event with more popping in and out of the event. We had a very nice reception for her and the kids got a kick out of meeting her. We also made the front cover and front section of the Community News. We also got a mention in the Daily Voice as well. J. Watrel said he is putting a press package together for Miss Weick to the Miss New Jersey Organization.

The Zoo event is tomorrow and anyone who can come and help out it would be much appreciated. We need people to sell books and memberships and people to man the refreshment table. We have about 10 books to sell. He will be picking up the refreshments at 2:00pm and will be in by 1:00pm to do final detailing of the room. The staff of the Zoo will run the program for us. We should be finished by 5:00pm and clean up the room.

The Friendly’s Fundraising Night is all set for November 15th and it is advertised all over the place including the schools, Senior Center, the Boy’s & Girl’s Club, the electronic board and all the papers. We are hoping for a good turnout. J. Watrel said he will be in at 5:00pm to put the banner up and set up a table for Membership. He will pick it up at the end of the night and return it to the library the next day.

J. Watrel mentioned that we had also talked about inviting the high school Jazz Band to the library for the holidays. He also wanted to know if we wanted to do a toy drive again this year to benefit the Emmanuel Cancer Center. The membership agreed that we would not have a toy drive this year.

J. Watrel mentioned that author Christopher Ratschka was interested in coming to the library in December and wanted to run the program along with Gingerbread House making. Members wanted to know if he could come in the afternoon so that it could lead into the Gingerbread House portion of the afternoon and J. Watrel said he would ask him. He will also work on the advertising, the food and decorations. He also wanted to let the members know that the author does not have a car and asked if we could arrange a limo service to pick him up and drop him off. The cost would be $100.00 and he can arrange it with a member of his Engine company who owns an airport limo service.

It was motioned by J. Schroeder and Seconded by L. Valente. Passed. We will provide the transportation for the author. J. Watrel said he will arrange for the books with Barnes & Nobel. He will also work with Emily Cromwell on the event that day.

Good & Welfare:

J. Watrel asked if anyone went to the BCCLS Breakfast this year. He had seen on line that it was the last week that he was away and did anyone go over from the Lodi Friends? J. Schroeder said that the memo came out so long ago and that no one followed up on it.

K. Gost said that she posted our posters in the library for both events.

Meeting Adjourned at 3:00pm. The next meeting will be at the Crow’s Nest on December 14th.