Society of St. Vincent de Paul- Joliet Diocesan Council
Minutes Presidents’ Meeting
Sunday, October 29, 2011
Cathedral of St. Raymond, Joliet
8:00 a.m. Mass in the Cathedral
9:00 a.m. Meeting commenced
Thank you to St. Raymond’s Conference for your hospitality.
Opening Prayer & Reflection Deacon Bill Thomas
“Will God ever forget his people?” Something we should all reflect upon: Do we say no to “friends” for the wrong reasons?
New Conference Presidents Commissioning John Otto, Council President
Deacon Bill Thomas
Congratulations to Palma Aikins of St. Elizabeth Seton & Ken Bucheit of St. James!
· Introduction of Susan Lugo as Council Treasurer and Doretta Gates as Council Secretary
· Serving & Hope books and video are available to conferences!
2012 Budget Proposal Susan Lugo, Treasurer
Susan went over some of the points on the Budget that was emailed/mailed to all conference presidents previously. Motion was made by Bob Preuss of St. Alexander to pass the Budget. Motion was seconded by Doug Dikun of St. Luke. Motion passed.
John Otto pointed out on the budget that under “New Store/Bldg Mtce” $40,000 of this will go towards repairing the façade at the West Chicago store which is bulging and is a safety hazard. Because the building is an historical building the City of West Chicago will reimburse us ½ the cost after it is repaired.
Stores Committee Deacon Bill Thomas, Stores General Mgr.
· Stores made $3,093,00 during the 10/11 fiscal year which is $150,000 down from previous year.
· Warehouse receipts down due to less bulked clothing.
· Income Down at all stores but Morris
· Parish Clothing Drives clothing down
· Transferred $252,000 which is $161,000 less than budgeted
· Aurora Store still in the red
· Still looking for site for a new Joliet location. Mr. Casey(?) from St. Jude offered to help as he’s a realtor and a long-time resident of Joliet. Thank you!
Good News:
· Manager changes in Addison & Aurora
· Different forms of advertisement being explored
· Stepping up sales and discounts
· Texting discounts and sales to Aurora customers that sign up
· Electronic recycling centers at all stores: We will now take electronics and they will be picked up at no cost to us. In the past we had to pay to dispose of electronics which is why we stopped taking computers and equipment.
Reminders:
· Clothing: We will take all clothing for donations even if they are ripped, stained or have broken zippers. These items of clothing will be bulked and sold for rags.
· Books: We take most all books except text books or encyclopedias.
· Mattresses: We are no longer accepting donated mattresses or box springs.
Jim Missig from the St. Raymond Conference volunteered to join the Stores Committee. Thank you!
Financial Assistance: John Otto
September checks went out in October so they are being added as an extra month in the 2011/12 fiscal year. We are accepting reimbursement forms for September & October until 11/15/11. Conference reimbursable CAP is still $1,500 per month.
John Otto proposed Resolution 01 which read as follows:
A Resolution to establish a procedure to withdraw money from the Joliet Council Warehouse fund to support the Joliet Council financial assistance fund to reimburse Joliet Conferences in lean years.
Whereas the Joliet Council has a warehouse fund that is funded at $246, 437 and furthermore since the Joliet Stores Committee has no immediate plans to buy a warehouse, and
Whereas the Joliet Council stores have had a shortfall of over $100,000 in 2008 and 2011 and this greatly reduced the amount of money that the Joliet Council can reimburse the Joliet Conferences,
Therefore be it resolved that the Joliet Council may withdraw up to $75,000 a year from the Joliet Council Warehouse fund in years where there are at least 3 months of zero stores transfers to supplement the Joliet Council financial assistance fund.
Resolution number: 10/29/2011-01
Motion was made by Trini Cantu of St. Mary, West Chicago. Motion seconded by Mike McGrath of St. John the Baptist of Winfield. Motion carried.
Car Program: John Otto
67 Cars Towed
13 Cars Given away
18 Referred by National Vehicle Donation Program
11 Names on Waiting list
Wish list: More donations. More volunteers to pick up cars. Thanks!
Expansion Committee Tom Pawlowicz, Co-Chair
Working on St. Joseph in Addison and Visitation in Elmhurst. Some of the Naperville conferences are working on Holy Spirit in Naperville.
Miscellaneous Information John Otto
Conference Dues
$150 National; $35 Regional; International: .002 of the “Total Receipts” on your Annual Report if paid by 12/15/11 OR .003 if paid after 12/15/11.
National has an idea to increase the dues to .01 of your total income instead of the $150/$35/.002 breakdown which is currently the standard This will be just for dues—not special contributions such as Haiti. This hasn’t been passed but they are talking about it.
IRS 990 Form: John Otto sent letter to IRS on 9/30/11 with all conference EINs. If your conference gets a letter from the IRS in regards to IRS 990 form, be proactive with the letter and attach the letter and list of Conference names, EIN numbers and location and reply to the IRS letter.
Annual Reports: New items clarification:
Page 1: Does Conference have its own 501c3? NO Council tax status NO Check off “Nat’l Group Ruling”
ANNUAL REPORTS DUE: 12/1/11. No reimbursements will be made to any conference after 12/1/11 if Annual Report is not turned in.
10/11/11 Letter from Roger Playwin: Includes conferences listed under the National 501(c)3 tax status.
Membership List You can update your membership list on the National website. If you have trouble doing this yourself, send your list with your Annual Report and we will do it. In the meantime, here is a reprint of the instructions from the minutes of the October 2010 Presidents’ Meeting:
National database website: www.svdpusa.net Every conference must update this website with ALL members names. Every president is authorized to go into this website and update your membership. Your username will be your email address. Your password is your last name followed by the secret code which can be obtained by calling John Otto.
How to access database:
1. Username: your full email address as listed in the Conference Presidents’ Directory
2. Password: your last name in lower case with the secret code added at the end
3. Select “Grouping” tab
4. Select “List” for the North Central Region
5. Select “List” for the Diocese of Joliet
6. Select “List’ for Diocesan Council of Joliet
7. Select the View for the appropriate conference name. Your username and password should only allow you access for your conference name.
8. Now select “Show” for leadership changes
9. OR “Add New Member” for a new member or “Existing Member Join” to move an existing member from another conference
10. OR “View” to edit a listed member’s data or “Delete” or “Move” for each listed member
11. After each update you may need to use the back arrow on the top of each window to go back to a previous display.
If you have any problems whatsoever, please contact John Otto at or by phone at 630-653-6877.
Websites: Joliet Council www.svdpjoliet.org ---Lots of good information!
National general: www.svdpusa.org
National database: www.svdpusa.net
Aggregation: In order to be aggregated by the International Council, a conference must (1) have one year of service; (2) minimum of two meetings per month; (3) include financial report for previous years.
North Central Regional Meeting: 5/31/12 – 6/2/11 We will be needing lots of volunteers to help. Thanks!
The Joliet Council is hosting the North Central Regional meeting from May 31 thru June 2 at the Westin hotel in the Yorktown shopping center in Lombard, Il. We need conferences to volunteer to:
1. run the golf outing on Thursday May 31, tee off around 8 a.m. with around 60 players, include lunch and prizes as well as green fees and carts. Should be a money raiser with hole sponsors and prizes donated.
2. run a fashion show on Thursday May 31 around noon and can use St. Vincent de Paul store merchandise, provide lunch and prizes.
3. welcome people at the information desk on Thursday afternoon, Friday and Saturday (3 conferences, one for each day would be nice).
4. host the hospitality room on Thursday afternoon, Friday and Saturday,
need to provide cookies, coffee, soda and fruit (3 conferences, one for each day would be nice).
5. provide baskets for the silent auction in the hospitality room, about 15 baskets are needed.
6. attend the SVDP meetings and meet the other people at the meeting.
Please contact Doretta at 630-231-9755 or John Otto at 630-653-6877. Thanks!
Ozanam Training: Looking for a conference to host the next Ozanam Training Seminar. Contact John Otto.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR: 2/5/12 Annual Presidents’ Breakfast & Meeting
Pancake Breakfast at St. John’s School 10-11:00 am.
Mass @ St. Johns 11:30 a.m.
Presidents’ Meeting to follow
Since we won’t see most of you until February we would like to wish all of you and your families
Happy Thankssgiving
Merry Christmas
Happy New Year!!!
God Bless!!
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