Minutes of the Executive Committee of Democrats Abroad Guatemala
Thursday, March 23, 2017 at 5:00 pm
Enlaces, Antigua
Attendance: John Chudy, Chair; Mary Lou Ridinger, Vice Chair; Tom Totino, Treasurer; Kee Kalwara, Events/Membership/Fundraising Coordinator; Lyn Totino, Secretary; Dave Evans, Member at Large; Annie Vanderboom, Member at Large; Hyung Jin, Guatemala City Meetup Chair; Rachael Shenyo, Occidente Group Meetup Deputy Chair; Sara Castellano, Occidente Group Meetup Chair joined via Skype. Harrison Mains, prospective new member attended the meeting.
Call to order – 5:10 pm The agenda and minutes of the previous meeting were approved unanimously.
Treasurer’s Report - Tom presented the first financial report for the new Excom. Our Net Worth stands at Q496. He explained that we recently purchased a projector for Q3,800. It was paid for with Q2,000 from our cash, Q500 as a donation from Dave Evans and a Q1,300 loan from John Chudy. He explained that, while it could be considered an asset and included as part of our ‘Net Worth, that would require depreciating it over its useful life and make our current financial status less clear to the general membership. Thus, he classified it as a one-time expense to be recognized all at once in this year. After collecting Q960 in Feed the Donkey at the inaugural movie night and at the AGM our cash balance is Q1,487. He proposed that we use Q1,300 of that to repay the loan to John Chudy. It was seconded and passed unanimously.
Welcome by the Chair - John welcomed the new executive committee members and noted that the Media Contact and Communication Chair remains vacant. Hyung is following up with colleagues in Guatemala City. Later in the meeting, Sara suggested that her daughter Lilly may be interested in this position.We should try to make a decision on this position at the April meeting. John said that the AGM held on Saturday was a success with 29 members attending plus 7 proxies. The minutes of this meeting will be posted on the DA Guatemala website page.
DA Guatemala purchased a projector which was used successfully at the AGM. The projector was also used on March 15 at Dave Evans’ house to show the movie Sicko. The movie and potluck was fun and an event we hope to repeat. After Kee explained that Panza Verde did not want to show movies that might upset their guests (such as Sicko) other venues were suggested such as Dave’s house and Casa Convento Concepción where there is a screen AND a popcorn machine. We agreed to ask for a voluntary donation of Q20 which could make movies a money earner. Yeah! Several movies were suggested: Good Night and Good Luck, Frost Nixon, and Trumbo. Kee has a list of movies to choose from. John suggested we put out a flier listing movies we will be showing over a six month period which works well in DA Mexico.
Along with movies we agreed it would be exciting to host discussion nights like the ones we did in 2008-2010: Saving Social Security, the 2010 midterms, the war in Afghanistan. These were well presented and encouraged discussion.
Hyung presented his ideas for including young members in DA. He included a visual aid/analytical tool that might explain what is important to them and how these issues are vital to us all. This encouraged a lively discussion among members at the meeting and put us all in a more optimistic mood. We feel that perhaps our first discussion open to all members should be a longer version of the one Hyung presented to the Excom. We definitely need the support and input from younger Democrats.
We agreed that these presentations should be issue-focused. The movies and the discussion groups could be repeated in other places like Xela and the Lake.
Although ‘resistance’ was on the agenda we spent very little time discussing this. John encouraged us all to watch the video of the town hall meeting with Keith Ellison and members of DA. He also suggested we check out www.indivisibleguide.com/download the guide.
Although Leon Reinhart is rumored to be the new ambassador to Guatemala it is unknown if or when he will actually begin his assignment as Todd Robinson is not leaving until he finishes his three year term, and is now in the third year.
The next meeting will take place on Thursday, April 20th at 4 pm at Dave Evans’ house. His address is #19 calle de los duelos.
Travel Notes: Letty will be gone until April 5. Tom and Lyn will be gone from April 8 to April 28.
Adjourned: 6:45 pm