Minutes of the Executive Committee of Democrats Abroad Guatemala
Wednesday, October 18, 2017 at 5:30 pm
Letty Manne’s house/Via Skype
Attendance: John Chudy, Chair; Mary Lou Ridinger, Vice Chair; Lyn Totino, Secretary; Tom Totino, Treasurer; Kee Kalwara, Events/Membership/Fundraising Coordinator; Annie Vanderboom, Member at Large; Dave Evans, Member at Large; Letty Manne, Consul; and via Skype: Rachael Shenyo, Occidente MeetUp Group Deputy Chair.
Call to Order - 5:35 pm
The agenda and minutes of the previous EXCOM meeting September 6th were approved unanimously.
Treasurer’s Report:
Our Net Worth stands at Q710.40 of which Q310 is a credit at the Revue. So far this year, we generated revenue of Q2,798 from showing seven movies. After paying for space rental and the popcorn lady we’ve netted Q2,023 well on our way to covering the Q3,800 cost of the projector. Now that we have more than Q500 in cash the Treasurer proposed reimbursing John Chudy the remaining Q100 owed to him for purchase of food and fireworks for the July 4th sundowner. The ExCom agreed and John was paid. The report was accepted unanimously.
Events for 2017:
Film Series:
Fog of War was shown on August 25. It was reasonably well attended and we made money selling wine and popcorn.
Before the Flood was shown on September 22. Attendance was 15.
We netted Q255 after paying Q50 for rental for CCC and Q50 to Azucena for making popcorn.
Argo was shown on October 13. Eight attended. Our net was Q185.
Megan Leavey, a true story about a young marine and her bond with her military combat dog, will be shown at CCC on November 17 at 6:30pm.
Christmas Vacation will be shown at CCC on December 15 at 6:30pm.
Fund Raisers:
Beginning January 20 DAGT will begin our Anti Inaugural Anniversary fund raising drive. John will be working on the wording of the email that will be sent out. Members can donate through PayPal or perhaps another like Stripe.com. John and Kee will discuss the best option. We will offer prizes for donations of over $25: a women’s caucus 2018 calendar or a cap embroidered with Lo siento por el imbécil. In the Skype chat box, Rachael wrote that she can obtain hats with the language embroidered for Q240 per dozen, or stamped for Q180. John will purchase the calendars and donate them to DAGT, provided they arrive in time. The donation drive will last until February 20. The funds we bring in are absolutely necessary to pay for our Get Out the Vote efforts for the 2018 midterm elections.
The calendars and the caps will also be sold at all of our events.
DAGT Policy Retreat:
To kick off our fundraising month we will be having a one day retreat in Antigua. This will take place on January 20th. Kee will be looking for the perfect venue which will be announced. The event will be organized around 4 or 5 issues that frustrate and concern Democrats. We will have a presenter for each. Each presentation of about 15 to 20 minutes will be followed by discussion for about 45 minutes. The issues thus far are: Achieving Universal Health Care, The Democratic Party leftist economic romanticism and Identity Politics, Immigration, Russia and US Elections, Key 2018 House and Senate Races. We need volunteers to select and present one of these topics or another of interest. John sent out a separate email providing more details and volunteered to lead the discussion on Universal Health Care and the Democratic Party.
The next meeting will take place at 5:30 pm on November 29. The venue has not been decided. This meeting, like all of our meetings, is open to all members.
Travel Notes:
Lyn and Tom will be gone from December 16 to January 6. John will be gone from October 31 to November 22 and from December 6 to 30. Dave will be gone from November 22 to December 24. Letty will be gone from November 28 to December 14. Annie will be gone from December 20 to January 7.
Adjourned: 6:48 pm.