Minutes of the Executive Committee of Democrats Abroad Guatemala
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
via Skype/Dave Evan’s house
Present: John Chudy, Chair; Mary Lou Ridinger, Vice Chair; Tom Totino, Treasurer; Kee Kalwara, Events/membership/Fundraising Coordinator ; Lyn Totino, Secretary; Annie Vanderboom, Member at Large; Dave Evans, Member at Large; Rachael Shenyo, Occidente MeetUp Group Deputy Chair; Sara Castellano, Occidente MeetUp Group Chair
Call to order: 5:37 pm. Motion to approve the minutes of last meeting and the agenda for the day, passed unanimously.
Treasurer report was presented by Tom Totino. Our cash balance as of June 19 is Q617 after a 50% deposit of Q168 was made to confirm CCC space for July 4 sundowner. The Revue confirmed that we have a credit balance of Q309 that we can use for our next ad. There were no questions so the report was accepted.
3. Events
July 4th Sundowner: This event will take place at Casa Convento Concepción from
6 to 8:30pm.
We will follow last year’s plan. Admission will be free. Popcorn and tostadas will be free. Beer and wine will be sold for Q20, craft beer for Q30, and soft drinks for Q10. John will purchase all the necessities at Price Smart/Walmart. There will be fireworks at dusk.
Film Series: Our next film. Good night and Good Luck will be shown at Casa Convento Concepción on Friday, June 23 from 6 to 8:30pm. There will be a discussion after the movie.
Our next film will be All the Presidents Men or Frost Nixon. Details will follow.
Fund Raisers: Nothing was decided. We discussed the possibility of a Block Party to include perhaps a raffle/sale of baked goods. We could have dancing or a movie. We need to seek donations for a raffle from our members. David Dean has volunteered in the past to donate one of his award-winning photos for raffle. Perhaps other members could volunteer services or products.
Rachael suggested we do an e-mail brainstorm session to the full membership for an online raffle that would be engage members living all around Guatemala and not just those living in Antigua and Guatemala City (NOTE: Mexico and Canada ran a successful joint online raffle to raise funds for the 2016 election).
Resistance Activities: We discussed ways to get people involved in resistance activities happening in their districts. Annie offered to organize lists of issues and districts so that voters can be alerted to upcoming events.
All members are urged to contact legislators especially concerning health care, (see www.democratsabroad.org/healthcare for phone scripts to call your congresspersons, and https://wiki.democratsabroad.org/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=17072780, to see Resistance Summer postcard designs
Mary Lou mentioned the Goldman Awards as an inspiration to get involved in environmental policy. One of the 2017 prize-winners ($120,000) is Rodrigo Tot from Guatemala.
Mary Lou also mentioned a journalist doing work on Guatemalan exiles. Rachael said that she just wrote a professional report on violence and refugees in Guatemala-and is available to talk to the journalist.
Discussion Groups: Hyung was not present to update us on his evolving presentation on engaging millennials. Rachael has prepared presentations in Spanish on climate change and how it affects Guatemala, and is willing to translate parts of them into one 35-40 minute Power Point presentation for Democrats Abroad.
4. Travel notes:
John will return June 27.
Mary Lou will be gone from June 30 to July 10.
Hyung will be gone from June 10 to July 25.
Annie will be making a visa run sometime soon.
Our next meeting will be at Dave Evan’s house at 5:30pm on July 12.
Meeting adjourned at 6:40 pm.