My Community Care Team

04/29/2003

7:00 PM

Parish Center

St. Jude's

 

Type of Meeting:

Planning

 

Facilitator:  Frank Tetto

 

Note Taker: Alycea Tetto

 

Attendees:

Frank Tetto, Maria Tetto, Alycea Tetto, Phil Graziano, Carol LaForte, Steve Lewis, Grace Cerrato, Joe Gallagher.  A new member, Cathlin Lyons, was introduced.

 

Minutes

Frank Tetto called the meeting to order at 7:15 pm.

 

Minutes from the last meeting were reviewed and accepted.

 

Agenda Item:  Status Reports

 

Attorney Search

Phil reported that he has found an attorney willing to do the work for us pro-bono.  He is Pierce Butler,  908-689-2550. 

 

Accountant Search

Frank has tried reaching out to the accountant he mentioned last meeting, but hasn�t yet been able to touch base with him.

 

Sponsorship

Frank has met with Father Bob about sponsorship.  St. Jude�s has been offered as our sponsor.  He will meet with him again at a later date to define it a little more; esp. with regard to fund-raising, and to make sure we�re all on the same page.  A discussion ensued about how fund-raising would work, but no conclusion was reached.

 

Web Site

Phil announced that the web site is now up and accessible on the web at http://www.mycommunitycareteam.com/.  The web site has the potential for up to 300 mailboxes, and the idea is that a contact page will be added on which the visitor need only to click on an address to send an e-mail.  We also discussed setting up a chat room.  Joe suggested a message board with threads, and Phil suggested a FAQ page.

 

By-Laws

Joe reviewed his draft of the by-laws.  He suggested that it be sent out to the general membership for review, comments and suggestions.  Carol and/or Joe will e-mail it to me for distribution.

 

Business Plan

The business plan drafted by Mary and presented at the last meeting still needs some �fleshing out�.  Frank suggested that we form a committee to formulate and implement Phase I, setting up the web site with links.  The initial Web Content Committee will comprise of Alycea, Grace, Steve and Phil, who will chair the committee.  The target date for proposed content, i.e., a list of appropriate web links, is May 20, 2003.  Suggestions for formatting the links included grouping in order of the process one should follow, and/or grouping by need/goal.  We can also solicit feedback from visitors to the site to determine validity and usefulness of a link, and also solicit additional members to the committee once we begin having general meetings.

 

Phase II involves reaching out to the community at large.  We need to start identifying people/families with disability issues, most likely through other churches and civic organizations.  Within the next few months, we should have a general meeting, whether inviting just the interested people from St. Jude�s, or whether through other outreach efforts.  The consensus is that we should begin an outreach to the larger community.  Cathlin volunteered to serve on the Outreach committee with Frank.

 

The Center for Non-Profit Corporations 

Frank presented us with our Membership Certificate from the Center, our first official recognition as an entity.  We will put that up on the web site.

 

ListServ MCCT 

Lost cause.

 

Student Council Letter

Frank has advised them that we are now sponsored by the church.  We will keep them abreast of our progress, and welcome their continued interest in MCCT.  By the time the next school year begins, we should be well underway and their involvement will be appreciated.

 

Logo

Phil presented several designs by Shauna Haley, a young person in the Parish.  A heart design, incorporating the colors and initials of MCCT was highly touted as being �great�.  It�s a starting point, although we may want to wait until the general meeting to make a definitive decision.

 

 

 

Agenda Item:  New Business

 

Incorporation

The planning committee has essentially done what it has needed to do.  Frank suggested that we form a committee to complete the paperwork for incorporation.  All agreed with Phil that we should let the attorney do all the paperwork.  It was decided that Frank and Phil will be the point persons to meet with the attorney and get the ball rolling.  They will ask in particular whether there can be a power-of-attorney to sign the paperwork until elections can take place.  Phil thought that the meeting can be arranged within the next few days.

 

Agenda Item: Next Meeting

 

We discussed the need for further planning committee meetings before we open it up to general meetings.  We decided as  a group that one more planning committee meeting must take place in order to tie up loose ends.  This meeting will take place on Tues., May 27, 2003 at 7:00 pm.  Alycea will confirm that the Parish Center will be available.

 

Phil advised us that the K of C will be resuming Tuesday night Bingo for the summer, beginning in June and on-going through August.

 

The first general meeting will take place towards the end of June, date and time to be determined.  At that meeting, we will ask for a nominating committee for officers, present the by-laws for revision and/or approval, and the status of the Web site.  At a second general meeting in July (?), the board can be nominated.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:52pm.

 

 

 

 

 

Additional Information

Alycea will distribute minutes to attendees.