Present: John Harnett, Jake Soderlund, Gail Johnson, Ron Poole, Joanne Rice, Conrad Reitz

John, reviewed the items to be discussed at the meeting, and the following roles and responsibilities were discussed and agreed to:

Web site: Gail. She will start working on this, develop a format and review the content of the existing web site, possibly discussing the matter with the current web master, Allan Laporte.

Membership: Joanne. It was agreed that the membership fee for individuals would be $10.00 per year, and for families, $20.00 per year. We should begin recruiting members immediately, using the existing lists of dinner attendees and known supporters as starting points.

Public and Media Relations: Jake.

Newsletter: Gail and Ron – in conjunction with the web page. It should perhaps be limited to a single sheet, to be sent to all members and supporters.

Fundraising: All members of the Executive Committee should be involved with this. We should explore how other similar organizations approach fundraising (Ron will pursue this), develop a telephone tree, consider the ramifications of donor fatigue, etc. However, before embarking on an extended fund-raising campaign, we should have all our ducks in a row, so that we can provide supporters and potential donors with specific information on needs and costs.

It was agreed that Tad would be invited to the next meeting, in order to provide some information about the future plans and requirements of the School. John will meet with Tad in order to develop a list of questions. These questions would relate to hard data concerning basic needs, capital requirements, operating costs, etc. For instance, what is the cost of maintaining one child for one year in a residence? What is the cost of electricity?

It has been stated that it costs $14,000.00 to run the School for one year. What does this include, and is it a realistic figure?

It was emphasized that the Friends of Tenali does not issue income receipts for donations. This is the responsibility of the Educational Organisation for Orphaned and Handicapped Children, and Tad provides the official receipt. However, members of the Executive Committee can receive donations on behalf of E.O.O.H.C., issue a temporary receipt, and pass the donation on to Tad.

Jake will sit down with University of Windsor Senior V.P. for Development, Paul Cassano, to get additional ideas for fund-raising.

Supporting organizations: We should follow up on lobbying local organizations for financial and moral support, and in particular unions and Indo-Canadian business groups.

Yard sale: It was agreed that a yard sale, with an emphasis on books, would be held in May, possibly with a theme of "Books for Tenali book sale." There are a number of items from previous yard sales stored in Gerry McPhail’s garage. These should be reviewed and weeded, and either included in the yard sale, or discarded.

Schools: Teachers should be involved, in order to attract the interest and participation of local schoolchildren. To assist with this, a good slide show should be developed, with high quality photographs.

Twinning: Joanne. The twinning of Tenali and Windsor should be explored. June Cox, City of Windsor Intergovernmental Relations Committee will be contacted.

Annual dinner: The Annual dinner this year has been tentatively set for September 19, at St. Barnabas Church, and the hall has been booked. Planning for the dinner will proceed in due course.

Next meeting: Sunday April 29, 6.30-8.00 p.m. at Ron Poole’s house, 2868 Randolph. Each member with an agreed-upon task will report on progress.