Minutes from the last meeting were approved.

The matter of the P.O. Box has been brought up. Eliza found out that closing/opening may be done online. The Board does not need to proceed with a change of location because Janet has committed to checking the box (she lives nearby).

Greg presented the state of finances of the Club. Gosia would like a more streamlined method of keeping track of the accounts and creating a budget. It has been decided to issue a refund to members who paid tuition to PACanow since it will not be in operation the coming school year.

Money market: Greg is going to invest $20,000 (Capital 360), the rest of funds will stay in the existing account at Chase. Greg will monitor it to make sure funds are not going to go below the level required to avoid penalty fees.  Janet put this motion on the table, Iwona seconded it. Everybody else present agreed. 

Insurance: Janet will take care of the bill when it comes in the mail.

The storage space: Bozenka looked into sizes/locations/fees. Preferred location agreed on was Westerville. Greg suggested meeting on site of a storage facility with the Club’s belongings (other members who have things stored at their homes currently would need to be informed).

We will judge the size on site. A specific date has not been set.

Potential dates for the annual camp out, kayak outing were dicussed. Gosia will contact the park re. availability. Three choices were decided on – two dates in August, one in September.

Gosia presented an idea to reach out to other Ohio clubs to organize joint gatherings, like a summer soccer match. Michael will reach out to The OSU Polish Club re. other activities (store queue game, volleyball match).

Michael will take over the Club’s membership drive duties.

Gosia will contact Megan Fitze, from Dublin Art Council, to introduce herself as the new Polish American Club’s president. Megan is responsible for B.R.E.A.D. event, organized annually in Dublin. 

It celebrates/informs the community about the diversified heritage in the Columbus area. Janet and Greg attended a meeting with Dublin City Council. The event is being held on October 21, registration needs to be done asap. Gosia will take care of it. The city contributes $300 to participating organizations to assemble a booth with informational materials/food samples.

We discussed foods we could make as contributions. 

Iwona will contact the Art Council re. status of the outdoor sculpture that will be placed in Kosciuszko Park. The unveiling could be combined with the park’s opening anniversary?

Bozenka will bring to Zuzia Hammond’s attention an idea if a traditional dance workshop, per Gosia’s idea. 

The board will not meet in June due to various vacation plans. Next meeting will take place in July, at a public library on Lane Rd, Upper Arlington.

Meeting adjourned.      

To get started right away, just tap any placeholder text (such as this) and start typing to replace it with your own.

Want to insert a picture from your files or add a shape, text box, or table? You got it! On the Insert tab of the ribbon, just tap the option you need. Find even more easy-to-use tools on the Insert tab, such as to add a hyperlink, or insert a comment.

The newly elected Treasurer of the Club, Bartosz Warzycha, and the newly elected Trustees, Marlena Przybyl, Malgorzata Thurston, Helena Rempala and Joanna Krieger have been introduced and welcomed.

All of the present expressed great gratitude to Grzesiu Lecki for years of serving the Club as a treasurer and helping in many other ways.  

The account of the Club is at $33,460.66.

Grzesiu will continue organizing The Social Hour gatherings. Marzena Myszkowska will stay in charge of the Yoga Bear Ladies Exercise Program. 

Gosia T. will take care of the Club’s webpage. She would like an input from members what changes/improvements in the design are needed to make the site more informational and user friendly. We are to give her feedback once we navigate it on our own.  Facebook and LinkedIn will be liked with the website. Michal is the admin for the Facebook account.

The digital Newsletter will be sent quarterly. Anybody who wants to share/post something in a Newsletter needs to send it to Gosia T. as an edited already paragraph, before the first day of a month when a newsletter is due to go out . Helena will provide news/information re. the Polish church group. Helenka is also in charge of settling charges with priests and churches being used. She will be forwarding images of issued payment checks to Bartosz, the treasurer.

Iwona will be checking the Club’s e-mail box. Gosia C. will provide her with the needed information.  Eliza and Marlena are in charge of the paper newsletter, to be mailed out four times of year. Gosia C.  and Michal have the updated list of members. 

Michal presented the information re. a sporting event viewing he has made arrangements for: a soccer game, Poland vs Columbia, June 24 at @ PM, III Mannered Brewing Company, Powell. The information will be posted on Facebook and the Club’s website. We also found out from Michal that the Polish consul from New York will be in Cleveland 15/16 of June taking care of passport needs locally. 

A closer contact of the PAC with the OSU Polish club has been discussed, their president Konrad Kappel will be contacted. 

The next event organized by the Club will be a campout at Alum Creek 17-19 of August, then the Bread Festival in Dublin in the fall. 

The Club’s Wigilia will be held at the Mirolo Barn in Upper Arlington. Bozenka and Asia have the details. No alcohol allowed at this venue. We decided the event will be 5:30 PM – 9 PM, with setup starting at 4 PM. We need to vacate the premises by 10 PM. The church group has made a commitment to organizing the event this year.  Gosia C., as a president, will welcome everybody and open the event.

A possibility of reinstating of a Polish Language Club for Children/Pacanow (former Polish school) has been discussed. A survey will be send out to see if there is any interest. Helenka will find out if there is a possibility of having an access to a daycare facility.

There still is a need to use up the tuition funds remaining in the account of the former Pacanow. We will vote on ideas during our next meeting, after finding out if there is any interest among the former members in a group outing. Bozenka? may try to reach out to some of them. 

A matter of registering and adding new members to a spreadsheet/signing them up for a newsletter has been brought up by Helenka. In order to not leave them out by accident, Iwona (from e-mails) and Bartosz(from paid dues) will send new members information to Michal who is going to add names to the list and sign them up for the newsletter, if they are not signed up yet.  

The meeting has been adjourned, next meeting will be in June, a date to be decided.

Attendees:

                     President: Robert Warzycha

                     Secretary: not present (minutes by Helena)

Treasurer: Bartosz Warzycha

Trustees: Bożena Stanek, Małgorzata Thurstone, Joanna Krieger, Helena Rempała, Marlena Przybył

1. Minutes from the last meeting were approved.
2. Financial Report: Account is at 32857.21, down by $201 from the last month’s statement. The main expenses are now related to Wigilia. 
3. Issues
4. Iwona is asked to contact Bartek with regards to the process of issuing a certificate for tax deductible donation: He would like to discuss the text of the letter thanking the donor. There should be a template already in the saved files.
5. Wigilia:
6. Mikołaj: The Mikulksi brothers have somne conflict (one is working on Saturdays.) Bozena will ask Mr. Myszkowski and Bartek will ask Mike O’Shea if they could help in a pinch. 
7. Joanna asked for $100 for the lights and other decorations for Wigilia. The request was voted and approved. 
8. The Board came up with several ideas to make Wigilia a bit more profitable:
9. Have a jar for donations by the coffee table,
10. Make wooden snowmen with the children and sell them to the guests (Bo)
11. The web page will announce the possibility to place the online orders for t-shirts, wafers, and the patriotic lapel pins. The pick up of the ordered and paid for merchandise will be at Wigilia. Gosia, Bartek and Bożenka will coordinate the sale and distribution. The items will also be available at Wigilia for sale. 
12. Joasia and Helena will bring two electric water pots to boil water for tea.
13. Eliza and Iwona were volunteered to take care of coffee makers and coffee.
14. Joasia and  Bozena will secure table clothes, paper plates, plastic ware, cups, and napkins. Bożenka plans to bake small breads and place one on each table along with the center pieces.
15. Helena consulted with Grześ Łęcki and selected vendors for the gift cards. Board approved and Bożenka suggested a more playful way to organize the lottery: the winners will have a choice of picking their secret gift from a basket or take one of the larger decorations (trees) that Bożena is making for Wigilia. 
16. Robert said that Eliza and Iwona talked to Danusia about the order of 300 pierogis already. 
17. Tentative Schedule for Wigilia:

5:30 Mingle, meet and greet

6:00: The Presidential Address

father Michael’s address and blessing of the food

Breaking the Christmas wafers

6:30: Dinner

2 Christmas carols

7:30 Saint Nicola’s visit with the Children

2 Christmas Carols

8:00 Lottery

Christmas carols and visiting with each other

9:00 Closing of Wigilia

9-10: Clean UP

• OSTATKI: Zbyszek Lorenc suggests to check if the Club still has a deposit with the Westerville venue ($200). Then quickly get on the on-line calendar and reserve the room at the www.post171.com at the “How to rent” Step 1 “rental calendar”. The Board check the available dates and March 2^nd is still available and all present said they can be there. This needs to happen ASAP and the Board is asking Iwona to look into her calendar and if it is a good date, to coordinate payment with Bartek, if needed. Mike – please let Iwona know as well if 3/2 is good for you. Robert is asking to avoid booking Ostatki for the 2/23 because he will not be available.
• Donations: Marlena is suggesting a more assertive approach to soliciting donations for the Club. Helena will compose an initial letter and she will take it further. 
• Advertisements to and by our members: Gosia is spearheading a more efficient use of our social media but we are still unclear as to how we could promote members’’ business activities. Barter will look into the 503C status and talk it over with Grześ Łęcki a bit more. We will resume the discussion at the next meeting. 
• Adjournment: Next Meeting: 12/18/18  7:30PM at the Tremont Library. Bartek will reserve the room and let us know if there are any changes.  

Attendees:

                     President:  Robert Warzycha

                     Treasurer: Bartek Warzycha

                     Secretary: Absent

         Trustees Present: Marlena Przybył, Helena Rempala, Eliza Warzycha, Bozena Stanek

Members present: Zbigniew Lorenc

1. Approval of minutes from last meeting: Minutes from the January meetings were approved unanimously. 
2. Financial Report: Total Account: $32,530.11. All the bills from Wigilia have been tallied and paid. Total loss: $200.
3. Open Issues: 

– Ostatki: 

Venue: Reserved and ready to see us. No helium balloons this time. 

Decorations: Bożenka, Joasia I Eliza zrobiły wizję lokalną, zakupiły część dekoracji i obmyśliły oświetlenie. Bożenka da klucze Zbyszkowi żeby mógl wejść wcześniej. Zbyszek zatekstuje jeśli sala bedzie wolna. Fajnie bybyło mieć ze 2 godziny na udekorowanie i przygotowanie sali. Bożenka z Joasią będą kierować dekoracją sali. 

Attendance: Bartek reported that we can expect 72 people already. The Board decided to cap the admittance at 100-110. We will set up 12 round table and a rectangular table for the larger party. 

Helena will contact Gosia and ask her to re-open the registration. Bartek will monitor the registration and let Gosia know to close it when the registration will hit 90 to accommodate walk-ins. 

Once the registration will be open, Helena will ask Gosia to post a memo to the members on social media “Dear PAC Members and Friends, looks like the Ostatki Party will be well attended. We already have 72 people signed up. We will keep the registration open till we reach 100 attendees. 

Hope to see you all there, 

PAC Board of Trustees”

Ex-Presidents come in for free. We will ask Iwona to check the statute who else qualifies as honorary member. 

Bartek will need to set up shop at the entrance to the main hall to check people in and to collect the last minutes registrations. He will need to keep track of the count of people coming. 

Entertainment: Zbyszek will set up the music as discussed in the meeting. He will set up the Karaoke as well. Helena will facilitate and DJ the karaoke as a contest between the tables. Helena will secure 3 prizes for the winning tables. 

Bożenka will ask Joasia to come up with a few games for the party (e.g., musical chairs, Jedzie pociąg, taniec z balonem etc.) Joasia will give Zbyszek a list of games so he can secure the appropriate music a week before the party. 

We think that the party will loosely follow the following schedule:

6:30: opening remarks by Robert

Time to mingle and greet each other, have a bite, Karaoke rule will be explained. 

7:15: dance floor opens 

Zbyszek will coordinate breaks between the segments of the dancing music and background music. 

 8-ish :  Karaoke contest (about 20 minutes)

More dancing. 

Food: Eliza is taking care of coordinating the food and beverages. Bożenka suggested a bottle of wine for each table. Bottle openers will be needed!!!! 

– April as Eastern European History Month. Jan Klarenbacj is coordinating PAC participation in the Eastern European History Month. Grześ Kucharski agreed to organize the Polish exhibition. The Board forgot top vote on the issue.

– Polish priest and professor at Josephinum: Helena reported her so far unsuccessful efforts to organize a lecture by a Polish professor of theology at Josephinium Seminary.

– Web site confusion reported by visitors: Per Helena’s report, Gosia is working on PAC new website. She plans to launch it in April to not interfere with the Ostatki registration. Hopefully this will set us apart from Myszkowski’s web page which is no longer in use but still visitors find it when they look for Polonia in Columbus. 

– Ads for our website and handling other organizations requests: Per Helena’s report Gosia is asking everyone to send her the names of businesses that we would like to list on our webpage.

– Fund raising – follow up:  Marlena is ready to launch the fundraising efforts. Bartek promised to look for a template letter that would be appropriate.  

IV.  New Issues

– Elections: Zbyszek reminded the Board that we need to prepare for the Elections 2019. They will be held 4/16/19 from 7pm to 9pm.  Bartek will secure the room at the Lane Road Library in the basement. Will Iwona will be preparing the ballot? 

Helena will ask Gosia to post the candidates on the web. 

Candidates for the PAC Board of Trustees for the 2020

For President: Robert Watzycha

For Vice-President: Helena Rempala

For Secretary: Iwona Testani

For Trustees: Bożena Stanek, Joanna, Kruger, Marlena Przybył, Eliza Warzycha, Grzegorz Łęcki, Zbigniew Lorenc

• Date for Wigilia 2019: Tentatively we will look for a venue for the evening of 12/7/2019. The Board was divided which venue to use. Zbyszek suggested that the acustics in the UA Barn were awful, much worse than at the Legion place. Marlena commented that the entertainment program lost a lot of its value by not having a stage on which to perform. Bożenka and Helena liked the venue and heard positive comments from members about the quality of the place. Robert suggested setting up a voting pool on the website and facebook to ask the members which venue they like better and include a section for comments about the venues.
• Bożenka and Eliza decided that they will organize Topienie Marzanny 2019 on Saturday 3/23. They will let Gosia know the details and where to adverstise. 
• Adjournment: Next Meeting: March 19, 7p, Bartek will let us know where the meeting will take place. 

The Club’s bank account status: $32, 945.63

The camp out expenses will be presented at the next meeting.

Helena put a motion on the table to give Gosia Thurston the responsibility to make decisions regarding posts on the Club’s media. When faced with an indecision the Board will be asked to weigh in and it was promised responses will be given quickly. Zbyszek seconded the motion. Everybody voted in support of the motion.

Next matter: A need to purchase a replacement amplifier for the singing group/church choir.  Helena put a motion on the table to have 2/3 of the expense come from the church’s budget and 1/3 to be covered by the Club’s account. The total expense is around $1,550. Bozena seconded the motion. Everybody present approved the motion.

There was discussion and considering of ideas/options of treating the students of former Pacanow and other children in the Club to some outing/event.

Wigilia: Oplatki have been ordered, 150, to be sold for $5 each.

There is going to be a background music during Wigilia provided by Jennifer (she volunteered). Bozena and Asia will make some more of the wooden Christmas trees as prizes since they were so well received last year.

The meeting ended, next meeting October 30.    

Minutes from the last meeting approved.

A message from the treasurer re. the Club’s budget: $30,530.21

Organizing Wigilia:

The music equipment has been purchased, Grzegorz will find out from Zbyszek if it will be available for use during Wigilia. Zbyszek will be at the venue to set things up. 

The program was reviewed and agreed on, Helena will print copies. The newly assigned priest, father Wojciech Stachura will join us for the evening, will give us blessing. 

Eliza and Marlena will take care of the raffle. Lisiecki family may sing during a visit from Santa/giving out stockings. We are waiting to find out if they are coming.

Matt and Nick Mikulski will be Santa and an elf again this year if they do not have work conflicts, Tom (Jennifer’s husband) is on standby. Jennifer is willing to provide music throughout the evening.

We agreed that the president will conclude the evening/thank everybody for coming at 8:30 pm. 

Bozena will contact Diana’s store to order bread for the tables, $3.50 a loaf. Oplatki have been blessed, will be on the tables and available for sale.

There will be 15 tables, Eliza? will buy them. We discussed making “reserved” signs but decided against them. YogaBear club will take care of the centerpieces, Asia has an idea for the design.

We would like to have the wooden Christmas trees again this year, ten total – five to give away as raffle prizes, five to sell – $15 each.  

Bozena put a motion on the table to purchase wine for tables for the Ostatki dance. Iwona seconded the motion, six voted for, one against. Wine will be purchased.

Starting in December we will go back to having meetings on Tuesdays. Bartosz will try to get a room at the library for the 3^rd Tuesday of December.

The meeting ended.

Treasurer is absent, by his report the balance of the Club’s account is $32,107.38

Janet has brought check that came in mail: membership dues, donations. Gosia will pass on to Grzesiu to be deposited. 

Point on the agenda: Upcoming elections. Janet will send a templet of a ballot to Gosia. Coming back board members and new candidates are being posted on the website. Bartosz Warzycha is a candidate for a treasurer’s positon. Marlena will be asked to be a candidate for a trustee.

Upcoming event: Marzanna, Saturday 12 PM.

Teenagers who come to the event will put a scarecrow together, Bozenka supplies materials. She will also buy coffee, bring hot water. Eliza will buy juice boxes, snacks. Iwona and Eliza are getting signs, supplies from the storage. Iwona got the key from Gosia. 

No other event needs planned until the summer camp out.

The new venue for this year’s Wigilia has been discussed some more. The Barn in Upper Arlington is a strong possibility. Bozenka will call to find out if available for December 15 (other option December 8) along with other details: are tables available, can food be brought in. their fee is $150/hour.

A question has come up: who will be taking care of/help rebuild and improve the Club’s website? We will ask around. 

It has been decided that moving the post office box is a good idea (current location not convenient for anybody since Janet is leaving her post). It has not been officially voted on and for now Bozenka has the key to the box. 

Next meeting will be held at the Lane Rd Library, 7 – 8 PM during the election. We do need to secure a volunteer to collect and count the votes.

Meeting adjourned.

First point of discussion: The upcoming PAC Board Election in April 2020

Due to the medical state of emergency in Columbus the Board decided to postpone the election till further notice. Helena put the motion on the table, Zbyszek second it. All in favor. Gosia will make the necessary announcements.

Next point: Announcing the Club’s readiness to assist those in need due to the coronavirus.

Even though we all considered it and appreciated the empathy in the idea, we decided to not make any official declarations in the Club’s name. We would not know how to put in action/execute any potential requests. We agreed to follow Robert’s suggestion to be supportive to one another through informal network of
friends/acquaintances. Helena will get in touch with Mr. and Mrs. Swiderski to see if they need any assistance/supplies. Iwona forwarded to Gosia a message written by Helena as a guideline for a general ,supportive message to be posted from the Club to all the members and the community.

Next point: Generating more traffic/ followers of the PAC on social media

Gosia T. has asked the Board to approve Elizabeth as another admin for Facebook . Elizabeth has agreed to assist Gosia with social media. The goal is to appeal more/ to become more relevant to younger generations in hopes they become more interested in their heritage and the Club. Elizabeth has been involved in the student government while in college and has some experience /ideas.

Iwona put the motion on the table, Zbyszek second it. All in favor, with the stipulation that Gosia will monitor/supervise the ideas and posts. Elizabeth would like to introduce the candidates for the next year’s PAC government on Facebook, one at a time, in a personalized profile, to make them more familiar, real and accessible. She has asked us to submit to her a current photo along with answers to some simple questions that people may find interesting to look at.

Next point: Feedback from the February dance

Very good. Great decorations, atmosphere, food, good turn out. We will need to come up with a little better flow of the entertainment events during future dances though.
We discussed briefly a change of venues for Wigilia and dances. We may in the future but we decided to make reservations at the same locations for 2020/21 since bookings need to be made now. We also talked about a possibility of organizing some other Club event in the future, an outdoor dance perhaps?

Next point: Dates and reservations for future events

The Camp out – September 4 – 7, 2020. Helena will make reservations. At some point we will look up/come up and post some rules for all campers to follow, with potential consequences for those who do not comply, so the event may remain family friendly.
Wigilia/Upper Arlington – December 12, 2020. Bozena will make reservations.
Ostatki Dance/Westerville – February 13, 2021. Zbyszek will make reservations, Will find out from Bartosz if the deposit was kept by the owner of the facility.

Meeting adjourned, thank you!

Financial report from Bartosz; at the end of February there was $31,273.92 in the Club’s account. On the day of the meeting there was $30,911 (some bills taken care of).

Helena let us know that she has made the reservation for the camp out over the Labor Day weekend but a confirmation is not available due to the park office’s technical difficulties. She is going to keep on trying to obtain the confirmation since Bartosz has not seen any charge for it on the Club’s credit card statement.
Bozena has emailed the contact person re. Wigilia wanting to reserve the chosen date. She will have to wait for the response because the office is currently closed.
Marlena has let us know that the removal of the outdoor sculptures from Schiller Park has been postponed till September. She will be contacted by the artist’s group with a date. Per Marlena’s suggestion the Club will organize a get together with the artist when we know when they are going to be here.
Gosia T. thanked Elizabeth T. for her work on the PAC’s Facebook page.

Next meeting in May. Virtual? Regular?

Bank account: $31,713.29.

First point of discussion: The PAC Government Election:
They will be held on Thursday, June 4th 2020 at 7 PM. Helena will format the ballot and print some. Gosia will post PDF file on the Club’s website and send out an e-mail with the information. Zbyszek is writing the announcement to be sent out. Members who want to cast their vote may print the ballot and mail it to the Club’s P.O. Box or vote in person in Kosciuszko Park (in a shelter, by the parking lot). The Committee collecting in person votes consists of Gosia Thurston and Elizabeth Testani. Helena will collect the mailed in ballots by 6:30 PM on June 4th and deliver them to the Committee. Only members in good standing can vote, if anybody has any questions they can e-mail Bartosz.

PAC camp out:
The office at the Alum Creek Park is still not able to process the credit card payment to finalize the reservation.

Bartosz offered to bring cash/check to their office. Helena is going to find out if that is an option.

40th Anniversary of the PAC:
Gosia asked for ideas to commemorate the occasion. Some ideas: posting a note of gratitude to volunteers/officers/board members who kept the Club going through the years, posting on the website a
compilation of memories and anecdotes about the Club’s presidents and contributors based on interviews with chosen members. An editor would be needed for that. Robert suggested making the anniversary a theme for the club’s camp out in September, using one day for celebration festivities. We will ponder and go back to brainstorming at a later date.

The contact from Katherine Moore/Schiller Park re. fundraising/donations:
Helena will respond to Katherine with an inquiry. We would like to have some more information before taking any action. Main question is what “fund raising pocket” consists of.
We discussed a possibility of organizing a social event to celebrate the artist and his work in September, when Mr. Kedziora and his team come to Columbus to collect his art pieces. Marlena and Bozena suggested an informal gathering, possibly potluck, depending on a date and weather.

A need for an assistance/support network for ill children and their families, coming to Children’s Hospital through charity foundations:
Gosia and Bozena explained to us the difficulties the families face when coming here from Poland, with their children who for medical treatment. They seek help/contact through Facebook and Gosia T. is their first responder, so to speak. Bozena suggested reaching out to the Chicago branch of the Foundation to give them feedback on the program and it’s weak points. We agreed that a network of committed helpers would be very helpful. We are going to try and come up with candidates for a coordinator of such a group of volunteers within the Club. Iwona

suggested finding out from parents/families what they find most needed as information and assistance, and posting such information on the Club’s web page as a resource. We will continue the subject during next meetings.

The meeting adjourned, next meeting June 16th. Bartosz is going to check if meeting at a library is an option.