LOWELL ATHLETIC BOOSTER CLUB

MONTHLY MEETING MINUTES

August 4, 2010

PRESENT: Patti McCormack, Joe Rodenbucher, Sue Scott, Linda Patuszak, Amy Justevich , Jen DeBoer , John Fenner, Sam Gruszkowski, Roland Thomas, Jan Savich

Absent: Matt Felder

Opening Comments:

Kay Sampson went well. Linda will have an updated report at the next meeting.

SECRETARY REPORT:

Minutes reviewed. Motion to accept by John and seconded by Sue

Treasurers Report:

Winel update – Joe spoke to Mrs. Winnell at the end of July. She claimed she mailed a check. We have not received anything. Joe called her again on Tuesday but there was no answer. We are giving her until the end of the week to determine our next action. John and Sue reviewed the Winnell file and determined that she is in violation of her promissory note agreement. It may come down to taking her to court to recoup the money she still owes.

ATHLETIC DIRECTOR:

New concession stand is coming along. Fountain pop machine is installed. Stand should be completed on August 9th, cleaned on the 10th, and stocked after that. We need a new ice machine because it got damaged.

Fountain pop – Boosters will make more money in the concession stand by going to fountain pop. However, there will not be a rebate which went to Athletics. The cost of bottle pop is expensive, so little was made on sales, but recouped cost by getting the rebate. It was agreed that some money needs to go to Athletics. Athletics needs to have a working budget, and not all money from concessions should be in the Boosters account. We decided that we will look at our numbers at the end of the fall season, reevaluate profits and expenses. It is important to keep careful track of cups and expenses. We are going to change to individual bags of nachos instead of the big bags. It will cost alittle more, but the chips won’t get stale, and it’s more sanitary. Cost will be $19.95/48 bags. Burgers from GFS 1/3 lb burgers are 45/$29.99. It is a better value to sell the 1/3lb burgers. We will charge no more than $2.50 per burger. An alternative to a cotton candy machine is to purchase cotton candy already in bags $33.95/ 34 bags. Charge $2.00/bag.

Dry Erase Boards for the new locker rooms have been paid for by School Corporation.

One and Done - We will get sign ups during the break out sessions of the fall sports meeting. Patti asked that when we talk to parents about signing up for “One and Done” that we emphasize that they need to find their own replacement if they can’t make it and DO NOT send your child. It must be adults only.
Also, don’t volunteer for the nights that you know your child plays on. Call night is August 12
th at 5:30. Calling committee includes Amy, Sam, Sue, Jen and Jan. Teams are assigned to concessions, but we still need gate workers. Jen is to make a list of people that signed up for Boosters, but did not complete an interest survey. Great excuse to call them.

Uniforms – Every uniform is used for 12 years through rotation. Varsity uses it, then it goes to JV, and on to Freshmen. We purchase higher quality uniforms to ensure durability. This year, we will purchase Boys Basketball uniforms, Boys Tennis Warm-ups, Soccer Warm-ups, Volleyball is up for new uniforms this year, but we are still awaiting their bid. Baseball uniforms will be purchased this year because in the past, boys purchased their own jersey with their name and number. Mr. Wong is now the new Varsity coach, and he wants only numbers on the jerseys. Each team gets 3 bids to see which is most reasonable.

Football Helmets – Total cost is approximately $8,100. Patti asked for half the payment of the bill to come from Boosters. There was much discussion about this subject. Why were helmets reconditioned when they are purchasing new helmets? Why are they replacing these reconditioned helmets? Is it durability? Helmets are reconditioned each year so that they are safe. We had Schutts helmets last year, but now we purchased Riddell. We need to find out from Mr. Kilmer why this is taking place. We spend the most money on football. The cost is approximately $600 per football player. Helmets are very expensive when you factor in the cost of purchasing them as well as the cost to recondition them. There needs to be some plan in place to determine when new helmets will be purchased in the future. We all did agree that Boosters is here to work together with Athletics.

Scrimmage football game is Friday, Aug 13th @ 6:30. $3.00 admission. We will have 3 gates open. We want there to be a difference between the scrimmage and opening night. 50/50 will be sold at the scrimmage.

Dollars For Devils - Patti has a plan in place with the coaches to get tickets back quickly. Each fall sport athlete will receive a ticket that they have to sign for. Athletes have from Aug 9-16th/1 week to get money turned in. The team/teams that turn in 100% of the money by the 16th will get a pizza party. Also, the coaches of the team will get something nice. This is incentive to sell the tickets right away because if the tickets don’t get sold in the first week, they most likely won’t sell. Also, it was suggested that we consider selling tickets at a cheaper price. Sell more, less expensive tickets. This is something to consider for next year, however, it will be hard to keep track of all of the tickets.

Old Freezers and Refrigerators - We need to get rid of them, but we are willing to give them to Band if they need them. If not they will be given away to whoever wants them.

Presidents Agenda

LABC5M – Date – Sunday, Sept 5th.

Registration forms were placed in each goodie bag from Dean Frigo Run. Registration is available on-line also. We are estimating 300 participants for this first year. The logo is set and t-shirts are estimated to cost $2,500. Sponsorship is set up with Runnersworld.com and Roadid.com. Bibs and pins are ordered. We are in need of volunteers. Jan suggested having seniors work to get volunteer/community service hours. Awards will cost about $500. We need to get food for the day of the race. Need to talk to Bakers Produce to see if they can donate anything. We are in need of trucks for that day to haul tables, chairs, supplies, etc. Possibly rent a u-haul for the day. Joe has swimming pools for ice and water. Joe will donate water for the race. There will be water stops every 1-11/2 miles. Insurance for the race is $269. We are in need of sponsors. Joe is thinking that we will probably just break even this first year.

Kay Sampson Golf Outing report – Kay Sampson golf outing is now turned over to Boosters. We were all in agreement that we should keep the “Kay Sampson” name. Hopefully we will be able to keep the sponsors. Should we keep the same date? There was discussion about changing the date, but it seems to be a success at the end of July even though heat could be an issue.

Fall picture volunteers need to found at the Fall sports preseason meeting.

Membership report – Membership is down. There are 21 Varsity sports, approximately 480 athletes and only about 100 members. People need to understand that “Pay to Play” is coming. We make money from concessions, however we need Booster memberships also. Jen is working on getting the outdoor board completed. It should be completed before the first real home football game. Emails have been sent out to former members reminding them it is time to renew their memberships. Forms were attached to the email.

Gigahertz is not keeping the website up to date. Joe has to continue to remind them. Why are we paying Gigahertz when Joe can do the updating? How much are we paying Gigahertz? It was suggested that we stop paying.

Membership status needs to be updated monthly on the website. Joe also suggested having an events page added to the site.

Middle school sporting events –

All middle school football games will be held at the high school. Who is running the event and concessions? We all agreed that we need to get the LMS involved in Boosters. Joe and Patti are going to have a meeting with Kim Kilmer the Athletic Director of the Middle School. We need to negotiate concessions during their sporting events. Should we find workers for concessions and we keep the money? Middle school finds gate workers and they keep that money? Middle School athletes should also get on board with selling D4D tickets. Again, negotiation need to take place to discuss % to go to LMS athletics. Boosters did pay for new football uniforms for the middle schoolers.

All Booster Board Members received a free all-sports pass good for all home games. Thank you to Patti for this generous donation.

New Business: Amy requested a slushy machine. The cost is $2395.99. It does come with $624 in free products. We will sell the slushies for $2.00. Amy and Sue feel this will be a big money maker. It should pay for itself in the first year. We can use it outside and then bring it inside. There were many questions and concerns. They break often. What is a maintenance contract? No hose hook up is needed. It stays running and needs to be cleaned 1x/week. What size electric is needed? Band Boosters does not care if we do slushies. Amy is going to look into answer these questions and email everyone the information.

Upcoming News:

Booster Club Meeting: Wednesday, September 8th @n6:30.

Meeting Adjourned

Motion to adjourn by John, seconded by Amy















Lowell Athletic Booster, Inc.      P.O. Box 364      Lowell, IN 46356      (219) 696-7733