President Kay Rogers called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m.
PLEASE TURN YOUR CELL PHONES OFF OR SET THEM TO VIBRATE
This meeting is being recorded.
Appointed Officers: All present except: Sylvia Davis
Delegates not present: David Stutzman, Blue Mountain Council; Frank Schuchard, Umpqua Council
Goodwill Ambassadors not present: Bob and Carolyn Bosch
INVOCATION: Immediate Past President, Dale Worthington
FLAG SALUTE: 2nd Vice President, Chuck Garner
MINUTES: Lorri McIntosh- Zola Jones moved to accept the minutes as written. Cece Glidewell second the motion. Minutes approved as written.
PRESIDENT: Kay (Jim) Rogers- Recently I was asked what the Federation was up to these days, with the lower number of dancers and clubs, lower attendance at festivals and no National Convention to work on. All negatives, true. But there are positives, too.
The Federation board is in the unique position of having money, experience, and volunteers to help our clubs not only to ride out the storm, but to offer help in recruiting the next generation of dancers. Our job over the next few years is to spread the word that we are not dead. As representatives you all need to put on a positive attitude and let the clubs know that help is available.
If your council wants to host a summer festival or weekend festival of another name, we can help. We have experienced people ready and willing to help fill out your committee roster. We can offer advice for venues, callers and cuers, and budgets. We have a $3,000 loan available for seed money to help get the ball rolling.
If your club wants to hold lessons, we can offer the benefit of experience in advertising and holding lessons. We have grants available to help your club pay for advertising, callers and venues.
If your club needs help with paying rent or publicizing dances, we have grants available.
It is up to each one of us to spread the word and be positive about our favorite activity. We need to be out volunteering in our neighborhoods. We need to do demos and parades. To recruit new dancers and do everything we can to keep them coming back with smiles and positive attitudes.
FIRST VICE PRESIDENT: Marilyn (Jim) Schmit: I have received no correspondence with Mid-Winter in my position as Festival Advisor. I would like that to change to where the Advisor receives all minutes.
I attended the nomination meeting to see who potential officers may be in September. That way I have an idea on what positions will be open for appointment later. I will be spending the spring on updating the directory as new officer lists come in.
I had the State of Oregon and American flags cleaned and they look much better. Total cost was $50. The Federation flag was "borrowed" in September and I was told not to worry about it. I have received no notes as to where it has been or who has it. Tim Roberts said he received a couple of photos, one from the coast, and I got an email from Dave Cooper saying he "heard" that it would return home for Mid-Winter.
2016 MID-WINTER FESTIVAL: Tim and Cheryl Hagey - Thank you, huge success, last we heard there are over 1,000 people. Everyone is having a great time.
2017 MID-WINTER FESTIVAL: Connie Seamans/Paul Gates- We are off to good start, contracts complete, sold 100 ribbons as of yesterday evening. Promoting Summer Festival, committee is together.
2016 SUMMER FESTIVAL: Kay (Jim) Rogers- I hope you stayed for the after party last night. It's time to get registered now that Mid-Winter is over. Lane and Marie are registration chairmen. He has ribbons for any of you registering today. Andy Allemao is our featured caller. He is very popular in Southern California. The exhibition group Heritage Dancers are coming to support Andy and do a couple of exhibitions for us. Mark your calendars and plan to attend. We have a 15% discount at The Inn at Seaside and Riverside Inn. Our own Dave Cooper will be our festival cuer. There will be other great callers and cuers on the program. I have given each delegate forms for the Oregon Summer Festival and Washington State Festival and Boots in the Blue Mountains. Please share with your clubs.
2017 SUMMER FESTIVAL: N/A
OREGON FEDERATION NEWS: Tim (Kathy) Roberts- Running pretty smoothly, total number of flyer down this month, a lot of obituaries this month, photos- try not to use captions, use just photos. I have written the job description for the OFN edition, this describes pretty much how I do things. We will be voting on that later. The job still requires someone with computer skills.
2ND VICE PRESIDENT: Chuck Garner- I plan to work on the following:
1. What can I do to help the clubs recruit and retain new dancers?
2. What can I do to help recruit and train new callers?
3. New Callers need a place to call and work on their skills. A new club? What can I do to help?
4. I would like to see all the caller run clubs join the Federation by showing them the benefits of their affiliation.
SECRETARY: Lorri McIntosh- Thank you to everyone for your understanding as I was delayed in getting the last minutes typed due to personal issues. My email address is incorrect in the directory. The correct email address is nursylady1976@yahoo.com.
TREASURER: Lane (Marie) Clem - Report given to all present, will be emailing report to all delegates and officers. Profit and loss shows activity show activity in each fund since last meeting. Key bank checking overdrawn by $5,
A few P&P's that need to be changed:
1. Line B9- I must insure that all checks must have 2 signatures. Nobody will catch this with the electronic banking. The treasurer can easily bypass the requirement. Parliamentarian needs to address at next meeting.
A detail of all written checks is available on reconciliation report.
Requiring two signatures causes unnecessary inconvenience for the treasurer, the president or vice-president, and the payee.
2. Pre-approval of expenditures: Page V-9 line 10 & 11 from "Ensures that all vouchers and expenditures are pre-approved. The treasurer issues no checks that have not been authorized by the President or 1st vice-president in advance of billing." to: Ensures that all vouchers and expenditures are properly approved by budget item, By-Laws, Practices and Procedures or by vote of the Federation. Argument: 1) Requiring the president of 1st vice-president to initial an approval form prior to writing a check provides very little protection to the Federation. 2) Prohibiting the treasurer from writing checks as needed causes unnecessary inconvenience to the president, vice-president, treasurer, and the payee. 3) Most expenses are covered by budget items (MidWinter loan), Practices and Procedures (Motel/Mileage reimbursement), or vote of the Federation and should not require an additional level of approval.
3. Reimbursement of lodging/mileage expenses: Page IV-7 Revise line 17 from, "….should be turned in to the 1st vice-president by the Saturday evening before the State meeting." to "…Should be turned in to the Treasurer by the Saturday evening before the State meeting." Argument in Favor: 1) Lodging and mileage expenses are specifically approved by the Practices and Procedures document and should not require an additional level of approval. 2) The 1st vice-president must pass the requests on to the treasurer for processing. 3) Requiring an intermediate step in the reimbursement process adds unnecessary time and effort.
4. Maintaining appropriate balances in required funds. A) Page V-11 requires the treasurer to maintain certain funds: General Funds, Special Projects Fund, Insurance Fund, and OFN Fund. B) Additional funds have been established by prior treasurers: Charity Fund, Youth Fund, Youth Scholarship Fund. C)While there are instructions for appropriate income and expenditures in these funds, there are no provisions for minimum balances: Some funds may contain excessive balances, Some funds, such as General Fund, may be overdrawn, and common sense would prescribe that if a fund is required, an appropriate balance should be maintained in the account. D) I propose that the three additional funds be added to Page V-11 lines 29-31. I propose that the following clause be added to page V-11 at line 33 authorizing the treasurer to maintain appropriate balances in all funds: The treasurer is authorized to transfer sufficient amounts from the general Fund into any other funds as needed to establish a minimum balance of $2,500 in that in that fund and to the general fund from any other required fund as needed to ensure a maximum balance of $5,000 in each fund. Exceptions may be approved by the Federation Board, In the event that such transfer or other authorized activity should cause the balance in the general fund to fall below $2,500, the treasurer is authorized to transfer funds from the Federation's Reserve Bank Account into the Federation's Operating Bank Account in sufficient amount to cover the deficit."
5. I propose that the Washington Federal CD in the amount of $10,078.47 be cashed in at maturity and used to initially bring all funds to a minimum balance. The remainder should be placed in the Key Bank Savings account.
We are overdrawn in the general fund- requesting approval to cash in CD at Washington Federal of approx. $10,000 to address overdrafts.
Zola brought up the balances and need for money in accounts with not enough money to cover all expenses. There is not enough money to go around to pay all bills in May. There is still a $5,000 outstanding check that was written to the OFN editor last February. With the $15,035 in the general fund to cover shortages, Lane will need to make motions at the next meeting for changes to the P&P's. Accounts payable has 0.01 cent that cannot be removed because of quick books; this cannot be fixed under accounts.
Proposal will need to be addressed at the May meeting. Also, there is still a $6,000 due from Midwinter, this is earmarked for MidWinter Fund and will not go into the General Operating Fund. Dale recommended that Lane attend both the delegate and officers meeting in May to explain his proposals for changes, reducing the time for discussion at the meeting.
MEMBERSHIP: Sylvia Davis- I will be sending to all Clubs and Councils reminders concerning forms, fees and dues that need to be completed by July 1, 2016. I will be sending a letter to you in the April/May time frame. I am hoping that most of you will have completed them before that time. All you need to do is get on-line to get these Membership Forms and the instructions are very clear. If you have questions, please get in touch with me by telephone, 503.325.8109 or by e-mail, s.m.davis@charter.net. Also, the Corporation Dues will be due at various times of the year due to your Club starting. Usually the State sends you a letter telling you when the dues are due. Again, if you have questions, get in touch with me. Thank you.
INSURANCE: Kay (Jim) Rogers: Jim may take over; this was the best year ever for insurance. Emails were sent to everyone for a digital copy to reprint. Hard copies were given today.
PAST PRESIDENT: Dale (Kathy) Worthington: Randell Award- Billie Smith was awarded at the festival. This year we had the most submission that we have had in a long time. Ask delegates to go back enter people into the Randell award. Kay will be taking over when she becomes past president, so submit Randell Award nominations to her for this next year. If you submitted a nomination, you can resubmit it again.
Nominating Committee: Jan Thompson, Zola Jones, Ron Schmit, and Lane Clem.
Nominating committee has put together a slate of officers for this year.
The list is subject to change:
1st Vice President: Jolene Cummings, Chuck Garner, and Richard Burdick
2nd Vice President: Mark McDonald and Kathy Roberts.
Secretary: Lorri McIntosh and Nancy Smith
Membership: Sylvia Davis and Angie Clark
Nominations from the floor: President: none, 2nd vice president: none,
Secretary: none, Membership: none. Nominations closed, accepted until
February 1st. Everyone needs to fill out nomination form and send asap.
PARLIAMENTARIAN: Tim (Kathy) Roberts: No Report
PUBLICITY/EDUCATION: Kathy (Tim) Roberts: Publicity-: have set up new Face book page for the Oregon Federation of Square and Round Dance Clubs. Please "like" the page, so we can start making it available to dancers. Once you like it, the posts on it will become visible on your Face Book page. My hope for this page is that all clubs and councils can start posting their dances and special events here so that we can work with the OFN to promote square dancing. The big advantage of using FB, is you can update your flyer, people check FB every day, and update your dance information. Sometimes, our dances change between posting the flyers and the actual dance - this will allow you to update as needed. Face book does not replace the OFN, if used; it can work in conjunction with the OFN to help promote your dances and events.
Education: during Summer Fest- how to use Facebook, how to maintain it and questions about it, and other social media. Another educational seminar can be arranged is there is a request.
Zola- Educational seminar at MWF 2016-lasted a full hour by Susan Haley from Round a Lab gave seminar talking about hiring caller and cuers, contracts, and what you should know, future of round dancing with handouts, attended by 38 people.
Education: ? During Summer Festival we are going to have a class on using Facebook to help your club and council. Amanda Roberts will teach you how to create public FB group for your club, how to maintain it, and answer any questions you may have. She will also briefly talk about other social media sites. Normally, we have 1 educational seminar during a summer festival. If you have any other educational requests, please let me know.
HISTORIAN: Marilyn (Ron) Schmit-There has been no activity. I have state fair pictures to print and insert into the album. Have a couple Summer Festival scrapbooks to loan out to Mid-Willamette Area for 2017 bid project.
BMI/ASCAP COORDINATOR: Ralph Lambert- Everything is current with both organizations. The 2016 Mid-Winter Festival has the information needed to submit their payments to the State Federation after the festival is completes. The bills have been forwarded to the 1st Vice President for approvals, and forwarded to the Treasurer for payment checks, which are to be returned to me to submit to BMI and to ASCAP. The BMA is $150.00, which is $5.00 less than 2015. The ASCAP amount is $246.00 which is the same as 2015. However they did raise the minimum event amount from $121.00 in 2015 to $123.00 in 2016.
YOUTH ACTIVITIES COORDINATOR: Kathy (Tim) Roberts: There were 15 MWF scholarships awarded this year at Fair- Send requests for scholarships to club delegate or Kathy Roberts. Youth activities have already awarded 3 scholarships for Summer Festival. We would like to have 2 youth dances this year. Reports to the OFSRDC The youth had a fun time dancing at the State Fair on September 5. We had over 60 kids sign-up, unfortunately one club was unable to attend which had about 25 kids. However, the 30 plus who attended had a great time dancing with KC Curtis, who always puts on a great party. We were also joined by several adults this year. This year we awarded 15 Mid-winter Scholarships for kids to attend Mid-Winter. Karyn Buchheit, Midwinter Youth Chairman did a great job keeping the kids entertained the whole weekend. Please be sure to let your clubs know that we have scholarships to assist families that need a little help to attend our state sponsored events. All requests should be sent to me by either the club president or council delegate. We have already awarded 3 scholarships for Summer Festival. Please contact me with your questions and your scholarship requests. USDA Scholarship applications for graduating High School seniors and college freshmen are due tomorrow. OFSRDC scholarship applications are due May 1. Please remind your students to apply now. I would like to have 2 youth dances this year, preferably in different areas of the state. I am considering April and one in June before school is out. Are there any councils that would like to co-host a youth dance with the state.
ORDTA: Sharon Greenman- meeting yesterday with Susan Healea, with featured cuers discussing recruiting and retaining new dancers, nominating committee et yesterday.
ROUND DANCE SCREENING: Tammy Helms/Tim Keck- Round dance screening committee, Tami working in round dance of the month, request sent to area delegate for contacts to each council for appropriate council contacts.
CALLER ADVISER: Leonard Snodgrass- no report
WEBMASTER: Tim (Kathy) Roberts: The Federation website is languishing as focus for publicity has shifted to the online OFN.
STATE FAIR REPORT: Marilyn (Ron) Schmit- No report. Will send letter of interest to the Fair in March to let them know that we are interested and to include one day of nothing but round dancing.
State Directory- I have 6 directories left if anyone would like to buy one. It would be nice to sell all of them this year.
STATE TRAILERS: Floyd (Jill) Bard- the state trailers used by the PAC clubs were returned with a list of issues on the trailers. Is it beneficial for the federation to maintain the trailers? Both trailers are stored at my area; do we need to keep trailers? Especially with their expenses? End rails need to have a better storage. We need to find them a new home closer to Portland area. Resurfacing will need to be done on the floors for maintenance. Lebanon Strawberry Festival is the only users for one trailer. The license and tags are due this year. Floyd will be writing a motion about the trailers for the next meeting. Recommend after each use is to resurface floor, roughly $90.00, wiring needs to removed and replaced at approximately $150.00-$200.00, one tire will need to be replaced t $75.00- $80.00. Tags are about $40.00 for each trailer every other year.
Marilyn Schmit: in cleaning up treasurers book, money was left in benefit funds which was zeroed out and sent to Oregon HORSES, we received a thank you from that organization.
Motion for MWC to host Summer Festival 2017 by Harriett Livingston, Cece second the motion, motion carried. This is close to the square dance center. A request to add clogging was made. No objection to the motion. Concerns need to be addressed to the committee. MWC will host Summer Festival 2017.
BLUE MOUNTAINS: David Stutzman: Elkorn Swingers are not holding dances any longer. Their last event will be their 37th Annual Spring Fling in April on the 22nd & 23rd.
The La Grande Star Promenaders have dropped back to Dancing twice a month on the 2nd & 4th Thursdays.
The Muddy Frogs are holding square and ball room dance lessons every Sunday. They have a mainstream dance ont the 3rd Sunday every month. In February it will be their Anniversary Dance.
The Blue Mountains Council will hold the next Federation Meeting the third Sunday in May.
CENTRAL OREGON: Kippen (Debbi) Parrett: Sagebrush Shufflers just completed lessons, Redmond Redrocks have 7 new lessons, Bachelor Beauts have 14 students, swinging Mountaineers have Ron Bliven retired from calling, no lessons will be held, but they will do workshops. Kippen will be teaching plus club starting this year. Jackie passed away this last summer, this hit the area and activity hard.
EMERALD EMPIRE: Zola (Ray) Jones: On the Fall 2015 lessons at the Emerald Dance Center sponsored by four of our area clubs, and taught twice a week by one caller; 21 persons started lessons the first week in October; 16 graduated on Thursday, January 21. Of theses 4 came back from previous lessons, and 4 of whom were former mainstream dancers and had dropped out of dancing-so came back to be active again. Many of them are here this weekend dancing in the New Dancer and Mainstream halls.
A special Christmas Dance was held on December 19 at the Emerald Dance Center with four of our area clubs joining together for a great evening of friendship and fun dancing to three callers at New Dancer level. There were 11 squares on the floor. Everyone had such a good time-this joint dance will probably be done again next December.
Emerald Empire Area Council's annual Benefit Dance this year will be held on Saturday evening, April 30 at the Emerald Dance Center, 2095 Yolanda St. in Springfield. Calling and Cueing will again be donated by the Cascade Callers and Cuers Association. There will be many silent auction items and special Door Prizes. The recipient this year is "Honor Flight: where veterans of World War II and the Korean War receive a trip to Washington D.C. to be honored at the memorials there.
INTERSTATE HIGHLANDERS: Cece Sarge) Glidewell- New officers and directors were elected: President: Denny Fullerton 541-883-7722, Vice President: Adana & Roby Gardner 541-884-1263. Treasurer: Doty DeGarmo 541-273-2927, Secretary: Ron & Karen Johnson 541-880-6481, Board of Directors: Dorothy & Afton Herndon 541-884-0154, Don & Helen Schreiner 541-884-6042, Sandy Marks 541-883-2903. The club meeting is 3rd Monday of each month.
Since the 2015 Summer Festival is in the history books there is not much activity. I will give a report from the 2015 Mid-Winter at the next meeting. I expect that we will schedule a council dance at some point this year.
MID-WILLAMETTE: Harriett Livingston- The new officers for the 2015-2016 year were installed at the September meeting. There were 10 New Dancer's Dances this fall and have had an average of 10 squares. A group has been doing homework for submitting a bid for the 2017 Summer Festival to be hosted by the Mid-Willamette Area and to be held in Salem. The dates would be July 13-16, 2017.
PORTLAND: Janet (Roy) Belcoff: Thank You to Emerald Empire Area Council for hosting today's state meeting. The last six months have found the Portland Area Square Dance Council Clubs busy with dancers, lessons, club planning for the new year, insurance renewals, fund raisers, and special anniversary and Ney Year's Eve dances. Looking forward to 2016, PAC dancers will be attending many of the great weekend events. It has been a challenge to schedule PAC 5th Friday dances for 2016, just as is has been for many other councils. PAC's Vice President asked for volunteers to help identify alternative dates and activities for the coming year.
PAC hosted the Tri-Council dance on October 31sr, at the Clark County Square Dance Center with guests from Tualatin Valley Council and Evergreen Council. New Years host for this annual dance will be Evergreen Council.
Planning has begun for the float entry in the Rose Festivals Starlight Parade on the first Saturday in June. The purpose of dancing in this parade entry is to promote square dancing in the greater Portland area and beyond.
ROGUE SIS-Q: Roberta (Phil) Claudson- Pear Blossom Festival is now a 3 day festival. It now includes Sunday morning. There will a square dance workshop and a round dance workshop on Saturday.
Our next council dance will be on April 30th. Ray Holmes is calling. Our council dance on Halloween was very successful. There were great costumes, food and fun. We have added Advanced dancing before pre rounds.
The club September classes are continuing. New classes have started this January at the Charlie Browns, and the Rogue Squares will begin their new class in February.
The Caller and Cuers Association are sponsoring a Student level dance in Medford on Feb. 21.
The purple heart tips have been a popular attraction.
New Year's Eve dance put on by the Star Promenaders celebrated the New Year on New York Time. After toasting the New Year in at 12:00 EST we feasted on a sandwich and salad buffet. The Stars will celebrate their 49th birthday on the fourth Saturday in February. The Charlie Browns celebrated their birthday in December. Randy Dibble was the caller.
SOUTH COAST: Coleeta (Chuck) Quigley- Patrick Cox sitting in for Quigley's.
BEACHCOMBERS
Beachcombers Square Dance Club is sad to report that we did not have enough new dancers come to the classes that we had worked so hard to offer. We had received generous help from the Oregon Federation. We refunded the unused portion of that grant, but we hope to try for another class in the future. We are pleased to have a nominee for the Randall Award this year, Billie Smith, very deserving of the nomination and wish her the best of luck in the voting. We have had monthly fun dances this fall and winter and plan to continue our Saturday afternoon dances through April. We will not be having a dance in May as it falls on Memorial Weekend. We will be having our birthday dance June 25 from 7 to 10 p.m. with Chuck Simpkins calling and Cathy Houston cueing.
SAINTS N AIN'T
We had to cancel our beginner class because of low attendance. However, the plus is going strong and will be completed by Mid-Winter. Our next beginner's class will probably start in September. Several club members have attended caller's class in Springfield and have been doing some calling locally.
That is it for Saints-n-Aints.
SETS IN ORDER
We are still dancing just once a month. Lessons were completed just before Mid-Winter. We had 3 graduates and they have already been coming to our dances. Their enthusiasm is great to see.
Pat added: He has been asked about a square dance teacher at one of the schools in Coos Bay, Dave cooper volunteered and will be teaching dancing in Coos Bay for the school.
Tualatin Valley- Kathy (Dale) Worthington- The last TVC meeting was a Potluck, President Award night. The Outstanding Contribution Recognition Award was given to Lane and Marie
Clem. TVC is having a 5th Saturday dance at the Aloha Grange in Aloha OR. Caller is Jim Hattrick and Cuer is Ken Pratt. Our annual Hahn Barn dance this year is on August 21st, with a potluck. Caller is Terry Haley and Julie Stiers is the Cuer.
2016 Summer festival is coming together. We have Andy Allemao from CA. The Heritage Dancers are from his area and they are going to be putting on an exhibition on Friday and Saturday night. Dave Cooper is our featured Cuer. The Inn at Seaside will give a 15% discount so make sure you get your reservations in early. There is a one day of $20 at the door available this year.
Jim Hattrick has a stroke but he is doing much better now. He is back to calling. The Doctors have implanted a recorder in Jim to determine the health of his heart, to see if he is having A-fib, or what is causing his health problems.
On Jan 6th Channel 8's Drew Carry show had dancers from 9 clubs put on a 2 hour show that was on T.V. I guess it went over quite well.
Some of the TVC clubs are having anniversary dances. The Columbia River Dancers are having their 1st anniversary dance. They have had to do some changes; one is a new dance place. They have decided to change the date that is in the TVC directory they don't want to wait until Feb.26 2106 to have it. The Hoedowners are having their 66th anniversary Dance on February 27th.
UMPQUA: Frank (Rita) Schuchard- Thanks to the MidWinter committee & volunteers for a great festival.
Buckaroos'
We began lessons in September and are now graduating 14 students and of those, 13 are joining the Club. Our students have now completed all of the mainstream calls. After some discussion, for the first time in many years, we are offering a second set of lessons which began three weeks ago. We had 14 squares at our January 2nd dance which Mike Sikorsky called and that was a fantastic turnout for us. He will be calling at our Birthday Dance in 2017.
Don Marshall will be calling his last dance for the Buckaroos' March 19th. He and Teresa are moving to Texas.
The Buckaroos Birthday Dance is scheduled for April 2nd. Plans are well under way for our annual Round Up June 10-12.
Dancing Friends - No report
Timber 8's
The Timber 8's will be celebrating their birthday April 10th (Sunday 2:00 pm). The Crew will be calling and even though they are a plus club the calls will be mainstream so mainstream dancers can attend and join in the celebration.
Umpqua Area Council
We had our annual "Second Sunday in January New Dancer Dance" and we had a good turn out from our current students. We have heard comments from the students that it would be really helpful if there is some way we could have a list by mid November of the New Dancer Dances to post that are scheduled for Dec. and January so they could plan ahead for visitations to the out of town new dancer dances.
Carolyn & Bob Bosch-We have been very inactive since Sept, due to medical issues. We have not been dancing, traveling, or going to social events. The one thing we have done is getting your flyers out to different clubs and events through the mail. From MWF, We will make our annual trip to Yuma for their square dance festival
Marilyn and Ron Schmit- Since my father passed away during September meeting weekend, I have been busy with paperwork for Social Security and Veterans Administration. I attended one of Jim Hattrick's first calling dates in Corvallis after he recuperated from his long illness. I attended about three New Dancer dances in my council and helped with a Phase 2 two-step class. I attended a Washington Federation meeting in Kelso two weeks ago to learn the fate of their magazine, Footnotes. It will go online as of the September issue. They have been subsidizing the magazine for a long time. They also distributed an Excel spreadsheet showing the total amount of insured dancers by club and council. Their total is 3099 dancers as of January 1, 2016. The hosting council makes lunch for the meeting and we got homemade clam chowder and homemade chicken noodle soups. Hot croissants to go along with them. Yum! The dance on Saturday night was hosted by the Ruffs and Ruffles and their break time food was hot biscuits with several varieties of homemade jam. Imagine dancing while the smell of fresh biscuits drifts out onto the dance floor. Another YUM! Several small jars of the various jams were given as door prizes. I missed by one number.
I took flyers for Mid-Winter, Summer Festival, Boots in the Blue Mountains in Pendleton and the Spring Fling in Baker City. I also sold three state directories and as of the writing of this report there are six left.
Fran Westfall: her husband passed, was resident in 1977 and 1978, thank you for the hugs. This festival showed a lot of youth dancers.
Zola Jones: emerald empire council, resale clothing has extra cloths to take back to your area. Sorry for the lack of space on the side tables of this meeting.
Dale Worthington with Hayshakers: Eva Moore passed away in December.
Floyd Bard emerald empire: We have two individuals who are new callers as a result for the federation scholarships. We need to encourage our young dancers and help them to become
Nita Minton MWA: listened about money for clubs for assistance. Does the federation know about these clubs as they are having difficulty? Kay: the first step is for the clubs to let the federation know. Part of the problem is the aging population and not getting younger dancers involved. We are working on it to encourage involvement for the activity. The Federation have tried to give advice and the advice is not always taken. Kippen: we have ideas that have not been tried, we have older clubs set in their way and not interested in changes. The younger callers need to be helped to call to the younger group of dancers with the music they listen to.
Patrick: scholarships? What would we offering the new callers for going to caller school? Kay: the person needs to submit a request for the funds. Kippen reports there are several entities that give scholarships for caller classes. Discussion about choirs and theatrical groups for recruiting.
Richard Burdick, Wolfpack club: experienced 2 things in this area with lessons and new dancers and close mindedness with new things. New callers are needed badly. We need new cuers also. The emerald empire we have Christina Corelli covering 6 clubs.
Steve Murphy: new stickers and ideas, when I went into square dances we see outdated equipment. We need to update the equipment for the new callers and cuers.
Kathy Roberts: would you like to have a round table discussion for new callers/cuers, and interested in dancing. Money for youth is given to Karyn for the youth for their activities and support what they are doing.
Karyn Buchheit (introduced by Kathy Roberts): Callers for the youth have an interested in calling with assistance for the callers, She purchased music for her son. The youth callers start with a singing call. Competition is calling, cueing, squares, rounds. They pick out their own music and Karyn finds the music for them. Karyn is trying to work through the festival to bring this activity to Oregon for youth.
Kippen: we have an agenda at festival; it might be nice to have an open mike for youth at festival. Kathy: we need to support these kids.
ADJOURN: Motion to Adjourn at 12:07
Randall Award-Marilyn (Ron) Schmit- The selection process was given to me since Dale was a nominee and Dave Cooper's mother-in-law was also a nominee. I received the ballots from all 10 councils but only after some reminders were sent out. It came down to a tie and I had to borrow the nomination forms to read up on each one to make a final tie breaker vote. Good job everyone. Now is the time to get your nominations in to Dale Worthington by Summer Festival. Look around to see who is worthy and re-nominate those who were not successful this year.