6/26/23 Minutes: Reimbursements, No July 3rd Meeting

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Marc, Rae, Salem
Start time: 7:20 PM

  1. Event Review – We were small on turnout, but had a really good discussion with some very engaged visitors. The article was a bit thinner on content than most of our previous readings, but it was still adequate to get the discussion started.
  2. Newsletter – Marc is making progress on getting our newsletter back online. He reports that RiseUp isn’t the most powerful or user-friendly, but he’s getting stuff done. He may even have something distributed this week!
  3. Next week’s meeting canceled – Jackson will be out of state, and several of our other people will be unavailable next week. We have decided to cancel the July 3rd meeting.
  4. Reimbursements – We had to catch up on some old financial business. Ty will be reimbursed $8.57 for some printing related to our Earth Day tabling back in April. Ty is also reimbursed $147 for picking up pizza and cupcakes for our 10th anniversary party on June 1st. Finally, Ty will also be reimbursed $83.87 for picking up a bunch of printing related to our booth at Star City Pride.

Meeting adjourned: 8:35 PM

6/19/23 Minutes: Another Pride Event, Upcoming Events

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Rae
Start time: 7:20 PM

  1. Upcoming Event – We have a reading discussion on Saturday. We should have enough readings for the event, if we can find them. Rae says she can get more copies for us if we let her know by Thursday. Jackson will be straightening up the room over the next few days.
  2. July Event – We took some time to preview a draft for our July event. Jackson thinks it looks good, aside from a few minor grammatical issues. Rae is still waiting on her collaborator to fill in a few biographical details. It should be online soon.
  3. Pride Event – Some local folks are doing an alternate Pride event this Saturday afternoon, and it’s even right after our trans safety discussion. We probably don’t have enough materials to do a formal table, nor do we likely have time or energy to prepare them in time for Saturday. But it will probably be a good community event, and we should probably make an appearance there.

Meeting adjourned: 8:10 PM

6/12/23 Minutes: Event Review, Upcoming Events, Reimbursement/Supplies, Newsletter Update, House Accessibility

In Attendance: Marc (sec), Ty, Salem, Jackson, Rae, Jacob
Meeting Start: 7:00 PM (!)

Event Review

  • Our booth at Star City Pride was pretty darn successful! We ran out of the vast majority of things we had (buttons, stickers, and zines). Thank you to everyone who helped prepare and staff the event!
  • We got tons of emails for our newsletter, which we hope to debut soon.
  • Rae pointed out that the “BASH BACK” stickers seemed to inspire some folks into action (i.e. use them to cover up hateful messaging), which was cool to see.
  • The Pride planning committee will likely send out surveys asking for feedback; Marc will forward any links to the BCH Discord.
  • Marc said that having a more substantial break would have been helpful.
  • Rae said that it would be helpful to have more staff willing to be at the booth to swap out, and fewer people at the booth at once (since sometimes all BCH volunteers were there at the same time). It would have also been helpful to known exactly what time people would be available to staff, rather than providing vague times.
  • We also didn’t have the clearest understanding of how vendor staffing worked at the event; Marc was worried about not being able to get back into the festival if he left and needed to come back.
  • The Compost the Rich stickers were a HUGE hit; Marc suggested reordering more of these for future events.
  • If we do buttons again, Marc suggested not making quite as many, since there’s just one button press between us, and they’re tedious and time-consuming to make.

Upcoming Events

  • Ty will write up the description for the Creating Trans Safety event ASAP. Jackson will post it after it’s reviewed.
  • For the upcoming workshop on transforming conflict, we’ll need to meet at least 2 Mondays before the day itself, as it will be on a Tuesday, to discuss any needs for the event.
  • Rae has the event description for the workshop written up; she will share the description and others will provide feedback for what’s written.

Reimbursement and Supplies

  • We need more supplies for the button maker, since we’re out of the clear plastic covers and running low on other pieces. Jackson will research and confirm the cost.
  • Ty bought the table for Pride; it’s a nice 6′ folding table and was $75.05 total.
  • Rae bought bottled water for volunteers at Pride – $6.99
  • Ty paid $10.00 for volunteer passes at Pride, and Salem paid $5.00 for their pass as well.
  • These costs and others in previous meeting minutes need to be reimbursed still.

Newsletter Updates

  • Our RiseUp account and listserv is good to go and as mentioned, we have plenty of contacts to add to it. Marc will take point on this. Emails will be sent out using our contact @ email address.
  • Rae suggested having a featured book section of the monthly event newsletter as a way to highlight the contents of our library and encourage people to use it. It could also have a blurb that more explicitly advertises the library. Folks were very fond of this idea.
  • Rae also likes the idea of changing up “featured” content in the newsletter so that we can express ourselves more, such as by having a photo related to BCH in some way. (Like something cool in the garden, things like that.)

Accessibility of the House

  • The ramp and porch are currently cluttered, and paths are not wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs/might be difficult for people using other mobility aids to navigate.
  • The interior of the house is also quite cluttered (with lots of yard sale leftovers).
  • For the porch, we currently have a couch on it that needs to be discarded, as it’s taking up too much space. We discussed using folding furniture for greater accessibility – so we can still enjoy outdoor meetings/events, but can remove the chairs easily so people can access the front door.
  • We discussed keeping an eye out for yard sales and used furniture for this express purpose.
  • Rae suggested making a list of what needs to happen to improve the house’s accessibility, and when we’d like to accomplish that. Others supported this idea.
  • Rae also suggested changing the most pertinent accessibility needs (namely the ramp/living room) before the upcoming workshop in July.
  • We plan to talk about accessibility on an ongoing basis, and have it as a running meeting topic.

Meeting Adjourned: 8:30 PM (!)

6/5/23 Minutes: Event Review, Upcoming Event, Pride Boothing

In attendance: Jackson, Salem, Ty, Marc (secretary)
Meeting Start: 7:05 PM

Event Review: 10th Anniversary Celebration

  • Our 10th anniversary celebration was 6/1. We had a good turnout, Sorry to Bother You generated some good discussions, and the food was well-received. We went with getting pizza from Mellow Mushroom and cupcakes from Butterfly Bakery, since they both have good vegan and gluten-free options.
  • Pizza was $72, and cupcakes were $75; Ty paid for these. He would like reimbursement for these, but we will decide on that.

Upcoming Event: Transport Reading Discussion

  • This reading discussion will be on June 24th. We have the articles printed out and ready to go already.
  • Marc and Ty will write up the description together, and Jackson will post it soon.

Pride Boothing

  • We discussed staffing plans for Pride and have good coverage for staffing the booth and switching out for breaks. Salem also indicated being available to help set up on Friday.
  • Check-in on Friday is at noon, and Saturday check-in is at 10 AM. There is also overnight security at the venue.
  • Ty picked up the prints of button designs and zines. The total cost was $83.87, which Ty would like to be reimbursed for. Same as above, we’ll wait for a future meeting when more members are present.
  • Ty and Marc have been busy folding and stapling those zines and making buttons. They’re turning out nicely.
  • We’ll need to get a six-foot table in time for Pride. Ty has researched ones, and found potential folding tables that would work well. They are either $60 or $70, depending on the color (“almond” or black, respectively). Marc suggested getting the black one, since it wouldn’t show stains as easily as the off-white one. Ty has offered to pick it up this week.
  • There will be a mandatory meeting for vendors on Wednesday at 5 PM. Marc will attend this and convey information.
  • The items we still need for boothing are: zine stands, summer calendar handbills, and prints of the button sticker labels
  • We will also need to order more button-pressing supplies in the future, since we’ve been pressing a lot of buttons lately.

Meeting Adjourned: 8:15 PM

5/29/22 Minutes: Yard sale results, 10th Anniversary, Reimbursement for tabling materials

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Salem
Start time: 7:10 PM

  1. Event Review – Our yard sale fundraiser was last weekend. Jackson reports that we currently have $1116.59, with a handful of IOUs left to collect and a few items that he will be listing online. Jackson thinks that our crowd was smaller than in the last couple of years, possibly because of our late scheduling putting this sale on Memorial Day weekend. It would be more ideal to do this earlier next year.
  2. Upcoming Event – Our 10th Anniversary celebration is this Thursday night! The event is now up online. We have advertised pizza, but this may be somewhat complicated as some of our friends (including Salem) are vegan. We will have to settle some of these details on the Discord chat. Jackson will have the room cleaned up of yard sale leftovers by Thursday.
  3. Summer calendar distro – Progress on this is unclear as none of the people who volunteered to distribute last week are here tonight to report back. TABLED.
  4. Tabling at Star City Pride/Reimbursement – Ty and Marc continue to take the lead on organizing our upcoming tabling at Star City Pride. We’re still trying to work out some of the specifics as far as who will staff the table and when. Salem may be available to help Ty set up on Friday, since he still needs a second set of hands and Marc has a work conflict. We will also be printing some stickers, and have “pre-imbursed” Marc $152.19 to get those printed in time for Pride.

Meeting adjourned: 7:35 PM

Tabled: summer calendar distro

5/22/2023 Minutes: Yard Sale, Calendar Distro

In attendance: Arya, Jackson, Marc, Rae, Ty (secretary)
Meeting Start: 7:12 PM

Yard Sale: Our yard sale is coming up this Friday and Saturday! We’ll be doing some pricing after the meeting adjourns today. Jackson will make yard sale signs. Jackson will also be out and setting things up on Friday + Saturday really early, at 6 AM, and would appreciate some assistance in set-up and tear-down on both Friday and Saturday. Rae and Arya think they may be able to come over early to help set up.

Calendars: Summer Calendar has been printed, and we split up the handbills and full-size calendars for distro purposes. We also had an extra stock printed for distro at Pride. We’re reimbursing Jackson $30.83 for paying for the calendar prints.

Pride Planning: Marc went over the designs he has for pride buttons, and we’re thinking to make 100 of pronoun buttons and 500 total of the historical buttons. He also showed a design he made that would make for a good sticker if we wanted to get those printed. Ty bought tablecloths for this and future tabling events, as a donation to the House. He also needs to get zines printed, as he wasn’t able to since the House is very full of yard sale donations.

Work time for yard sale pricing!

Meeting adjourned: 7:57 PM

Treasury Log 2023

GENERAL TREASURY

We started the year with $1712.39.

May 17th, 2023 Update:

New donations:

  1. We received $8.74 in donations via our PayPal.
  2. We received $50 in our donations box at the House.

These total $58.74 in new donations.

New debits:

  1. Marc was reimbursed $46.93 for getting thank-you cards printed for us. This was approved at the January 9th meeting.
  2. The group committed $125 towards getting the Black Cats tabling opportunities at Lincoln Earth Day ($35) and Star City Pride ($90). This was pre-approved at the January 30th meeting, and confirmed at the February 13th meeting.
  3. Jackson was reimbursed $20.70 for getting our spring calendars printed. This was approved at the March 6th meeting.
  4. Jackson was reimbursed $17.91 for getting our spring calendars reprinted. This was approved at the March 20th meeting.
  5. Marc was reimbursed $283.59 for getting some stickers printed for our Earth Day booth. This was approved at the March 27th meeting.
  6. Marc was reimbursed $25.13 for bringing supplies for our Trans Day of Visibility poster-making party. This was approved at the April 3rd meeting.
  7. Jackson was reimbursed $34.99 for renewing our secondary web domain. This was approved at the April 17th meeting.
  8. Ty was reimbursed an additional $110 for unexpected expenses with tabling at Star City Pride. This was approved at the May 8th meeting.

These total $664.25 in new debits.

Altogether our treasury is decreasing by $605.51, to a new overall balance of $1106.88.

June 25th, 2023 Update:

New donations:

  1. Our 2023 yard sale fundraiser brought in $1137.59.
  2. Richard and Christy donated $200. Thanks, y’all!
  3. We received $2 in our donations box at the House.
  4. We received an online donation of $4.37.

These total $1341.96 in new donations.

New debits:

  1. Jackson is reimbursed $30.83 for picking up our summer calendars. This was approved at the May 22nd meeting.
  2. Marc was “pre-imbursed” $152.19 for ordering stickers that we were distributing at Star City Pride.
  3. Ty was reimbursed $75.05 for buying a new table for future Black Cat boothing and yard sale purposes. This was approved at the June 12th meeting.
  4. Rae is reimbursed $6.99 for bringing bottled water for Black Cat booth volunteers at Star City Pride. This was approved at the June 12th meeting.
  5. Ty is reimbursed $10 for buying passes into Star City Pride for our booth volunteers. This was approved at the June 12th meeting.
  6. Salem is reimbursed $5 for buying a pass into Star City Pride for volunteering at our booth. This was approved at the June 12th meeting.

These total $280.06 in new debits.

Altogether our treasury is increasing $1061.90, to a new overall balance of $2168.78

November 12th Update:

New donations:

  1. We received $35.93 in new donations online through our PayPal.
  2. We pulled $12 from our donations box at the House.
  3. Jackson has collected $150 by selling yard sale leftovers online.

These total $197.93 in new donations.

New debits:

  1. Ty is reimbursed $8.57 for printing related to our Earth Day booth. This was approved at the June 26th meeting.
  2. Ty is reimbursed $147 for picking up pizza and cupcakes for our 10th Anniversary party. This was approved at the June 26th meeting.
  3. Ty is reimbursed $83.87 for printing related to our Star City Pride booth. This was approved at the June 26th meeting.
  4. Jackson is reimbursed $34.99 for the renewal of one of our website domains. This was approved at the August 7th meeting.
  5. Jackson is reimbursed $18.43 for buying two DVDs of movies for our library. This was approved at the August 14th meeting.
  6. Jackson is reimbursed $23.60 for getting our fall calendars printed. This was approved at the August 28th meeting.

These total $316.46 in new debits.

Altogether our treasury is decreasing by $118.53, to a new overall balance of $2050.25.

LIBRARY TREASURY

We started the year with $0.

SPEAKERS TREASURY

We started the year with $0.

Treasury Log 2022

You need to add a widget, row, or prebuilt layout before you’ll see anything here. 🙂

GENERAL TREASURY

We started the year with $897.13.

2022 Updates:

New donation:

  1. Our 2022 Yard Sale raised a grand total of $1245.13! This includes a few late sales afterwards of leftover items.

New debits:

  1. Ty is reimbursed $35.00 for temporarily upgrading his Dropbox account to accommodate the storage for our recordings of Black Musicians and Liberation with Professor Kwame Dawes and our Critical Race Theory presentation with Professor Marvin Lynn. This was pre-approved at the March 7th meeting and upheld at the March 28th meeting. The matter was closed after Ty downgraded his Dropbox in late May and took final payment at the May 30th meeting.
  2. We committed $200 to a solidarity donation to the Niskithe Prayer Camp. This was approved at the May 9th meeting.
  3. Jackson was reimbursed $160.88 for buying our new projector. This was discussed at the May 23rd meeting, pre-approved at the June 6th meeting, and finalized at the June 20th meeting.
  4. Jackson was reimbursed $33.99 for renewing one of our website domains. This was approved at the August 1st meeting.

These total $429.87 in new debits.

Altogether our treasury increased $815.26 this year, to a new overall balance going into 2023 of $1712.39.

LIBRARY TREASURY

We started and ended the year with $0.

SPEAKERS TREASURY

We started and ended the year with $0.

5/15/23 Minutes: Calendar printing, Yard Sale Prep

In attendance: Jackson (secretary), Marc, Ty
Start time: 7:15 PM

  1. Summer Calendar – Our summer calendar is ready and going to the printer this week! Jackson will pick them up. We will be printing a lot more handbills than usual between our yard sale and tabling at Star City Pride.
  2. Yard Sale Prep – We spent the remainder of the meeting preparing for the yard sale but pricing and sorting a few of our early donations already on hand.

Meeting adjourned: 8:30 PM

5/8/2023 Minutes: Sustainable Supplies, Yard Sale Upcoming, Pride Booth

Meeting Start: 7:04 PM
In attendance: Arya, Jackson, Rae, Salem, Ty (secretary)

Event Review: The film was good, the turnout was good, the discussion was good!

Sustainable Supplies: Some discussion was had regarding single-use plastics at the House, specifically in reference to the plastic cups we use for water during events, though the discussion could be relevant for other House supplies. Jackson mentioned that most of what we have is hand-me-downs from other people, and that it’s been since 2019 or even earlier that we’ve had to buy these supplies ourselves. Rae brought up that for visitors that might not know this, they might think we’re like too many other community orgs that verbally support sustainability but aren’t sustainable in their actions. There was agreement that modeling sustainability is worthwhile, but we need to address what we should do with our plastic cups, since we don’t want them to go unused at all. Ty asked that we table this until we had some more opportunities to chat about options.

Yard Sale: The yard sale is coming up quick, the 26th and 27th! Jackson will draft a description and a call for donations to post online. Then it’s a matter of pricing donated items and setting up days-of.

Pride Tabling: We have a table! Ty was already given some funds to cover what we thought the table may cost, but he will need to be “preimbursed” for $110 to cover the remaining price of the table. We will need to have this booth staffed from 4-9 PM Friday June 9th, and 12-8 PM Saturday June 10th. We’ll also need to make sure we bring our own table – Wyatt has one that folds in half that we can ask him about using for that weekend. We’re not concerned about material costs, and Marc is working on button designs.

Website: We want to continue working on this so that it’s in a more complete state for the Pride booth. Tabled.

Summer Calendar: Marc sent a draft of the summer calendar to look over in his absence, and those at the meeting looked over it and sent him suggestions to edit. Rae will draft a short description of the workshop in July. Once these edits are made, we can send them for printing and start getting them distro’d.

Meeting adjourned: 8:15 PM

Tabled: Sustainable house supplies, website edits