We had our first official meeting at my home and there were ten members attending.
We discussed several topics and three members “volunteered” for three new positions.
Wayne Kruger – Treasurer
Fred Walters – Webmaster/Audio Visual (at meetings)
Gary Mlynek – Communications/Membership
We would like to have at least two people to volunteer to be the secretary at meetings. With two people for this position we will hopefully have one person who can attend the meeting. (Also, I would like the woodworkers who attended our meeting to e-mail me so I can note who attended and contributed. I forgot to put out the sign-in sheet!)
The following areas were discussed:
Name of Organization – Club and Guild were brought up. Discussion of calling us a guild may make some people hesitant to join. In thinking about this, perhaps just calling ourselves the St. James Woodworkers may be a simple solution? Please weigh in on this matter.
Day and Time of Meetings – It was agreed that the second Tuesday of each month will be our regular day at 4:00 p.m. There will not be a meeting in December.
Dues – Yearly dues of $25.00 will be required of members. We will send out a separate email on how to get the payment to Wayne. This money will cover costs for food, supplies for any charity events, etc.
Website – We will have a website that all members and prospective members can view. Included (but not limited to) on the site will be club information, calendar of meetings and events, tools/equipment wanted and for sale, help wanted (moving equipment, trailer or truck help, etc.) We will plan for a link for our website on the POA website. Communications and announcements will also appear in “What’s up St. James”.
Field Trips – In addition to (or instead of) monthly meetings we will work on having field trips to shops, wood suppliers, local wood mills, etc. Ideas welcome.
NOTE: A January field trip will be set up to visit Torrie and John Dinyovszky’s millwork shop in the Sentry Business Plaza on 211. Details will be sent out the first week in January in a separate email.
Membership – We have a large community of woodworkers in St. James. We will limit membership to only St. James residents at this time. We want to get new members through our website, electronic publications and recruitment by current members.
Charity Events – Making toys for annual drives such as Toys for Tots was discussed. Other events to contribute to could include making flag boxes for veterans (Wayne Kruger said his former club did this) activities for the Boys and Girls Club, new shelving for St. James Library (Fred Walters suggestion), etc.
Meeting Format – Wear name tags, introduction of new members, monthly meeting topic, Q&A, show and tell, business discussion, social hour.
These are things we can start with and see how the group evolves over time. This is your group so please send me suggestions or ideas. We can discuss in further detail at the February meeting of the St. James Woodworkers.
Submitted by Gary Mlynek
November 14, 2019