PPDB Meeting Minutes- February 2022
8:05-8:10
Call to Order: Tammy Kitterman 8:00
Conflicts: None provided
Present: Molly Black, Gordon Boe, Sandra Salerno, Tammy Kitterman, Lisa Lopatofsky, Patti McGowan, Julia Murray, Juli Baumgarner
Excused - Johnine Bickauski, Meg Meyers
Approval of January Minutes  
Motioned - Gordon Boe
Second - Lisa Lopatofsky 
All in favor.

Treasurer’s Report:  Gordon Boe 
Motioned - Lisa Lopatofsky 
Second- Molly Black
All in favor 
COMMITTEE UPDATES: 8:10-8:30
*All committee action plans are saved in the shared drive

1. Membership (Tammy Kitterman, Patti McGowan, Sandra Salerno) The membership drive campaign is underway. Tammy has invited DeafBlind partners to join PPDB. Patti cross referenced the membership names to the Listserv to ensure all are active PPDB members.
   
2. Outreach (Patti McGowan, Molly Black, Sandra Salerno, Johnine Bickauskas) The team discussed the upcoming FLC which will be held June 24th and 25th, face to face at Penn State with a virtual option available. PPDB would like to have a presence at the meeting and we discussed hosting a presentation on the Cogswell-Macy act Friday evening. More information will be provided at the next meeting. 
   
3. Fundraising (Johnine Bickauskas, Lisa Lopatofsky, Julia Murray)  There is now a “donate” button on the PPDB Facebook page. 
   
4. Advocacy (Lisa Lopatofsky, Meg Meyers, Johnine Bickauskas) Lisa shared that PPDB will not have to pay for the NFADB hosted advocacy training. Some key areas of interest are supporting the Cogswell-Macy act, Intervener-Qualified Personnel, and waivers. 
   

OLD BUSINESS: 8:30-8:35

1. I/G, Facebook, Twitter
   
2. Nominations - Molly, Sandra, Julia —The process for Nominations was discussed. The call for Nominations is February, Receipt of Nomination Applications - March, Present Nominations to Board - April, Vote - May Onboarding, join Board - June.  
   
3. Term considerations All current board members with expiring terms have been approached to inquire about their interest in continuing on another term. 
   

NEW BUSINESS: 8:35-8:50

1. Organizational Overview/Strategic Planning overview - No general members were present so the review did not take place. 
2. Interest of general membership in attending events. No general members were present to provide feedback regarding this, but we would like to explore in person/virtual events in the future.
   
3. Boardable app was discussed. The board decided it was not feasible at this time due to the monetary commitment. 
   
4. The board took a vote regarding the use of “DeafBlind” in all PPDB brochures and materials. The motion carried with 5 members present in favor of using this verbiage.
   
5. The board discussed the possibility of meeting for one hour every other month instead of monthly. The discussion was tabled at this time.
   

GOOD OF THE ORDER: 8:50-8:55

ADJOURNED: 9:00 pm
​Respectfully Submitted,
Sandra Schiffli-Salerno
PPDB Secretary

No December Meeting

Stategic Planning Meeting

​PPDB
Minutes of September 13, 2021 Meeting
 
President Tammy Kitterman brought the meeting to order at 7 PM.

Present:  Tammy Kitterman, Lisa Lopatofsky, Sandra Salerno, Gordon Boe, Patti McGowan, Juli Baumgarner, Julia Murray, Molly Black, Johnine Bickauskas

Excused Absence:  Meghan Meyers

Guest: Rhonda Beach Tyree

There were no conflicts to the Agenda for the evening.

Treasurer’s Report:  Gordon Boe

Tammy requested a motion be made to accept the May through July Treasurer’s Report.  Motion made by Lisa L. and seconded by Patti M.  Motion Approved.

Tammy requested that a motion be made to accept the August Treasurer’s Report.  Motion was made by Molly B. and seconded by Lisa L.  Motion Approved. 

Tammy will follow-up with Julia to explain motions/voting.

The meeting was then turned over to Rhonda Tyree to continue with Strategic Planning. Work was conducted to come to consensus over Belief and Vision Statements and Organizational Long Term Goals.   

​Motion was made by Gordon to continue with one more meeting in November with Rhonda.  This will be a follow-up to our Action Planning/writing exercise through Committee work.  Motion was seconded by Lisa L.   Motion Carried. 
 
Meeting Adjourned 9 PM

June 2021 PPDB Meeting Minutes
Call to Order: 8:04 PM
Conflicts for the agenda: none stated

Present: Molly Black, Lisa Lopatofsky, Patti McGowan, Juli Baumgarner (special advisor), Sandra Salerno, Johnine Bickauskas

Excused absence: Gordon Boe,

Tammy Kitterman Approval of May 2021 Minutes:  Molly Motioned to approve, Johnine seconded, all were in favor of approving.

Treasurer!s Report: Gordon Boe

COMMITTEE UPDATES:

Membership – Dennis family new membership
Outreach – Patti McGowan/Molly Black – updated PPT for outreach purposes, will be used for FLC What’s the Difference? Presentation
Fundraising – Gordon Boe and Johnine Bickauskas - no update
Nominations – Molly Black – We are pleased to welcome Julia Murray as a guest to our meetings until July when she will reach age 18 and can be officially voted on as a board member. A vote was taken to approve Meghan Myers to the board, all present were YES votes.

NEW BUSINESS:
1.Onboarding - need to choose a date in July or August to onboard the new board members.
2.Website is down- Tammy is working on this.
3.Only one application was received for the FLC childcare stipend.
4. We agreed to offer $100 worth of gift cards (4 $25 gift cards) as a prize for trivia during the Family Learning Conference. All were in favor.

OLD BUSINESS:
1. Facebook/IG/Twitter - no updates
2. Collaboration with John Reiman - We will table this until the fall.
3. FLC - Only 1 application was received for the FLC childcare stipend.
4. Strategic Planning - The steering committee is working and will update the full board at a later date.

GOOD OF THE ORDER: PPDB will be sending condolences to the family of Joe McNolty.

ADJOURNED: 9:15 PM 

PPDB April 2021 Meeting Minutes
 
Call to Order: 8:05 PM

Present: Gordon Boe, Lisa Lopatofsky, Johnine Bickauskas, Molly Black, Patti McGowan, Sandra Salerno, Tammy Kitterman, Special advisor - Juli Baumgarner

Approval of March 2021 Minutes:   Gordon Motioned, Lisa seconded, all in favor, motion passes.

Treasurer’s Report:  Gordon Boe
Molly motioned to approve the treasurer’s report, Johnine seconded, all in favor, motion passes.
 
COMMITTEE UPDATES:
 
Membership – Tammy Kitterman reported 2 new lifetime members for the month of March!
Outreach – Patti McGowan/Molly Black – 
a. DB Project Family Needs Assessment has been extended to April 15th. 
b. FLC Session – “What’s the Difference”?  Looking for a PPDB Presenter - Johnine, Lisa, and Sandra agreed to present.

Fundraising – Gordon Boe and Johnine Bickauskas - no update

Nominations – Molly Black – Invited Julia Murray to join our Board Meetings in anticipation of July e-vote. As we may recall, Julia has expressed interest in joining our board but we must hold on this until she is 18 years of age in July 2021. We anticipate two letters of recommendation from Ms. Murray. Additionally, Sandra Salerno invited Meghan Myers to apply to join the board, we are anticipating her application and letters of recommendation.
 
NEW BUSINESS:
 

1. Collaboration with John Reiman -  Molly & Juli met with John and he expressed interest in providing a “Caregiver Self-Compassion” workshop to our PPDB members and community. The board resoundingly approves this idea and Molly will investigate the costs further.
2. Special advisor Juli Baumgarner has suggested we take notes and highlight the FLC conference - this could be done through the project or in conjunction with PPDB.
3. Discussion of verbiage of “DeafBlindness” - we agreed among PPDB our preferred verbiage is “DeafBlind” with no hyphens.
4. The board discussed at length the possibility of providing a small grant or stipend to offer PPDB member families to offset some of the cost of childcare during the Family Learning Conference late June.

 
OLD BUSINESS:
 
1.       Facebook/IG/Twitter - Tammy and Sandra - no updates
2.       Strategic Planning – Looking for a facilitator.
 
Good of the order: No updates
 
ADJOURNED:  9:40 pm

Minutes of the March 8, 2021

Call to Order:  President, Tammy Kitterman, brought meeting to order at 8:03 PM

There were no conflicts of interest expressed with tonight’s agenda.

Present: Tammy Kitterman, Sandra Salerno, Lisa Lopatofsky, Johnine Bickauskas, Patti McGowan, Gordon Boe, Molly Black, Juli Baumgarner

Approval of February 2021 Minutes:  Motion made by Gordon Boe and seconded by Johnine Bickauskas,       all approved.

Treasurer’s Report:  Gordon Boe reported in February a beginning balance of $7,798.29 with receipts of $100 for lifetime membership from Diana Griffin, minus 2.50 in expenditures from PayPal, leaving a total of $7895.79.  For Board knowledge, Gordon also reported that we will have received two more lifetime memberships from John R. and Laura E., which will be deposited and noted in our March Statement.

COMMITTEE UPDATES:
Membership – Tammy Kitterman - shared the current membership roster and asked Board members to review and consider and reach out to anyone that you might personally invite to join the Board.   She is encouraging all Board members to use the Google Suite and upload any reports of Committees hereafter.

Outreach – Patti McGowan & Molly Black reported the following (please refer also to the Outreach Report provided in an email and uploaded to the Google Suite): understanding what our members needs should drive what we do and how we meet those needs with available funds, or available support whether monetary or not.   The DB Project is currently conducting a Family Needs Survey which should be completed April 1.  It is likely this survey will help PPDB, as well, to consider any unmet needs that the Project may not be able to address, but PPDB could.  The Outreach Committee recommends waiting until we have those results before we move forward. 

In the meantime, John Reiman, retired, Cadre staff and psychologist contacted Patti and Molly to consider any supports he might be able to offer.  He provided a list of ways to consider, which are noted on the Outreach Report.    Juli suggested he might be able to help nicely with our strategic planning.  Gordon offered to investigate with Juli this idea, and Molly agreed to act as a liaison and schedule a zoom meeting sometime before the April Board meeting. 

Fundraising – Gordon Boe and Johnine Bickauskas – Committee has not met and will likely hold off until strategic planning occurs so that we know what we are fundraising to support.  Johnine would like to request more members to this committee.

It was also suggested that a small pilot program be initiated and Lisa L. had forwarded an example application for review and comment.  If you have not yet reviewed the example Application, please do so at the link here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfcuBTwBIgwrsjAMxwaZB2MTQArpb4L4JoRvFLwH2hLrINueg/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0
PPDB Grant Application

Please fill out this form in its entirety. Your application will be reviewed at the next available Board meeting and you will be notified of our decision shortly thereafter. Only one applicant, per household, per year. Making an application does not guarantee that you will receive a grant. If you have any questions, please contact Lisa Lopatofsky at lopatofsy.lisam@gmail.com.

Fill out form

Nominations Committee – Molly Black - one Board Application has been received from Julia M. – Nominations Review Committee will be recommending Julia to the Board, upon receipt of two letters of support.  However, Julia will not be 18 years old until July 20.  Therefore, Molly will be in touch with her to let her know we will hold her application and consider it thereafter.  Tammy has researched and confirmed that Board members of non-profits must be of age.  She will be invited to participate in any committees or witness Board meetings prior to any Board appointment.

NEW BUSINESS: None

OLD BUSINESS:
1.Facebook/IG/Twitter - Tammy and Sandra have been working to conclude our social media launches.   Tammy is working to migrate our current FB page to a public Non-Profit page so that we might utilize a donation button.

2.Strategic Planning – see notes above under Outreach Committee.  Juli and Gordon to speak to John Reiman for possible facilitation of this planning.

GOOD OF THE ORDER:  Nothing

ADJOURNED:  Meeting adjourned at 9:21 PM

​Respectfully submitted,
Molly Black, substitute note taker on behalf of Sandra Salerno, Secretary