SHINING LIGHT FOUNDATION

MINUTES OF MEETING HELD:  Tuesday, April 2, 2013

LOCATION: UBS Financial Services, 1021 E. St. Mary Blvd., Lafayette, LA

ATTENDEES:

Carolyn French, President

Cynthia Dauphin, Vice-President

Bruce Snow, Treasurer

Dr. Ron Hardey

John Broussard

Mike Huber

On motion of John, seconded by Bruce, Minutes of Meeting held February 4, 2013 were approved.

Treasurer’s Report

Present Balance: $18,995.91

No one was able to go to the Post Office to check the mail; hence, no donations were received.

New Business

No applications were given to John Broussard.

John did submit the completed application Davion P. St. Julien from Evangeline Elementary School. It was agreed that after a completed application was received from the school, we would provide one-half of the funds for 8 weeks of tutoring at Sylvan Learning Center:  8 weeks, 2 hours per week at $42.00 per hour equals $336.00. Check #472      Christy Sharon will give us a progress report at our next meeting.

Carolyn did extend invitations to Herman Fuselier and Christy Sharon from Sylvan; however, both were very busy with hectic schedules and were appreciative of the invitation to learn more about Shining Light.

A lively and lengthy  discussion was held regarding raising funds by offering named Scholarships. Carolyn did provide three proposals: 

• Donors would contribute funds to purchase or rent instruments with the final decision made by the band directors. (Carolyn had sent an email to James Balkenhall requesting his assistance and feedback about the concept of guitars in the classroom)

• A donor(s) could specify the instrument they would donate. (Janice has been a generous donor and has requested the ability to specify which instrument????)

The board is very concerned that some of this could be a challenge for Bruce’s recordkeeping.

Some of the board members suggested that they did not feel comfortable about the actual prices of musical instruments.  Carolyn offered to call Raymond Goodrich at Lafayette Music to get prices on common musical instruments such as:  flute, saxophone, clarinet and trumpet.  Possibly she could also inquire about the cost of violins.

Some board members felt that students from Grade Levels K-6 are too young to handle guitars. Point made:  The idea of implementing guitars into Classroom for students K-6 is not appropriate for this age group.

Ron suggested that private citizens would help to get the word out about Shining Light.

Carolyn discussed the PASA Program entitled, “Play it again Sam” which encourages people to clear out their closets and donate old instruments to the schools.

John Broussard had very good ideas about the possibility of inviting local musicians such as: Chubby Carrier, Corey Ledet, Buckwheat Zydeco, Keith Frank, David Egan, Zachary Richard, Robert Benoit, Jr. (saxophone player) to a Shining Light meeting to inform them about the Named Scholarship Program. Then upon an endorsement, the local media (Passe’ Partout, The Daily Advertiser, and AOC) could assist with the promotion and advertising of this new and clever idea to help the light shine for local youths. Even a jam session could be implemented to preserve our local culture.

Everyone agreed to having a meeting in mid-April to finalize the decision-making project for Named Scholarships. (In summary, 2-4 musicians, media event, guys come together and establish a base time line and then move forward.)

No quorum therefore no new policies were made.

Cynthia told the Board about visiting with a local banker, Larry Lanclos, and he provided her with his business card and said to be sure to let him know more about Shining Light for the Beaver’s Club is always interested in local projects.

Carolyn talked about the Nancy Schwartz, Getting Attention, Free Webinar Steps to Relevant Messages on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. Important points were provided:

• Tag lines (less than 8 words)—To help every child succeed in school. (To help young children in school to have their light shine.)

• Positioning Statement (1-3 sentences) Individual students have no place to turn to in our local public school system. (inadequate resources??)

• Talking Points—(3-6 messages, 1-2 sentences each.

1) Many children in grades K-6 need funds to participate in school activities.

2) Some K-6 children have no place to turn. There is no organization to provide

     Funds needed to participate in school activities. Shining Light Foundation

     provides these funds.

3) We help them based on a written request from school personnel. (We listen and    

     to provide a connection.) Teachers and counselors know when students need

     help.

Next meeting will be:  April           then the next monthly meeting will be May 7 at 5:30 p.m.