Present: Eileen Dresser, Marge Lyford, Jill Thomas, Sue Bridson, Shirley Robbins, Gloria Menadier-Farr and Jack Tiffany.

Eileen opened the meeting with a reading from The Art of Virtue by Benjamin Franklin.

MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING
-The meetings scheduled in December and January were cancelled because of snow and cold!
-Minutes of the November 19th meeting were reviewed. It prompted a discussion about the Thanksgiving baskets distributed by the food pantry in November. Eileen remarked that they gave out 145 baskets...however no one showed up to pick up 15 of them. The following suggestions were made. When someone doesn’t show up for pick up, instead of calling them, give the basket to someone else. Instead of baskets, give out food gift certificates (cards?) from Woodman’s. The certificates can be used only for food items. At an upcoming Dane County Food Pantry meeting, Eileen will inquire if others had experiences with gift certificates.
-The November minutes were accepted as written.

TREASURER’S REPORT by Jack Tiffany
Jack reviewed the October, November and December reports.
-There is a question whether Erica has been receiving information about who is giving eviction prevention funds so that thank you notes can be sent.
-Jack noted an error of $72 in the eviction fund.
-Marge clarified that a donation from United Methodist Women should be identified as Bethany United Methodist Women.
-The treasurer’s report was accepted as presented.

WELLNESS CENTER by Gloria
-The center has experiencing a financial crisis for the last few months. Grants have run out and the board is having difficultly getting new ones. They have suspended some of their usual expenditures...for example giving out bus tickets and meals for meetings of the Welcomers.
-There are 12 Welcomers at present. Working to get more.
-Have combined three groups for programs resulting in more participation.
-Diabetes and hypertension remains a focus.
-The financial report for the Wellness Center is confusing. Gloria will check with the Wellness Center treasurer, Barry Hayes.

EVICTION PREVENTION
-Erica Anderson, JFF social worker will return to work soon. During her absence the Eviction Prevention funds have been managed by Erica’s substitutes.

FOOD PANTRY by Eileen
-The pantry is doing well. In December they received 132 bags of groceries from customers of Woodmen’s Groceries and recently 900 cans of soup from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.
- The number of customers has declined recently.

SPECIAL PROJECT FUNDS
- Gloria requested funds ($34.99) to pay for three sweatshirts for Welcomers to use during the cold weather. A vote passed to take the funds out of the Special Project Fund.

FUTURE MEETING TIMES
- It was decided to change our regular meeting times to the third Tuesday of the month so that Linda Ketcham can attend every other month.

NEXT MEETING
Tuesday, March 18, at 4:00 PM, most likely at the Boy’s and Girl’s Club.

Marjory Lyford, Secretary