october 9th, 2025 meeting minutes

​Present: Diana Bolton, Cheryl VanVliet, Hal Hultman, Vivian VanVliet, Carol Seinko, Elijah Canfield, Thad Bogert, Mark Blondy, Bonnie Charette Dan Mercurio, Rich Roberts, and Theresa Furget.
Elijah called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM.

1. Additions & Corrections: None.
2. September 11th, 2025, Minutes: Thad made a motion and Vivian seconded it to accept the minutes. Motion passed.
3. Treasurer’s Report: Diana went over the October financial report and the final budget report for 2024-2025. Rich made a motion and Hal seconded it to accept the treasurer’s report. Motion passed.
   1. Account Signers on General/MP Accounts: Diana went over which members are joint owners and signers on the MP/general accounts. A joint owner may open and close accounts and are also signers on the checks. Need to set up a date and time to meet at the Community Choice Credit Union in New Hudson to update the accounts, all joint owners and signers need to attend in order to make the changes. It was decided to meet at CCCU on Sat Oct 25th at Noon with an alternative date of Sat Nov 1st at noon. Diana will contact those who are not at tonight’s meeting to let them know.
   2. Finance & Budget Committee: No report.
4. Correspondence: None.
5. MRR Committee: Thad indicated that he set up an account with Springly and would give a demonstration of it after the meeting.
6. Open Discussion:
   1. Member Health Updates-Carol: She passed around get-well cards for Kris who is currently recovering from shoulder surgery and will be having knee replacement at the end of the month. One was also passed around for Maureen who just had foot surgery.
   2. Desert Angels Packing Event: Elijah stated as of September 1st new stricter restrictions were placed in what could be mailed to the overseas military troops. Each box must have a list of all items in it with additional description of the food items, the number of a particular item and their weight, i.e., plain chocolate bar, 3.5 oz: chocolate bar with almonds, 3.5 oz, chocolate bar with blueberries, 3.5 oz etc. Elijah gave an example of a box being thrown away as it listed 1 package of Crystal Lite and it contained 2! At this time, it’s just not possible to have a packing party (especially with public involvement) with all of these restrictions in place. Another option was discussed that these restrictions do not apply to troops that are stateside at various bases. However, these troops have direct access to military base px’s and to local stores. It was decided to wait and see how this all pans out with the group in Waterford that do the Desert Angel boxes. This will be discussed again in February 2026 to see whether a Spring packing event will be possible. Both Elijah and Theresa have already been  contacted by previous participants in packing parties, so, the club needs to alert the public about the postponement in the packing party for this year. This can be done by social media, Club website, and an email sent to the participants from previous packing parties. Theresa has a contact list of these individuals. Karissa or Elijah will prepare an announcement concerning the postponement and Theresa will send it out to her Desert Angel contact list.
   3. Active Faith Adopt a Family: Since the club won’t be doing a Desert Angel packing party this year, Elijah felt that we could increase the number of kids from 6 to 12 this year. Members agreed with this. Rich made a motion and Carol seconded it to request Active Faith for 12 kids this year and spend up to $100 per kid ($1,200.) out of the MP account. Motion passed. Vivian will contact Active Faith for the kids and their wish lists.
   4. Club Christmas/Wrapping Party: Theresa indicated that the date is Dec 11th for this and will be held at the Lyon Twp. Library as she was unable to secure the larger room at Salem S. Lyon District Library. So, the space to eat and wrap will be smaller with limited electrical outlets available. Discussion was that the main entrée would be chicken and checking out Holdens for the chicken (with each member contributing towards the chicken) and bringing a dish to pass. A sign-up sheet for dishes to pass will be passed around at the Nov meeting. Members will bring wrapping paper, tape, and scissors. Theresa will provide the gift tags and the gift bags.
7. Project Updates:
   1. Adopt-A-Highway September 20th Report: Great job done by Carol, Elijah, Rich, Diana, Thad, Tim, and his son Eli.
   2. Pumpkinfest 2025-Thad: Thad reported the club turned in 1407 tickets and will be getting a check for that amount. Cheryl reported that 960 stuffed animals were given out (has 877 currently in storage for next year), about 200 LED rings and of course candy. Discussion was that better candy is needed next year. There was also discussion of doubling booth size as it was crowed. This would cost about $120 to double the size and Thad mentioned this might prevent another non-profit group from obtaining booth space. This can be discussed further next year.
   3. Scarecrow Inspiration Park-Cheryl: Hal, Theresa and herself assembled Superman (along with help from the boys-Lewis & Clark). Cheryl and Hal put Superman up at Inspiration Park. Superman will have to come down prior to Nov 6. Cheryl will submit a bill for $66 which covers the costume and wig.
   4. Youth Entrepreneur Market-Certificates & Letters: Cheryl handed over certificates & letters that Maureen prepared that still need to be signed by Elijah as club president and Theresa as club secretary. There’s about 100. Elijah took them home to sign and will give them to Theresa at the dinner meeting on Oct 23rd for her signature. They’ll be returned to Maureen for mailing.
8. Upcoming Events:
   1. Group Home Greeting Card Program-Carol: Between the two local group home there are 9 residents (this includes two males). Carol will drop the cards off on the residents birthday and for other occasions (Christmas, Valentines etc.) She also discussed giving the residents a birthday gift costing in the range of $10-$15. She’ll contact the group home managers to see what would be appropriate. She estimates the budget for this project is about $300 as no postage will be involved. Cheryl made a motion, and Bonnie seconded it to spend up to $300 out of the general account for this project. Motion passed.
   2. Focus Hope October 18th: Food boxes will be built for seniors and low-income individuals and afterward, the group will have lunch at Polonia’s (2934 Yemans St., 48212) in Hamtramck. To carpool meet at the Costco parking lot (southeast corner) in Livonia at the I-96 service drive and Middle Belt Rd. by 8:15 AM to leave at 8:30 AM. Focus Hope is at 1300 Oakman Blvd. in Detroit, 48238 to drive directly there by 9 AM. Parking is located in the black gated lot across the street from Focus Hope.
   3. Goodies on the Grand October 18th 4:30-6 PM: Theresa indicated that set up is at 4 PM and she’s bought the chocolate candy that includes M & M’s since, members (Diana, Carol, Maureen, and herself) will be wearing M & M tee shirts.
   4. Generations in Business: TBD in Jan ’26.
   5. Charity Poker Dates:
      1. March 19-22, 2026 (Thurs & Fri days; Sat & Sun nights)
      2. June 25-28, 2026 (Thurs & Fri nights; Sat & Sun days)
9. Special Presentation Cheryl & Theresa:
   1. Cheryl presented Elijah with a plaque for his outstanding youth leadership by establishing the Youth Entrepreneur Market (YEM) in 2021. Cheryl also had a plaque for Karissa, however, since she wasn’t present, it’ll be presented at another time.
   2. Theresa introduced the members to The Club Honor Key. The Club Honor Key is the highest award that can be given to a member of the club. Basic criteria is that the member has at least 5 years of service, hold a club officer position, and or establishes new Club projects/activities and or involvement in forming new Senior or Junior Civitan Clubs. The Club Honor Key committee usually consists of past Club Honor Key members, since this is the first Club Honor Key being awarded, the committee members were the Club Builders-Vivian, Cheryl, and Theresa.
   3. Cheryl awarded the Club Honor Key to Diana Bolton as she served as the Club’s first Club president in 2017-2018 and served again in 2020-2021. She also has been the Club treasurer in 2022-2023, 2023-2024, and 2024-2025. She’s also sponsored one new member. Cheryl also awarded Thad Bogert the Club Honor Key as he served Club President three times in 2018-2019, 2022-2023, and 2023-2024. He has sponsored 2 new members. Both Diana and Thad were charter members when the Club was built in 2017 and have been tremendous and active members in the Club.
10. Installation of Club Officers 2025-2026-Vivian: Vivian installed Elijah as the Club’s President, Carol Seinko as Club President-Elect, Dan Mercurio as Club Treasurer, and Theresa Furget as Club Secretary. Vivian presented Carol with her Club President-Elect pin and Dan with his Club Treasurer pin.
11. Next Meetings:
    1. October 23rd dinner meeting at Teresita’s Mexican Grill 6:30 PM.
    2. November 13th business meeting at the Salem S. Lyon District Meeting in Study Rm #4 at 6:30 PM. Location 9800 Pontiac Trail. S. Lyon, 48178.
12. Meeting adjourned at 7:52 PM.

Minutes taken by Theresa Furget on October 9th, 2025, and respectfully submitted on October 10th, 2025. Revised on 10/20/2025.