Philomath Community Gleaners Monthly Meeting
April 15, 2021 @ 6:30pm via ZOOM & In person
In person attendees: Patty, Leona, Jessica, Michelle, Lisa K, Ann Morgan,
Zoom: Kalea, Regina
Welcome @ 6:44pm - Apologies for any who were trying to get in via zoom, we had technical difficulties and waited till 6:44 so zoom folks and in person were starting at the same page.
PCS Updates - No PCS folks here
March Meeting Minutes were posted and approved via online vote – Alicia
Alicia read the Monthly service report below:
340 Shops for the Month, average pounds per family was 86# each trip. That is an average value of $143.61 per shopping trip
Old Business-
Cooler Update – PCS is still working on it.
Tents Update – PCS is still working on it – although we have 1 on hand. We need to get the cooler covered before we can put up the tents.
Food Dehydrators – We currently have 4 of the 6 on hand and will be ready to “rent” out with a contract coming soon! Thank you to Siletz for the grant to make this purchase happen.
Crazy Dayz – almost $50 was made in march. April was postponed due to weather. Great hopes for May to be open.
We used the Costco gift card of $50 to use toward the purchase of a large sturdy shelf for the “can” and it has been installed in the can. The can looks amazing.
New Business
Open Questions and Answers -- What's going well, what’s not? No one had any questions but Patty had remarks:
Patty, we picked up another target load today. It would make it better if we know what folks really wanted. For instance we got a lot of canned cat food. If we don't get items from target or donations, we do have funds to purchase. We share a lot of the Target when we get an abundance of products. We need to see the food moving out the door. If you have any food suggestions, please let us know. Condiments and coffee were mentioned as appreciated. Alicia discussed that we have funds for hygiene - items let Alicia know if there is something we need.
Jessica read about Farmers market – Starts Wednesdays April 21. We need someone to do the pickup weekly. Will need to drive the van, Leave site around 12:30 and put out totes for farmers market vendors. You then wait about a half hour or so and pick up totes and bring back to the site. This is about a 1.5-2 hour per week commitment. We would like someone to take this on and commit to weekly pickups. Please contact Patty if you would like to do this pickup for our program.
Review: COVID POLICY. We have had a strict policy with gleaners but it is not PCS policy. PCS doesn't have a policy yet. If you have your vaccine, you can come back and volunteer after travel. If you have not had the vaccine, you must quarantine for at least 10 days. We would hope that folks will be responsible. Be safe while you are out. So, if you have had your vaccine, then you don't need to quarantine. We will still wear our masks and wash our hands. Karen at the food bank is following the same program covid rules as gleaner are.
Michelle likes that we have the online sign up and we have had great feedback on signups. There is great appreciation that we don’t have to wait outside for hours. We have a few people that we call, and we have a volunteer that does this on Fridays.
Jessica read - We would like everyone (Every MEMBER) to watch the civil righs video @ https://ofbportals.oregonfoodbank.org/home/trainings/fundamentals/civil_rights and email Alicia to let her know you have completed the video. Alicia will post this to the blog. You will receive a ½ hour of volunteer time for watching the video.
Patty - Inspection update and New refrigerator! Last wednesday we had the inspection and we passed with flying colors. excellent in everything. She was impressed with the organization. Thanks to all that helped and came and cleaned up. We should all be proud. We also had a new refrigerator donated the next day. Linda O found us the fridge, and James Robles picked up and delivered.
Patty - Nutcracker purchase. We often get hazelnuts and we have a bunch now in stock. We can get hundreds of pounds through LBFS. We have found a nutcracker that is about $200 - $250. Do folks think this is a worthwhile investment. We can crack about 100 pounds in 20 minutes with a good cracker. Ann M moves that we purchase the nutcracker. Alicia 2nd. Motion passed.
Patty - wood funds Money discussion. Currently we don't even have a wood program. We have a handful of folks who need wood. Wood job is probably one of the hardest jobs we have. Our old rules were that all money from the .10 cans returned will go to the wood program. But without a working program, what is this money used for? We recently had a donor give us $276.00 worth of cans. Now if we are putting this money into this program that isn't being used. Alicia commented that our annual budget includes about $500 for the wood program and that the donations to our program are all relative as we “budget” for funds and we can always do a revision of our budget with PCS. Alicia Moved and Patty 2nd that As of January 1, 2021, our can funds will go into the general funds. Motion passes.
Patty - How far are members willing to travel this year for field gleans. This is a question that came up with the coordinators meeting. Sometimes we have traveled outside our county. Mid Valley Harvesters has come in and done gleans. Gleaners can give a tax receipt back to the donor so our donors likely appreciate the tax receipt. Some gleaning groups have not been trained properly. We need to work in our county and do our best. The better we are, the more opportunities we will have. We will not be storing products for anyone in our fridges or freezers. Only products that will come back to be stored on site will be for the adoptees. Lisa K says mid valley lets people on the field and Mid Valley lets kids come in. Gleaners does not do this. We got lots of blueberries in the past few years but we are lacking gleans for other products. Lisa would like to get other options. No one signed up for apples or pears last year. Covid shut us out last year. It is important that we get back into the fields as we are gleaners. Patty will do a training for our members. Discussion was had as to how far our members would be willing to travel. Discussion said about 20-40 miles or lebanon-based upon variety. Lisa had a question - can we join another gleaner group when their group does a glean and Philomath isn’t attending. Wee discussed that LBFS is okay with this and we just need to make sure we are doing the proper paperwork as our members need to document as our group, not in another group. Would love more backyard picks.
What are family needs.What can we do to help families? Any suggestions? Food requests? Hygiene Requests? Please email Patty or Alica if you can think of any needs, or if you hear of another family has a need, let us know.
We need a work crew to clean the cooler in the next 2 weeks- Outside cooler. For the longest time, there has been a water problem. David Low has vacuumed the cooler and done a bead seal on it. We don't know when the cooler will get a cover. Patty would like to get the cooler moved into the cooler in the next 2 weeks so we can use it as we will be getting a lot more produce. It will need to be cleaned with bleach. Then we can move the product in.
Policy and Procedure Changes – Error in writing and change to follow LBFS rules:
Page 9: -Currently says:
2.1. A minimum of eight (8) hours volunteer time each month is required from Gleaner households, in order to be members in good standing and participate in distributions. Note that field and wood glean hours where your household takes a portion of the glean does not count toward your 8 hours of volunteer time for membership. Field and wood glean hours where you contribute 100% of your glean back to the program does count for your monthly membership hour requirement.
Page 9 Re-Write Proposal for approval
2.1. A minimum of eight (8) hours volunteer time each month is required from Gleaner households, in order to be members in good standing and participate in distributions. Note that field and wood glean hours where your household takes a portion of the glean ONLY counts toward your 8 hours of volunteer time for membership at 50% of the volunteer time towards your 8 hours as you will be donating 50% of your pick to the program and keeping 50% for you family. Field and wood glean hours where you contribute 100% of your glean back to the program counts for your monthly membership hour requirement at 100%.
Page 11: Currently Says
complete my household’s participation requirements of at least 8 hours a month. Field glean and Wood glean hours do not count toward your 8 hour volunteer commitment. Help is needed for field gleans, store pick-ups, distribution, fundraising, maintenance, cleaning, and other tasks identified by the Program Manager (Coordinator) and Co-Coordinator.
Page 11 Re-Write Proposal for Approval:
complete my household’s participation requirements of at least 8 hours a month. Field glean and Wood glean hours can count toward your 8 hour volunteer commitment. Field and wood glean hours where your household takes a portion of the glean ONLY counts toward your 8 hours of volunteer time for membership at 50% of the volunteer time towards your 8 hours as you will be donating 50% of your pick to the program and keeping 50% for you family. Help is needed for field gleans, store pick-ups, distribution, fundraising, maintenance, cleaning, and other tasks identified by the Program Manager (Coordinator) and Co-Coordinator.
Ann moved to approve the changes in hours for the times above. Patty 2nd. Motion Passed.
Hours Policy and how we process letters/emails:
Warning Letter - a warning email and / or letter will be sent out if hours are not met.
Second Warning Letter – if your hours have not been met by the end of the 2nd month, you will be put on a 3 month suspension.
Third Letter – This is your suspension letter and no shopping will be allowed.
Michele moved to approve the hours policy and Lisa 2nd the motion. Motion Passed.
REMINDERS:
Gleaners need to sign up at least once for a cleanup shift
Covid – Quarantine activities (please quarantine for 10 days)
Casinos & Bars
Hospital / ER
Out of state Visiting or having out of State Visitors in your home
Unmasked activities outside of your bubble
Next monthly member meeting will be May 13, 2021
Meeting adjourned at 7:26pm
