Over the Hills of Avon Minutes and Newsletters

Business Minutes

Over the Hills of Avon
Business Meeting
Tuesday, April 13, 2021
12:45 p.m.

The Over the Hills of Avon Business meeting was called to order by Pres. JoAnn Dirkes at 12:45 p.m. The members were led in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Secretary’s report was approved as printed in the newsletter.
Treasurers Report- Jane- As of April 13, the Over the Hills of Avon Senior Group has $2,291.18. The Community Center account has $13,950.38.

Community Center Update- Rick & Mike-
We need proof of Liability Insurance before we can use the St. Benedicts church basement for our Over the Hills of Avon Senior Group meetings. We are currently waiting for estimates from 2 insurance agencies. We requested 1 Tuesday per month exclusively for the Seniors to use at St. Benedicts church basement for our meetings while renovations are to be done at the school for a Community Center. There will be no charge for the use of the basement. As of now, the Bishop will not allow any churches to prepare or serve food. We will not be able to use the church basement for our meal until the ban is lifted.
**PLEASE NOTE: The basement of St. Benedicts would be used as a temporary meeting place for our once a month meetings only. We are still in negotiations with St. Benedicts on remodeling and using the Catholic School rooms as a Community Center which is where we will be meeting once the construction is completed. We appreciate St. Benedicts working with us since we are now up to over 70 members and have outgrown any other facility within Avon.

Fund Raising Committee- JoAnn- A fundraising meeting will be held on Thursday, April 15 at noon.

The candy bars are still selling. We are planning on selling them at the Avon All Town Garage Sales and hopefully tickets for the Cash Raffle, maybe with the Avon Hills Lions Clubs Pork Chop Sale at MD Salon parking lot.
Cash Raffle- We are working with the Albany Jaycees to put together 1,000 tickets. Thank you to the Jaycees for letting us use their gambling license. The money give away will use the July calendar dates and we will sell May and June. There is the possibility of using August instead of July. Tickets will be available at the May meeting for anyone who wishes to help us out by selling tickets. This is entirely up to each member as to what they choose to do.
Senior Garage Sale- August 25 is set up with the sale being held on August 26-28. This is being planned for JoAnn’s front yard like last year.

Sr. Group Activities- Margie- Held a meeting on February 22.

Avon Lions Annual Fish Fry will be held on Tuesday May 11 at City Hall for our next meeting. Fifty (50) meals are being planned with extra for us to invite friends to join us. Take out is available. RSVP to JoAnn or Margie is a MUST so we have an accurate headcount for the Lions. Take out also need to RSVP. BINGO & Cards will be played at 3 p.m. with meal being served at 4 p.m. There will be NO formal meeting at the May meeting.
Trips- No Iowa trips are being planned because of restrictions due to Covid. Margie is working on a 2 day trip to Wisconsin in June. Details will be mailed out separately from the newsletter once details are put together.
The Annual Craft Sale will be held in November.

Other-

Judy & Rick Schmidt hardboiled and colored the Easter Eggs for this meeting. Thank you.
Carol Hlebain presented a petition to be signed for keeping our roads clean.

Door Prizes: Bev Nathe, Donna Poepping, JoAnn Dirkes.

JUNE Donations of Dessert: Stephanie Hazen, Ray Monsour, Cheri Appel, Rosie Maile.

Adjournment at 1:05 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted, Cheri Appel, Secretary

Over the Hills of Avon
Business Meeting
Tuesday, November 10, 2020
12:30 p.m.

The Over the Hills of Avon Business meeting was called to order by Pres. JoAnn Dirkes at 12:31 p.m. The members were led in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Treasurers Report- Jane- As of October 13, the Over the Hills of Avon Senior Group has $1,918.34. The Community Center account has $12,041.69.
Community Center Update- Rick & Mike-
Both met to look at the site for remodeling of St. Benedicts School. We are waiting for contractor bids and a lease agreement.
Fund Raising Committee- JoAnn

Drawing for the 3 Raffle baskets were held. The winners were: Chili- Charlene Gerads; Movie- Jessie Springer; Wine- Judy Smith.
Committee has decided to sell Candy Bars for $1.00 which will contain a “golden ticket” like Willy Wonka movie. The committee sold 158 bars at Fishers for Ladies Day Out. Every senior is asked to sell 10 candy bars at $1.00 each to help promote this fundraiser.
Smile.Amazon.com- be sure to use this site if you are ordering any products from Amazon as the Community Center gets funding from the purchases.

Activities- Margie-

Craft/Bake Sale was canceled. We are discussing doing it in the spring during the City Garage sales- “Christmas in May”.
Senior Christmas Party- Tuesday, December 8. No place has been designated as of yet. Invites will be going out in November with details. RSVP is a MUST.
Door Prizes: Donna Kremers, Carol Hlebuin, Kathy Yurczyk.
January Donations of Dessert: Barb Woitalla, Rick Smith, Nick Smith.
Adjournment at 12:55 p.m.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO RSVP IF YOU PLAN ON EATING OR HAVE TO GO MEALS ON OUR MEMBERSHIP DAY. We need to pin down the amount of food we are preparing so there is no waste.

Board Minutes

Board Meeting
Monday, September 13, 2021
11:03 a.m. ~ Avon City Hall
   The Over the Hills of Avon Board was called to order by JoAnn Dirkes at 11:03 a.m. with these members present: JoAnn Dirkes, Margie Evans, Rick Smith, Judy Smith, Mike Appel, Cheri Appel, Jane Schreifels and Vern Schreifels.

Secretary’s Report – Approved as published with 1 correction: Payout for the raffle is $4900.00 and not $4500.00.

Treasurer’s Report- Current balance of the OHA Seniors, as of September 12, 2021 is $2,178.61; Community Center balance as of September 12, 2021- $22,439.49. M- Vern/S-Mike/P to approve the Treasurer’s report for audit.
Community Center Report- Mike is going to try and arrange a special meeting with the church involving just the Community Center and the remodeling needs.   Discussion was held about a meeting with Steve Plantenberg (who was on the township board for many years) who had 3 major concerns: 1. Avon is an aging population. 2. Is the Church viewing us as competition? 3. The future needs of the community interaction are becoming even more important.

Fundraising- JoAnn-

Cash Raffle- We sold 566 out of 1000 tickets.

Payout was: $4,900.00
Weber Printing: + 370.00
Total Payout $5,270.00

566 tickets sold - $11,320.00

Total Profit $6,060.00

Senior Garage Sale- The announcement will be made at the Business meeting on the total profit made from the Yard Sale. M-Margie/S-Jane/P to give free meal ticket to the winner of the guessing the profit contest. Extra furniture is being sold online and is almost all gone.
Fund Raising meeting- the next meeting is being scheduled. There are no fund raisers running at the moment.

Sr. Group Activities- Margie- There are no trips being planned at the moment because of Covid.

Other-

Membership- All dues for the 2021 year are paid.
Ladies Day Craft/Bake Sale- Saturday, November 6, City Hall- There are many different activities going that day throughout the city of Avon.
Fishers Club is offering to do the lunch/game day once a month at their facility if seniors are interested in coming. This will be voted on at the Business meeting. Another possibility is a Tuesday out at Pelican Lake Ballroom.
External Storage Space- Kathy & Ron have agreed to let us store our extra long term items in their storage shed. A group of seniors emptied the closet at City Hall and took it out to the shed. Kathy is going to do inventory of what is being stored there.
Website- Discussion was held on replacing the current website. Committee members will check around to see if they can find someone to recommend a new site and a possible person to take over the website.
Ram Mutual Insurance- Contract is to be given to Treasurer Jane since she pays the bill on this. Mike temporarily took the contract to contact Schmidt Insurance on an umbrella policy for when we run other events and at other locations.
AED Training- Mike suggested we have professional training at our October meeting on operating the AED’s that are now installed in Avon. We have 4 available for use. This will be discussed at our Business meeting.
Discussion was held on raising the dues & the cost of meals. This will be looked at again in November and will take effect in January.
Elections- A brief discussion was held about the elections to be held at the January meeting.
Auditing the Books- We need to set up an appointment with Abbie Marsola CPA so Jane can have to books audited.

M-Margie/S-Judy/P   Adjournment at 12:06 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted, Cheri Appel, Secretary

Board Meeting
Monday, August 9, 2021
11:01 a.m. ~ Avon City Hall
   The Over the Hills of Avon Board was called to order by JoAnn Dirkes at 11:01 a.m. with these members present: JoAnn Dirkes, Margie Evans, Rick Smith, Judy Smith, Mike Appel, Cheri Appel, Jane Schreifels and Vern Schreifels.
   Secretary’s Report – M- Mike/S- Rick/Approved as published.
   Treasurer’s Report- Current balance of the OHA Seniors is $2,308.22; Community Center balance as of August 8, 2021- $18,283.96. M- Vern/S-Margie/P to approve the Treasurer’s report for audit.
Community Center Report- It has been 4 months since we were able to visit with the church. Discussion was held on alternatives to the church school for the center. Rick & Mike were asked to check out the Implement Building to see if it would possibly be big enough.
Fundraising- JoAnn-

Candy bars are sold out and fund raiser is completed.
Cash Raffle- We need to get out and sell tickets- We are looking for members to return their sold tickets at our meeting on Tuesday so we can calculate where we are at with sales. Payout is $4500. We “think” we have sold enough to make payout but still need to sell more to make a profit.
Senior Garage Sale- We have 19 people coming to help set up on Wednesday, August 25. Tables will be set up in groupings and then covered immediately with plastic as there are no early sales. This will help keep people from trying to come and buy things a day early. JoAnn has schedules made up for the 3 days of the sale with shifts starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 5 p.m. Volunteers are slowly filling in the areas of times. We need signs made: All Clothing 50c; Root Beer Floats $3.00; Advertising at I-94 exits, corner of Ochotto Park and one on Avon and 1st (Albany Road). Advertising also needs to be done on the electronic sign at ballpark done by City Hall and Credit Union sign. Kathy Yurczyk son is donating 40 tables for us to use at the sale.

Sr. Group Activities- Margie- We need 8 more to be able to schedule the bus trip to the play in the cities on August 19 or the trip will be canceled.
Other-

Membership- We have 2 members to collect from for the 2021 membership year. Everyone else is paid until December 31.
National Night Out- 111 root beer floats were sold. The leftover root beer and ice cream will be used at the Yard Sale.
Tent- A 10 x 20 Canopy tent is on backorder at Fleet Farm. It was chosen to be bought there because of an employee discount.
Since JoAnn is moving we are in need of storage space. St. Benedicts Church has given us a corner in a storage closet to store meeting day supplies. A decision was made to check with Ron Hommerding & Kathy Yurczyk to see if they had any space in one of their sheds where we could store items that are used on a yearly basis. JoAnn will address this.
Website- Margie M/ Mike S/P to look into a new website and a pro to run it. The site we are now using is not adequate for what we need.

Adjournment at 11:45 a.m.
Respectfully Submitted, Cheri Appel, Secretary

Board Meeting
Monday, June 8, 2021
11:00 a.m. ~ Avon City Hall
   The Over the Hills of Avon Board was called to order by JoAnn Dirkes at 10:57 a.m. with these members present: JoAnn Dirkes, Margie Evans, Rick Smith, Judy Smith, Mike Appel, Cheri Appel, Jane Schreifels and Vern Schreifels. Absent was Cheryl Knox.
   Secretary’s Report M-Mike/S-Rick/P
   Treasurer’s Report- Current balance of the OHA Seniors is $2,095.75; Community Center balance as of June 7, 2021
            is $14,829.60. M- Mike/S-Margie/P to approve the Treasurer’s report for audit.
Community Center Report- Mike is going to check with the church to make sure that their calendar is up to date with all our meeting dates. JoAnn will visit with Wanda Ornes daughter to see if she can help with getting grants and filling them out. JoAnn will also check with the church on approval of using their silverware and coffee pot for our meeting on Tuesday, June 8.
Fundraising- JoAnn-

The candy bars are still selling. At Coborns in Sartell the group was able to sell 100 candy bars in 2 hours at 2 different times. We have 55 candy bars left.
Cash Raffle- Our state raffle permit has arrived but being it took so long in arriving, the gambling month is wrong. JoAnn will contact the state to get permission to use the month of September instead of August as our raffle month so we can sell tickets in July & August. Cheri will check on the designing and printing of the raffle tickets.
Senior Garage Sale- JoAnn is filling her garage with items for the garage sale. Remember that we will be looking for help in setting up on Wednesday, August 25 and selling August 26-28. We will also be looking for folding tables to borrow.
Spunktacular Booth- 9 a.m. - 4p.m. - promoting Over the Hills of Avon Senior Citizens and the Avon Community Center will be set up and manned by our seniors. We are also hoping to have our raffle tickets printed by then so we can sell them. JoAnn will compile the information for the OHA brochure & Mike will take care of the Community Center one. Margie & JoAnn will work on a schedule for the seniors to work the booth. Vern & Jane will check on a tent for shade for this booth. Float will be put together for the parade for the community center. Vern has a trailer & 4 wheeler. JoAnn had a possible gumball design for the float saying “Hope for the Avon Community Center”. A committee will be put together at the monthly OHA meeting to work on this. M-Mike/S-Margie/P to take $100 from each treasury to build this float (Over the Hills of Avon & Avon Community Center).

Sr. Group Activities- Margie- 2 bus trips have been planned with no overnight stay at this time-

Trip #1- Thursday, July 29, Jasper’s Theater & Northern Lights Casino One Day Trip- Leave Avon at 7 a.m. with a stop in St. Joseph (Woodcrest Country Manor) at 7:15 a.m. Gambling at the casino until 2 p.m. when we will head to the theater for “Happy Together” Songs from the 60’s. Cost $75.00 (includes transportation, show tickets and evening meal). Sign up no later than July 15. Pickup is at City Hall where you must park on the gravel parking area.
Trip #2- Thursday, August 10, “A Bench in the Sun” at Day Trippers Dinner Theater. Leaves City Hall 10 a.m. (where you must park on the gravel parking area), with a stop in St. Joseph (Woodcrest Country Manor) at 10:15 a.m. Lunch at 12:30 p.m. with play at 1:30 p.m. Cost: $75.00 with sign up no later than August 5th. FOR BOOKING EITHER OF THESE TRIPS PLEASE CONTACT: Margie- 320-249-1570 or JoAnn- 320-249-1550. Make checks payable to Over the Hills of Avon, mail to: PO Box 238, Avon MN 56310.

Other-

We have 51 RSVPs for our meeting on Tuesday, June 8 with 8 main dishes plus salads and desserts.
A review of non paid members and how to proceed with them was discussed. JoAnn will contact them for their dues.

Adjournment at 11:42 a.m.                                              Respectfully Submitted, Cheri Appel, Secretary

Board Meeting
Tuesday, April 13, 2021
11:00 a.m.

   The Over the Hills of Avon Board was called to order by JoAnn Dirkes at 10:59 a.m. with these members present: JoAnn Dirkes, Margie Evans, Rick Smith, Judy Smith, Mike Appel, Cheri Appel, Jane Schreifels and Vern Schreifels. Absent was Cheryl Knox.
   Secretary’s Report - M-Mike/S-Margie/P to accept as corrected.
   Treasurer’s Report- Current balance of the OHA Seniors is $2,291.18; Community Center balance as of April 13, 2021 is $13,950.38. M- Rick/S-Vern/P to approve the Treasurer’s report for audit.

Community Center Report- Before a Letter of Content can be filled out we need to have proof of liability insurance. Mike has requested liability insurance options from Schmidt Insurance and Kremer Insurance. We are currently waiting for estimates. We requested 1 Tuesday per month exclusively for the Seniors to use at St. Benedicts church basement for our meetings while renovations are to be done at the school for a Community Center. There will be no charge for the use of the basement. As of now, the Bishop will not allow any churches to prepare or serve food. We will not be able to use the church basement for our meal until the ban is lifted.

Fundraising- JoAnn- A fundraising meeting was held on Thursday, April 15 at noon. St. Benedicts has canceled their summer bazaar.

The candy bars are still selling. We are planning on selling them at the Avon All Town Garage Sales and hopefully tickets for the Cash Raffle, maybe with the Avon Hills Lions Clubs Pork Chop Sale at MD Salon parking lot.
Cash Raffle- We are working with the Albany Jaycees to put together 1,000 tickets. Thank you to the Jaycees for letting us use their gambling license. The money give away will use the July calendar dates and we will sell May and June. There is the possibility of using August instead of July. Tickets will be available at the May meeting for anyone who wishes to help us out by selling tickets. This is entirely up to each member as to what they choose to do.
Senior Garage Sale- August 25 is set up with the sale being held on August 26-28. This is being planned for JoAnn’s front yard like last year.

Sr. Group Activities- Margie-

Avon Lions Annual Fish Fry will be held on Tuesday May 11 at City Hall for our next meeting. Fifty (50) meals are being planned with extra for us to invite friends to join us. Take out is available. RSVP to JoAnn or Margie is a MUST so we have an accurate headcount for the Lions. Take out also need to RSVP. BINGO & Cards will be played at 3 p.m. with meal being served at 4 p.m. There will be NO formal meeting at the May meeting.
Trips- No Iowa trips are being planned because of restrictions due to Covid. Margie is working on a 2 day trip to Wisconsin in June. Details will be mailed out separately from the newsletter once details are put together.

Other-

AED Stations- this project by the Avon Hills Lions has been tabled at this time.
990N- Jane has filed it for 2021-22.

Pay the Bills- M-Mike/S-Margie/P
Adjournment at 11:25 a.m.
Respectfully Submitted, Cheri Appel, Secretary

Over the Hills of Avon
Board Meeting
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
11:00 a.m.
   The Over the Hills of Avon Board was called to order by JoAnn Dirkes at 11:00 a.m. with these members present: JoAnn Dirkes, Margie Evans, Rick Smith, Judy Smith, Mike Appel, Cheri Appel, Jane Schreifels and Vern Schreifels. Absent was Cheryl Knox.
   Secretary’s Report was approved as emailed.
   Treasurer’s Report- Current balance of the OHA Seniors is $2,254.16; Community Center balance as of March 9, 2021 is $13,805.38. M- Mike/S-Rick/P to approve the Secretaries Report as written and the Treasurer’s report for audit.

Community Center Report- Mike delivered the “Letter of Expectations” to the St. Benedicts Catholic Church. He then requested a “Letter of Intent” to proceed with the Community Center planning.

Fundraising- JoAnn- A fundraising meeting was held on Thursday, March 4.

We are still selling the Golden Ticket Candy Bars. We are hoping to get permission to sell candy bars at Coborn’s in Sartell.
We are planning on doing a Cash Raffle with the selling months of May & June and the Raffle month as July.
Spunktacular Days- We are planning on an informational booth for the Over the Hills of Avon Seniors and for the Avon Community Center. We are looking for ideas for a float in the parade.
Planning on a yard/garage sale on August 26 to 28th with set up on August 25th. Help will be needed. Save your items that you wish to donate.

Sr. Group Activities- Margie- Held a meeting on February 22.

Discussion was held on meal costs, membership dues, and Bingo.
Still compiling ideas and will share at the April meeting.

Other-

Cheri brought up an idea to use emails to send out the monthly newsletter instead of USPS mailing them out every month. Could save the club around $400.00 per year. Choice of receiving the newsletter by mail would be up to the members.
Birthday Vouchers will be honored whenever they are presented (once we get back to making our own meals) and do not expire so hang onto them.
Jane questioned if we had filled out our club 990N? Cheri will check her records at home to make sure it was done. If not, Board decided that the Treasurer (Jane) would be in charge of getting this done yearly.

Adjournment at 11:30 a.m. M-Jane/S-Jane/P
Respectfully Submitted, Cheri Appel, Secretary

Over the Hills of Avon
Board Meeting
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
11:00 a.m.
   The Over the Hills of Avon Board was called to order by JoAnn Dirkes at 11:00 a.m. with these members present: JoAnn Dirkes, Margie Evans, Rick Smith, Judy Smith, Mike Appel, Cheri Appel, Jane Schreifels and Vern Schreifels. Absent was Cheryl Knox.
   Secretary’s Report was approved as emailed. M-Margie/S-Rick/P
   Treasurer’s Report- Current balance of the OHA Seniors is $1,874.16; Community Center balance as of February 9, 2021 is $13,697.69. M- Mike/S-Judy/P to approve the Treasurer’s report for audit.

Community Center Report- Mike shared that the Avon Community Center committee met on Monday, January 25th. We are in need of an agreement on paper to be able to proceed with grants. Mike and Rick will be meeting with the St. Benedicts Finance committee on Monday February 15.

Fundraising- JoAnn-

We are still selling the Golden Ticket Candy Bars. So far 910 have been sold with 690 left to sell. With no events in the future we are hoping that the Over the Hills of Avon Seniors will take some to sell.
Smile.Amazon.com will be sending us our first commission check in February.
The Fundraising committee met in November to brainstorm ideas for the future and will be holding another meeting sometime soon.

Sr. Group Activities- Margie-

They will be having a meeting on Monday, February 22 or 23 to decide on monthly meeting menus and activities.
There was a suggestion to hold the March Over the Hills of Avon membership meeting at the Pelican Lake Ballroom since there is plenty of space for us to meet and social distance because of Covid 19. We will bring this idea to the members at the business meeting

Other-

AED Station in Avon (Automatic External Defibrillator) - We have decided not to make a decision at this point for we may need to buy our own to place outside the Community Center once it is established.
Website- Does the Over the Hills of Avon Senior Group need a website? At the moment we are part of the Avon Community Center site. Discussion took place and at this time we will stay where we are with the Avon Community Center website.
It was brought to our attention that members are feeling pressured into selling tickets and candy bars. They joined the group for socializing and not fundraising. We are sorry if we made any members feel that they are being pressured which was not our intention. Please feel free to decline anything that you feel uncomfortable in doing. We want to thank everyone who does participate for this will help us in achieving our goal of a community center where we can meet more often if we choose.

Adjournment at 11:28 a.m. M-Margie/S-Jane/P
Respectfully Submitted, Cheri Appel, Secretary

Over the Hills of Avon
Board Meeting
Tuesday, November 10
11:00 a.m.

The Over the Hills of Avon Board was called to order by JoAnn Dirkes at 11:02 a.m. with these members present: JoAnn Dirkes, Margie Evans, Rick Smith, Judy Smith, Mike Appel, Cheri Appel, Jane Schreifels and Vern Schreifels. Absent was Cheryl Knox.

   Secretary’s Report was approved as emailed.
   Treasurer’s Report- Current balance of the OHA Seniors is $1,918.34; Community Center balance as of November 10, 2020 is $12,941.69. M- Rick/S-Judy/P to approve the secretary/treasurer’s report for audit.
Community Center Report- Rick & Mike visited with the church on the rental- 2 contractors have reviewed the building. No estimates have been drafted at this point. We are still waiting for a lease agreement on this rental. We need to find out what the holdup is on this. JoAnn and Margie would like to meet with Mike & Rick at the next meeting with St. Benedicts to get answers. Char (person in St. Benedicts Office who is in charge) is on medical leave and when she returns Rick will set up an appointment.

Fundraising- JoAnn-

Committee has decided to sell Candy Bars for $1.00 which will contain a “golden ticket” like Willy Wonka movie. The committee sold 158 bars at Fishers for Ladies Day Out. Chocolate bars are costing us $96.00 a case with 240 bars- with 8 winners per case $130.00 profit per case. One winner per 30 bars. Each Senior will be asked to sell 10 candy bars at $1.00 each.
Raffle Drawing- the 3 basket raffle drawing will be held today at the Business Meeting.
Smile.Amazon.com- people are using this site for us.

Activities- Margie-

Craft & Bake Sale- When can we do it? City Wide Garage Sale on May 1?
Rummage Sale is tentatively being planned again for August. May need some place to store items as JoAnn’s garage is not an alternative.
Christmas Party- Tuesday, December 8. M-Mike/S-Jane/P to spend $800.00 for this event.

Other-

Secretary of State Annual Renewal- Mike has accomplished this so we are good until next year.
Website Domain- Smile.Amazon.com- people are using this site for us.
AED Stations for Avon- Mike- This has been tabled at the moment until the planning committee has accomplished their goals in setting up the fundraising for the AED’s.

Adjournment at 11:35 a.m. M-Mike/S-Margie/P

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