Heritage United Methodist Church on February 17, 2009, 6:30-8:00PM

Present:  Danielle Bellgowen, Brenda Hall, Brenda Greenhoe, Sandy Gray, Mishawn Zudweg, Susan Sunden, Suzy Batenburg, David Princer

1.  Welcome! - Roundtable introductions.

2.  PC Planning, Goals for the upcoming year - Sue shared the Vision and goals set forth at the previous meetings.  It was shared in two formats for parents.

Five Different Goal Ideas:

*Referent and constituency group...understand the desires and needs of parents in the community.  Increase parent membership to 90 participants countywide with an emphasis on increasing the number of men as members to 10.  All people who are interested in the health, safety and education of young children should participate.  This includes grandparents, interested aunts, uncles, and community members at large.  The "Parent Recruitment Flyer" should change its verbage at the next printing to reflect this.  Newspaper ads: River Valley Shopper, Lakeview Chronicle.  Attendees were encouraged to take flies to share with their network of influence.

*Resource awareness and recruitment.  Resource awareness for parents throughout the county.  This issue was tabled for an upcoming meeting.

*Advocacy and education activities at the local and state level. Members set goal areas of attending one local and one statewide advocacy event in the next year.  Options might include: MCC Brown Bag Luncheons with state legislators, monthly.  Star Power Rally in Lansing, May 21.  A flyer regarding the Star Power Rally was shared.  Members would like to have two speakers from ECIC attend PC meetings to provide Parent Education sessions on the topics they ranked at the first meeting.  PL will schedule for future meetings.

*Support and engage in the work of the GSC - partner with local GSC.  An imbedded and natural outcome of our efforts, working with the MAISD GSC.

*Strengthen the civic engagement of parents - parent support.  Circle of parents group, parent to parent mentoring, recruiting, ride share and childcare for meetings.  Brainstorming outreach activities: ex. Touch a Truck, Community Wide Baby Shower, Food Drive/Healthy Snacks, Bike Helmets, Safety Night, Safe Kids Coalition, Floats/Booths at community events such as Harvest Festival, Sand Lake Fair, Family Fun Night, Spring School Carnivals, Citywide Yard Sale.

A suggestion was made that we take "small baby steps" as we move forward.  "We want to keep it positive.  We don't want to milk local businesses dry.  We want to set a precedent of service to the community, so businesses recognize our group as a service group, then they may come to us.  If we beg for money from businesses we may overtax them, we just can't do that.  We need to look 3-5 years or more down the road, not be short-sighted.  The best thing we can do is get our name out there.  Create a winning spirit - people will want to get on board.  Let's do baby steps with a focus on service and community."

A suggestion was made to volunteer at the two elementary school carnivals in the panhandle in the spring of 2009.  Carnival organizers are always looking for volunteers and this would be a service to the community as well as a community awareness even for the PC.  We could wear matching shirts and direct participants to a GSPC booth we could set up on the premises.  PL begin work on getting these events organized and set up.

PAC (Parent Advisory Council) Presentation  Susan Sunden presented on the PAC, a group sponsored by the MAISD that is made up of parents of special needs students from every school in the district.  The goals, objectives and function of PAX were reviewed.  Brochures were distributed.  A display was present for futher explanation.

Roundtable Parent Time:

• Walk for Warmth, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2009.  David Princer and Madonna will participate.
• Countywide Transit System:  Brochure review, petition signage routed for interested persons to sign.  Susan Sunden will attend the commissioners meeting on Monday, Feb. 23 and talk about transportation issues along with other concerned citizens.
• Newspaper article shared by Sandy Gray regarding self esteem, bullying among middle schoolers.  Discussion ensued regarding how to reach children BEFORE this occurs (very early in elementary school) to begin training in these areas.  This echoes a topic brought up by PC members at the Sidney meeting in Jan. 09.  This topic will be explored as a Parent education event and possibly an action items in the future.

Big Thanks to Gods Miracle Kids and Parents for catering our meeting on Feb. 17, 2009.  The food was scrumptious, the service and presentation perfect!  Thanks again!

Next meeting for West Side / Panhandle area Parent Coalition:  March 17, 2009, 6:30-8:00PM.  Heritage United Methodist Church, 19931 W. Kendaville Road, Pierson, MI, 49339.

Respectfully Submitted,

Brenda Greenhoe, Susan Sunden