Meeting Agenda – April 11, 2026

Meeting Location: Scroungers Paradise, 101 E. Coleman Ave, Hammond 70403

• Fellowship before meeting
• Collection of dues (Rick Albrecht) and selling of shirts and caps (Lee Owens)

Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance – Harold Choate

Welcome and Introduction of Guests – There were two guests in attendance: Lennie Kirst and Corey Guenther. They introduced themselves and expressed their interest in woodworking and the club.

Officer Reports:

• Vice-President – Brandon Ginn reported the schedule for upcoming months of meetings.
• Secretary – Lee Soileaux reported that there was one new member from the previous month.
• Treasurer – Rick Albrecht was unable to make the meeting because of health issues. Richard reported that the club’s account had a balance of approximately $3,000 and that our finances were in good shape.
• Webmaster – Open
• Community Service – Ken Brown unable to attend the meeting. Richard Robles reported on community services in his stead. Jim Landry acknowledged the members who worked on the pedestal project for St. Vincent DePaul’s statue and indicated that the project was complete. He showed the club members a video presentation of the pedestal which was quite impressive. He also showed the Birdmouth router bit used to cut the angles on the parts that were used to make the octagonal pedestal and said that the bit did a fine job of creating tight fitting joints. Richard said that we still have one table to make for the O’Brian House project and asked for volunteers for this. Work on the VOA Laundry Cabinet is still in the works and we will definitely need volunteers to help with this rather large project.
• Education Outreach – Open

New and Ongoing Club Business

• Zoo Update – Richard reported that the event went well and that there were 6 volunteers for it. All of the pendants and animals were distributed so we will need volunteers to help replenish the supply for next year’s event.
• Marucci Tour – Richard reported that the tour was very successful. The baseball bat making company began in 2004 with one individual turning bats in his back yard and has progressed to the point that it has several stores in the states, London (largest sports store in Europe) and one in Tokyo. The staff at Marucci were very hospitable and informative.
• Executive Meeting – has been postponed to next month.

Members Questions/Concerns – None expressed.

Skill Topic: Exotic Woods @ Scroungers – Jacob Olivari (Scroungers) gave a brief history of his company which is an offshoot of his father’s lumber business in North Carolina. Most of his exotic woods come from Bolivia but from Africa and India as well. While working with his father he visited mills in Bolivia and saw that much of the wood which we consider exotic is treated much as we treat pine and oak and frequently is burned. He realized that this represented an opportunity to get exotic woods at a relatively inexpensive cost to him. Mr Olivari then gave us a tour of his warehouse and showed us an impressive inventory of exotic woods both rough and dimensioned.

Show-and-Tell – There were 4 members who shared their recent projects.

Adjourn