Meeting Minutes – May 6, 2023

Meeting Location: West Baton Rouge Museum, 845 Jefferson Ave., Port Allen

• Fellowship before meeting
• Collection of dues (Rick Albrecht) and selling of shirts and caps (Richard Robles)

Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance – Harold Choate

Welcome and Introduction of Guests-18 members attended

Officer Reports:

• Vice-President – George Campagna Next month’s meeting will be at Warren Dufrene’s shop. Warren will be doing the presentation. The July meeting will be at Rural Life Museum. Brian Stauss will be doing a pen turning presentation. The rest of the schedule remains the same except for November. We had a cancellation but Terry Landry, former member, has offered his shop for the meeting. Terry is going to do the presentation. It will be about using hand planes for joinery.
• Secretary – Harold Choate 18 people attended the April meeting. One of them was a visitor. Our Facebook following continues to amaze me. Over 500 people have been following our page in the past 28 days. We posted some pictures of the field trip to Gator Millworks. There was an immediate response in the likes that those pictures generated. Please send pictures of your projects so we can continue to promote the club through Facebook.
• Treasurer – Rick Albrecht- Contact Rick for details. Our membership renewal is complete for this year. The number of members is in the mid forties.
• Webmaster – Open
• Community Service – Lee Owens Jack Carmena did the Community Service report this month. Jack and Lee did a project at Joseph’s House. They built 2 benches and repaired 2 benches. Mike Copeland reported the last bookcase has also been delivered. The teams reported on the status of the chest of drawers for O’Brien House. All but 3 have been delivered. These remaining 3 are in the final stages and should be delivered within the next 2 weeks. Some of the new projects are as follows: A halfway house for women in Ponchatoula needs 2 picnic tables. One of the YMCA’s has an item they need. Lee will be sending an email out asking for help to complete these jobs.
• Education Outreach – Open

New and Ongoing Club Business

• Executive Meeting Notes- The committee approved using a lump sum price for projects in the future. Previously we had quoted a “not to exceed” sum to our clients. A $200 donation to charity using money from a donation was approved. We discussed the possibility of the club making toys for children at some point in the future. We discussed getting together for a tool swap/fellowship event at some point in the future.
• Gator Millworks Field Trip- George Campagna reported the details of the club field trip to Gator Millworks. The most impressive aspects of the trip was the size and sophistication of the whole operation. Gator utilizes automated equipment and high efficiency crane ways to move material from one operation to another. All pieces are barcoded to identify the piece and location of every part. Gator allowed us to roam around to look at the whole operation. They also answered our questions.

Members Questions/Concerns

Safety Topic

Skill Topic: Small Shop Videos – George Campagna

Show-and-Tell

Adjourn

Please bring the following items to the meeting: