Friends of the Mission Hills/Hillcrest Library
March 30, 2024
The meeting was held in conference rooms of the Mission Hills/Hillcrest Harley and Bessie Knox Library. The meeting was called to order at 10:00 A.M. by Anne Box, President. An attendance list is at the end of the minutes.
Minutes: The minutes of the February 24, 2024, meeting were approved as submitted.
Financial: Don Rudesill presented the February financial report. Bookstore sales in cash were $1,098, Square credit card sales were $484.48, Amazon sales were $752.25, Abe sales were $129.01, book cart sales and donations were $90.46 and some coins that were donated totaled $52.02. We had one membership in February of $10.00. Interest income from all accounts totaled $459.93.
Expenses included $150.00 for a BID poster, $545.56 for program expenses, and $2500.00 to Matching Funds. Total expenses for the month were $3,635.51.
Our total in all accounts at the end of February was $163,731.52.
Chuck Leib said that if someone pays with Square for a membership, he needs a donor envelope, or information on the donor, in order to thank the person and to add the information to his donor file. We can advise volunteers of this.
Librarian’s report: Carrie Sanabria reported for Steve Wheeler. Carrie reminded us that April is Poetry Month. There will be blackout stations in the branch for people to work on their blackout poems. Poetry events include: Blackout Poetry Tuesday, April 2, through Friday, April 6. Create a poem by blacking our words in old text. Win a $50.00 Library Shop gift card!
Community Poetry Reading, Saturday, April 13, at 3:30 PM.
Poem in Your Pocket Day, Thursday, April 18.
Richard Lederer on William Shakespeare, Saturday, April 20 at 2:30 P.M.
San Diego Poet Laureate Jason Magabo Perez, Monday, April 22 at 6:30 P.M.
In addition to the poetry events, Carrie presented other programs for April:
Introduction to Coding for Kids, Wednesdays from 3:30 to 5:30 P.M. April 3,10, 24, and May 1 and May 8.
Solar Eclipse Viewing Party Monday, April 8 at 10:45 A.M.
Sparkles the Clown Saturday, April 13 at 2 P.M. Magic and Bubble Show.
Resin Jewelry Workshop for Adults and Teens Saturday, April 27 at 2:30 P.M.
Dia de los Ninos, Tinker Crafts, Tuesday, April 23, 5 to 7:00 P.M.
As of March 2, the branch’s matching fund balances were as follows: negative $5,070.00 in Contracts/Performers, $150.04 in Equipment/Supplies, $17,466.15 in Library Materials, and $5,959.37 in Library Pool Distribution. Most of the money from the Library Pool Distribution is being moved to Contracts/Performers to make up for its negative balance, and the rest of the money from the Library Pool Distribution is being moved to Equipment/Supplies.
The branch also had a Trust Fund of $10,466.93, but $670.21 of this was recently spent on an office chair. This leaves a balance of $9,796.21 in the Trust Fund.
Expenses for the month were for programs, supplies and for an early learning computer.
Carrie said that the Summer Reading Program will have 14 performers at a cost of approximately $7800.00. Steve may have a final amount at the next meeting.
We approved Carrie’s request for $250.00 for button making materials and $50.00 for the solar eclipse program, $250.00 for tee shirts for the staff for the Summer Reading Program, and approximately $20/month for water and popcorn for the Friday Flicks movie program.
Bookstore: Pat Littell said we will post a sign at the Poetry section for Poetry Month in April.
Holly Murten and Susan Chenven will do another inventory of our online stock. Items not sold for a long time will be taken off- line and shelved in the bookstore.
Elaine Kalin said that Mary Rose Mueller suggests alphabetical dividers for the online stock. Sue Eubanks will create a divider for the “The” section which is the largest.
Jean Stein said that we have three new volunteers for a total of 42 volunteers. Mentors are needed for the new volunteers. Jean said that the Volunteer Agreement forms have been signed by all.
Chuck Leib proposed limiting book and material donations to the first half of the month. After discussion, we agreed to a triage system with the first step being to sort donations for discards before they go onto the tables. Chuck agreed to take on this first step for now. We will also research getting wall shelves or a bookcase behind the tables for material that is to be processed after the initial triage.
Holly took requests for the June American Library Association Convention to be held in San Diego. The bookstore credit card can be used for registration.
Website: Al Hoefer said that all is well with the website.
Membership: Chuck Leib reported that we have 4 Family memberships, 4 Individual, 3 Senior/Student, 2 Sponsor since November. We also have 80 Lifetime members.
We decided to offer a free book in the bookstore with memberships. Chuck will provide a coupon, possibly on a bookmark.
Roundtable: Sue Eubanks said that the proposed budget is a work in progress. She did point out that our large reserve is mainly the result of the Marcia Coolidge bequest several years ago, so we need to allocate spending based primarily on current income so as not to deplete the bequest. Sue also found a small picture of “Dogs Playing Poker” and framed it to display in the bookstore. This picture was painted by Marcia Coolidge’s father and the income from it is the source of the bequest.
The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for April 20th at 10:00 A.M.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:15 A.M.
Attendance: Carrie Sanabria, Anne Box, Sue Eubanks, Don Rudesill, Al Hoefer, Susan Chenven, Elaine Kalin, Chuck Leib, Jean Stein, Holly Murten, Pat Littell