AAZK Meeting December 6, 2007

Present: Pat Owen, Doreen Thompson, Norah Farnham, Harmony Frazier, Chris Kluener, Pete McLane, Felicity Oram, Joanna Bojarski,

---Note that the officers for 2008 are:

President Carolyn Austin

Vice President Pat Owen

Treasurer Roz Sealy

Secretary Jennifer Murphy

Thanks to these folks for stepping up to the plate, and to everyone who nominated and voted.

---Silent Auction results: as of budget statement on 12/4/07, the profit is $17,644.68. There are still some funds coming in, so this will go up. Great job!

NOTE FROM PAT OWEN: This year we had the greatest number of people helping with set up and clean up for the Auction EVER! He sends a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to this highly successful event.

---Update on Follow a Keeper program: Pat said if all the experiences go as well as the first one, it’s going to be easy! He said the participant really seemed to enjoy the experience and was very pleased overall. She is a children’s book author, and plans to write a book based on her experience.

The next one is Dec 15 at the savanna. Remember if you host one of these, give them a “Top 10 Zookeeper” Tshirt and a luggage tag. Note that they are allowed to take photos but not video.

Pete suggested giving each participant a very brief questionnaire to be completed after the experience, as feedback for us. Pat is going to look into the one that the overnights groups use, and see if it’s suitable for our purposes.

---Candy Sales: sales are slow, as we expected during this time of year. Taking away a few stations turned out to be a wise decision.

---Bunny Bounce Photo Booth: Pete and Chris will be the point persons for this photo event. Thanks!

---Anybody have a new fundraising idea???

Pete brought up the idea that another zoo recently did as a fundraiser that was written up in the Insight. It’s “You’ve been Flocked”, which involves middle-of-the-night plastic lawn flamingo placement at the homes of ‘victims’ who have been secretly chosen by their ‘friends’ to receive this prank. Pete will circulate the article to the chapter.

There was some positive feedback for the idea, it was decided that ‘someone’ (i.e. Carolyn or Steve) should consider getting feedback from PR/Marketing about this idea, especially since flamingos will be all the rage soon.

A second idea (also Pete’s!) is to have a Talent Show, possibly in the North meadow at the stage area. It would be open to staff, friends, and family, and we could either ask for donations or charge a small ticket price. The event could include beer and wine sales, raffles, and possibly the carousel.

There was a fair amount of enthusiasm for this idea, so it will probably something we’ll talk further about in the future. Since we will not be doing Bowling this year, this event could come at approximately the same time, i.e. July/August. Start thinking about anyone you know with talent!!