The Executive Committee met at 10:00AM at the home of Santa Ernie and Ginny Walker,
8 Creekwood Ln SW, Lakewood, WA 98499. Those at the meeting included Santas Jerry Galland, Gene Sanders, Dale Scott, Dennis Simpson, and Trever Waltos.

Updates from Dennis. Dennis began by sharing a variety of items he’d collected at The International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas (IBRBS) conference which he and other NORPAC members attended last May in Tampa, FL. These items included pens, buttons, brochures, etc. and he offered these as some possible ideas to include in the gift bags we’ll be putting together for our conference in November. Dennis next shared a new brochure from IBRBS. The brochure describes member benefits, chapter benefits, and lists the 17 chapters (of which NORPAC is one), and also lists the 2014 IBRBS Directors.

Dennis called our attention to an e-mail IBRBS has just sent to members describing the new national background check they are sponsoring through a company called ClearStar. The background checks will be available Aug. 15, 2014 at a cost of $7.95 and appear to be more comprehensive than the background checks many of us have had in the past through IntelliCorp.

Dennis next shared a new store he’s discovered that is a great source for red colored clothing and shoes that may be of interest to Santas. The store is Mr. Mac Ltd. and is located at 1210 Martin Luther King Way, in Tacoma’s Hilltop area.

Rainiers’ Game. Appreciation was expressed to Lou Murkowski for his efforts in making the arrangements for NORPAC to attend last Sunday’s game at Cheney Stadium. Everyone seemed to have a great time and we definitely would like to do it again next year, perhaps in conjunction with a toy drive.

Hello Santa. Santa Ed Taylor has contacted us asking that NORPAC help promote Hello Santa (an online video chat with Santa) that Ed coordinates. Trever agreed to contact him to discuss whether Ed might agree to be a sponsor for our November NORPAC conference in exchange for our help with Hello Santa.

Doug Moehler of The Forgotten Children’s’ Fund is still being considered as a possible guest speaker for one of our Friday sessions at the NORPAC conference. Dennis will contact him to confirm.

South Sound Parent to Parent. Dawn Harrison has contacted NORPAC soliciting a donation to this program which supports children with special needs and their parents. It was moved and seconded that NORPAC contribute $300.00 to this organization. Motion passed unanimously.

Thanks to Ernie and Ginny Walker. It was moved and seconded to reimburse the Walkers in the amount of $75.00 to defray the costs of drinks and other supplies which they’ve provided for today’s NORPAC meeting at their home. Motion passed unanimously.

Videotaping the NORPAC Conference. Trever expressed interest in our videotaping our upcoming conference (or perhaps the 2015 conference if we can’t work it out for this year). Besides providing a nice record of the conference, elements could be shared on social media and perhaps serve as a good recruiting tool for NORPAC. Dennis will visit with the video program instructor at S. Kitsap High School to see if that program might be able to help with this proposal.

Conference Planning. Dennis shared a draft of the program for our conference at the Great Wolf Lodge on Nov. 6-8, 2014. Discussion followed.

Trever will check with Alex Ardesson (Ardesson’s Shoe Repair) and Jackie Noble (seamstress) to see if they would like to be vendors again this year.

Dale will check with Dori of Lakewood Costumes to see if she’d like to return as a vendor. He also shared that Alex Shimizu, a booking agent with Pro Entertainment, has committed to attend the conference on Nov. 9. Dale will get back to her to see if she’d also like to be a speaker for 30 mins. or so during our Round Table session that morning. The topic would be working with talent agents, pros and cons of using an agent, etc.

Dennis said that Ron Kearns is trying to confirm with the Centralia Wal-Mart regarding our proposed Flash Mob occurring at that store. The area Target store was mentioned as another possibility.

We plan to repeat The Night Before Christmas readings that we enjoyed last year. Dale suggested we open that up to other readings as well. That seemed fine with everyone.
Karaoke is tentatively planned for Friday evening after dinner and we’re hopeful that Santa Ramsey can lead that. Dale and Trever agreed to bring portable coat-racks to the conference (for use in the ladies’ changing area).

Meeting adjourned at 11:57AM in preparation for the general NORPAC meeting scheduled to follow at noon.

Respectfully,
Dale Scott, Secretary