General Membership Meeting

Greetings The NORPAC Santa group met at noon today at Billy McHale’s Restaurant in Federal Way. After some general visiting, Santa Trever called the meeting to order at 12:25. Present were 43 people including Santas, Mrs. Clauses, and one Grinch.

Meal Blessing Santa Gene gave the blessing.

Santa & Mrs. Claus Oaths Trever led Santas in reciting the Santa Oath, and Roxanne Berhorst led Mrs. Clauses in the Mrs. Claus Oath.

Introductions In attendance for the first time were Santa Jeff Ardle and his wife Lori. They are from Tacoma and Jeff has been doing Santa work for about 10 years. Welcome to both of them!

Minutes Santa Dale reported that the minutes from the previous meeting on Apr. 1st have been posted on the NORPAC website for the past couple months. He encouraged those attending to look at the posted minutes from our meetings anytime there’s an interest. Minutes from each meeting are typically posted within just a few days of that meeting.

Treasurer’s Report Santa Dennis Gorley reported that NORPAC’s treasury balance as of June 1, 2017, stood at $5,035.09 comprised of $431.20 in Savings, $4,553.89 in Checking, and $50.00 in Petty Cash. Dennis reported that membership stands at 40 members paid with 7 past members yet to renew. 22 renewals have secured background checks through NORPAC.
Dennis also reported that he has tickets available for $15.00 each for the Tacoma Rainiers baseball game on Sunday, July 16th. 17 tickets had been sold prior to today’s meeting and Dennis had an additional 33 tickets available. The ticket price includes admission, a hotdog, bag of chips, and bottle of water, plus $2.00 as a fund raiser for NORPAC.

Reports
Mariners Game Santa Bob Partlow reported that July 3rd is the date for NORPAC Santas to attend the Seattle Mariners game vs the Kansas City Royals. It’s a 7:00 PM game with fireworks to follow. There’s no charge for Santa’s to attend except for parking. Trever will be bringing the NORPAC sleigh and it will be set in front of a Christmas backdrop as a photo op. During the game, NORPAC Santas will be circulating throughout the stands to greet children, take pictures, and collect money for Rick Rizz’s Toys for Kids program. Bob asked that those attending arrive at 3:00 PM to help get the sleigh in place, to help with the Christmas decorations, and to get organized. If you have questions please contact Bob at santabobpartlow@gmail.com. He also asks that those attending let him know by e-mail so that he’ll have an accurate count.

8th Annual Northwest Santa Conference Trever reported that NORPAC’s annual conference at the Great Wolf Lodge will be Nov. 2-4, 2017. A major change this year is that Santa Bob Sutter (“SantaTrue”) has been hired to be our presenter on a variety of topics. Karen Hayes shared that she and Eddie have a guest room in their nearby home that they’d be happy to share at no cost with a NORPAC santa or couple. Karen and Eddie’s email is ekoly@comcast.net if you’d like contact them about this generous offer. Trever also commented that you don’t have to stay at the Great Wolf Lodge in order to attend the conference.

Upcoming Events School4Santas, June 24-25, 2017, Seattle (This is Santa Tim
Connaghan’s workshop that many of us have attended in the past).
Seattle Mariners Game, July 3, 2017
Tacoma Rainiers Game, July 16, 2017
Santa Gathering, Lancaster, PA, Sept. 14-17, 2017 (They have a good website at http://www.santagathering.com that describes this event).
8th Annual Northwest Santa Conference, Nov. 2-4, 2017
2018 IBRBS Santa Celebration, Apr. 18-22, 2018, Denver

Old Business Jerry Galland commented that he and his wife Tracey will be attending this year’s Charles W. Howard “Santa Claus School” in Midland, MI, Oct. 26-28, 2017.

A question was asked about how to locate really LARGE books for Santa to use in reading stories to children. Ginny Walker commented that many books come in a larger version that may be found under “Big Book” edition. It was also suggested that we might “google” Big Book Edition or try to find “Big Book Edition” on Amazon. (I’ve just “googled” Christmas Stores, Big Book Edition and found lots of references).

Santa Pat Costello recommended a new Christmas book for children titled Santa’s Beard. Santa Dennis Simpson was familiar with this book and also recommended it.

New Business Pat also shared a draft of a book he’s writing titled Santa and the Secret of Sasquatch Valley. The story is set in the Pacific Northwest.

50/50 Drawing Santa Owen Walsh held the winning ticket for the 50/50 drawing and collected $88.00

Adjournment The meeting adjourned at approx. 1:20 PM and was followed by informal visiting.
Executive Board Meeting

A brief meeting of the Executive Board followed today’s general membership meeting. Attending were board members Randy Cook, Dennis Gorley, Gene Sanders, Dale Scott, Dennis Simpson, and Trever Waltos. Discussion centered on the proposed registration fees to be charged for the upcoming conference at the Great Wolf Lodge. Randy asked whether we should increase those fees enough to cover the cost of increased advertising. Gene will contact IBRBS to determine the cost to advertise in their next newsletter, and Trever will explore the cost to advertise on Facebook. They’ll forward this information to Dennis Gorley and he’ll formulate a proposal. This will be shared and voted upon by the Exec. Board.

Respectfully submitted,
Dale Scott, NORPAC Secretary.