March 2025 Board Meeting Notes
In attendance: Rachael Rennebeck, Jennifer Hisdorf, Barb Hickey, Christine Fueller, Bev Cwalina and Lisa Davidson
Meeting started at 7:35 pm
February minutes approved
Agenda:
Bev - Update on Monthly Thriver events and reaching out to local County and City of Pittsburgh officials for 412Thrive Day proclamations. Dates are as follows:
Westmoreland County – March 27th – 10am
Washington County – April 3 – 9:45am
City of Pittsburgh – April 8 – 10am
Allegheny County Council – April 8 – 5pm
Beaver County – April 10 – Time TBD
Butler County – don’t have date or time yet
Bev will get us the location information for all of the above
let Bev and Katie know if they are attending the Commissioners/Council meetings. I will be letting my contacts at each county know who we have attending the meetings ahead of time and Katie will be helping me with Thrivers who are county residents to attend.
Barb was able to secure 25 mastectomy pillows donated from a local church.
Christine - Care Packages are going well. 2 weeks ago we filled 13 requests and have 3 for this week.
I need to coordinate with Katie on getting a steady supply of Scrubzz Cleansing Cloths, Liquid Dial Soap, and need to replenish a couple books. I have also been in contact with someone who is part of Pittsburgh Hearts of Steel, she herself has made 8 mastectomy pillows and I have received/used a few of them already. She also asked if we can give a shout out to our members to see if anyone is interested in the Pittsburgh Dragon Boat Festival in the fall. She would love for our organizations to join forces on an event sometime.
I met with Judy Sabos Director of Community Affairs at Highmark Wholecare and was able to get her in touch with Katie. Judy also works with Cancer Bridges and Channel 11 Cares so we are hoping to team up with some things
Katie and I drafted a collection/donation letter in addition to a flyer with our QR codes and have reached out to 4 businesses/practices and they have agreed to keep a flyer up in the shop/waiting rooms. The businesses in particular have asked that I keep them in the loop on things we need exposure with so they can post on their social media as well. These documents are available on the shared drive. I had a few of the flyers printed on cardstock for display if anyone needs one. Need to get this together with Katie and Kristen to post on social media.
Katie also helped me with drafting a dine and donate letter which is also on the shared drive for anyone's use. I have a few places in the line up but have not reached out yet.
Eager to raise funds for care packages, I'm running with a Sarris candy online event that will run until March 31, but can extend to April 13 if we want to squeeze in more time. Need to get this together with Katie and Kristen to post on social media as well.
Reached out to Top Golf about a fundraising event and forwarded that information to Barb, but we think its a bit steep for us right now. Also spoke to a few people about a Golf Outing which is also a bit steep for us right now, but my friends are willing to help me think out of the box.
Lastly, I reached out to another community affairs person at Highmark and connected her with Lisa McGinty to focus on Care Gaps and just getting out into the community.
Rachael - Finance:
Jen and Rachael are working with Jill to transition the general finance operations.
Katie deposited $990 from Venmo for Super Bowl Poll
Katie deposited $4K from Allegheny Health
Rachael has cash portion of A Model Event. Total was $1,700.
Voted to pay Rocco $500/month to pay off the $6,000 legal fee bill. Payments will start in April
Voted to pay Lee for CPA services of $1250 in March and $1250 in April
Jen and Rachael will finalize with Jill now that Jen has access to Dollar Bank
Fundraising:
YJ is executing a 412Clue event for Vangura Kitchens with kitchen/bath vendors for 412 Day and Thrive is the beneficiary. John and Rachael are creating basket/large ticket item options.
Strawberry Pretzel Jell-O is back. Do we want to pair with Crumbl—ask them? Perhaps do a lead up to 412 Day as a round up for Thrive?
Katie and Rachael creating a TaTa ParTEE at Vellum replacing Casino Night. Wear a tee that describes you. Best tee wins. Tickets Include
Game Bracket—Pinada/Pin the Tail/Musical Chairs/Limbo/Hot Potato
1 Drink ticket
Party snacks
Dancing - DJ Wolf?
T-shirt table?
Glow necklaces, bracelets, buttons.
Thrivers event the month before t-shirt decorating
Grants:
Katie prepared Gillead
AE due in April
Will hear from Palumbo in March
Resuming last Tuesday of the month meetings
Misc.:
Board structure
Additions as duties
Current board duties discussion overview:
Major events/Community Collaboration focus/Legal/Grants--Rachael
Major business/Process—Lisa
Finance--Jen
Thriver events/Recruitment liaison/Grants--Bev
Care packages/product inventory/small business liaison--Christine
Event coordination/Collection coordinator--Barb
Additional board positions discussion
4/12 Day at Room Concepts for the ultimate selfie at a table signifying the journey and how far the Thrivers have come. Donuts and a collection site at each location for the day. Bev is working on proclamations.
5. Katie - Cara Bisegna - No longer interested in board position, instead assisting Katie (volunteer Admin Assistant). Free Katie up for high level tasks
Katie met with AHN Cancer Institute's Community Patient Ambassador Program lead. Working on cross promotion and possible donation
Katie working with Allegheny County Breast Cancer Collaborative. Focusing on previvors. Looping in Lisa McGinty
Katie has survey results. Will share in an email later this week since this meeting is already pretty packed including Wellness Retreat plan with leaders
Will take board position notes and create an org chart. Working on pairing volunteer sign ups with committees. Will provide contact info for everyone and introduction emails so everyone will feel comfortable
Finalize a list of needs with a dollar amount. Will be put together in a form to share with potential donors (UPMC, AHN, etc.) and in grants. Ex. Hardship grants $6000 - $12000
Current list of needs
Parking money, gas cards, groceries gift cards, hardship grants, marketing materials, care packages, events. What else? Wellness Retreat?
Sent the Fundraising folder to everyone. Download or copy and paste letters. Update fundraising spreadsheet
If you create a fundraiser, please send details, photos, and graphics to Katie@412Thrive.org and Kristen@YaJagoffMedia.com. This will ensure we get it up on social and the website. You do not need to be creative at all. Just send what you got and we can create a graphic and post
Does anyone have connections with car dealerships or realtors for partnerships?
Katie and Chelsea picking up DRAW collection National Womens Day care packages items on Thurs. They also sent a $50 Venmo donation
Current number of Thrivers - Over 860. Increase of 34 since last meeting. 737 in Facebook group. Increase of 13 members.
Meeting ended at 9:20pm