Attendees: Mark Crawford, Mario Gangemi, Holly Hannum, Joe Janusz, Larry Klevans, Dan Schneckenburger, Hinda Smith, Barbara Snyder, Dan Speakman, Rick Waterhouse. Janet Fallon was in attendance, to discuss Spring Fest.

Dan Schneckenburger called the meeting to order at 6:35 P.M.

The minutes from the April Board meeting were approved.

Spring Fest: Barb Snyder
As of May 5, 2004 (revised at 10:50 AM):

Discussion:
Negatives – not enough flowers for sale, only tomatoes
Need sandwich boards at entrance
New banners needed
Balloons
Signage should be a different committee – also add more signs for pony rides and 4H
Not enough announcements/ difficult to hear
Activity area surface was not stroller friendly
Floor clean-up
Not enough sales for crafters
Negotiate a better ice cream deal
Go to more shows to invite crafters
Get sponsor and silent auction out by January 1 – need help on this committee
Coupons for discounted plants or rides
Volunteer tent was too far away
Trails not marked well enough
Get more information from Wayne
4H’ers need to be more visible
Choose a date soon
Positives – Music placement
Good children’s games
Clean-up went quickly
Date was good
Good turn-out, considering we were doing it alone
Volunteer coordinator was great
Sponsors reception was good and was well-planned
Moon Bounce – raise admission and/or have a second one (split younger and older children)
Food was efficiently run; food was good quality
Marketing costs were lower
Trail was not too long

President’s Report: Dan Schneckenburger
New Board members proposed:
Eileen Milburn, Tracy Jentzsch, Bill Pannill, and Ron Perkins
John Williams, who is active in the community and with environmental affairs, Harry Dillner, former Christina School District science teacher, Amy Smith, a UD professor, and Cindy Buckland, ATK employee, were all asked about being on the Board, but declined for this year. We should ask them again next year.
Dan Sc.read the qualifications/applications for Eileen, Tracy, Bill, and Ron.
Mark moved and Barb seconded their acceptance. They were all approved.
Barb suggested that the Board hold a social gathering to greet the new Board members. This was accepted. Hinda suggested that we make everyone aware of committee memberships at this meeting.
Dan Sc. will look over the stationery, the update of which has been neglected, by June. He asked Rick to look over notes from the committee that worked on Honorary Board membership, and report any changes to the list Dan supplied.
Dan Sc. suggested that we continue to recruit future Board members because there are several member's terms ending in 2005.
Dan Sc. will be meeting with Lower Susquehanna Heritage Greenways’ executive director to discuss combined efforts.
Dan Sc. thanked Larry and Rick for their service to the Nature Center over the length of their terms.
The road clean-up will be scheduled for this Saturday, gathering at Wesley’s parking lot at 8:00 A.M.
Board of Directors for 2004-2005:
Executive Board
Mario Gangemi President
Barb Snyder Vice President
Dan Speakman Secretary
Mark Crawford Treasurer
Dan Schneckenburger Past President
Board
Dennis Clower Douglas Hill Joe Janusz
Tracey Jentzsch Ilene Milburn Hinda Smith (11 members, 4 openings)
Honorary Board
Jim Campbell Patricia duPont Wayne Gilchrest Phyllis Kilby
David Rudolph Charles Smith Ralph Young

Treasurer's Report/Finance Committee: Larry Klevans
Financial Report as of April 30, 2004

1 In April 2004 income ($11,387) exceeded expenses ($9978) by $1402. This is the first positive month this year.
2. The majority of income items were $6080 for Summer Camp , $1250 from United Way of Delaware, $1170 from nonpublic schools, $1033 from donations (a $1020 donation from ATK Tactical), $1100 from Membership, a $750 grant from St. Mary Anne's Church, and $192 as payment for Adult programs.
.3. Major expenses for January 2004 were $6529 for wages (this includes $201 for working on SpringFest. This has yet to be added to the SpringFest Balance Sheet), $962 for office expense, $632 for payroll taxes, $436 for supplies, and $400 for printing.
4. As of April 30, 2004 our Year to date Income (YTD) totals $ 22,509 vs a budget of $34,164, while YTD expenses total $28,748 vs a budget of $34,164. Thus, our YTD net income is - $7239. We must work hard to get back into the black.
5. The Fund Balance as of April 30, 2004 was $8892 up $1372 from March 31, 2004. We have received $4500 Cecil Soil Conservation District . This will appear in the report for May 2004.. We have been advised by the Cecil County Government that we have been budgeted to receive $5000 in their FY 04-05. This is the same as we received in their 03-04 budget.
This will be my last report as Treasurer. It has been an interesting and challenging five years. I have enjoyed working with you all, and wish you great success in the future.
Larry Klevans, Treasurer

Discussion:
Mario, Larry, and Mark have already met to facilitate a smooth transition to Mark's tenure as Treasurer.

Program Committee: Barb Snyder

Coming programs:

Personnel Committee: Hinda Smith

Hinda went on idealist.org (password: Holly) to advertise the Director’s position. She has received four applications so far. Two were not very qualified and two were Philosophy majors. The cut-off date for this will be extended.
Dan Sc. has received information on fund-raising from Amos Fuhrman’s son – it is not legal to give a Director a percentage of secured funding, in Maryland. Dan will forward this report to the Board.
Hinda has two names she would like to pursue with interviews. We will give the application period a little more time, then contact people to meet for interviews.

Nature School Report: Holly Hannum
We completed grade one classes on April 20th and invoiced CCPS for $1,710.00. This covers five schools over four days. We completed grade two classes yesterday. We invoiced today for $3,066.00. This represents half of the 2nd grade classes for this school year. We will be seeing out of county schools including Caravel Academy, Mt Aviat, and St. Joan of Arc School for the remainder of this week. We begin 5th grade classes on Friday afternoon through the end of the school year. Also this month, Wilmington Christian School, the Eyman Center, Precious Times preschool, Bethany Christian and Head Start will visit. Cathryn will take an insect program to Bainbridge pre-K on May 19th because they are not allowed to take field trips. Home School Day will be on May 26th, with a rain date of June 2nd.
In June we will see St. Matthews School, another grade from Wilmington Christian, and, new this year, Christ the Teacher School. Last day of school classes will be June 7th.
On April 14th, we hosted six teachers for the Aces program. Envirothon training was held on April 21st and the contest on May 5th. A Perryville team won. Erlene taught aquatics.
We have closed the family camp-over at 50 people. It will be held June 11th at the McCloskey site. Amy Smith has volunteered to help Janet and I put this together. We are developing nature activities and a shopping list. Amy has also agreed to help us with program development and the weather station.
Summer camp begins June 21st. We have 204 children registered so far. Fair Hill Friends (wk 2), Little Waterworks, and The Bay Starts Here are closed. Three other camps are almost full (less than three openings). All camps have enough registered campers to run.
We have scheduled two afternoon programs at the University of Delaware for June 24th and July 1st.
I am presently working on the Community Arts Development grant for next winter's outreach. The deadline is June 1st. We received $1,000.00 from them last year. We will hear about this grant in August.
We have an offer of a Cecil County rock collection. It consists of about 200 rocks of varying sizes to be displayed here in a permanent collection. Tim Bryant is offering to be curator. Troop 443, under the direction of John Harrington, will help construct the cases. Cathryn will visit the collection to see how much room is needed. We were thinking about putting it inside the front door where the credenza is now.

Community Relations: Doug Hill (reported by Dan Sc.)
34 people attended the Spring Fest reception.
Doug is planning The Buzz edition to go out in a week. He would like a current events schedule, thank you list for Spring Fest, and winner of the 50/50 drawing – Catherine (Taffy) Straughn.
Mario suggested that a newsletter be sent out, highlighting the changes in the Board, and including other current FHNC events.

Membership: Joe Janusz
I. Community newsletters to contact, for new members and sponsorship:
Covered Bridge Farms 19711
Hunt at Louviers 19711
Christianstead 19711
Crestfield 19711
Red Mill Farms 19711
Arbour Park 19713
Village of Lindell 19808
II. Phone Bank
What do we want to do?
Calling to get the name out. Calling to sell memberships. Resign past memberships.
III. Mailings
Piggyback with business mailings. Mailings should be sent to areas we will also be calling.
IV. Flyers
Volunteer Flyer Day
V. Credit Cards
Do we want to accept credit cards? If so, who is responsible for the account. What credit card vendor will we use?
Joe uses Innovative Merchant Solutions. Joe pays $270 and a percentage to them.

Discussion:
As a non-profit, we should be exempt from the telemarketing restriction laws.
Joe will need some help to run this committee.

Next Meeting: June 9, 6:30 P.M., at the Nature Center.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 P.M.

Respectfully submitted by Rick Waterhouse

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