July Booster Mtg (7/11/23)

 2023 Booster Officers

A BIG THANK YOU to our new officers who stepped into the roles unopposed (so we didn't need to vote)!  These officer roles are mandatory for the team, so we literally couldn't do this without them!!  We have intentionally set up the booster officers with a two year term limit (staggered so that ideally, it's never all new at the same time).  It prevents burn-out and ensures stability by allowing the previous officers to step down and assist with the transition.  Ideally, we'll never run into a situation where all of the folks behind the scenes have been doing their jobs for years and graduate at the same time.  We want the best for the team for the long term.  :) 

President:  John Bendele

Treasurer:  Melissa Telsrow

Secretary:  Rosann Glick

New Practice Gear

The booster club has ordered practice t-shirts for everyone on the team and will be distributing them as soon as they arrive.They'll be orange for easy visibility.  They aren't mandatory to wear at practices, but it's nice to be able to easily spot your team on the trail!

We also still have quite a few WBL MTB socks left from a couple of years ago - not sure if there are enough for everyone on the team, but we'll make sure the newer riders all get a pair at least.  Rumor has it these socks make you ride 10% faster.  (If they don't, talk to Coach Andy!  😆)

Financials

With fundraising and our new sponsorship program last year, we are in very good shape for the upcoming season.  (A big improvement from a couple of years ago where we started with a negative balance!)The coaches have shared their wishlist for the season and we will be able to take care of what they needThe balance in the Booster account is about $5000 -- this was after paying for the team shirtsAbout $2000 planned purchases for coaches needs (equipment, etc) The school account holds the registration fees (not sure of exact balance at the moment)This will cover the end of year banquet, some other expenses where the school has accounts set up with a vendor (ex:  Roam Bikes) We do not try to empty out the Booster account each season - instead we are now in a position where we can fundraise this season for next yearAlso leaves some extra flexibility for an off-season activity like sledding this past winterGoal to fundraise this season:  $6000 - between fundraising and sponsorships 

Banquet Planning

Michelle Anderson and Katie Vadnais arranged the banquet last year and have volunteered to own it again this yearThey're working with Dellwood again and trying their best to find a date that will be workable for the riders that are also involved in the fall musicalDate to be announced soon!  To the people that volunteered to help for the banquet - they are very appreciative, but have the system down to where they really don't need another set of hands!  They'll reach out if something comes up, but it would be last minute.   Thank you for the generosity in volunteering

Communications

Michelle Blankenship is continuing to manage communications behind the scenes this season (newsletter, the blog, some team admin tasks), but will need to step down from that role in the 2024 season. If you are comfortable with simple blog updates and similar tasks, please reach out!  We'd love to start getting someone on-boarded this season so they can be ready to take over next year!   We'd love to see one (or two!) of our younger families start to move into this role.  :)   

Sponsorships

Erin Florin worked hard to put together the sponsorship program last year and it was a great success!  We definitely want to continue the program this season, and Melissa Telsrow has agreed to be the coordinator.  May be re-doing the sponsor logos on the trailer to have a consistent look - need EPS file type of the logosRace-day Line-up

Signage

Diana Pierce has managed this task (and many others!!) for a long time.  (THANK YOU!!)  We are transitioning the task to Michelle Blankenship initially, but would be great to have another person on hand to learn the ropes and take over next year.  It will likely look different this year and not require volunteers on race weekends after all The race line-ups have been published very last minute in recent years, making it challenging to get printed before they need to get to the races.  Going to try a different format this year that will be more flexible with last minute updates.  

Photography

Do we have a middle school parent that would like to get out in the woods and do some photos on Saturday race-days?  It doesn't have to be a formal arrangement, but if you love photography and getting out on the trail with the kids, we'd love to know the Saturday races are getting photographed! As a reminder:  when we have fun photos of the team, we like to share them in a folder for everyone to see.  (Apologies!  I don't have the link at the moment, but we'll make sure it gets shared!)

Group picture of the team:  proposal that we look into a professional to do the pictures - Brennan?  Diana P knows another local photographer that may be interested in going out to shoot some of the local races 

Lot Parent

Diana Pierce has run this through the Sign-up website in past years.  As she transitions off of the role, we're trying something new using TeamSnap functionality.  To sign-up for Lot Parent (or see if you already signed up) Go into the Schedule in TeamSnap and click on the event.  There is an Assignments tab where you can volunteer or see what roles are needed still.  Signing up through TeamSnap lets us trigger reminders when needed and have easy visibility to what still needs to be done

We're always going to use TeamSnap for sign-in and sign-out of practice.  It's very simple and allows two people to do check-in at the same time without needing to transfer the paper copies into a spreadsheet for tracking attendance.  We tested it out last night and it went great!

Race Day Set-up and Tear Down

We'll probably have more info as we get closer to the first race, but a couple of points came up at the meeting.We need better coordination of set-up and tear-down on race weekends. If anyone is able to drive the trailer out to the site on some weekends, that would be helpful - otherwise Coach Andy has to do it every race

Morning set-up:  when setting up requests for volunteers, consider the need (ex: might not be needed on Sunday morning) -- families make special arrangements to be there at a specified time and it's frustrating when there is nothing for them to doSunday afternoon tear down:  JV2 Boys are usually the last to race.  Please plan to help tear down and pack up the trailer.  We're all tired at the end of the day, but with a group, it can be done quickly.  

Race-day Snack

We discussed options - whether we go back to assigned snacks or have the booster provide like last year

General consensus is that it's really nice to have the booster provide the snacks since we are able to afford itLorray Rolfer is happy to help coordinate - would like another couple of people to work with help with arrangements, including pick-up and bringing things to and from the races

Ideally, we would have a middle school parent and a high school parent so that we have coverage on both Saturday and Sunday Volunteers don't have to do all of the transport!  Asking for help is highly encouraged!!

Fundraising

Shannon Dietz is working on some fundraising plans, but would like another person or two for a committee - both for this season and to provide continuity into next season as she phases out

Cub Bagging fundraiser - we've been doing this every 6 months for a few years and it's usually very successful and fun - ~$700 for a morning of bagging! [Update: scheduled for August 19th!)  Sign-up for a shift here! We tried a new fundraiser last year (Fun Pasta) instead of Heggies Pizza.  General consensus is that we'd rather not repeat that one.Pizzas sell well, but everyone sells Heggies - possible to try Kettle River pizza

Option to not sell anything and try a text-for-donations campaign instead?  There are websites to facilitate and other teams have been very successfulIf we move to purely donation, doesn't seem fair to have incentive prizes - will need to consider what is appropriateAlso suggested:  Kwik Trip car wash cards and cookie dough sales

Possible to run an event fundraiser at Boat Works or another facility