Meeting Minutes

August 10, 2010

In attendance: Cristina Ostrowski (co-chair), Lesley Belden (casino night chair), Kevin Kastenholz, Marisa Kossakowksi, Joe Esposito, Brian Masterson, Michele Aenlle, Lisa Pauletto (Junior Board Manager)

Cristina explained that we have two big events in August this year that we really need support for. 

The first event is the Junior Board Cubs Outing.  This year it will take place on Saturday, August 21st with a pre-party at 12:45pm at the BLUE BAYOU (please note the venue change) with free appetizers, drink specials, and raffles until 2:45pm when the group will walk over to Wrigley for the 3:10pm game vs. the Braves.  Tickets are only $50 for an entire afternoon of fun – but we have only sold 12 tickets so far! We have 28 left, and we need to work extra hard to get these tickets sold.  Kevin asked if you are handed your ticket when you make the purchase, and Lisa clarified that tickets will be distributed at the pre-party at Blue Bayou.  Brian said that he is going to try and sell around 15 tickets to other students in his Masters class who have expressed interest in organizing an outing to a Cubs game.  He is going to keep the committee posted on this progress.

Lisa mentioned that the Junior Board has an Aramis Ramirez baseball bat they can raffle off at the pre-party, and Ed Fitzpatrick, the organizer for this event, is brainstorming other ideas with Lisa to raise money.

The next event that the committee discussed is the 8th Annual Junior Board Boat Cruise on Friday, August 27th on the Innisfree.  The Innisfree boards out of the North Pier (not Navy Pier).  The event is business casual, and tickets include appetizers, open bar with beer and wine, and a three hour cruise on the Chicago River.  Tickets are $65 pre-purchase or $75 at the dock.  We have only sold TWO tickets for this event so far, and it is three weeks away.  The boat has been donated to us this year, so besides the cost of food, all of the proceeds from ticket sales will come back to the Catholic Charities Immunization Program.  Lisa received a quote for $650 from Villa Palermo for this event. She is going to try and get another quote that includes pizza to lower the price a bit. 

Lisa agreed to email the committee a PDF for both of these events so that committee members can forward the information to their friends and family.

The final discussion topic was Casino Night. Here are the details for this year’s signature event:

November 13th 7pm-midnight
St. Ignatius Grand Dining Hall
Silent Auction (goal 100 items), Raffle + prizes for top chip winners, Live music, Heavy hors d’oeuvres
Blackjack, roulette, craps, money wheel
$75 ticket before November 1, then increase to $90

Lesley explained the details of this event and explained that we are looking to increase the quality and quantity of our food at this year’s event.  Last year we did not feel we had enough food, nor was the quality up to the standard of our event.  We decided to try two different vendors for our food this year.  Monday evening, Lesley, Joe, and Lisa attended a tasting at Café Bionda and they all agreed the food was great and portions seemed generous.  The quote was a bit higher than last year, between $1800 and $1900.  Joe said he is waiting to hear back regarding a $250 decrease in the quote if we provide them with a full-page ad in our ad book.  Lisa is also working on getting a quote from Villa Palermo.  She will report the invoice total and food options when she receives them.  Lesley also discussed the desire to try to get a dessert donation.  The committee agreed that cupcakes would make a great addition to the buffet, and Lesley is going to delegate the solicitation of cupcake vendors to a committee member or two.  Cristina is also going to look into a connection she has for cupcakes.  Other dessert options were discussed as well and will be investigated if the cupcake idea falls through.

Lesley then gave a report of our current Ad Book/Auction solicitation status. We currently have (5) ad book spaces purchased and (32) items secured for the Silent Auction.  There is a lot of work to do!  Lisa will send out electronic copies of all solicitation materials as well as tax exempt information with the minutes to the meeting.  Finally, Lesley reported that we have secured Underwater People as the band for our event, and they will bring three performers.  Lesley discussed increasing to 4 performers if we can secure enough ticket sales to help with the cost. 

We are looking for a venue to hold a Meet and Greet that will help underwrite a portion of our event.  Michele suggested a bar that Chicago Twenty Something works with, such as District, Bull&Bear, or STATE.  She is going to look into the kinds of deals we can get at those bars that would benefit us the most. 

Lisa discussed the option of having an event at Trader Vics, thanks to a generous offer by Michael Spencer on the Board of Advisors.  We would charge $10 at the door and each person would get one drink ticket and light appetizers (negotiable) and then after that one drink, we would also get 10% of the night’s bar sales on that night. We suggested three dates: October 6, 20, and 27.  Lisa will follow up with Michael.

Brian suggested a new idea for selling tickets and publicizing the event.  He would like to seek out bars that are affiliated with local alumni groups (Boston College, Notre Dame, etc) and go to those bars on game day and sell our Casino Night tickets.  Lisa is going to forward Brian the contact information for the alumni groups we are associated with.  The committee seemed enthusiastic about this idea and willing to help out.  Brian agreed to take the lead on the planning for this initiative.

Brian then brought up the topic of having a clean-up crew for the evening of the event.  Marisa asked if we can return the following day to clean up, and Joe suggested hiring a clean-up crew.  Lisa reiterated that it’s mostly just tearing down and packing a couple cars of with stuff…a cleaning service may not be necessary.  Joe suggested looking into the students at Ignatius to see if we could get some volunteers to show up around 11:30 to help with clean-up. He agreed to call a connection he has at Ignatius for details on this.

In order to increase ticket sales for ALL three of these events, Lisa will publicize in the weekly update this week that if you purchase a ticket for Casino Night AND one of the two other events, you will receive a voucher at Casino Night for $25 worth of additional playing chips. This promotion will only continue until Friday, August 27th.

Finally, the committee discussed the need for liquor donors for the event – we are willing to accommodate a liquor sponsorship (similar to the Rum bar from the last couple years) or simply a donation to stock the bars with rum, whiskey, gin, etc. 

We have an event website for the first time ever – check out www.catholiccharities.net/casinonight for all the details surrounding the event! We will continue to update it as the date nears.

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 21st at 6pm in room 404. 

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:15.