These are the minutes for the August 2009 booster club meeting. We had a very good turn out this month and I hope even more parents and students will join us next month. Please mark your calendars!

Next Booster Meeting: September 7th

Money

Our seed money for this year is quickly depleting. We have made purchases that include new sheet music for the half time show, flags, sabers, and fabric for the color guard, as well as entry fees for three area marching band competitions.

It is imperative that students bring full payment for their marching band shoes/socks/gloves/shirts/etc upon returning their order forms this Friday (8/14). Students that do not pay at the time of the order will not receive their orders until their balance is paid off.

Fund Raisers

We have multiple fund raisers planned for this year. Due to the fact that this is not a trip year, the profit from these fund raisers will be divided up between the band fund and the individual student’s fund. Here is a brief description of each fund raiser. We will pass on more information as it becomes available about each fund raiser.

• Attractions Books – Aug 14th to 28th – Coupon books for various area restaurants and businesses. Books will be sold for $25 with a profit of $10 each. The profit from the first three books sold by each student will go to the band fund. Profits from each book afterward will go into the student’s fund. This is a great fund raiser with a potential to raise a lot of money for each individual student. Money in the student funds will go toward our next band trip planned for the 2010/2011 school year. Parent supervisor: Jama Blackistone
• Innisbrook - Oct 5th to 20th – Wrapping paper and gift sales. Students will be given a catalog for customers to order out of. The band receives 50% of the purchase price as profit. We will split the profit 50/50 between the band fund and the individual student’s fund. These items make great Christmas presents. Parent supervisor: Ann Cutchin
• Worlds Finest Chocolate Bars – Jan 4th to 22nd – Our annual chocolate bar sale. These pretty much sell themselves, and again we will make a 50% profit which we will split 50/50 between the band fund and the individual student’s fund. Parent supervisor: Wendy Crow
• Dinner and a Show – March 2010 – Last year we had our first, experimental, dinner and a show. It turned out to be a very entertaining night and we made a decent profit. We will be much more prepared for our second annual Dinner and a Show. We are still in the early planning stages, but we will definitely make the following changes this year:
  • Scheduled for March instead of February to allow for more practice time for the concert band
  • Larger window for ticket sales. At least a full month to allow students to sell tickets.
  • Meal prices will be lowered to $10. We believe more people will be interested at this price point and we will still be able to offer a good quality meal.
• Pizza Inn – Students wait tables at Pizza Inn for tips and 5% of the amount sold the entire night. This is a lot of fun for the students, and 100% of the profits from this fund raiser will go into the student’s individual fund. Pizza Inn will allow us to participate twice during the year. Dates will be posted as soon as they are available.

Props

Our backdrop frames have slowly warn out over the last four years, so we will be constructing new ones. We will only be using two frames this year. These frames will be approximately 8ft tall by 12ft wide. They are very helpful for a band of our size as they close in the back of the field, allowing us to look larger. It also adds some fun to the show, as we plan on paint the backdrops with a Spanish themed bull and rose.

Color Guard Warm Ups

The color guard members will be purchasing warm-up jackets this year. They will be warn in the parades throughout the cold months of the year.

Other

Other topics that were brought up by booster members:

• Crowd Control – Boosters must police the band area constantly during football season to keep fans out of the band area. To remedy the problem, we have agreed on yellow ropes to designate where the band area is on both sides. We will also be making signs to indicate what the area is roped off for.
• T-Shirts – We are currently designing the t-shirts for this year’s show. The shirts will most likely be red with yellow and white graphics and lettering. The final design should be completed when order forms go out on Monday 8/17.

For Next Time

Please keep these topics in mind for our next meeting:

• Possible dates for “Dinner and a Show”
• Pizza Inn dates
• Possible sponsors for Dinner and a Show that will provide door prizes