Meeting Minutes, Dec 18, 2005

Attendees: Latha, Kumuda, Priya, Sai, Lavanya, Shankar, Suchi, Srini, Venkat, Indira, Deepak Aswani, Manohar, Sri, Annam, Suresh, Ramya, Smita


Special Items:
    *  Three ARC proposals on Tsunami rehab projects discussed in the recent meetings were approved.
    * Tutoring proposal: There will be an info session on Sunday, Jan 22, 6:30 PM at Venkatesh and Indira's residence. More information in a separate email.

1. Project updates:

-- Kuvempu team is experimenting with ways to raise money locally for the staff. One such effort  is renting out a bullock cart to villagers at a competitive rate compared to alternatives. This bullock cart was bought with a loan and the income generated will first be used to pay off the loan and later to supplement the income for some staff members.


2. 2006 Goal Setting Events

Event	Proposed Date	Proposed Target (min $)	Team Members (* lead)	Comments
Table Tennis	Feb last week	1400	Shankar*, Shree, Annam, Srini, Kumuda	Try for a venue with food sales. Increase entry fee to $15. Adjust format to fit time.
Tarangini	April	5000	Latha*, Priya, Deepak, Suchi, Lavanya, Sai, Kannamai, Ramya	Format TBD. Latha and team to propose one. Partial sponsorship available.
Heritage India Fest	?	?	?	Sai to inquire if this event is planned for 2006
Volleyball	July (2nd half)	1600	Annam*, Ganesh, Shankar, Shree	Need to reserve a place in advance and with 4 courts. Adjust format to fit time.
Basketball	Aug (1st week) or June	1000	Srini*, Annam	Get prof. referees; prize money if possible; involve high schoolers
Walk/5K	Jan to June or Aug 1st week	6000	Simta*, Jui, Shankar, Lavanya, Kumuda, Suchi, Ganesh	Enlist walkers/runners to raise a minimum (~$100). Regular registration like earlier years also available. Hines Drive or Ann Arbor as possible venues.
Garba	October	500	Suchi*, Deepak	Team up with U of Dearborn / Gujarati Samaj
Marathon	Jan-October	7000	Annam, Ajith*, Manohar, Shree, Priya, Hitesh, Suresh, Bal	Start earlier in the year. Feedback from past runners was not to impose requirement for runners for funds raised.
Tutoring	Jan-Dec	2000	Sai*, Venkatesh, Indira	Interested: Smita, Suresh, Annam, Lavanya, Vivek, Bal, Reshma, Sudarshan. Info session in Jan.
General Donations	Jan-Dec	3000	Lavanya*, Sai	Encourage individual donations, Corporate grants, United Way participation.

* Net minimum target: $27,500.
* Note that individual events like Walk and Marathon have higher targets but the team members assure that the minimum target will be met to a high probability.
* Around June 2006 we should have raised 10,000.

3. Roles and responsibilities for 2006

If you want to volunteer for any activity, please email Sai.

Responsibility	Individuals	Comments
Chapter Coordinator	Open	If anyone is interested, please contact Sai
Chapter Treasurer	Latha
ARC Representative	Srini
Merchandise Lead	Open	Responsibilities include maintaining inventory, managing sales at Asha events, ordering new items as needed and reporting to treasurer.
Newsletter	Shankar, Srini, Sri Chandrasekar	Publish newsletter twice a year
Website	Indira, Manohar, Deepak, Sai	Define and use common style sheets. Create and maintain a history pages for various events.
Asha-Detroit Email and new volunteer requests	Sai	Additional help is useful
United way Coordination	Lavanya
Project Contacts	BISWA: Annam, Sai Kuvempu: Shankar, Shree, Sai PPT: Deepak,  Venkatesh SSA: Shalini,  Sivakami General: Smita	Overall goal is to improve the social conditions in the project area with specific emphasis on education. Maintain close contact with the project staff. Arrange site visits to each project. Define metrics and implement them. Analyze raw data from various projects (attendance, academic performance, etc.).
High School Volunteer Service	Indira	Pilot effort to involve high schoolers in volunteering for Asha. Suchi to inquire at her school.
Outreach to other organizations	Open	Objective is to introduce Asha and promote its cause at local organizations.
Publicity/PR coordination	Open (lead) + Chapter coordinator + Treasurer + ARC rep.	A lead is required. Eventually will represent our chapter at Asha-wide level.
Support a Project	Open	Encourage donations to projects at regular intervals. Follow up and reminder to donors.

4. Round table on goals not specifically addressed:

Latha - Make the Projects better. Goal should be to focus more on projects, how they work and being able to help make each project/school function more effectively. More professional in our events.

Venkat - Quite happy with efforts so far. Hope to help us improve and get more money. Need to improve image

Indira - Quite happy with our effort so far. Hope to help us improve and get better. Need to improve Asha publicity in Ford.

Suchi - Focus more on publicity - about Asha as well as our events. Need to ensure that details of the cause is highlighted - so people know where their money is going. Come up with good display material / videos / ...

Sai - Improve Project impact. Need to improve finances to an extent that we can take on new projects.Partner with other organizations (Asha Toledo etc.) to get more improvement in terms of project exposure. Need more involvement in asha-wide activities. Need volunteers for mentoring satellite chapters.

Kumuda - Make professional flyers / display material in India. Very cost effective as well. Potential source for volunteers are friends and their spouses who maybe able to help with our events - depending on their time availability. We also need to look possibility to engage such people in a productive activity on a regular basis.

Smita - Potential for medical clinics / camps in Michigan to increase awareness about Asha for Education. Co-ordinate with other Indian doctors. (Primarily a publicity effort - may not have any monetary gains).

Deepak Aswani - Being better prepared for all of our events

Annam - Good job so far

Manohar - Good job so far

Shankar - Good job so far

Shree - Improve publicity through asha email address through signature files

Lavanya - Need a core team for PR and a spokesperson who can talk at our events. Need to motivate people to donate.

VamsiPriya - Need to be more professional - especially for the marathon event. Encourage more 5K runners.

Srini - Good job so far

Suresh - Good job so far

Ramya - Good job so far