The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. in the Chef’s Hat Restaurant by Laurie Vertefeuille.

Attendance: Laurie Vertefeuille (PFO President), Al Wilder (PFO Vice President), Karen Ford (PFO Treasurer), Corinne Fitting (PFO Secretary), Kristen Michaud, Tina Abell, Jeff Belanger (WT Coach), Kevin Martin (Linda L. Martin Foundation)

Secretary’s Report: Minutes from the March 13 meeting accepted with no changes.

Treasurer’s Report: Checking Account Balance is $3,044.87 ($619 of which are held for reimbursement to other organizations).

Presentation by Coach Belanger: Coach Belanger is asking for support from the PFO for a golf tournament next year (Spring 08) to raise money for WT athletics. There would be fees for each team to enter (which would include a lunch for the players), and hole and tee sponsors. He offered a sample flyer and has a sample letter for requesting sponsorship. There would also be a raffle. He would hope the PFO would perhaps sponsor a hole, and help on that day, as well as assist with getting sponsors. There was support from the PFO for the concept.

Presentation by Kevin Martin: The Linda R. Martin Foundation is a non-profit organization that offers educational assistance, and supports medical research and world aid. They are trying to connect WT more with the community. They have provided scholarships to WT students, last year totaling $1,500. They are hosting a dinner, dance and silent auction on May 18th at the school. It will be a semi-formal event with a 5-course, sit-down dinner, for $25 a ticket. There are 200 seats, and 100 have already been sold. Tickets are available from Chef Dunnack. Mr. Martin is also interested in forming a steering committee next year, and hopes to have PFO representation in the planning stage of the event.

Old Business:

Cookbooks: Ms. Michaud reported that the cookbooks should arrive tomorrow at Ms. Ford’s home. We have received the invoice for the cookbooks, and will submit 3 payments over the next 3 months as there is no penalty. We discussed several options for distributing cookbooks, and Ms. Michaud will contact Ms. Campbell to see if we can put a box in the guidance office with forms and a drop-off. Dylan Ford can pick up orders on Wednesdays and we can drop off books tagged with the purchaser’s name on Fridays for pick up. Ms. Michaud will also contact Chef Dunnack to see about putting books at the Chef’s Hat Restaurant and with Ms. Campbell about putting in a morning announcement about the cookbooks. Ms. Ford will contact Ted’s IGA to see if we might have a table to sell cookbooks for a morning, and we can offer them at Freshman Orientation on May 16.

Tech-wear: We discussed choosing tech-wear to offer for next year. Ms. Ford went over some suggestions from various people. Ms. Ford will get quotes for the following items: string backpacks, heavy zip sweatshirts, heavy t-shirts, baseball caps, knit beanies, fleece throws, all in school colors: cardinal(red), navy and white.

Athletic events: PFO will continue to support athletics the best we can. Ms. Fitting will send an e-mail to Coach Belanger asking for the list of coaches. Baseball season is here and we’d like to identify a baseball parent who might be willing to man a table with concessions that PFO would provide to assist the team.

Linda R. Martin Foundation: The PFO members will put together an Italian Food basket featuring our new cookbook for the auction. Ms. Fitting will e-mail the group with a list of items for the basket, and we’ll bring them to the next PFO meeting. Ms. Vertefeuille will put the basket together and get it to the function.

New Business:

Fund-raising profits: Mr. Wilder provided a sample financial assistance request form that Ms. Fitting will customize for the PFO to formalize requests and allow us to better track them. Ms. Fitting will distribute the form for the group’s consideration.

Fund-raising options: Ms.Vertefeuille presented a potential fund-raiser that could be done by the end of this year: “USA Fashion Republic” It is a clothing drive that includes clothes, accessories, household items made of fabric, stuffed animals and hard toys. We get $0.10 a pound. We collect items, and they weigh them and take them away. We could collect on a few Saturdays – April 28, May 5 and May 12, and then get pick up the following week. Mr. Murad offered the use of the concession building to hold the donated items. Ms. Vertefeuille will follow up and if it is workable, Ms. Fitting will e-mail the group with plans.

Mr. Wilder will check with Dr. Ashton on when donated items are needed for the Summer Reading program.

Freshman orientation is on May 16. We’ll look into having a table with tech-wear and cookbooks for sale.

Meeting adjourned at 9:20 pm.

The next meeting is scheduled for May 8, 2007.