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The Roy Williams Foundation Meeting Minutes, Meeting 31

Date of Meeting: Meeting 31 1/23/2022 1300 MST
 

Roll Call:

 

Chairman: Alhaji Bangura- Present/phone

Vice-Chairman: Dave Newton- Present

 

​Board Members/Directors:

Zach Krause- Present

Kit Steimle- Present/phone

Matthew Anderson- Absent/working

Dexter Pitts- Present/intermitten

Travis Garvin- Present

 

​Secretary/Treasurer:

Bret Collyer- Present

 

Assistant Secretary: Vacant

​

Alternates: 1 Vacancy

Ashley Ottmer: Present

 

Guests:

​

Call to Order.
 

Additions, Deletions or Changes to the Agenda?: None
 

Adoption of Meeting Minutes, Meeting #30 12/19/2021: No Disussion. Director Krause made a
motion to adopt the minutes, seconded by Director Garvin. Vote was unanimous.

 

Old Business:
 

Chairman Bangura signed the new Bylaws and banking forms and mailed them to Secretary
Collyer:
 Collyer will make copies and distribute to members, along with generic business cards

 

Personalized Business card order, who needs cards: Director Ashley Ottmer and
Secretary/Treasurer Collyer. Director Steimle will order them and call Secretary Collyer to
arrange RWF Credit Card payment for them.

 

New Business/continuing business:
 

Conflict of Interest Statements for 2022 are due, Secretary Collyer has emailed blank forms to
all members:
Directors Ottmer, Pitts, Garvin and Secretary Collyer have submitted COI forms so
far. All other members due.

 

Desired changes to website: Chairman Bangura stated that he would like to see the layout
change a little bit as it doesn’t compare to some of the other Veterans Services websites. For
example, he stated that the meeting agendas and minutes shouldn’t be so prominent and
should be moved to a different location, not as easily accessed. Secretary Collyer replied that as
a Public Nonprofit Corporation, we are required to have this information available to the public

at all times. Vice Chairman Newton added that he liked the fact that the website didn’t look like
all the others and thought it was pretty easy to navigate and if it needed anything, it would
probably be more pictures. All were in agreement that this discussion would continue and that
the website would ‘evolve’ with the organization.

 

Logo Change Discussion: Secretary Collyer asked members if they had any thoughts about
changing the logo. Previously, all agreed that having the symbols of all military and first
responder organizations was a lot of detail and that can be hard to reproduce in detail on t-
shirts (silk screening process) etc. Director Krause suggested that we work with a graphic
designer to come up with some options. Chairman Bangura said that he has a friend in the
business that might be willing to help but she will be out of Country for a while. All agreed that
a simpler design/logo would be better and they will work on ideas. The discussion will continue.

 

Critical path/Structural Discussion for the RWF:
     1) Finances/Fundraising update (Krause): Krause began by explaining that he was speaking
with people at his local gun shop about creating a raffle and learning about how to
organize one with all of the legal issues. He has been hoping to connect with the owner,
but unfortunately the owner has been ill. Krause said that he will continue to reach out
to other organizations to see what works for them. Bangura added that it would be nice
to look at more partnership situations, like we have with the Salida VFW (post 3820)
who support us on a continuing basis with $300.00 per quarter ($100/month). A general
discussion continued with all agreeing that ‘Everyone needs to continually push the
organization/s messaging, keep getting the word out’. Collyer reminded everyone to sell
the fact that as a nonprofit, they can deduct the amount from their taxes and he will
write a tax receipt if requested and if over $500, they get one (from us) automatically.
Director Ottmer stated that she will speak to the owners of the local bowling alley about
a fundraiser bowling event. They are civic minded people and regularly do fundraising
events. She also asked if anybody has looked into local (Chaffee County) grants? Collyer
replied that he would like to, but lack of time is a problem due to the absence of an
Assistant Secretary. Director Ottmer replied that there is a local granting organization
known as the “Chaffee County Community Foundation” They have a grant cycle open
now with the grant due on February 9 th and that she could look into it for us. Collyer
replied ‘that would be great, if you can get me the information, we could work together
to apply for some supporting grants’. It would be helpful if we had a way to identify all
local and National Grants. Ottmer added that “It’s not just a money thing, we need to
provide direction and motivation for people. Chairman Bangura added that ‘recruitment
and structure is important so we can someday say “Who do we need and where do we
need them?” He continued that with their CIT training, “Kit (Steimle) and Ashley
(Ottmer) are good examples of this and a big part of what we need to do. Right now, we
need to ask ourselves “What can we actually do? We need to better define our mission

and refine our approach, where do we fit into the spectrum of the problem? Is it the
early, the mid, or the late crisis time frame. It is the bigger picture that we all must
continue to think about”.

     

     2) Structure evolution (Bangura): (Discussion blended with previous topic). Vice Chairman
Newton suggested that we should focus out fundraising efforts in Colorado’s Mountain
regions since that is where we were founded (and incorporated) and where Roy lived
and worked. All agreed that narrowing our focus to Colorado was a great idea and
would save time and energy and simplify legal requirements as they can vary a lot from
state-to-state. Secretary Collyer spoke about the eventual benefits of having Directors
from all over the country when we are ready to expand and create new chapters in
those states, but that for now it is a good idea to focus on Colorado. He added that
having such a talent pool (of members) from all over the country with varying
perspectives is a true asset. Director Ottmer stated that many very recent studies have
shown that Rural Areas in Colorado are very far behind in providing Mental Health
Services to Colorado, especially to Veterans and First Responder Communities. Newton
asked, “How do we the rank and file of these (Veterans and First Responder
Communities) on board with us and keep them there?” Collyer replied that that
question goes hand in hand with the need to get our structure right. Since First
Responders constantly move from one crisis to another, we need to develop tangible
ways for the rank and file to help. A general discussion continued with Ottmer speaking
about the importance of “Debriefing” crewmembers after a traumatic event. Her
husband being a local fire captain and her discuss the need to “Empty the mental
bucket” from time to time and deal with events before they overwhelm the person.
Adding that “Most civilians simply do not understand what first responders go through
on a daily basis”. And perhaps a way to gain the support of the ‘rank and file’ is to
demonstrate that we (RWF members) are one of you. Chairman Bangura ended the
discussion by stating: ‘‘Ok, then we all agree that we should focus on building and
refining our structure in Colorado”.

 

     3) Recruitment plan: No discussion.

 

     4) Advertising/outreach, Is our social media effective? Chairman Pitts began the discussion
by saying that he has “Dropped the ball lately” with the social media effort. Noting that
with the staffing shortages and the recent passing of his close friend (LMPD Officer and
Partner, work related) he hasn’t found a lot of time to work on it. But that he is still
interested and learning more about it all the time. Director Ottmer stated that ‘Social
media is a full time job, but if done correctly, can be very important.’ Secretary Collyer
suggested that his little sister would probably be very happy to help with the social

media effort and that she has time to help and is very familiar with social media. Pitts
stated that he would be grateful for her help. All members agreed so Collyer stated that
he would contact her and put her in touch with Pitts.

 

     5) Training opportunities update (Ottmer/Steimle): Collyer asked Ottmer if she has had
time to look into training opportunities, she stated she had, but that she would like to
hear what Director Steimle had to report first. Steimle replied that he didn’t have
anything to report. Ottmer then continued that after speaking to Bangura, she would
like to focus on training that would allow her to train others and spoke about “Assist,
two day trainings” noting that there are a “Lot of gatekeepers in this field” since a lot
can go wrong during the course of Crisis Intervention situations. She added that “Hot
lines are a dime-a-dozen” and she is very familiar with people who staff hotlines. The
discussion shifted to helping Ottmer get the training she needs to be able to train the
rest of the members. She said that she was looking into multiple ‘train the trainer’
programs. She noted that some of this training can be very expensive noting that “CAM
(acronym) training available in Louisiana later in February will cost $3k plus, but she
wouldn’t be able to attend due to familial commitments. She will, however be attending
free training on March 8 th and has already begun some of the required pre-attendance
training. There is other training available that she can do on her own time know as
“QPR” (Question, Persuade and refer) that would be a good starting point for us (RWF
members) to learn from her after she completes it. The training will cost around $425.00
before taxes/fees and she would be certified for three years at a time. This amount will
get her access to the workbooks. The discussion continued whether we wanted to
someday have a “Warmline” vs a “Hotline” meaning ‘are we dealing with a situation
that is not yet a crisis, but has the potential to turn into one?’. Does the individual just
need someone to talk to? Is this enough to help prevent the individual from
contemplating suicide? It was noted that the stigma associated by PTSD is a big barrier
to asking for help which can lead to even more anxiety and depression. Especially since
a PTSD diagnosis can cost somebody their job or the possibility of career advancement
as it is seen as a liability by an employer. After the discussion Secretary Collyer asked
members if they would like to reimburse Ottmer for the cost of the QPR training? All
members agreed that we should. Ottmer stated that she would email us more
information on the QPR training.
Note: since the meeting, Ottmer has produced an
invoice and Collyer has written her a reimbursement check in the amount of $509.95

 

Financial Update: Collyer reported the finances as follows:
 

Checking Account Balance:            $ 300.00
Savings Account Balance:          + $4,937.53

Total Monetary Assets:                   $5,237.53

 

No Transactions in the month of December.
*Secretary Collyer will work on all donation receipts for 2021.
*Collyer personally paid $270 to WIX to renew website subscription for a year.
*Post office (Ship-N-Things) will be due in February $125.00 last year.

 

*Anything Else/general discussion: Troxell’s VFW Promotion/new Job. Secretary Collyer
reported that CSM John Wayne Troxell has just been appointed to be the VFW National
Organization’s “National Ambassador”. Chairman Bangura stated that he would call Troxel up
soon to congratulate him and look for ways we could work with the National VFW to help them
and further our mission.

 

Collyer stated that he will mail everyone signed copies of the new bylaws and supporting
documents.

 

Director Pitts reported that on March 14 th , he would be appearing on the “Black Rifle Company”
podcast as part of his book tour and would mention the RWF and ask the hosts and staff about
fundraising ideas.

 

*Next Meeting Tentatively for February 6 th .

 

*Meeting Adjourned: 14:15

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