The Roy Williams Foundation Meeting Minutes, Meeting 38

Date of Meeting: Meeting 38 7/10/2022 1300 MST

 

Roll Call:

 

Chairman: Alhaji Bangura- Absent/ill

Vice-Chairman: Dave Newton- Present with Bangura's Proxy

Managing Director: Ashley Ottmer- Present

​

​Board Members/Directors:

Zach Krause- Absent/On Vacation

Dexter Pitts- Present/Intermittent/Working 

Travis Garvin- Present with Krause's Proxy

 

​Secretary/Treasurer:

Bret Collyer- Present

​

Assistant Secretary/Social Media Manager:

Amber Holmes- Present 

 

Alternate Director:

Kit Steimle- Absent

​

Guest and Alternate Director Candidate: 

Markus Hugle- Present

Call to Order:
 

Additions, deletions or changes to the agenda?: none

 

Adoption of Meeting Minutes, Meeting #37: 6/26/2022: Director Ottmer pointed out an error in the
minutes to reflect that she was counseling one combat veteran, one EMS first responder, and a Sheriff Deputy
as part of the First Responder Friday Program. Collyer made the corrections to the final minutes. Director
Garvin made a motion to accept and Director Ottmer seconded. The motion to adopt was unanimous.
 

Old and continuing Business:
1) In Person meeting date Friday, November 4th at 4:00 pm with recreational activities to be planned for the 5th
and 6th . Who can/will commit?: Directors Garvin, Ottmer, and Newton can commit, as well as Secretaries
Collyer and Holmes. Newton recommended that “We keep it flexible for Krause”. All agreed and we will keep
this topic on the agenda until then for organizational purposes.
 

2) Reminder Boathouse Cantina Comedy Club Fundraiser for the RWF on October 26th.
Brief discussion/reminder will remain on the agenda.

 

3) New Logo designed by Assistant Secretary Holmes is official and on our website. Website changes underway
as time allows: The new logo was adopted by consensus after the last meeting. We will work on placing it on
business cards and stationery as we exhaust current supplies. All members expressed gratitude to Assistant
Secretary Holmes for working on it, it was noted that her efforts saved us an unknown amount of money that
would have been spent with a professional graphic artist.

 

New Business:
1) Consider Markus Hugle for Alternate Director Position (Letter of Interest Sent): Mr. Hugle was invited to
speak about his service in the US Navy during the (late)1980’s and some Gulf War Deployments. He Noted that
although it was challenging, he was proud of his service and that he ‘got to see so much of the world’. He
spoke of his desire to help the organization and recognized the large and growing need for such organizations.
Director Garvin spoke about “Where we are in our evolution as a newer non-profit trying to figure out how to
best help people” and wanted to make sure Hugle knew ‘where we are as a group’. Mr. Hugle replied that he
does and was really looking forward to helping grow the organization with fundraising, outreach and all other
aspects associated with our vision and mission. Conversation continued until Director Garvin made a motion
to invite Mr. Hugle to join the organization as an Alternate Director, followed by multiple seconds. The vote
was unanimous and all welcomed Mr. Hugle aboard as an Alternate Director.
 

2) Grants in application process, Bangura: Bangura Absent, item tabled.
 

3) 8th annual Heroes Banquet, Saturday July 16th at the Historic Abbey event center in Canon City. A fundraiser
for “Freedom Service Dogs of America” a nonprofit organization. Freedomservicedogs.org provides
trained Service animals to disabled Veterans. Ottmer will attend to represent RWF, suggested donation
Discussion: $500 originally discussed, but may be paired down:
 

Secretary Collyer began the discussion by asking members how much money directors would be comfortable
with donating. Vice Chairman Newton replied that he likes the organization and its mission and would like to
‘stay with the $500 amount’. He added that it would help build goodwill and name recognition. Alternate
Director Hugle mentioned that it sounded like a great opportunity for networking with other nonprofits.
Ottmer said that it may lead to a donation to us (RWF), if not now, in the future as we build our organization
and our mission evolves. Director Garvin agreed and spoke about the benefits of this type of outreach. The
consensus was that $500 would be appropriate. All members voted in favor of the expenditure with Newton
voting for himself and Bangura and Garvin voting for himself and Krause. Collyer stated that he would write
the check for Ottmer. She replied that she would update the FRF flier to better reflect the current program.
Collyer added that he would make copies and get it to her before the event. Newton asked about the
possibility of getting our new logo on some T-Shirts for her to pass out prior to the event. She replied that
there are a few places around here that could do it, but probably not in time for the event, which is next week.

 

Critical Path/Structural Discussion for the RWF:
1) Fundraising/Events and Grants: Partially discussed above/ongoing discussion

 

2) Structural Evolution. Bangura: Bangura absent. It was noted however that appointing Ottmer as our
Managing Director and Holmes as our Social Media Manager was a great structural evolution recently
that has been a game changer for the organization.

 

3) Advertising/Outreach. Is our Social Media Effective (Holmes): Assistant Secretary and Social Media
Manager Holmes informed the Board that she has set up an RWF Twitter Account and added that she
“Needs Content” and asked members to please send pictures, any pictures that show something
meaningful that may or may not have something to do with the RWF, but that she could use to convey
our message/mission. (During the meeting a few members texted her some pictures). She reported
that things are getting busier on all of our pages/platforms. Ottmer and Holmes spoke about their
ability and desire to “Cross-Share posts” between platforms when possible. Holmes added that she is
looking into another organization that we may be able to collaborate with known as the Dale K Grand
(sp?) organization. She will report back on her findings. All members expressed gratitude for her
contributions.
 

4) First Responder Friday’s and Managing Director Update: Managing Director Ottmer stated that there’s
“Not much to report, but she has been networking with another Brain spotting Professional about
collaborating”. She also has received a client referral from a local Peer Support Leader and will
continue to work on outreach. At this rate she is gaining one ‘client’ per month, currently include 4
local clients of varying target backgrounds (veteran and/or First Responder). She went on to explain
that she is always looking for Veterans and FR’s that are working in Mental Health Care related fields,
or some that may be trainable and passionate about our cause. Perhaps some that would be willing to
assist us in our mission. During the discussion, all members agreed that she can’t do it all herself and
more qualified people will be needed. Although our members are learning, they are not yet
professionals and operate more in a referral capacity (usually referring clients to Ottmer).
 

5) Task assignments/Action Items and Follow Through: Members to report on their projects/research etc.
All members were reminded to send pictures worthy of social media to Holmes. Dexter and Garvin stated
they would send pics. Members were asked to continue looking for Grants and Fundraising Opportunities
in their locales.
 

Financial Update:
Checking Account Balance       $2,498.18
Savings Account Balance:        + 4,588.00
Monetary Assets:                         $7,086.18 (+.08 interest)

 

Anything Else/General Discussion: None

 

Next Meeting: July 24
 

Meeting Adjourned: 1349