The Roy Williams Foundation Meeting Minutes, Meeting 41

Date of Meeting: Meeting 41 9/25/2022 1300 MST

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Roll Call:
 

Chairman: Alhaji Bangura- Present
Vice Chairman: David Newton- Present
Managing Director: Ashley Ottmer- Present 
 

Board Members/Directors: 
Zach Krause- Absent/traveling

Dexter Pitts- Absent/Working
Travis Garvin- Absent/traveling

Markus Hugle- Present

 

Secretary/Treasurer:

Bret Collyer- Present

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Assistant Secretary:

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Social Media Manager:

Amber Holmes- Present

Alternate Director:
 

 

Guests:

Simeon Chelf- Unable to attend

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Call to Order:
 

Additions, deletions or changes to the agenda?: None

 

Adoption of Meeting Minutes, Meeting #40: 8/21/2022:
Director Ottmer made a motion to accept, it was seconded by Newton; vote 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?: Chairman Bangura, as well as directors Garvin, Ottmer and Newton have
committed so far, as well as Secretaries Collyer and Holmes and Alternate Director Hugle. Simeon Chelf would
also like to attend.
 

2) Reminder Boathouse Cantina Comedy Club Fundraiser for the RWF on October 26th: Secretary Collyer stated
that he would be in communication with Jason Benci (event organizer) prior to the event to coordinate
advertising and details. MD Ottmer stated that she may be late to the event due to some ongoing professional
training, that occurs on Wednesdays, after completion of which, she will be able to work with various formerly
illegal drugs that are proving to be helpful with PTSD issues.

 

3) Follow up on assignments from last meeting: Director Hugle reported that he has not heard anything from
the Ross Perot Foundation, but will continue his outreach. Ottmer asked if the Wal-Mart check is recurring or
a one-time donation? Chairman Bangura replied that he is not sure, but he would check the emails to see if
there is any more information. Secretary Collyer said all that arrived was the check and check stub with no
further information. Bangura further stated that ‘someone at Wal-Mart looked at our website and sent a
check’. Adding that $250.00 is the minimum and $5k is the maximum and we should consider more changes to
our website. Collyer replied that website changes should be a topic of discussion at our in-person meeting.
Hugle added that we should look into working with larger entities. Ottmer agreed and said that we should also
work on the (crisis intervention) directory on our website to include even more resources for people, adding
that vetting will be important. She added that ‘there are so many counselors that advertise their expertise in
helping Veterans and First Responders with PTSD issues, but have never been in the military or a FR. Many
studies have shown that Veterans and FR’s instinctively know whether or not someone has served and refuse
to talk to someone who has not ‘been there’. Collyer stated that he would talk to his son to be sure he can
attend to discuss website changes.
 

New Business: Focus on in-person meeting at 1600, 4 November
*Housing needs? Camper and spare bedroom available. Hotel Rooms? VC Newton said that he would be using
the camper. Bangura stated he would probably have his kids with him and might like to stay in the house.
Other members weren’t sure just yet.
 

*Creation of agenda items and itinerary. Work on Website. Bangura stated that he would like to continue to
focus on fundraising now that his divorce is final, he should have more availability. The topic should include
both fundraising and grants, all agreed that we will not be able to advance/refine our mission with fundraising
alone. Bangura added that he will reach out to CSM JW Troxell now that he has had time to settle in to his new
position with the VFW and should be able to help us find grants to apply for now that we have a good working
model, thanks to Ottmer and can now demonstrate tangible results; people are actually being helped (FRF
program).
 

*Location Poncha Springs Townhall:
Collyer will contact Town Hall now that a solid date and time has been set for the meeting.
 

*Who should we invite? Press? Granting agencies, i.e. Local VFW donating $100 per month ($300 Quarterly).
Collyer suggested Leslie Hammond, the County veteran service officer (VFW) and the Marine Corps League as
well as representatives from the local VFW. Bangura suggested the Manager from the local Wal-Mart. Newton
suggested that we invite representatives from each local veteran and FR agency. All agreed that we would
rather have a smaller attendance than we’ve had during past meetings in order concentrate better on refining
our mission/programs with relevant stakeholders.
 

*No paid advertising:
Instead of paid advertising, we will place a meeting notice on our website prior to the meeting.
 

*Smoked Brisket, no catering, side items? Alternative menu items? Collyer has offered his own beef brisket
and It was suggested that we have baked beans, potato salad and cornbread. (Ottmer has a smoker)
 

*After Party? Weather and condition permitting we will have a campfire after-party at the Angel K Ranch.
 

*Weekend activities? TBD

 

*Other ideas/concerns? TBD
 

Critical Path/Structural Discussion for the RWF:
1) Fundraising/Events and Grants: Assistant Secretary Holmes stated that she would forward the Wal-
Mart email. Hugle said that the ‘round-up’ idea was a good one and he would follow up on it with local
retailers, Collyer said he would work with him on it.
 

2) Structural Evolution. Bangura: Tabled until the in-person meeting.
 

3) Advertising/Outreach. Is our Social Media Effective (Holmes): Holmes reported that “Social media is
going good and our posts have been reaching a lot further than before”. She added that social media is
reaching over 200 people per day. Bangura asked “How do we know we are reaching that many
people?” Holmes replied that she switched the administrative settings to ‘professional’ and it provides
more tools for presentation and tracking of views to determine who we are reaching and how we are
reaching them. She added that hashtags are important. Bangura mentioned that he had additional
questions and will contact her after the meeting. Holmes then asked Ottmer if she came up with
additional FRF dates. Ottmer said yes and that she would send the dates for Holmes to post on social
media. All members thanked Holmes for her efforts and good work.
 

4) First Responder Friday’s and Managing Director Update: Ottmer reported that there is nothing new to
report other than the clients seem to be appreciative of the program and that her EMS client is “Done
for now” seeming to have benefitted greatly from the program. She added that she is still working on
better communication with the local PD and Sheriff’s Dept’s.
 

5) Task assigments/Action Items and Follow Through: Collyer asked members if we could come up with a
preliminary list of website changes so he could present it to his son “To get his mind thinking about it”?
Ottmer replied that it would make more sense if we had consensus on the changes first. Hugle stated
that he will continue to try to follow up with the Ross Perot Foundation. Bangura will look for a chance
to contact Troxell to brief him about our progress and see how he might help us push forward with our
mission. Collyer, Hugle, Holmes and Ottmer (locals) will talk to local businesses about offering their
customers a ‘rounding up’ option to benefit the RWF with each sale. Newton suggested that we should
start talking to local FR’s to send a representative so we can find out what they need and how we can
help them. Bangura added that “We can still be flexible and grow into what we need to be to best help
them”. All members agreed with the sentiment.
 

Financial Update:
Checking Account Balance      $2,476.54
Savings Account Balance:      + 4,588.15
Monetary Assets:                       $7,064.69
 

Deposits: 3 rd Quarter Angel of Shavano VFW Post 3820 for $300.00 and Wal-Mart for $250.00
Collyer stated that he will transfer $2,000.00 to savings as there is no need to carry a balance that large in the
checking account. All members agreed.
 

Anything Else/General Discussion: None

 

Next Meeting: Oct.16th 
 

Meeting Adjourned: 1408