July 12 Meraki Meeting Notes; next meetings: August 9, September 13

Meraki (Portland Community Dance Steering Committee) met on Tuesday, July 12, 7-9PM on Zoom.

Attending: Lori H, Deb G (facilitator), Shelagh R, Eva G, Mellen D, Rebecca B, John B (notes)

When Can We Dance (Rudy/Rebecca):

• Brief discussion of current state of the pandemic
• Proposal: Keep status quo at Sunday Dance with masks required indoors, no vaccine requirement
  
• Further proposed: Suspend the When Can We Dance committee
  
• After a brief discussion, we agreed by consensus to keep masking status quo and suspend the Can We Dance committee, with reactivation as warranted depending on circumstances.

Alternate location update:

• No movement; tabled

Equipment Road Crew update (John/Blair):

• Blair and John continue to trade off every other week, but would like to invite other custodians.
• The job entails: transporting the sound system after dance one Sunday dance, keeping it in a secure indoor location, and bringing it back early (9:30 AM) for the following Sunday dance.
• Mellen/Jason/Deb discussed possibility of acting as backup.
• John: We need to know that we can trust the custodian; perhaps rather than making an announcement, we should approach potential custodians.
• We'll continue to discuss the possibility with individual PCD members.

Spring Retreat? (Rudy)

• Rudy: If we want to use Ferry Beach, we need to know sooner than later for booking. Ferry Beach would nee: Minimum number of people, how many days, food requirements, etc.
  
• John volunteered to reach out to Kiara to see if she has interest in organizing, and if so, to connect with Rudy on details.

Finances (John):

• PCD's balance continues to slowly decline; we continue to need support from dancers to sustain PCD.
• Suggestion: change Suggested $10 donation to a $10 cover charge
• Eva: is it possible to donate? John: yes, by PayPal or Venmo
• Proposal: someone to run around with the cash box at the end of dance. This idea was discarded as intrusive.
• Proposal: make an announcement at closing circle that we continue to need your support with a declining buffer. John agreed to make the announcement.

Finances:

• Balance of $5,693.38 continues to decline. The buffer is covering roughly $100 of the cost of each dance.
• Continue to highlight the need for support at greeting

Next meetings:

Tuesdays August 9, September 13, 7-9PM on Zoom; Link by email announcement.

Meeting adjourned early at 8:12 PM.