United Way of Tompkins County Affiliate Member Organization

NUTRITION FOR THE ELDERLY

IN TOMPKINS COUNTY

FOODNET

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

November 18, 2003

Gertrude Armbruster, Chair, called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and welcomed Jean Blanchard, our newest board member.

Present: Board Members: Gertrude Armbruster, Bob Baker, Jean Blanchard, Chris Decker, Kay Friedlander, Keefe Gorman, Anna Holmberg, Liz Norton, Helene Rosenblatt, Elaine Saunders and William Tomek. Staff:  Carolyn Arnold, Stephen Griffin.

Excused: Board Members: Loren Colbert and Marian Kira, Mary George Opperman, and Carolyn Peterson.

Changes to the Agenda: none.

Minutes of October 7, 2003: Postponed until the next meeting.

Reports of Committees:

Finance Committee:  Steve Griffin gave the balance sheet and income statements current as of October 31. We are in pretty good shape as we come near to the end of the year. Our overall revenues are at 99.6% of budget, and our expenses are just 93.9% of the budget to date.

2004 budget: Steve Griffin reported on the 2004 budget, which the County Legislature is expected to vote on this evening. Liz Norton told us that there is some doubt that it will pass tonight, and the vote may be delayed. A county budget must be adopted by December 20.

Steve Griffin handed out a summary of the proposed 2004 Foodnet budget. Conservative estimates have been used for participant contributions and other revenues. Expenses have been projected using our actual costs from October 1, 2002 through September 30, 2003 and our 2003 year-to-date experience. Insurance renewal quotes which were received yesterday have been included. Projected revenues are down almost 3%, or $23,000 and projected expenses are up 3%, or $26,000 compared to the 2003 budget. The result is a projected net loss of $57,293. This could be called our worst-case scenario budget, because there are several factors (some under our control and some not) that could turn a projected loss into a net gain. An alternative scenario for the 2004 budget was handed out, which lists potential additional revenues and potential reductions in expenses. Our most direct opportunity to balance the budget is through cost reductions, which could include changing our health insurance policy, delaying planned equipment purchases, reducing the budget for food and supplies, and eliminating staff training.

The development committee will work to raise $56,000 again in 2004 for general operating support and seek grants for specific projects.

Program Education and Personnel Committee: Kay Friedlander report that the PEP committee met on October 15. Educating our staff is important and the committee received reports about the Aging Services Conference attended by Allison, Carolyn and Steve. Topics included elder services provided by the Oneida Nation, HIPPA compliance, mental health issues including elder abuse, and disaster planning for senior meals programs. The PEP Committee was pleased to learn that the new director of the Nutrition Unit of the New York State Office for the Aging, Florence Reed, spoke at the conference and emphasized nutrition as a core service.

Other items addressed by the PEP committee were:

·        A sample emergency card telling what steps to take and a preliminary statement for the media. We are planning one of our own.

·        Nutrition Screening Initiative

·        Labels and lids for home delivered meals; costs and how best to do it.

The big issue of the PEP meeting was the proposed revisions to the Employee Handbook. The committee reviewed the suggested revisions, and recommend that they be approved by the board. The proposed revisions were given to the board so that they can be studied in preparation for a vote at the next board meeting.

The next PEP committee meeting will be on Tuesday, November 24 at 4pm at Foodnet. It will be coordinated with a photo session as described under new business.

Buildings and Property: no report.

Publicity and Public Relations: Chris Decker reported that the November Senior Circle published a photo of the Quilters Corner Place Mats and an article about the American Dietetic Association recognition of Eleanor Carey and Sue Merrill for 50 years of service, as well as the ADA foundation scholarship awarded to Allison Parker. The Channel 10 news, Ithaca Journal, Trumansburg Free Press and Cornell Daily Sun also ran articles about Eleanor, Sue, Allison and their activities with Foodnet.

Nominating Committee: Kay Friedlander welcomed Jean Blanchard, who is filling the unexpired term of Lawrence Williams. Four board members will complete their first term of service in February 2004 and we would like them to serve a second term. They are Bob Baker, Kay Friedlander, Keefe Gorman, and Elaine Saunders. Chris Decker will complete her second full term in February, which is our term limit. We are fortunate that she will remain active at the committee level. Carolyn Peterson has been elected Mayor of the City of Ithaca and will resign her Foodnet Board membership when she takes office. She has agreed to be the honorary chairperson of our 2004 wheel-a-thon. The nominating will seek new candidates to replace Chris Decker and Carolyn Peterson as well as prepare a slate of officers for election at the annual meeting. Suggestions can be made to Kay Friedlander, Anna Holmberg or Steve Griffin.

Motion: that a letter of congratulations be sent to Carolyn Peterson, the mayor-elect, on behalf of the board of directors. Motion made by Helene Rosenblatt, seconded by Bob Baker. Passed unanimously.

Development Committee: Keefe Gorman reported that the Development committee has met monthly all year with some additional meetings to prepare for the Wheel-a-thon. The total of gifts and pledges for the annual fund is $46,197.84 to date, which is short of our goal of $90,000 for the year. It seems to be a tough year for fundraising in general, and Keefe asked board members to be sure to mention Foodnet to any new contacts and to be sure to follow up on individual contacts. We have a grant request outstanding to a local foundation for $5,000 and a member item grant pending from Barbara Lifton for $5,000. Those, in addition to end-of-year gifts, will improve our total.

The Wheel-a-thon did well in terms of the frame work and the idea of the event, but we did not succeed in the level of participation that we aimed for. We need to widen participation and are working on ways to get more people to attend next year. One way is to get members from various clubs and community groups to help plan the event and act as a liaison to bring other members of their group along. We have someone from an antique car club, the CNY Porsche club and are contacting others to attend a planning meeting at Merrill Lynch at 4:30 pm on Monday, December 8. The parents of the coach of the Cornell Women's Hockey Team is a meals on wheels volunteer in Canada, and the parents of the assistant coach are meals on wheel volunteers in Buffalo. The Women's Hockey Team is looking for ways to become involved in the community and has agreed to take part in the Wheel-a-thon on roller blades while wearing their hockey jerseys. Participation by the hockey team and various groups will bring greater visibility and attendance to the event.

Keefe asked board members to save Saturday, September 18, 2004 for the Wheel-a-thon and to put Friday, June 25 on their calendars for the annual Foodnet picnic at Stewart Park.

Executive Committee: Gertrude Armbruster reported that she and Steve Griffin attended the Philanthropy day award luncheon of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. They meet and have seminars about how to raise money for community services. They help fund raising groups in the community achieve success.

Gertrude attended the annual meeting of the American Dietetic Association in San Antonio, Texas, where Susan Merrill and Eleanor Carey were honored. Right in the auditorium where you walk in were their names in great big letters on the wall for everyone to see! Another highlight of the meeting was the opportunity for Gertrude to meet the new Surgeon General of the United States Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona, MD, MPH, FACS (Fellow of the American College of Surgeons). A high school drop out raised in New York City, the story of his rise to prominence is inspiring and reminded Gertrude of one of her former students.

Registered Dietitian: Carolyn Arnold, RD provided this written report:

Foodnet drivers have distributed blizzard bags to our home-delivered clients with enough shelf-stable food to meet one day’s nutritional needs.  Bags were packed November 6 with the help of Girl Scout Troup 270 and their leaders, (in bags donated by Wegmans).  We provided evaporated milk, cereals, juices, soups, tuna, peanut butter, crackers, condiments, fruit and pudding, for a cost of $4.02 per bag (count as three meals).  We enclosed a flier with a suggested day’s menu, information on emergency closings, and a list of emergency supplies to keep handy, plus a Weather Hazards Awareness Guide pamphlet from the New York State Disaster Preparedness Commission.

On November 5, I attended an Ithaca College Gerontology Workshop on Integrative Health Care for the Older Adult.  The workshop included an overview of integrative healthcare with demonstrations on yoga and meditation and information on naturopathy.  Peer-reviewed research on the benefits of specific “alternative” therapies was discussed.  My impression is that gentle exercise and relaxation techniques can be very helpful in reducing the pain and anxiety associated with chronic illness.

We are making progress on developing a database (in Microsoft Access 2000) to manage the home-delivered client information and produce labels for meals plus delivery lists for drivers.  My goal is to complete development and begin testing, training and transition by the end of the year.

Dietetic Intern: Carolyn Arnold gave this report from Allison Parker, Cornell Dietetic Intern:

Over the past couple of months here at Foodnet I have gained so much. I have met some great people and learned a ton about nutrition for the elderly in Tompkins County. I would first like to thank Steve and Carolyn for making this such a great experience, and I couldn’t have learned as much without them. This past month has been very busy, and I have been able to have many learning experiences that have opened my eyes to the endless possibilities in the world of nutrition.

            In early October, I attended the Unity in Our Diversity Conference with Steve and Carolyn. I had the opportunity to network with other dietitians as well as meet people from other organizations across the state that deal with nutrition and serving the elderly. It was a great professional opportunity for me, and I really gained a lot from this conference.

            I have had the chance to do 2 nutrition education lessons with the congregate meal sites. The first lesson was on planning a healthy breakfast. The participants seemed to appreciate it very much. The second lesson was about the food guide pyramid and we played food guide pyramid bingo with the participants. Most meal sites seemed to enjoy the game, and overall I think it was a success.

            I did a nutrition education piece with the meal site managers. I attended their monthly meeting and talked with them about food safety. I gave them some pertinent handouts to go with the talk. The handouts were put in the break room for the rest of the employees to take as the pleased. Overall response from the managers showed that this lesson was helpful, and that it is always helpful to periodically review food safety practices with the staff to ensure safe practices.

            The chocolate zucchini bar was on the menu last week, and overall feedback about the bar was positive. We were actually at Titus Towers the day it was served, and I was able to ask meal participants what they thought. They said it was great and that you would never have known there was zucchini in it.

            The last week of October I worked with Emily Gear’s clinical nutrition class and Titus Tower residents on a learning experience for the students. I helped to set up the experience, which was to interview residents about their nutrition so that the students would gain more interviewing and counseling skills. I worked with the teaching assistant to make sure that all of the students were comfortable with the interviews and to answer any questions that the students were not able to answer. I think the residents really enjoyed the time, and that the students did a great job with the interviews.

            I have had the opportunity to do some things dealing with the town board and county legislature. I addressed the budget committee at the public hearing during the last week of October. This was a great experience for me because I got to see how the town government functions, as well as doing some public speaking, which is never something I like to do. I wrote a letter to the town legislature regarding Foodnet’s budget, and I hope that it helps in getting Foodnet the money it needs to function to its desired ability.

In early November I was able to attend a health fair with Carolyn at Longview. This was a great experience for me because I got to do some counseling, with Carolyn’s help. It helped me to feel more confident in myself, and I really enjoyed working one on one with the residents at Longview, answering their questions about nutrition.

            My research is almost complete, and I have found that on the whole, participants receiving home delivered meals are really appreciative and rely on the meals to help them get through the day. The final report should be interesting to see when it all comes together.

            All in all, I have really enjoyed my time here at Foodnet and have learned so much from everyone here. Thank you for the experience, and I hope to keep in touch with everyone.

Executive Director: Steve Griffin gave the following report:

 On November 12 we mailed 5 Foodnet outreach brochures (designed by Allison Parker) with a cover letter to 275 health care providers and churches, asking them to place our flyers on their brochure rack. We have obtained a sample folder used by the Erie County Meals on Wheels program for new participants, and plan to incorporate some their ideas as we develop our own welcome folder.

December 2 will be the last day of Foodnet service at the Salvation Army. Leslie Muhlhahn of "Just Desserts" is donating a fabulous dessert to mark the occasion. Joe Fort arranged the donation.

On November 6, Girl Scout Troop 270 packed 288 blizzard bags and all but 4 have already been delivered. We took pictures and have photo release forms for all the scouts and leaders so we can use the pictures in our annual report and other publicity.

I have spent a fair amount of time in emergency preparedness activities with the goal of developing a comprehensive disaster preparedness plan for Foodnet. There is a potential to adopt a memorandum of understanding with the American Red Cross to assist with mass care feeding and with the Tompkins County Health Department for providing meals for people in Isolation and Quarantine. Foodnet is part of the senior needs committee under the Human Needs Task Force of Tompkins County emergency planning.

On October 20, Foodnet served 52 people at the Southside Community Center as part of the Office for Aging's Senior Fair and public hearing on the proposed 2004 plan for services. Also in October, Jon Carlton and I met with Bob Slocum of the Office for Aging to complete the 2004 Annual Plan on the state budget forms. We do this together each year.

Earlier this month we had our annual premium audit for our workers comp and general liability policies. A return premium (refund) will result.

On November 14, Gertrude Armbruster, Carl Edwards and I attended the second annual meeting of the local chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals in celebration of national philanthropy day.

Food production and participation: