Board of Directors Meeting Summary, 2018 February

The Board of Directors met in February to discuss upcoming activities and events at Austin Creative Reuse. We are excited to announce that the monthly adult craft night, hosted by volunteer extraordinaire Shiree Schade, is very popular and fun. Keep an eye out for signups for the next ones. ACR will continue to have a monthly presence, staffed by Holli Hartman, at the SFC Farmers Market where you can make some great reuse crafts. Jen Mack, center manager, and Jenn Evans, sustainability board member, are creating a partnership for fun events between ACR and Families in Nature. More to come on that. The board geared up for a push for participating and giving opportunities through Amplify Austin. The board also strategized about materials collection after SXSW to reduce that amount of materials heading to the landfill. The Educator Committee has created a workshop for art teacher development in the Pflugerville school district. The workshop received positive feedback. The committee continues to host Educator Meet-Ups and is installing additional reuse cabinets in various schools, including Deer Park Middle School. The committee recently received a $600 grant for reuse cabinet installations from the Bright Green Futures Grant program administered by the City of Austin. ACR is still looking for an educator board member, as well as a person with PR/marketing skills to join the board. The Safety Committee would love to see a new board member with professional safety program and HR experience. The Sustainability Committee submitted the annual Universal Recycling Ordinance report and is preparing the Austin Green Business Leaders Application.  Led by volunteer Sarah Bird, ACR is collaborating with Goodwill to analyze their trash and potentially divert some of it for reuse through ACR. Long-term the committee will attempt to collaborate with AISD and Goodwill to develop a teacher reuse store. The Financial Committee reports strong numbers for January and noted a $5,000 donation from Bunkhouse Group. President Carole LeClair reported that ACR is negotiating for ACR's new space in a shopping center not too far from the existing location. The search committee is finding that the market is very hot and very expensive, with properties being rented out before they even have the chance to tour them. Executive Director Isadora McKeon reported on many of the activities she has completed over the last month. She worked with Matt Reilly, program director at KUTX, to obtain public service announcement coverage of ACR on air.