Open the Meeting:

Mark Meritt opened the meeting at 7:10 p.m.

Minutes of Last Meeting:

The minutes from the March 18, 2003, meeting were accepted with no changes required.

New Business:

We agreed that we need to meet again on April 8th and April 15th, at 7pm at the Village Hall, to continue our preparation for the upcoming events.

Old Business:

	Tree City, USA ceremony on Tuesday, April 22nd. Linda Keeling made arrangements for the reception to be held in the South Room at the Elmendorph. Barbara Campo is coordinating the rest of the event. Many people have volunteered to bake refreshments for the reception. Contact Barbara if you would like to contribute. Barbara mailed the invitations on March 23rd. A suggestion was made to also send an invitation to Madeline Klein. The Media Committee will send out a press release on April 11th. Greens Committee still needs to determine the location for the tree that will be planted during the ceremony. Need to give Dave Seymour a couple of days notice so that he can have the hole dug in time.
	Arbor Day (Saturday, April 26th) Tree Planting Ceremony Greens Committee needs to determine the locations for planting the 12 trees. Dave requires 4-5 days notice to ensure that the holes will be dug in time.
	Apple Blossom Day (Saturday, May 10th) Fundraiser at the Red Hook Inn Barbara will be coordinating this event. Will Smith agreed that his 2-man jazz band will play from 2pm-4pm. Brenda Cagle contacted the Hudson Valley Folk Guild to see if they would play as well. Waiting to hear back. Mark Meritt will play piano. Joanna Fivelsdal and her father will play a few numbers on their guitar and flute. A reminder was made to send thank you notes to the musicians who donate their time. We agreed that admission will be $5.00 per person. With admission, each person will automatically be entered in a door prize drawing. A suggestion was made to have a couple of drawings; maybe one per hour. Another suggestion was made to see if any of the local businesses would donate the door prizes (Phantom Gardiner, Adams, Holy Cow, etc.) Someone would need to contact them. We could also raffle off Village Green t-shirts. The Media Committee will send out a press release on April 28th. Karen Cadorette is working to advertise this fundraiser in the promotional material that will be published regarding Apple Blossom Day.
	We reviewed the To-Do list, focusing on the tasks for the upcoming events.

Committee Reports:

	Fundraising Committee: A suggestion was made to sell Village Green t-shirts at the upcoming events (the two Saturday campaign days at the IGA for the Stewart's fundraiser, Apple Blossom Day fundraiser, etc.) The cost would be $15.00 per t-shirt. Dave Seymour agreed to donate an antique toy Hess truck that we could raffle off. A suggestion was made to hold this raffle on Hardscrabble Day, and to ensure that we do a lot of advertising for the raffle because it could be a big draw.
	Greens Committee: The Cooperative Extension held a workshop on Community Landscapes in Fishkill. Brenda attended on our behalf. Linda mentioned that the Candle Foundation is accepting applications for grants ranging from $1,000-$10,000. One of the categories in which grants will be awarded is community investment. The foundation seeks to fund innovative, high-impact, low-overhead projects. Organizations that apply must have 501(c)3 status.
	Media Committee: Brenda and Mark have been compiling e-mail addresses for local media outlets. Franceska Urbin drafted a press release to publicize the upcoming spring events. Franceska is working with PANDA (channel 23) to allow the Village Green Committee to take advantage of their Wednesday evening program. This program allows community organizations an hour of air time. She will contact them to see if they are willing to video tape and air our Tree City USA ceremony. The committee is also working on individual press releases for the upcoming events.
	Outreach Committee: Joanna is working with the Red Hook High School Environmental Club to see if they will help us create a "tree-mometer" to track our fundraising efforts. There was a discussion regarding when and where we will display it. A suggestion was made to display it outside the Village Hall or outside the Information Center. When these decisions are made (hopefully within before next Friday), please let the Media Committee know so that they can include the appropriate information in their press releases. We would like to create posters to advertise our upcoming fundraisers. Need to determine how many are needed, and what size we would like. Also need to ask stores if they are willing to display the posters. A suggestion was made to display some of the posters on the community bulletin boards in the village. Who is available to make these posters? Joanna is working with the Honor Society to see if they would be willing to hand out flyers to publicize our Stewart's fundraiser. Jennifer Fivelsdal has created a list of village businesses and is organizing their phone numbers and addresses in a database. Lorrie Klosterman bought leaves for the tree costume. If you are interested in helping with the design, please contact Lorrie.

Motion to Close Meeting:

Jen Norris made a motion to close the meeting at 8pm. Brenda seconded the motion.