July 2025 Meeting Minutes

Rose Sharp
Meeting Agendas and Minutes

July 8, 2025, Global Connections (GC) Executive Committee (EC) Meeting Minutes

Meeting Date and Time: Tuesday, July 8, 2025, 7:00 PM

Location: Zoom

Officers Present

President: Bob Persiko

Vice President: Ciara Halloran

Treasurer: Bruce Truitt 

Secretary: Alexandra Persiko

Not Present

Public Relations Officer: Rose Sharp (Rose provided her report via Wenjie and in writing)

Committee Chairs

Small Groups: Deb Leo

Membership: Anisha Mukherjee (not present)

Penn State Global Representative

Wenjie Fu

Call To Order: 7:04 PM

June 10, 2025, EC meeting minutes were accepted as submitted.  

Reports of Officers & Standing Committees

President – Bob Persiko

  • Bob reported that a potential candidate for the Cultural Events chair had withdrawn.
  • Ciara commented that she is nurturing international clients of hers to potentially fill the role.  She has invited them to attend the July 19 potluck in addition to others in the community from Nigeria and Mexico.

Vice President – Ciara Halloran

  • Nothing additional to report today.

Treasurer – Bruce Truitt

  • Bruce provided an update on the organization’s finances, mentioning a balance of 6,973 in the operating fund (this does not include the money from Centre Gives) and $18,291 in the money market account at First Commonwealth.  All bills are paid.
  • Disposition of the Centre Gives Fund (Global Connections received a record-breaking total gift of $2,809.83).  Tuition for the Mid-State Literacy Council was raised to $250 per person.  Four scholarships therefore amount to $1,000 in the fall and spring, for a total of $2,000.
    • Bruce asked the board whether to keep the remaining approximately $900 from Centre Gives in the operating fund or roll it back into the Global Connections Literary Fund at the Centre Foundation.  He highlighted that the goal is to make the English Literacy Fund self-perpetuating.  Ciara made a motion to approve the transfer, which was seconded by Alexandra and supported by the board.

Secretary – Alexandra Persiko

  • Nothing to report this month. 

Public Relations – Rose Sharp (written update on website and via Wenjie)

  • Rose provided an update on her explorations into a new website. She learned that we have to consider the Cloudflare and Affinipay account. Affinipay is ONLY compatible with WildApricot (not Squarespace or WIX). Rose will look into the possibility of using WIX or Squarespace and embedding a widget from WildApricot into the website which would (ideally) allow us to use the simple website publishing and marketing of a newer site while keeping our website secure and bookkeeping simple through Affinipay.   Rose does not know yet whether this will function and will report out at the next meeting.
  • Further website discussion tabled till August.
  • Newsletter was sent out.

Penn State Representative – Wenjie Fu

  • Wenjie reported that preparation for the July 19 potluck is going well.  So far, we have 38 who have responded affirmatively.  We hope for about 45-50 attendees.  Anyone is welcome to attend, but RSVPs are requested.
    • Kitchen Garden will provide the main dishes.  Participants can provide a side dish, snack, dessert etc.
  • The Global Community Engagement group has been promoting the Conversation Partners program with the help of the Penn State Global Marketing and Communications group.  The goal is to become more visible and attract more native English speaker volunteers.

Membership – Anisha Mukherjee (not present)

Small Groups – Deb Leo

  • Deb reported that while book groups are currently on hiatus, they received an inquiry from a woman interested in leading a new book group. 
    • Deb saved her name, told her that we have two existing book groups, and that we will contact her in the future if there is additional interest.  Bob invited her to become a member and to the upcoming potluck.
    • Additionally, Deb noted interest from male students at Career Pathways for a male book group. 

Discussion Group – Bob Persiko

  • Bob said sessions will continue periodically during the summer around his vacation plans. 

Special Orders – None

Unfinished Business – None

New Business

  • The group discussed the need for a separate meeting to develop a comprehensive marketing strategy, including a marketing budget.
    • Bruce acknowledged the current lack of a dedicated marketing line item in the budget but agreed that it could be easily added once a plan is formulated.
    • Deb shared her experience with promoting poetry night events, suggesting that successful strategies should be recorded for future reference.
  • Archiving newsletters: there is a link to old newsletters dating back to 2011.  Discuss how to incorporate these into the new website.  This presents the history of GC.
  • Community and Language Resources: WIC (Women, Infants and Children): Bruce suggested adding a link to this organization in our standing list of community and language resources.  Bruce has the necessary content.

Action Items

  • Bob:
    • To bring advertising materials with QR code link to the potluck event.
  • Bruce:
    • To draft and circulate a document outlining a marketing strategy for GC.
    • Bruce to incorporate WIC (Women, Infants and Children) nutrition resources into the community and language resources list once received.
  • Rose
    • To explore website alternatives further and present them at the August 12, 2025 meeting.
  • Alexandra
    • To finalize and post meeting minutes within 3-5 days if no feedback is received.
  • All:
  • To engage with attendees at the potluck event to promote Global Connections and to discuss the Cultural Events Chair position.

Next Meeting: August 12, 2025

Meeting adjournment: 7:45 PM

Submitted By: Alexandra Persiko                                Date of Submission: July 18, 2025