The planning committee met on October 2nd at the home of Frank and Dee Dee Horton. Others present at the meeting were Douglass and Vivian Releford, Donald Hickman, Calvin Sneed and Virginia Hankins.
The meeting was opened with an inspirational reading by Frank Horton. Virginia Hankins read the minutes of the last meeting. They were voted on and accepted by the committee.
The first order of business was the reunion. Calvin Sneed reported that the owner of the inflatable which are giant blow-up toys for children carries his own liability insurance. Therefore the only expense the Alumni would be concerned with is rental fees.
Donald Hickman and Frank Horton are putting together plans for a golf outing to be held on Saturday morning of the reunion. They are working hard to recruit some “celebrity players” for the event to generate more money for the scholarship fund.
The planning committee wants all events to be held at the V.O. Dobbins Complex. We feel that this will lower our expenses considerably and will also give everyone a chance to visit the new facility. Doug said that the Douglass community room would hold about 200 people so that would be adequate room for all events.
Frank Horton reminded the group that we should also get started on the souvenir ad booklet. He said that this was a great fund raiser for our scholarship fund and he will talk to Linda Bly about spearheading that project since she was responsible for the last ad booklet. The committee wants all Douglass Alumni to get involved by taking out a personal ad or a business ad. This is not limited to the Alumni in Kingsport. We hope that those of you who live out of town will also submit personal ads, ads from your church, business or place of employment.
Another name was suggested for the Alumni theme by Dee Dee Horton, Putting on the Ritz. She suggested that members dress as former teachers of Douglass and other notable people in the community during the reunion. We now have three suggestions for a theme that the committee wants the board to vote on. They are:
Putting on the Ritz
A revival of Riverview
A renewal of Riverview
The next order of business discussed at the meeting was ways to generate revenue for operating expenses for the new office and to also help finance the scholarship fund. Calvin Sneed has some seats from the Douglass auditorium that will be placed throughout the Dobbins complex. He would like to sell those seats for a fee. Calvin explained that whoever bought a seat could dedicate that seat to someone as a memorial or to honor a loved one.
A silent auction was also mentioned as a fund raiser. The planning committee also suggested applying for grants. Doug said that he has already started that process but ran into a small obstacle because of the Douglass Alumni Association name. It seems that there is an alumni association with the same name in Memphis. Doug said that we need to discuss the matter in more detail at the next working board meeting.
The next order of business discussed was a marketing committee. Donald Hickman suggested that this committee would make us more visible to a wider range of people and could sponsor events that we plan. It was also mentioned that we could use people other than alumni members to be on that committee. It would be beneficial for us to have people who are experienced in those areas. So if you are an alumnus or interested person with marketing expertise we might be calling on you for some input.
The meeting was adjourned and the date and time for the next planning committee will be announced later by Frank Horton.
Respectfully Submitted By,
Virginia Hankins
