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Members present:
Lori Keller Becca Dillard Shelley Dean Charity Karwowski Evie Berry Oscar Barzuna Laura Martin Payton Landy Beth Phillips The group introduced themselves to each other. New board members Oscar Barzuna and Payton Landy are present for the meeting today. PSO Update: Laura Martin attended the meeting as a representative of the PSO. She spoke about restructuring the PSO (Parent Support Organization) this year. Laura has been a member of the PSO since 2021. Shelley shared information about the last PSO meeting. The PSO has had questions about their role in fundraising and how the PSO and Foundation should communicate. Shelley discussed possibly having a town hall meeting including the PSO, teachers and therapists from Crossway. Laura reported that the PSO has created an email account that will be easily recognizable to families, and PSO leadership will have access to this email. The PSO has also created a Go Fund Me account, which raised funds for the staff appreciation week. The PSO will continue this Go Fund Me account and will list specific fundraising campaigns (mulch for playground, shade structure for playground, etc). Dave Kluesner is PSO treasurer and is currently handling the finances for the PSO. These Go Fund Me donations are not listed as tax deductible donations. Laura also reported that Trader Joe’s will donate items, but they require a request letter including the Foundation’s tax ID#. Evie shared that Panera is also a good organization to donate food items, since they often have extra items. Evie suggested creating a one page document to summarize the purposes of the PSO and Foundation. Both groups have a similar mission and will have some overlapping goals. The PSO is working bottom up on local initiatives including support for Crossway teachers and students/ families, and the Foundation is working more top down on larger/ macro initiatives, such as raising money for scholarships and larger initiatives like the 100 Gardens Project and a minibus for student field trips. Scholarship / loan discussion: The group voted to give a $500 scholarship to Zara Mitchell. This leaves us with $1500 in budgeted scholarship funds remaining. Zara’s family has also requested $5300 as a loan. The group discussed how to handle loans. We discussed holding off on approving any loans until Evie has time to review our finances in more detail. We need to determine if there is a minimum balance required for the foundation account. Evie will work on verifying our account balance, Square balance, and any minimum balance required in our account. Shelley shared that we need to develop an annual report before speaking to larger stakeholders. Evie has spreadsheets from our former treasurer Brian that could be compiled into an annual report. 100 Gardens Project: Lori shared some information about the 100 Gardens project, which is an aquaponics learning lab that helps teach life skills to students. We have raised approx. $7000/$10,000 needed for this project. The organization is allowing us to house one of their systems (worth $16,000), which decreases our expenses. We are raising money for the staff training. The program helps the students learn about life cycles and how to be environmental stewards. Eventually we want to have a farmers market. We would like to train the teachers this summer and start the garden, so the seeds are starting to sprout for the kids in the fall. Charity asked if the 100 Gardens organization could provide a small demo of their garden at the fundraiser on Sunday. This may help raise money for this cause at the fundraiser. Evie asked if the 100 Gardens organization could provide a video to share as part of our fundraising efforts. Marketing discussion: Approx 70% of Crossway students receive grant funding (Opportunity Scholarship Program, ESA+ Program). There are also some scholarships available through local organizations such as Channing’s Joy Foundation, Unlocked. Figu asked if Crossway Academy’s financial deficit is due to not having enough children enrolled, and Shelley agreed with this statement. Lori said we can currently add 1-2 more students, before needing to add two more teachers. Current ratio is 1:4 adults to children. Figu mentioned that we should emphasize that the Crossway Academy program benefits children so that they may be able to mainstream into other schools. Lori suggested creating portfolios for the students to show how much they have developed during their time there. Evie suggested creating five different profiles/ personas to help advertise the school’s services. Shelley suggested having parents of children who have previously attended Crossway to give testimonials. Figu mentioned appealing to parents of potential students on Instagram, TikTok (maybe Facebook for 40+). We should consider short reels (30 seconds or less) rather than longer videos. Every new teacher/ therapist hire is an opportunity to expand our community to that person’s network. Crossway Academy gets some referrals from other schools. We are marketing Crossway Academy, not the Crossway Foundation. Edge City Brewery Event: Sunday 6/8/25, 1-4 pm: Sponsors: Channing’s Joy foundation ($1000) and Brighter Strides ABA ($250) Shelley will try to check in at the brewery later to clarify set up time, food truck location, and if there is an outlet outside we can use for a TV. We will have two food trucks - Mecklenburgers and A Pinch of Soul. Becca has made bingo cards and will print them. We have a QR code to buy bingo cards at the event. Attendees can also purchase bingo cards in advance. Bingo cards are $20 each. We will use markers to mark the bingo cards. We will play 4 rounds of bingo, 2 winners per round. Becca will run the bingo game. We will bring a table with Crossway Academy and Crossway Pediatric Therapy signage. Lori mentioned having balloons to draw attention at the event (Foundation colors are green and blue). Beth will get 12 balloons (6 blue, 6 green). We can laminate 50 Bingo cards so they can be reused, or print 200 bingo cards total. Figu suggested putting the Crossway Foundation logo in the center of the card rather than a “free” space. Please see spreadsheet sent by Lori with bingo/ raffle prizes. Charity has also contacted Matthews Playhouse. Taylor McNeill has a small microphone she can let us use for the event. Event agenda: Bingo starts at 2 pm and will be every half hour x 4 rounds. Michelle Pentz’s daughter is doing face painting. A parent is donating cookies to the event. We can sell the cookies - buyers can be asked to donate whatever price they would like, rather than selling them for a specific price, in order to try to get more money donated for the cookies. Edge City Brewing will play music in the background of the event, so we do not need to provide any music. To display sponsors: We can play videos on a TV advertising our sponsors and Crossway Academy and Crossway Pediatric Therapy. The group took a tour of Crossway Academy and Crossway Pediatric Therapy and then concluded the meeting. Tentative date for next board meeting: Monday 7/7/25, noon-1 pm **At this meeting we will need to discuss Lori’s update from her conversation with Dawn Chanland from Queens University, as well any potential candidates for board president and vice president.
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Members present:
Charity Karwowski (secretary) Evie Berry (treasurer) Beth Philips Lori Keller Shelley Dean Becca Dillard Members absent: None 1. Scholarship and loan discussion and vote The group voted 3/3 voting members to award the following scholarships: Lincoln Suchara- $2500 Jordan Newberry - $2500 Benjamin Baxter- $500 Lauren Todd- $2500 This is $8000 out of $10,000 budgeted for scholarships. The group voted 3/3 voting members to give the following loans from TCF, to be repaid by 10/3/25. ($6500 total in loans) Elliot West - $2000 Silas Martin - $2500 Benjamin Baxter - $2000 Becca will draft a letter to send to families notifying them they are receiving a scholarship (a gift that does not need to be repaid) or a loan (funds will need to be repaid once grant funding is received, by 10/3/25). Families receiving loans will need to sign that they understand they are receiving a loan, not a scholarship. Becca shared that families will likely request loans again at the start of the 2nd semester, in early 2026, when they may need funding before grant money is distributed. Money is transferred between TCF and Crossway Academy; the families do not receive checks directly. We have $2000 in scholarship money remaining. Families can apply for this, including new families enrolling at Crossway, with a deadline of 5/23/25. We will vote on scholarship recipient(s) at our next board meeting in June. Beth shared that she is a Notary, if we need to have any documents notarized. 2. Recruitment update The group voted 3/3 voting members to invite Oscar (Figu) Barzuna and Payton Landy to our next board meeting in June. Charity will send board invitation letters to Jill and Lauren by next week. We need a president and vice president for TCF. 3. Finance update Evie and Brian (former TCF treasurer) are connecting regarding the checks for TCF. Lori and Charity both have some financial documents as well as the TCF debit card to give Evie. 4. Event update Our event at Edge City Brewery is confirmed, Sunday 6/8/25, 1-4 pm Charity will contact John at Edge City to ask if we can get our own food truck for the event and to see if we can set up 30-60 min before the event. We will bring a tent, table, and games (Jenga, corn hole, ring toss). Lori has two unopened face painting kits from a previous event that she can bring. Lori has spoken to Adrienne, who resigned from the VP position. Adrienne has experience with fundraising and will make a list of fundraising/ raffle gift ideas to give to Lori. She also plans to help with obtaining some raffle prizes and plans to attend the event. She would love to stay involved with TCF but is not currently able to give the time needed for the VP position. Lori asked if Adrienne knows anyone else with fundraising experience who may be interested in participating on TCF board, and Adrienne will update us. Becca will make the bingo game, and Lori and Shelley will obtain raffle prizes. S helley has gone to the culinary school to ask them to donate a meal. Shelley or Lori will go to the bakery in Greylyn Business Park near the school. Shelley has also contacted Target, Carowinds, and the Hornets. Adrienne suggested making themed prize baskets - for example, a basket containing a month of classes at a yoga studio, a yoga mat, and a headband. Becca is creating a letter to send to companies that donate raffle prizes. Lori asked if there is a minimum donation required to add a donating company’s information to our event or our website. Evie suggested possible tiers, and the group discussed the tiers listed: Tier 1 - $250- sponsor name displayed at event Tier 2 - $500 - sponsor name displayed at event, and sponsor name listed on Crossway website as a Crossway supporter for the rest of the year Tier 3 - over $500 - as listed above and may bring marketing materials and/or have a table at our events, name added to a banner at Crossway Academy We discussed advertising the event. Becca has made a flyer and will draft an invitation email. We will send the invitation to teachers, therapists, families, and community contacts, as well as post on social media. Becca will post the flyer on Next Door and Reddit as well. 5. Next board meeting: Monday 6/2/25, 8:30 - 10 am, in person at Crossway Academy We will meet in person next month so board members can tour the school after our meeting, and so that we can meet each other in person. We will have coffee and possibly a light breakfast at the meeting. Respectfully submitted, Charity Karwowski Secretary, The Crossway Foundation Members present: Charity Karwowski (secretary) Evie Berry (treasurer) Beth Philips Lori Keller Shelley Dean Becca Dillard Members absent: None 1. Recruitment update - Charity Adrienne has resigned from her position as TCF Board VP. Charity spoke to Payton Landy this morning. Payton is very interested in board participation. She works for Walgreens, recently graduated from business school, has experience on other boards in the past, and has tech skills. Charity has contacted Figu, who is also interested in board membership. He is a faculty member with the Queens University MBA program. He and Charity have not spoken yet. Charity sent resumes for Payton and Figu to the group to review. Shelley and Lori may try to arrange a visit to Crossway Academy/ Pediatric Therapy for board members and potential board members who have not yet seen the school. 2. Scholarship discussion We did not receive any new scholarship applications last week, when we extended the deadline by another week. We discussed clarifying questions to ask the scholarship applicants to help make our final decision. Becca will send these questions to the applicants via Google Form, to be completed by this Thursday 5/8/25 at 3 pm, so the board can make a final decision on scholarship recipients on Friday 5/9/25. Clarifying questions include: 1. How much money are you requesting, up to a maximum of $2500? 2. Is the money a scholarship, or a loan to be repaid once you receive grant funding in the fall? 3. Do you receive full or partial grant funding? 4. Is your account with Crossway in good standing? 5. Can you share your family’s current financial situation and how this scholarship would impact your ability to access the program? (This allows the family to discuss any special circumstances we should consider regarding their application.) 6. Have you explored other educational options? What challenges have you faced in finding the right support for your child? Previously we had discussed doing phone interviews, but Evie suggested collecting this information via email, and Becca offered to create a Google Form to send to families. Evie suggested that the group could handle loans separately from scholarships, and the group agreed. We could potentially provide loan money over the $10,000 budgeted for scholarships since it will be repaid to the Foundation in the fall. Shelley has information from Kenzie regarding full versus partial grant funding to send to the group. Evie asked if any other families have an outstanding balance and should be encouraged to apply. Lori mentioned one family (Alessandro), but the family did not submit their application last week. 3. Finance update - Evie Evie and TCF former treasurer Brian met to discuss the TCF finances and transition the TCF finances to her. Brian was very helpful. He will continue to write checks for TCF when needed for now until Evie has access to the TCF bank account and PayPal. Brian shared how to track donations as well as tax information for the foundation. Evie is using some of her business contacts to try to get assistance transitioning the account to her. Lori shared that she and Becca are tracking smaller donations such as donations from the Art Walk. Donations via Square are deposited directly into the foundation account. Lori said we currently have a cash and check donation to deposit. Ceci had the deposit slips for the TCF account. Charity will try to contact Ceci to get the deposit slips. Becca is sending a donation letter to anyone who makes a donation to TCF. Evie suggested that we encourage donors to use their employer’s match program when available. We can provide donors with TCF’s EIN # to give their employer. 4. Fundraiser/ social event We have cancelled our Edge City Brewery event initially scheduled on 5/10/25. We discussed other possible dates, and Charity will contact John with suggested date of Sunday 6/8/25, 1-4 pm. We discussed playing bingo at the event and getting raffle prizes, such as gift cards, Carowinds admission, tickets to local events/ performances. Lori will contact Soccer Shots, who donated a gift basket in the past. Evie shared that companies that provide raffle gifts can use their donation as a tax deduction. Donating raffle gifts will also provide brand recognition for companies that participate. We discussed possibly making T shirts with logos of sponsors/ raffle gift donors. The group decided there is not enough time to do this prior to the 6/8 event, and we may consider this for a future event. Evie suggested possibly making a cap, which would not require sizing like a t- shirt. Lori will network with some local construction companies as possible sponsors. Becca will invite businesses from the Greylyn office park where Crossway is located. We can make flyers/ boards with names of sponsors/ raffle gift donors to thank them. Any funds raised will be general funds for the foundation (not restricted to scholarships). We could consider specific information about what a donation covers. For example,
consent. We may need a new consent specific for TCF. We have an article in the Giving Guide for the Charlotte Business Journal and could consider printing some copies of this to have at the event. We have a promotional video for Crossway, and Lori speaks about the Foundation at the end of the video. We have a QR code for donations to the TCF that can be used at events. Lori and Shelley will help obtain raffle prizes. Becca will help with bingo game. This will be an end of year celebration event in addition to a fundraiser - Crossway teachers, therapists, and families will be invited, as well as TCF board members and other community members/potential donors. 5. Next meetings: Friday 5/9/25, 9-10 am (vote on scholarship/ loan recipients; may also vote on inviting Payton Landy and Figu to join board for next meeting in June) Monday 6/2/25, 12-1 pm (will need to discuss Edge City Brewery event details) Respectfully submitted, Charity Karwowski Secretary, The Crossway Foundation Members present:
Charity Karwowski (secretary) Evie Berry (treasurer) Beth Phillips Shelley Dean Lori Keller Becca Dillard Members absent: Adrienne Campolmi (VP) Charity motioned to elect Lori Keller as the board’s interim executive director for the next 6 months (through 10/28/25). Evie seconded this motion. The group voted 3/3 voting members present to elect Lori Keller as interim executive director for the Crossway Foundation. The group discussed scholarships. The previous board members voted to distribute $10,000 in scholarship funds, divided into four $2500 scholarships. We have not received as many scholarship applications as anticipated, so the scholarship deadline has been extended to 5/2/25 at noon. Lori will make sure the board members receive all applications to review prior to our next scheduled board meeting on Monday 5/5/25. Lori and Shelley provided some additional information to consider when choosing our scholarship application finalists, including whether the applicant is receiving full or partial grant funding to cover their tuition at Crossway, and whether the applicant’s family is seeking a scholarship versus a loan to cover the tuition costs during the summer months, until they receive grant funding in the fall. Beth asked how we will know which families have full versus partial grant funding, and Lori and Shelley said that they can get this information from Kenzie. We discussed that the previous scholarship application was lengthy and was simplified to eliminate some medical history information (birth info, NICU history, etc), but we may need to consider adding back in some more detailed financial information in the future. We may need to do a parent interview before making final scholarship decisions, including information about full versus partial grant funding, scholarship versus loan, specific amount of money requested, and any special circumstances that apply to the family (for example, one family has had additional expenses recently due to a parent’s cancer diagnosis). Lori updated the group that tuition expenses run July-June each year, but grant money is not distributed until September. Charity mentioned that at least one applicant (Baxter family) requested $750, less than the previously discussed $2500 scholarships. Evie discussed a possible timeline for the scholarship decisions. Applications are due by Friday 5/2 at noon. The voting board members will review the scholarship applications prior to meeting on Monday 5/5, noon-1 pm. We may need a week to make any follow up calls to parents and hope to select scholarship recipients by Monday 5/12. Charity provided an update on recruitment. She has contacted two potential board members recommended by Shelley (“Figu” Oscar Barzuna-Hidalgo and Payton Landy), who have both expressed interest in board participation. She will follow up with them and continue to contact other potential board members. Shelley also suggested contacting Jill Wegner, who is interested in board participation and has experience in childhood feeding concerns. Evie and our former board treasurer Brian will speak this week to transition the financial information to Evie. Charity received debit card information from our former board VP Bob Kunik today and provided this to Becca. Bob will give Charity the physical debit card sometime in the next 1-2 weeks. Lori updated the group that the recent Art Walk / Silent Auction at Crossway has raised $1435, assuming we are able to collect the money that was bid on art work. The group will meet again on Monday 5/5/25, noon-1 pm, with discussion of scholarship applications as the main agenda item. The group will tentatively plan to meet the first Monday of each month, noon-1 pm, so the next board meeting will be 6/2/25, noon-1 pm. Respectfully submitted, Charity Karwowski Secretary, The Crossway Foundation |
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