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The Crossway Foundation - Board meeting minutes 5/9/25, 9 am - 9:45 am

5/9/2025

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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
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TCF Board Meeting Minutes: 5/5/2025

5/7/2025

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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,
  • $150 covers a social skills group
  • $300 covers a week of summer camp
  • $2000 (approx) covers a month of tuition, etc.
We may include pictures and quotes about some Crossway students at the event, with parental
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
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The Crossway Foundation - Board Meeting Minutes, 4/28/25

4/29/2025

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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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About The Crossway Foundation

​The Crossway Foundation in Charlotte, NC, is dedicated to providing crucial financial support and resources to empower students with special needs, ensuring they have access to quality education through private schooling opportunities.
The Crossway Foundation
9111 Monroe Rd. STE 100
​Charlotte, NC 28270

​P: 704.847.3911
​F: 704.847.2033
​Email: [email protected]

EIN: ​93-3929783
  • Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • Our Board of Directors
    • Board Meeting Agendas and Minutes
  • Events
  • Donate
    • Current Campaigns
  • Crossway Websites
    • Crossway Academy
    • Crossway Therapy
  • Contact