Description: Please join us for the NOLAA Scholarship Golf Outing on August 29, 2010. We will have a great day of golf at the beautiful Cherokee Hills Golf Course in Valley City, OH (www.cherokeehillsgolf.com). The event will include a 4-person scramble, box lunch, and a dinner with refreshments (Draught Beer and Fountain Soda. Awards receptions following the golf. Register now and remember to invite your friends to play. Just click on “Tell a Friend” and you can send them a link to this site automatically. Thank you for your support of the NOLAA Scholarships.

Fees:
Individual Golfer: $125.00, Foursomes: $500

Start Time: 12:15
Date: 2010-08-29

In attendance were 8 Board Members including Pierre Chelala, Joe Khadige, Paul Daher, Henry Nahra, Nasseeb Saadeh, Pierre Bejjani, RickGanim, and Charbel Biri.

Click for full report:  2010-may-board-minutes.pdf

The Board of NOLAA met on Wednesday, April 7, 2010, at the new NOLAA Home. In attendance were 8 Board Members including Pierre Chelala, Joe Khadige, Paul Daher, Henry Nahra, Nasseeb Saadeh, Pierre Bejjani, Rick Ganim, Charbil Biri, and two guests Dick Ganim and Julie Ganim.

Treasurer’s Report: $27,000 is in the checking account $5,100 is in scholarship fund. The Board requested a written financial to be presented in future meetings. Need to start thinking about ways of raising funds to pay for the mortgage and operating costs of the new building.

New NOLAA Home:

· Renovation work is progressing.

· The Board entrusted Pierre C. and Rick G. to make a final decision on the alternate kitchen hood offered by John Harb after evaluating the costs and confirming that it will work within the provided space and that it can be vented to the outside.

· The Board voted to buy 2 more tables and 20 chairs.

· The Board voted to spend $650 on an engineering study for the removal of the corner wall between the meeting rooms.

· Joe K. will solicit proposals for a security/alarm system.

· Joe K. will propose a video/sound system.

Membership Approval: The Board approved Shereen Asmar, Tania Nemer, Jeffrey Kassouf, Deneen Kassouf, Iskandar Choueiri, John Daher, Elias Hazkial, and Boutros Chaloub applications for membership.

MOTIONS:

· The Board passed a motion to accept Nicole Zarife’s resignation and to accept Rick Ganim as Nicole’s replacement on the Board.

· The Board passed a motion to authorize Rick G. to purchase the Board Directors Liability insurance policy.

· Pierre C. asked all Board members to refrain from submitting motions for vote via e-mails. Any matter that requires the Board’s urgent attention must be presented to Pierre C. who will call for a special meeting.

NOLAA Website: Pierre C. expressed his dissatisfaction with the current format of the website; mainly with regards to the ease of navigation. Joe K. will coordinate a meeting between Pierre C. and Marc Simmons, the website curator, to address Pierre’s concerns.

NOLAA Three Year Operational Plan: Joe K. asked the Board members to review the proposed plan and be ready to discuss during next meeting.

Social Activities:

· Gulf outing: Scheduled for Sunday August 29th at Copper Top in Brunswick Hills. The event will be chaired by Paul Daher and George Nassif. Tickets will be priced at $125/person same as last year. The Board thanked Joe K. for his efforts and authorized him to sign the contract after clarifying the “separate times issue” and the playing order.

· Summer picnic: Cancelled due to budgetary constraints.

· Heritage Ball: Date is set for October 23rd. Julie Ganim presented a detailed timeline and checklist of responsibilities and tasks that must be performed in a timely manner in preparation for the event and stressed the need to designate a chair person and to finalize the list of honorees as soon as possible. Joe K. to confirm with Nicole the status of our commitment to the Lacentre facility.

· Poker Tournament: Nasseeb S. will help Joe K. to plan and organize the event. It will require the commitment of 20 persons that must be trained and be available for a two consecutive days event.

General Session: April’s General Session meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 28th. Finger food will be served after the meeting at a budgetary cost of $300.00

Board Meetings: will move to the first Wednesday of every month at 6 pm.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:20pm

The next Board Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May 5, 2010 at 6:00 pm

Annual Lebanese American Heritage Ball
Saturday, November 21st, 2009

LACENTRE
25777 Detroit Road
Westlake, OH 44147

Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Awards will be presented to:

Sister Judith Ann Karam
President & CEO Sisters of Charity Health System
George E. Kikano MD
Professor and Chairman of Family Medicine
Case Western Reserve University & University Hospitals

Click here to see pictures from 2008

For more information, please contact Pierre Bejjani at 216-269-5898 or Nicole Zarife Gove at 440-728-0521

Agenda Format: George suggested updating the board meeting agenda to add prayer before the opening statement. Nicole will make the updates to the agenda template and send it to the new Recording Secretary for use.

Treasurer’s Report: $26,000 is in the checking account and $26,000 is in the savings account. Insurance was paid, $1,800. $5,000 is in scholarship fund.

Building: work has started on the building.

MOTION: by Joe, 2^nd by Nicole; compensation of 5% of the renovation project, with 5% in-kind contribution will be remitted toward general contractor fees. Approved by Pierre C, Pierre B, Henry, Nasib, Joe, and Nicole. George abstained.

Sworn In: Nasib Saadeh was sworn in as a new board member.

2010 Election: Board decided on the following positions for the 2010 year.

President – Pierre C

Vice President – Pierre B

Corresponding Secretary – Henry

Recording Secretary – Nasib

Treasurer – George

Heritage Committee – Charbel

Membership Committee – Nicole

Social Committee – Joe

Finance Committee - Paul

Membership Approval: board approved Thomas Abdow, Elias Fayad, Nicholas Nassif, Michel Soueidi, Lina Soueidi, and Beechara Soueidi membership requests.

Credit Cards: we are now able to accept credit card payments.

MOTION: By Pierre B, 2^nd by George to nominate Dick Ganim as Parliamentarian for the group. Approved unanimously.

Feed the Homeless: Sunday, March 7^th at St. Herman’s House of Hospitality. Nicole will pick up food. George wrote check for $300 for food from Kan Zamaan.

General Session: March’s General Session meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 31^st.

Board Meetings: Considertion to move Board meetings to the first Saturday of every month at 10am.

Operational Plan: current board was given a copy of the Operational Plan and asked to review it and provide feedback by the next meeting.

Directors Insurance: NOLAA will purchase board insurance for approximately $400/year with a $1 million coverage plan.

Renovation Proposal: Rick Ganim joined the meeting and presented a building renovation proposal. The proposal includes several options for renovation the building.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:00pm

The next Board Meeting is scheduled for Saturday, April 3, 2010 at 10:00am

Motions that were proposed via email, after the board meeting.

By Joe, via email on 3/10: Background provided by Joe to the board, regarding the building renovations: Rick was given a verbal directive to begin “The front project that includes the kitchen, opening of the doors, and meeting the City’s requirements to obtain vacancy permits.

The Board of NOLAA met on Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at Aladdin’s Eatery at 6:00PM. In attendance were 7 Board Members including Charbel Biri, Nicole Gove, Pierre Chelala, Joe Khadige, and Paul Daher, Rick Ganim and George Nassif.

Heritage Ball: The board members all received great feedback about this year’s Heritage Ball. It has become clear that next year will focus on some type of exclusive heritage performance. Remember to request spotlights on the dance floor. Mary’s hours for the Heritage Ball were approved. Mary will send an appreciation letter to anyone that gave a donation for this year’s event as well as all Sponsors, Mayor Kleem, Dr. Kikano and Sister Judith – Joe & Nicole will assist with this.

Member Update: Joe will email the members the November and December Board Minutes. He will include a summary of the Heritage Ball as well as a Thank You to everyone that supported it. He will remind everyone about the upcoming Christmas party as well as the City Mission and Feed the Homeless.

Christmas Party: Pierre B is heading this up and George N is assisting. This will be held on December 20^th from 1pm-5pm at Kan Zamaan. Board approved $700 for gifts for the children and $1300 for food. We will have a donation box at the door with proceeds going to St. Herman’s House of Hospitality. We will also be accepting clothing for the City Mission.

Feed the Homeless: December 20^th at 5pm at St. Herman’s House of Hospitality. Need approx 8 volunteers. Army is getting permission to co-sponsor this.

Membership: Mary will track the list of past honorees and send them Membership Forms along with a letter that thanks them for their contribution to the community and encourages them to be more involved with NOLAA.

Building: MOTION by Pierre, 2^nd by George to offer $375,000 with $150,000 down and $2,000/month for 3 or 4 years; and the balance due at the end of 3^rd or 4th year. Approved by all board members present (Rick, Paul, George, Charbel, Nicole & Joe)

ByLaw Committee: Paul will schedule a meeting for next week.

Website: Add a link to the Heritage Ball video that Noel produced - Joe will follow up with Noel to get the link. Joe will work to get the 2009 Heritage Ball Platinum and Gold Sponsors on the website homepage. Platinum should be listed for 6 months and Gold should be listed for 1 month.

Honoree Committee: The Honoree Meeting went very well. The honorees expressed excitement and pride at what NOLAA has accomplished. They agreed to meet with the board quarterly to discuss how we can continue to move forward and build momentum.

Scholarship Committee: We discussed ideas to get the scholarship recipients more involved: giving them each 5 years of complimentary membership, encouraging them to assist with the newsletter committee, hosting 2 events a year that would appeal to this age group.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:30pm

The next Board Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 5, 2009 at 6:00pm.

The Board of NOLAA met on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at Aladdin’s Eatery at 6:30PM. In attendance were 5 Board Members including Charbel Biri, Nicole Gove, Pierre Chelala, Joe Khadige, and Paul Daher.

Honoree Committee: This group will engage past honorees & promote NOLAA. They will help with fundraisers, help increase our membership & expand our network. We will seek their advice and they will work at the direction of the board. NOLAA will host a dinner for the local honorees & the board on November 12^th to see if there is enough commitment to form this committee. MOTION: To establish an Honoree Advisory Committee consisting of past honorees by Nicole – 2^nd by Joe. Approved by Paul and Charbel (Pierre, as president, doesn’t get to vote but was in agreement as well). Prepared agenda for the Honoree Mtg (Opening Statement, NOLAAs Accomplishments, Purpose of the Gathering & Goals, Expectations, Open Discussion – Mission Statement included at the bottom of the agenda)

Heritage Ball: approved the production of a 30 second clip for marketing purposes. Next year, consider doing a corkboard map of Lebanon so guests can put a pin where they’re from.

Christmas Party: December 20^th from 1pm-5pm at Kan Zamaan.

Feed the Homeless: December 20^th at 5pm at St. Herman’s House of Hospitality.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30pm

The next Board Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at 6:00pm.

The Board of NOLAA met on Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at Aladdin’s Eatery at 6:30PM.  In attendance were 5 Board Members including Rick Ganim, Nicole Gove, Pierre Chelala, Joe Khadige, and Paul Daher.

Honoree Committee: The Board is considering the establishment of an honoree committee to assist with advisement.

Building: The board is looking into another prospective property.

Heritage Ball: Mayor Cyril Kleem has agreed to be the MC. In this year’s program, we are going to thank the past honorees that attended (collectively) and do a Year in Review - where we will feature pictures and commentary about what we’ve accomplished in the past year. Nicole will filter out the duplicate addresses in the master Heritage Ball mailing list and send it to the printer so that invitations will go out on Monday, October 12^th.

Heritage Ball Entertainment: Finalized the Band; Classical Trio; Sound; videographer;  Looking into cost of photo/video.

Golf Outing: The event was a success; the Board has established a scholarship fund that will be solely designated for the scholarship awards.

Membership: Joseph Salem and Roland Eid were approved by all board members present.

By-Law: Paul is going to schedule a By-Law Committee meeting in the next month.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30pm

The next Board Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 3, 2009 at 6:30pm.

Heritage Ball: new invitation was presented and the Heritage Ball Committee will decide on it at the next meeting scheduled for 9/14/09. The Board is in the process of confirming the MC. Nicole and James will continue the facilitation of the Heritage Ball.

Feed the Homeless: September 21^st, 11am-1pm at St. Herman’s House of Hospitality. NOLAA will partake in our quarterly volunteering efforts of feeding the homeless.   We need 6 people from 11am-1pm - Joe is going to email the membership to see if anyone is interested in volunteering.

Refund: LACENTRE taxes were refunded from last year’s event. Guardian Title refunded our $5,000 deposit. Picnic raised $1,080 from proceeds collected as the result of the reverse raffle and t-shirts sales.

Membership: The promotion of our organization will remain an ongoing effort to introduce our community to NOLAA and its accomplishments. We will set up a table at the Heritage Ball and put membership forms at the tables.

Golf Outing: Paul and George are working on this - They will have a Texas Hold’em competition at the outing as well as a raffle during dinner.

Building: Rick suggested a continuous outreach effort to members of the community to gain their feedback in respect to their desired long-term vision for this organization.  George echoed Rick’s notion by adding the need for awareness and the commitment from our community to achieve growth.  This will give us a feel for what type of support we can expect from the community.

MOTION by Joe to place an offer of $175,000 for the purchase of a property and land in Strongsville, Ohio. The asking purchase price is $229,000.00.  The motion was approved by: Joe, George, Paul, Rick, Nicole.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:00pm

The next Board Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 6:30pm.