Northwestern Lehigh Veterans Memorial Committee

7911 Kings Highway      New Tripoli, PA 18066

610-298-2645

Meeting Minutes – July 30, 2022 – REVISED

Present: Justine Bachman, Steve Bachman, Richard Bleiler, Donald Christ, Willard Dellicker, Harold Handwerk, Ron Jerdon, David Keller, Terry Rehrig, Nancy Zellner

Donald Christ called the meeting to order 9:05 in the Lynn Township office.

1. 1. MINUTES: The May 18, 2022 Minutes were accepted. Motion by D. Keller, 2^nd Handwerk

2. 2. TREASURER’S REPORT:

• Total cash donations since project start $323,753.58, Memorial Account balance $22,723.05 as of July 29, 2022. Motion to accept S. Bachman, 2^nd Rehrig
• Bill Wenz said the cost for the granite pavers is $18,378 which is his cost from the quarry. This is almost $10,000 less than his estimate of $28,000.
• All of the expenses for the memorial have been received from our suppliers.

3. WEBSITE: https://nwlehighvetsmemorial.org.

• Memorial Day dedication pictures and highlights added
• Coins for sale $20 ea.
• Memorial Design and Construction TAB populated with construction pictures through May 2022.
• Fundraising is shown at 89% of $525,000 cost.
• Illicit use of our website to test stolen credit cards through Stripe was detected and stopped on July 3rd. None of our donor’s cards were involved. Additional security measures to take credit card donations were implemented to prevent this from happening again.  The committee has no further responsibility to victims of the stolen credit cards.
• Dellicker will compose a letter to send to school districts in Lehigh County inviting them to consider planning a field trip to visit the NWLV memorial.

4. NEW NAMES FOR ENGRAVING:

• 64 new names of veterans have been submitted since the dedication.
• 27 names were submitted by Slatington Legion from their cemetery lists that need to be validates as possible adds.
• Bill Wenz said each new name will cost $250 to engrave on-site.
• The committee discussed adding new names and decided to make December 31^st the deadline for adding names for Memorial Day 2023.
• In the future December 31^st will be the deadline to submit new veterans for engraving each year into the future.
• Justine Bachman will design a form for people to request a veteran’s name to be added to the memorial.
• Social media, our website and email to existing donors will be used to communicate the process to submit new names for engraving.
• The committee discussed how the engraving and memorial maintenance cost should be shared among the committee, Townships and the people submitting new names.
• Motion: Committee shall determine an annual maintenance cost for memorial upkeep that will be presented to the four Townships with a request to provide funding in their budgets. Motion by D. Keller, 2^nd Bachman
• Motion: The Committee shall develop a fundraising campaign with a goal of $50,000 to add new names before Memorial Day 2023. Motion by D. Keller, 2^nd Bachman

5. DISCUSSION ITEMS:

• Christ will talk to Lynn Township to determine how much the committee owes for memorial construction and soft costs.
• Christ will also discuss security cameras and property insurance for the memorial with Lynn Township.
• A second printing of Souvenir Booklets was discussed. Dave will get a price from the printer for cost and minimum quantity.
• No need to send out additional thankyou cards to people who helped at the dedication.
• We will not have a booth at Night in the Country or Allentown Fair this year.
• A Drive Thru Event will be planned for Veterans Day November 11,
• Ron Jerdon was asked by the committee to stay on as an advisor for his expertise and community outreach, Ron graciously agreed to continue serving.
• Fundraising ideas were discussed. Golf Tournament, 8 Oaks event, Wine and/or beer fest in the Park, Raffle Tickets and Run/Walk event.  It was decided to approach 8 Oaks (Steve) and Olde Homestead
• Next meeting, we should begin planning for a Memorial Day Program.

6. ADJOURN: meeting adjourned at 11:05 Motion by H. Handwerk, 2nd D. Keller

7. NEXT MEETING:

• August 19, 6:00 PM, at the Bachman’s home.