Member Meeting Minutes for November 19th, 2023

Called to Order

• The meeting was called to order by Becky Zajdel at 7:35 PM

Attendees

• Becky Zajdel, President
• Kirk Hendricks, Vice President
• Morgan Wable, Treasurer
• Lucian Chapar, Member at Large
• Wilkes Vaughn, Member at Large
• Rob Bedel
• Paul Cauchon
• Quara'e Canady
• Emily Crane
• Brian "Beebo" Esch
• Jim Fialho
• Allison Leamer
• Kiefer Mansfield
• Bryn Miller
• Josh Mauer
• Alex Reasinger
• Alex Roth
• Dean Roth
• Geno Soroka
• Valerie Walch
• Spencer Zacher

New Members or Guests

• XXX

Quote of the Day

“It's not the battles we lose that bother me, it's the ones we don't suit up for.” - Toby Ziegler from 'The West Wing.'

Upcoming Events

https://hackpgh.org/calendar

• It's a slow, holiday week at HackPGH
  • Keep Calm & Carry Yarn aka "Stitchin' Bitches" is this Wednesday at 6pm
    • Related: Hillman Cancer Center REALLY needs "cancer caps." These are knitted or crocheted hats for those who lose their hair from chemo or radiation. Their donations are down to zero right now. If you can knit or crochet, please consider making one and maybe we can bring a box of donations from HackPGH!
  • Happy Thanksgiving!
• November's Shop Clean is next Sunday starting at noon.
  • Please attend! It is part of your member requirements to volunteer two hours a month. If you cannot attend the shop clean proper, PM a board member and we will give you an "assignment."
• The next Game Night is Friday, December 1st.

Organization Updates

• October's events (Vaccine Clinic and Halloween Party) were both well-attended and brought in over $1000 in donations.
• Becky will be taking off a full week from all HackPGH duties to recover from a recent accident. Please contact other Board Members if you have any queries.
• Skedda, the reservation system that we use for the laser and CNC, is removing its free version after the new year.
  • We are finding a replacement either within our website proper or Wild Apricot.
  • We don't want to give a DIME to Skedda.

• CLASSES
  • Kiefer is taking off teaching for the month of December. He will return with a TIG-welding class on a Saturday in January. Date TBD.
  • Spencer's Intro to Woodworking class filled and had a waitlist!
    • Kyle is teaching an Intro to Woodworking class on Saturday, December 16th at 10am. He will be offering a snowman/holiday tree cutting board options. Register now if you are interested! https://members.hackpgh.org/event-5487469
    • Spencer's next two Intro to Woodworking classes are scheduled for Sunday, January 14th and Sunday, February 11th.
  • Geno is teaching his "Learn to Solder an LED Holiday Tree" class on Saturday, December 9th. Register now! https://members.hackpgh.org/event-5496970
  • New classes!
• Jaimee Gaster is teaching a wood lathe class where you can make a pen or a bottle stopper.
  • The first class will be held on a Thursday evening in January (Exact date TBD).
  • The class is limited to two people. We will add dates as demand and Jaimee's schedule permits.
• Marion Zajdel will be teaching a sewing class and teaching students basic sewing machine skills. Students will make a "mug rug".
  • This class will be scheduled when the Soft Arts area is more "complete", most likely the end of January.

Treasurer's Report

• We have $12,750.48. Not bad, considering that we made a few larger payments recently. However, our goal is still to break $15k by the new year!
• Our Autumn Fundraiser has exactly ONE MONTH LEFT! We have raised a little over $2,000 so far.
  • But it's all from one or two members' friends and family. We have water-resistant flyers, a sharable graphic, and an easy way to donate: Text HACKPGHFALL to 707070!
  • Our goal is $5,000 by December 20th (the last day of autumn). One month left! We understand that times are tight, but please contribute if and what you can or share the link with family and friends.
• THIS IS IMPORTANT. We are in a good position but we don't want to have to keep self-funding for things like woodshop improvements and new laser tubes. It also helps us keep our prices low. Contribute what and if you can and at the very least share Hack's fundraiser with your family and friends. Donations are tax-deductible. Donations of $250 or more always receive a receipt, but receipts can always be given upon request!

Shop Updates

• We know that many members wait to pay for consumables, but we have been going through expensive boxes of red bull and candy bars like lightning and we haven't seen many payments.
  • If you owe the shop for your consumables, PLEASE settle your "tab" ASAP. We don't want to put ALL items in the vending machines because they are evil.
  • We received a request to add sugar-free red bull to the mini-fridge. A case will be donated next week from our "Red Bull Guy!"
• Please clean up after yourself every time. Throw away food waste and paper towels. Wipe down work surfaces. Wash your dishes in the sink!
  • On a related note, throw away your used bottled waters (on Friday, a board member picked up 12 used water bottles just on the clean side). Consider refilling empty water bottles using the filtered water in the fridge. We've gone through four cases of water in a week. When it's hot, that's understandable. But now? It's wasteful.
• Parking Permits
  • When leaving a project or large materials in appropriate areas, always use a parking permit.
  • You must completely fill out the parking permit. EVERY time. Every member. No exceptions. Your name, a contact number/email, the type of project, and the date.
  • If you leave a large long piece of wood or metal somewhere and it sticks out beyond the table, please mark it with a piece of bright-colored tape or fabric.
• The Woodshop Build is still in progress.
  • Cabinets (with labels and liners) have been built.
• Soft Arts is about 60% cleaned out!
  • All items are now organized and labeled either in lockers or the black bookcase.
  • We are waiting for the last member items to be removed so we can bring in:
  • Our new two sewing machines, the new soft arts laptop*, a loveseat, and new carpeting. (All donated!)
  • If you use soft arts materials, PLEASE return all thread, scissors, fabric, bobbins, etc. to their labeled containers & shelves. COVER all sewing/embroidery/serger machines. All machines now have a cover.
• New stuff!
  • Jim Fialho has donated two PCs to the shop.
  • We have two new IBuyPower gaming PCs with two large curved-screen monitors set up behind the conference tables. They are VR compatible (and the "broken" PC has been replaced). Enjoy!
  • Becky has permanently loaned the soft arts an Asus Gaming laptop. It will have Hatch Digitizer 3 installed as well as a lot of other helpful software. Do NOT remove this laptop from Soft Arts without board permission!
    • All three computers will have at minimum: CS5 Adobe Creative Suite, Adobe Acrobat Professional, and Office 2018. They're old licenses, but good enough for what we do.
    • The Board is working on getting CAD and animation software.
• Storage Room
  • We are working on selling the EMPTY lockers to make room. Please clean out your locker if you are not using it. If you have bins on the floor or more than one bin in the storage room without permission, please come and pick up your stuff!
• Metal Shop Updates
  • Kirk, Allison, and Valerie will be heading up to Albany sometime soon to get new machines for the Metal Shop!

Recognition for AWESOMENESS

• Jim Fialho for donating two PCs and working on computers as well as organizing the electronics bench.
• Aaron Stein for helping with Hack's graphics, cleaning soft arts, and installing our new antimicrobial, soft-close toilet seats.
• Jordan Rininger for going all Swedish-death-clean on the 3D printing area. It looks great!
• Beebo for putting out the (literal) dumpster fire on Watson Street.
• Greg for machining
  • The A. Chief from No. 4 said there was accelerant in and around the dumpster. Probably illegally dumped gasoline, kerosene, or even hairspray. So... don't throw out anything like that in OUR dumpsters.

Open Floor

• Security Concerns - Rob Bedel
• Rob is securing the doors

Move to Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 PM

Minutes by Becky "The Icebox" Zajdel