Member Meeting Minutes for October 15th, 2023

Called to Order

• The meeting was called to order by Becky Zajdel at 7:36 PM

Attendees

• Becky Zajdel, President
• Chris McCann
• Geno Soroka
• Brian "Beebo" Esch
• Valerie Walch
• Allison Leamer
• Josh Baringer
• Jim Fialho
• Andrew Pinto

New Members or Guests

• Josh Baringer - he makes German handicrafts. Cool!
• Jim Fialho - Electrical engineer, wants to join the HackPGH community and share his skills!

Quote of the Day

“I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.” - Thomas Jefferson in a letter to James Madison (he wrote it in Latin because he could be kind of a pretentious douche, but the point still stands)

Upcoming Events

https://hackpgh.org/calendar

• It's a busy week at HackPGH!
• Linux Club is this Thursday, October 19th at 6:30PM. Contact Neil with any queries.
• Game Night is this Friday, October 20th at 6:30PM. It's not just limited to board games!
• Our first Intro to TIG Welding class is this Saturday, October 21st. It is full with a three-person wait list.
  • This class filled up in hours, so we scheduled another class on November 11th. Click here to register: https://members.hackpgh.org/event-5449461
  • Sign up quickly as we will be publishing it on Facebook and Meetup within a few days. But we want to give members and those on the wait list first crack. As of today, there are three spots left.
• This weekend is the Vaccine Clinic and its special mini-shop clean. More on that later.
• Mark Gaudio is offering training sessions on Hack's Electronics Bench: use of the soldering & desoldering guns, hot air rework stations, multimeter, and oscilloscope. We had to shuffle dates to illness but PLEASE contact the Board and/or Mark if you'd like a personal training session. We'd like to set it up so that he can teach as many people as possible.
• Kirk will be announcing the next "Shop Build" for the new electric kiln (for pottery), forge (forced air propane), and foundry for member and class use soon.
  • We will attempt to use parts that have been donated, scavenged, and more to assist in the builds.

Organization Updates

• The leak and subsequent flood has been contained and cleaned up. Thank you for those who helped!
• We will be hosting our fourth annual vaccination clinic on Sunday, October 22nd from 1-3PM! It is FREE to the public and the pharmacists can use or look up any insurance or state aid.
  • We have water-resistant flyers (available Monday) that we will be handing out to the shelter next door, pharmacy patients, and any friends and family.
    • We need help making the shop as tidy as possible, so please attend the special shop clean this coming Saturday, October 21st!
• The annual "Hack-o-Ween" costume party will be held on Saturday, October 28th at 7PM.
  • We have tons of Halloween decorations to re-use and we'd like to make money on this party, not spend it. Please spread the word about the party (Morgan is making a flyer/graphic!) and/or donate:
    • A hot or cold appetizer - or even an entrée!
    • A beverage for a crowd (non-alcoholic or alcoholic, your pick!)
    • An item to donate for our silent auction. On deck so far: A pet care gift basket, Dr. Squatch Avengers Collectible Soap Box, Comic Book Gift Bag, and more!
    • Becky will need a list of food/drinks/donations for the auction ASAP.
• IMPORTANT: If we do not get enough interest in the Halloween party, it will be cancelled.

• CLASSES
  • As stated above, we have scheduled a second TIG welding class for Saturday, November 11th at 11am. Sign up ASAP as we will be publicizing it outside the membership soon.
  • Kyle is helping us set up a "make your own wand" class with a coworker of his.
    • Date is TBD as he and his wife are in labor. Possibly literally.
• Beebo will be teaching chainmail classes. Two types (European four-in-one bag and a Byzantine chain).
  • Contact Beebo so we can select date(s) in November/December that suits the instructor and interested students the best.
  • Price: $60 for members, $70 for non-members. Students will leave with a bag, chain, and/or the tool and materials to complete both.
  • Geno will once again be teaching his holiday tree soldering class. Date TBD.
  • Becky's mom "Mern" will be teaching a sewing class where participants will create a holiday "mug rug" made from seasonal fabrics. Date will depend on interested parties.
• (Dr.) Zach Senders and Becky will be scheduling a winter "stop the bleed" class sometime in the late fall-winter.
  • We would like to combine it with a hybrid Red Cross CPR/First Aid/AED class that gets participants certification cards. (OSHA friendly)
  • We need to gauge interest, as the last time we attempted to hold one of these courses the 20+ "interested" members bailed when the (voted) class date was posted. We lost our deposit.

Treasurer's Report

• We have $11,975.10.
• Our Autumn Fundraiser kicked off last week! We have raised about $1,300(ish) from multiple sources thus far. (Note: this is not included in our bank balance).
  • 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). Let's keep going!
  • The fundraiser will benefit:
    • Scholarships for low-income members
    • Supplementing the vaccination clinic (At most a few hundred dollars)
    • Building up our shop including the new computer lab, air conditioning, and other shop improvements.
• 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 are continuing to clean out and organize the storage room and lockers to make room for our new computer lab, although the ceiling and flooding have slowed our progress somewhat.
  • We have cleared out a little over a third of the lockers in the storage room, and Lucian is attempting to sell them so we can make some money.
  • If you have not already cleared out your locker, please do so as soon as you can. If you absolutely need private storage, please do one of the following:
    • Move your locker to the back of the storage room.
    • Consider getting a bin and using that for storage. We have freed up a decent amount of shelf space. We have a few members who have bins on the floor - please clear them out or move them to the shelves ASAP.
• We have two new donations to Soft Arts!
  • Marion Zajdel (Becky's mom) has donated a brand new Brother CS7000X Computerized Sewing and Quilting Machine as well as a two year old Singer Scholastic Sewing Machine. This gives us enough working/new machines to hold classes!
  • The problem now? We need ROOM to hold classes in Soft Arts. Although progress has been made organizing the Soft Arts area, we will need more help organizing and clearing out old materials and projects SOON!
  • If you have been storing anything in the Soft Arts area long-term, please come and clean it up & out!
• Garbage and recycling:
  • We finally have both recycling and garbage dumpsters. Huzzah. Pickups are weekly on Tuesday mornings.
  • If you are at the shop on Monday evenings, PLEASE gather the garbage and recycling and take it outside. Thank you!
    • We have already had locals dump trash and more on our property and dumpsters. We are considering paying extra for a lock. In the meantime: if someone could please drill our outdoor "NO DUMPING" signs onto/into the wall - we have them and Dale asked for this to be done months ago.
• Computer lab updates:
  • Becky got us a new iBUYPOWER SlateMRI7N3601 Gaming Desktop (usually $1300, Hack paid less than $400). And we have a lead on a similar new machine for a similar discount.
  • Jim Fialho has several older machines and parts that he can contribute to the lab!
  • These will allow us to do anything from advanced CAD and animation classes to VR gaming sessions.
  • These machines plus the new OMEN 24L and the other donated laptops & PCs are the beginnings of a pretty nice lab!
  • Alpha and Beta will also be updated soon, we will be getting NPO discounts on software, and the embroidery machine will be getting a dedicated laptop for Hatch.
• Wood Shop Build updates:
  • The platform is half-done. It should be completed within a week or so.
  • From the wood shop leads: Doug is identifying small projects that need to be done to improve the shop and he needs volunteers to complete them.
    • For example, Dean is making a feather board for the table saw.
    • We need someone to tune the band saw.
    • If someone in the woodshop wants to help (or needs to fulfill their volunteer hours), please DM Doug Smith on Slack and he will match you up with a task that matches your skills. Thanks!
• 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

• Chris McCann, Beebo, and Neil for helping prevent the burst pipe/flooding from getting wore and cleaning up.

Open Floor

• Geno has updated the light system and linked it to the #buddysystem Slack channel. It will give members a general idea if people are in the shop.
  • He is working on doing the same on the "dirty"/industrial side.

Move to Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 PM

Minutes by Becky "The Icebox" Zajdel