Young Adult Advisory Team NOTES
MEETING 5/1/10
MEETING
SAINT PAUL, MINN.
Young Adult Advisory Team
Present: Reba Bisciglia, Abby Huebsch, Jorden Taveirne, Heather Vargo, Gabriel Walz Absent: Vinnie Floeder, Paula Minell
Scholarship Events: Name for the Events: Catholic Aid Scholarship Barbeque Possible Giveaway Items: Coffee tumbler with twist on/off lid that is leak proof. Carabiner Stainless steel water bottles Hand sanitizer key chains Flash drives – 2GB/4GB or more USB hub Tool kit Post It notes First aid kits Music for Scholarship Barbeque: Pandora.com. Other suggestions: John Mayer, 80’s, etc. Heather will look into portable speakers and will talk with the Marketing Department or Abby Huebsch about it. Abby Huebsch will work on ice breakers for the barbeques.
Council Programs: Catholic Aid revamped our youth programs in 2009. We increased funds for the programs. However, we have not seen increased use of the programs. Why? Ideas about why? Some of the communities are elderly and there aren’t a lot of young people in the community. Parishes lack strong youth programs. Youth ministers are too busy to incorporate these youth programs. Young people are too busy for church and church activities. People just don’t know about the programs. The group believes that there should be increased marketing of the youth programs to youth ministers, religious education coordinators and to the youth themselves. Since the youth programs are limited to parishes that have Catholic Aid councils, the councils should make themselves known as a resource. Also, the home office should increase marketing of these programs to parishes that have councils… not just rely on the councils to promote and start using the programs.
Membership Meetings: The Young Adult Advisory group talked about the upcoming membership meetings (regional
gatherings/celebrations). We reviewed the goals and tentative schedule that was distributed by Kathleen Moriarty to the Fraternal Advisory Committee on April 29, 2010. The group said that it would be likely that they would come for the service project. After looking at the tentative schedule, the group said that it seems like families might be more inclined to go to an event like this (as opposed to young adults attending an event like this). This event may draw more high school students than young adults because young adults want a way to network and building long lasting community. Ideas that the group offered: Make it more like a carnival where you can walk around and get to know other. Consider marketing this to youth groups and confirmation candidates that need service hours. Consider making fleece tie blankets to give to a local shelter because people can talk with each other while doing the activity which creates a sense of community. The group expressed concern about the service projects that have an ‘assembly line’ feel to them. They said that the assembly line does not create a sense of community. Military outreach might want to be marketed as helping men and women serving abroad as opposed to anything referencing Iraq or Afghanistan. Maybe more of a ‘Support our Troops’ thing. The group proposed that maybe the event should be on a Sunday. Catholic Aid might want to consider starting with a Mass and continuing the event afterward with a lunch and other activities. People are much more likely to stay at an event than come to a separate event. Consider having an afternoon/evening concert with a local band.
Convention: I asked the group if they would like to come to the Catholic Aid Annual Convention with the understanding that it is purely a business meeting. I said that there is a possibility of doing a service project at the convention and the group thought that they might want to get involved with a service project. The group will not all be able to attend the convention, they will check their schedules and let me know. However, the group would like to make a short video to introduce them at the Convention. The group would like to possibly play it at the general session, but, also, have it streaming throughout the day. Abby Huebsch has the equipment necessary to make a video. I will coordinate with Abby and other members of the team to get video footage of the Young Adult Advisory team. The group may also create short videos about our Catholic Aid youth programs to post on the website.
Baseball Events: I presented the team with the game schedule for the minor league baseball games this summer. Each member of the team indicated their preference for attending a game. They said that it depends on who else (if anyone) from the group is attending.
Social Outing: (Pending approval from Kathleen Moriarty) The team would like to go to an evening Twins game. We will go out to dinner or go to my house before the game for dinner.
Roundtable: Gabriel Walz brought up the idea of having a Foundation grant for young adult and youth group materials. Also, we discussed the idea of having a lending library of youth and young adult materials to be used by churches or other organizations.
Sales to Young Adults: Tom Schisler, Director of Sales, discussed with the team about the obstacles of selling to this age group. Tom asked the group how to market products to this group. The group emphasized doing YouTube videos that are two minutes or less and switching screen angles every 8 seconds. Thank you to Mike, Tom and Claire for coming to the meeting and greeting the group. The group really appreciated meeting other individuals from Catholic Aid. To: Harald Borrmann, Deb Gephart, Mike McGovern, Kathleen Moriarty, Tom Schisler, Cassandra Voyda, Steve Wendorf CC: Young Adult Advisory Team Signed: Heather Vargo