Monday, August 3, 2026
Johnston County Chorus Board Meeting
Monday, August 3, 2026
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
1001 S. Crescent Drive, Smithfield, NC
Present: Tess Andrews, Treasurer; Ester Garner, Vice President, Fundraising; Skip Haas, President; Sharon Hamad, At-Large Member; Vernon Harkins, Director; Don Johnston, At-Large Member; Bonnie Langdon, At-Large Member; Ron Sutton, At-Large Member; Holly Valovick, Secretary
I. Roll call
II. Approval of minutes with no changes – motion by Don, seconded by Ron
III. President’s report
a. Skip has gone through boxes of paperwork in the storage unit and learned that we need to keep tax returns and nonprofit filings from the time of the chorus’s inception. He provided former member lists to Holly to add to electronic contact list. Skip also found old programs, articles, etc. and will provide those to Suzanne Coates and Cynthia Fox Barney, who are working on a visual history of the chorus for grant purposes.
b. Skip talked to Jamie Strickland at JNOW Magazine, who would like a schedule of our events as well as an interview to publish for our 50th anniversary next year. (Skip noted that our weekly rehearsals are already being published in the magazine.)
IV. Treasurer’s report
a. July 1 balance: $4,662.24; July 31 balance: $2,728.24. One deposit this month: $271 from ongoing Facebook Marketplace sales. Two debits this month: $100 for the storage unit, and $2,105 for the first half of The Clayton Center’s payment for the Christmas concert.
b. Tess provided updated income and expense spreadsheets for August 2025-June 2026 and for July 2026-present. Ticket sales from both concerts and three anonymous donations need to be added still to the 25/26 income spreadsheet.
c. Tess asked our contact at First Citizens Bank (Jonathan) about sponsoring the chorus and is waiting to hear back from him.
d. The Grassroots Arts Program grant application has just opened; Skip will request $10,000.
e. Tess, Skip, and Ron will meet as a committee outside of the full board to plan the 2026/2027 budget.
V. Committee reports
a. Music Committee
i. Vernon and Bonnie have pulled music for the Christmas concert.
ii. Tess has organized Christmas music into the file cabinets in the storage unit.
iii. Rhonda Young has still not returned her music to Bonnie. Holly will reach out to her again.
b. Fundraising Committee
i. Bonnie will attempt to schedule a fundraiser at Pizza Inn in Selma for Tuesday, September 8. It will run from 4-9 p.m., and we will receive 10% of all sales during that time.
ii. Holly will attempt to schedule a fundraiser at Clayton Culver’s for Wednesday, November 18. We will plan to do a fundraiser at both the Clayton and Selma locations in the spring.
c. Sponsorship Committee
i. Updates were agreed upon to the proposed sponsor/donor prospectus with regard to benefits and fees. Holly will correct the original document and print copies for members to distribute.
ii. Sponsor/ad deadlines will be set as November 1 for the Christmas concert and April 1 for the spring concert.
iii. Sponsors will not receive complimentary tickets or advertisements in the program. Ron volunteered to create posters for each of the “Platinum Season Sponsors” to display in the lobby at our concerts. “Gold Concert Sponsors” will all share one poster. We will attempt to display sponsor names on the screen in the auditorium before the concerts start.
VI. Old business
a. Recruiting
i. Per Vernon, Shearon Miller (director of choral music at Cleveland High School) has created a document proposal for participation of local high school and community college students and teachers in our chorus. Shearon will be meeting with someone at JCC to advocate for those students to receive academic credit for participation; potentially, high school students could receive volunteer hours and teachers could receive continuing education credit.
ii. Don will attempt to connect with Sarah McLamb (coordinator of arts for Johnston County Public Schools) to encourage her to disseminate information about the chorus to high school students and teachers.
iii. The board agreed to keep member dues at $80 for the year, with a new student rate of $50.
iv. We need to order more business cards for recruitment purposes.
b. The first half of The Clayton Center fee has been paid for the Christmas concert. Once we have a title and graphic, we can begin advertising/selling tickets.
c. For the first rehearsal on August 17, board members will bring refreshments, and Skip will bring the “human BINGO” icebreaker game. The time of fellowship will last from approximately 7-7:30 p.m. before we being singing.
d. Picture directory: Holly will take pictures of members at rehearsals to add to an online directory in the “members-only” section of the website.
e. Harvest Festival: Skip will procure liability insurance for our participation in the Clayton Harvest Festival on October 24, and Holly will complete the registration.
VII. New business
a. We will plan various events to celebrate the chorus’s 50th anniversary throughout 2027.
VIII. Adjournment – motion by Ron, seconded by Bonnie
The next meeting will be held on Sunday, September 13, at 2:00 p.m. at First Christian Church (1001 S. Crescent Dr., Smithfield).