Member CAP Board Meeting Minutes
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Member CAP Board Meeting Minutes
Zoom Meeting
February 19, 2025
Attending by Zoom: Kathy Catanach, Michele Granger, Susan Hunt, Linda Johnston, Rob Schain
Attending in person: Kerry Walton and Mary Wills
Absent: Scott Fishman
Presiding
Mary Wills called the meeting to order at 8:02am
1. Review of Board of Directors Meeting Minutes of January 15, 2025, Minutes.
Motion adopted: to accept the minutes as modified. (unanimous)
2. Treasurer’s Reports for M/E January 2025 Financials.
a. For the month of January, account balances were up, most of it from the investment portfolio. We took in about $1,100 in donations.
b. The finance committee met with Chris from Flax Pond Capital. Chris noted that the account is up since we moved our funds there in April 2024 and this compares favorably to a certain Vanguard mutual fund that he uses as a benchmark for CAP.
Motion adopted: to accept the January financials as presented by Rob. (unanimous)
3. Visitation – Mary & Kerry
Mary reported that there have been two new visit requests since our last meeting. One was from Heritage in Falmouth. Kerry and Mary met with the Heritage activities directory and took a short tour of the facility. There is a small room and an open area just outside the room where the residents could visit with our dogs.
The 3rd Monday of each Month at 3:00 pm would work well for them. We would start March 17th, if the BOD approves.
Motion adopted: that we proceed with visiting at Heritage in Falmouth on the third Monday of each month at 3 o’clock. (unanimous)
The second site is Recovering Champions in Falmouth. According to their website, it is a drug and alcohol treatment program that specializes in substance abuse and co-occurring disorders. It is not a residential program, about 20-25 people would be there for our visit. Mary and Kerry are scheduled to meet with their activities director tomorrow to learn more about their program and the facility. Mary will report to the BOD after the visit.
4. Children’s and Specialized Adult Program – Susan Hunt
a. Susan reported that one-time visits are averaging about 5 a month, this number of visits makes scheduling
and recruiting teams difficult.
b. List of new Visits
• One-time Visits:
2/2 8 am to 12 pm Mass Special Olympics basketball games, Riverview Sandwich
3/8 1 – 2 pm Hyannis Country Garden Pet Nutrition Program
3/14 6:30-7:30 CAP Informational Presentation ,Waquoit Church.
3/15 Time TBD Waquoit church Resource Fair
3/27 5-7 pm Falmouth Schools Health Fair Falmouth H.S.
3/31 10:30-11:30am Mullen Hall School – memory group first visit Falmouth.
4/5 11-12 am Falmouth Library Tales to Tails – Falmouth.
4/1 12-3 pm Cape Cod Academy Tales to Tails – Osterville
4/21 3-4 pm Whelden Library Tales to Tails – West Barnstable
4/23 10:30-11:30 am Truro library Tales to Tails and Presentation to Truro COA.
4/28 10:30-11:30 am Mullen Hall school – Memory group second visit, Falmouth.
4/30 11 am -12pm 4C’s Aviation Day Program – Plymouth Airport
4/30 4-5 pm 4C’s Aviation Evening Program – Plymouth Airport
There was a consensus to accept the one-time visits as noted in the agenda by Susan.
• Monthly Visit
2nd Fridays starting March 14th Community Connections South, Yarmouth.
Motion adopted: that CAP visits 2nd Friday starting March 14th from 9:30 to 10:30 at Community Connections South, Yarmouth. (unanimous)
5. Membership Committee (MC) Update – Linda and Kerry
a. Linda reported that she sent the thank you notes for the donations to the AGM and those made in Lauren Lavender-Johnson’s name.
b. Kerry reported that the new directory is at the printer. She ordered 125 copies.
6. Marketing and Development Committee
a. Development – Mary
• The ad that we used last time for the CAP presentation has been modified for the March 14th presentation. A Press Release has been written and will appear in all four newspapers beginning this
week through March 7th. There will be a sign-in book that will have several questions for each person, including how people heard about us.
• Mary will write the January yearly appeal letters.
• We have not received a donation from Cape Cod Healthcare, as promised. Susan suggested that Mary write to Michael Lauf to follow up.
b. Marketing – Kerry
• There was a discussion about updating the CAP logo so the BOD could give the Marketing & Development Committee guidance for their next meeting. After some discussions there was a consensus
of the following suggestions (see example image).
a. The shape of the logo would remain a circle
b. The lettering would include CAP (above the circle), Therapy Pets (within the circle above the image), Companion Animal Program (within the circle, below the image).
c. The image would include three dogs, but no cat.
• After this discussion Mary mentioned that we should consider using a more updated image. For example, a dog’s paw with human hands. She encouraged members of the Marketing committee to look at the logos of other dog groups to learn how others have updated their logos.
• There was a consensus that we should hire a professional to generate the logo after we decided what we want.
7. Training Committee (TC) Update – Mary
a. The Falmouth class started January 9th, 2025. Three students are scheduled to be evaluated on February 20th. A fourth student may also participate.
b. The next class in South Dennis is scheduled to begin April 9th, that in Falmouth (with 5 students) will begin March 20th.
c. Both Barbara Stephens and Ellen Varnerin have both been approved as AKC CGC Evaluators.
d. The next CAP presentation is scheduled for Friday, March 14th at WCC from 6:30 to 7:30. We will schedule one in South Dennis in April, once we are confident that a class will be held.
e. Six teams are scheduled for recertification before the next board meeting.
8. Newsletter and Website – Michele and Rob
a. Michele mentioned that the next newsletter will be out early next month. The President and Vice-President’s
address will focus on how to attract new teams.
b. Rob and Michele have been working on updating the CAP website.
c. Rob mentioned that there is still a problem signing up for a class.
d. Mary said that Scott has investigated Hubspot & Hootsuite further. He thinks that the basic version of Hubspot would not meet our needs and thinks that Hootsuite is more aligned with CAP’s needs. He with start a 30-day trial.
• https://www.hootsuite.com/
9. Miscellaneous
a. Barbara Stephens’ brother is giving a presentation at the National conference on Juvenile Justice (NCJJ) in Boston on March 18th. Her brother is giving a talk about how animals help reduce stress (His title is below). He would like a few CAP members with their dogs attend his talk to provide examples of therapy animals.
Motion adopted: for three or four dogs and their handlers to attend the Juvenile Justice Meeting on March 18th to provide examples of therapy dog behavior. (unanimous) Three people offered to go to the talk with Barbara.
Meeting Schedule:
CAP March 2025 Board Meeting – Zoom March 19th 8:00 to 9:30 am
CAP April 2025 Board Meeting – Zoom April 16th 8:00 to 9:30 am
Post meeting addendum: Title of LNCJJ talk we have been asked to attend.
Creature Comforts: Including Animals to Reduce Stress, Fear and Anxiety in Children and Adolescents Involved in the Court System and Beyond Judge Charles Stephens, II and Amy Binder, EdD
Respectfully submitted,
Kerry Walton, CAP Secretary