BREAKFAST WITH SANTA FOUNDATION
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, JANUARY 21, 2021 – ZOOM MEETING AT 7 pm.
- WELCOME by Maria Esteves – Happy New Year and may this be the beginning of a safe and productive year without so many worries about the pandemic we have been living for the past 10 months.
- ATTENDANCE: Maria Esteves, Henry Esteves Tenci Leite, Alfreda Zaher, Samir Zaher, Seny DaSilva, Imran Hasan, Ann Boyd, Eddie Suliman, Teresa DeLuca, Teresa Caliminici, Elena Galvin, Cathy Wheeler, Susan Prophet, Sandy Pitts, Sharda Sukdeo
- REGRETS: none
- REVIEW AGENDA: Maria asked if there is any foreseen conflict of interest from any of the Board Members and/or voting Members. No conflicts, All approved unanimously.
- Meeting proceeded as a quorum was established as per By-Laws.
- Maria moved to approve the Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of January 23, 2020. Seconded by Susan Prophet. All in favour. Moved unanimously.
- A great big welcome to Eddie Suliman who is returning as a Board Member with the unanimous vote of the Board of Directors. Eddie will be holding the office of Executive Director as she has been very engaged in the Foundations’ mission and vision especially in 2020. Welcome! E-mails attached herein.
Maria moved to accept the Board of Directors resolution by vote (emails attached herein) on January 15, 2021 to elect Eddie Suliman to the Board of Directors as Executive Director. Seconded by Ann Boyd. All in favour. Moved unanimously.
A great big welcome to Sandy Pitts who is joining our Board of Directors. Welcome Sandy!
Maria moved to accept the Board of Directors resolution by vote (emails attached herein) on January 20, 2021 to elect Sandy Pitts to the Board of Directors as Member at Large. Seconded by Teresa Calaminici. All in favour. Moved unanimously. - Message from the President – should be up on our website within a few days. Board of Directors and Members should have received it already via email. Should anyone attending the meeting require a copy, please contact Alfreda Zaher, Secretary.
- Approval of 2019 Financial Statements. Due to Covid and all the restrictions imposed, the federal government extended the deadline for filing until the end of December 2020 thus the delay of our filing after the usual deadline of June 30th.
Motion to Approve Financial Statements for year end of 2019 as presented by Maria Esteves. Seconded by Tenci Leite. All in favour. Moved unanimously. - TREASURER’S REPORT – Samir Zaher –Projected Budget for 2021 was emailed to Maria Esteves by our Treasurer on January 21, 2021 for review. Budget is being reviewed by Maria Esteves. Imran Hasan moved to defer the Treasurer’s Report to the next Board Meeting ( to be announced). Seconded by Ann Boyd. Moved unanimously.
- Maria emphasized it is with great pride Breakfast With Santa Foundation acknowledges the City of Mississauga’s support as we are a Registered Group under the Community Group Registry Program.
- We acknowledge the Emergency grant received from Second Harvest and FoodRescue.ca in the amount of $10,000 in order for the Foundation to be able to hire a contract driver (on-call basis) to ensure donations were safely and promptly picked up and delivered as well as for food rescue.
- Maria congratulated Susan Prophet for her nomination for Mentor of the Year by our partner of 20 years M.P.I. Toronto Chapter.
- Thank you to Sajjad Hanif for having helped us out filing our CRA return for the year 2019. He is not able to continue as our Accountant. Therefore, we need to find someone who will take on that position.
- Due to Covid19 we were not able to find a lawyer to amend our By-Laws as per previous Board resolutions. We need to concentrate on doing so this year. We need to have a grant for payment to a lawyer.
- VisuFund Christmas Tree Campaign as a success! The donations were $1,080,00 in one month! Suggestions were to continue this campaign, for Family Day, Valentine’s Day, Easter, etc.
- Other donations were received via Benevity and CanadaHelps.org. Maria shared statistics on our donations though Benevity.
- In the Spirit of Thanks-giving and Merry & Bright Christmas Mississauga Contests were a success and we will continue as annual events. There is an opportunity to turn these events as fundraisers as well. To be discussed.
- Going Forward – Maria addressed the year at a glance:
- Website Visufund Food Bank Stand (up to a total of 53 donations can be received
- Other website Visufund Campaigns throughout the year on an on-going basis
- Benevity has 3 campaigns listed: Backpacks 4 Kids – Coats 4 Kids and Toys 4 Santa’s elves (we pretty much exhausted our reserve of toys). These campaigns will be addressed.
- Amazon Fulfillment & Amazon Logistics – Baby Layette Program (program we can reach to hospitals, shelters, food banks, schools, Salvation Army, Children’s Aid
- Hampers for families
- A Morning With Santa Christmas Breakfasts will see a new and innovative ‘A Morning with Santa’ at The Christmas Market for 2021
- Imran Hasan was asked to check with the Fire Department and Police Department if they would work with us on toy donations.
- Acknowledgement of 20 years partnership with MPI, Toronto Chapter
- In Kind donations
- Food Rescue – Maria Esteves mentioned we need to concentrate on rescuing perfectly good food that is being discarded. We shall observe all rules and regulations but we can make a very big difference in rescuing and delivering to those who most need it.
- Other businesses – Maria shared testimonials from families
- Elena Galvan – shared testimonials and on the very positive impact Breakfast With Santa Foundation and its programs, especially the Christmas hampers and Toys, made in the lives of Brian W. Fleming Public School’s families
- No other business.
- Meeting adjourned at 8:09 p.m.