Johnson EATS

Johnson EATS Committee Monthly Meeting Thursday, January 15, 2026 6:00 pm, Masonic Temple Basement (Temporary Library) ALL ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND - WE ENCOURAGE COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION Board Members (P=Present; A=Absent) Pam Jaspersohn P Kate Riley P Jasmine Yuris P Diane Lehouillier P Charlotte Roozekrans P Gregor Novakowski Jesse Whitworth P AGENDA 1.​ No Additions or Changes to the Agenda 2.​ Voted unanimously to approve Nov. Minutes 3.​ Communications a.​ Email lists and folders i.​ Remade mailing list to avoid spam ii.​ Here’s the official members only address: johnson-eats-official@googlegroups.com iii.​ Jesse making the new folder for business b.​ TO DO (Jesse): Finalize mission and vision statements c.​ Brochures (criteria discussed again - can be revised every year) i.​ Bill will tell Adrienne the file is ready for the design - form and content: 1.​ Needs to be visually stimulating - e.g., photos 2.​ she’ll have ideas about what else is happening with other brochures of this sort 3.​ can each farm have its own QR code or does that get unwieldy? 4.​ link to a google profile (can help them if they don’t already have them) ii.​ QR code will be created for an e-version of the brochure, hosted in our google drive and will be on the printed poster and brochure (Jesse will make QR for Bill to give A) iii.​ Needs to print and copy - Big Graphics? Not cheap but good and they’re in town (they have 10% non-profit discount) iv.​ How many? Depends on cost? 4.​ Treasurer’s Report - Lotty (Rosemary leaving in March) a.​ Oven i.​ Rosemary shows we have: $1986.57 BUT ii.​ Some expenses not showing up yet (e.g., Elmore Mt dough) and shows no donations past August…  iii.​ Tend to have a running balance of $1500-2000 (allows for expenses such as musicians) b.​ Community Meals - needs access to the financials for this i.​ $4500 in donations start ii.​ VSC meal was $2800 iii.​ Oven meal was $600 iv.​ VSU was not free but VCRD paid for it v.​ What’s left? $1100 c.​ Leftover money from the Reimagined process (beyond the $600) is apparently not available to us d.​ Should we merge community meals and oven accounts? Yes, Rosemary can do this before she leaves in March e.​ How can we do a better job of keeping tabs? MOTION by Jesse, seconded by Pam, to make Lotti the one who collects, submits, and keeps track of all invoices, receipts, reimbursements, etc., (passed unanimously) 5.​ Community Meals a.​ Meeting with Dane - Pam, Bill, Kate, and Jesse plus Anne (PTO) and Larry (kitchen) i.​ Dane eager to make food connections 1.​ PTO does meals e.g., fall Harvest and 3/20 bingo pasta dinner (all invited, no interference with the 3/19 event) ii.​ Parent-teacher conferences setting for this first meal 1.​ March 18 @ 3-6 (conferences from 2:45-6:30) 2.​ Fair booth set-up a.​ games - e.g., skiball (Dane eager to do this with staff) b.​ food resource tables (e.g., food shelf, meals on wheels, salvation farms, General Store, Footebrook, Pizza oven, Johnson EATS with sign-up for new interest) maybe with finger food tastes c.​ Taste test booth? 3.​ Eat-in or take-out meal: a.​ soup/salad/bread (all gluten-free but bread) i.​ 3 soups (meat, veggie, vegan) – GMTC [Meals on Wheels] ii.​ Breads GMTC [Two Sons, Elmore Mt.] iii.​ Salads (cabbage/apple slaw) - GMTC, Larry [Footebrook] iv.​ [Sugar on snow] b.​ Need to source/buy ingredients – SF? Footebrook? General Store? Hoof n Hay? c.​ Involve GMTC Culinary School students to do prep and service (start with Anne and Dane making contacts; Lotti also knows someone) d.​ Pull in others such as Summer (MoW), Two Sons,  e.​ Larry said he can handle hot plates and other utensils f.​ JES students (when not at conference with parents) – service opportunity and school ambassadors g.​ Staff will be available to orchestrate h.​ Entertainment - kids’ ensembles would be good but too much to organize this time; instead ask Doug, Roland, Joy… i.​ Dane will handle PR j.​ Numbers? 300 for other school family events i.​ We’ve had 100-150 for our past meals so maybe inviting whole community would be too much for this meal iii.​ Other possibilities - 1.​ end-of-year (June) Carnival with pizza oven 2.​ afterschool cooking (culture through cuisine, chemistry) workshops 3.​ School garden and outdoor classroom 4.​ Taste tests for math 5.​ Making meals at school monthly…? b.​ Next steps i.​ Contact GMTC (Anne and Dane [know Kelly? and Charlotte?]; Lotti&Jasmine will follow up (e.g., Emily Snodgrass) ii.​ Bill and Pam: Contact Doug Boardman and Roland (and Joy) for music iii.​ Kate: contact for informational fair booths: SF, MoW, Food Shelf, Footebrook 1.​ Don’t ask yet about food (taste tests/treats at the tables? Food from SF for soups? Food from Joey for salads…) 2.​ Volunteer list for Johnson EATS iv.​ Bill: Send follow-up note to Dane v.​ Dane zooming in to EATS next meeting c.​ Plan for future consistent meals i.​ VSC once a year (great with storytelling) - but most expensive ii.​ VSU twice a year iii.​ JES monthly…? 6.​ Discussed fundraising needs a.​ Ask VSC (Liz), VSU (student’s group), JES, about funding our activities b.​ Consistency (monthly at school?) will make it easier to apply for grants (and donations) c.​ Grants (see below) 7.​ NOFA VT Winter Conference Feb. 14-15 (5 passes @ $25 - 3 left for Saturday) 8.​ Grants (VCF, Discover Johnson, FAHC…) a.​ Reviewing Grant Resources – (see Val’s sheet also) i.​ Jasmine reached out to Morna ii.​ Jasmine connected w VT Comm Foundation  iii.​ VTElectric - $1000 for the meals…who will do this? iv.​ Concept II - easy also v.​ Healthy Lamoille Valley vi.​ Ben&Jerry’s rolling grants b.​ Need to look at them all and start a google doc for creating some common verbiage 9.​ Other Business a.​ Town meeting representation – have a table - volunteers for that 10.​Food Shelf a.​ Dee said Dorigen is requesting help with soliciting donations - mostly about doing the distribution b.​ Kate will invite Dorigen to come to next meeting to discuss 11.​FOR NEXT MEETING: Future Foodscape Dreams i.​ Sunday Farmer’s Market? ii.​ Workshops for the public? And other educational connections (JES, VSC, VSU, library…) iii.​ Community gardens on RR Street? iv.​ Deeper connections with Green Mountain Tech Culinary Program 12.​All in favor, say “bye”