Meeting Time/Location: 9:30 am/Cascades Camp & Conference Center

Attending: John Prouty (President); John Tissell (Vice-President); Jeff Wolf (Recording Secretary); Keith Olson (Treasurer); Tom Moline (Camp Director) and Bud Olson (Member at large).

Opening Meditation/Prayer: John Tissell (Phil. 4:4-9) "Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice."

Agenda Approved: John Prouty discussed the agenda which was approved as presented.

Financial Secretary Report: John Prouty reviewed the emailed finance report which was approved.

Treasurer Report:

• Keith noted that there is a balance of $0.08 in the Smith Barney account. John P. will close out the account.

• The board voted not to replace $2,000 taken from savings reserves for the 2003 scholarship distribution since there is an adequate savings balance of $933. This was done to allow the scholarship fund to grow.

• Keith presented the 2003 fiscal year report (thru 10/31/03) and the 2004 report for November 1 through January 9, 2004.

•Keith/John P. wrote checks to distribute recent donations as follows: AEC- $200; KICY- $100 and Village Ministries-$270.

Project Committee Report:

•2004 Missions Project- Harold will mail a postcard reminder in February to all 2003 retreat attendees to request that pledges be sent in for the Camp Gilead project.

•Alaska- John T. discussed potential Alaska projects as noted below. He will contact Alaska staff by March to verify needs and then publicize projects.

ACC- Possibly a new dining hall?

AEC- Completion of a 3^rd dorm for which the foundation was placed in 2003?

Jeff discussed pending projects at Cascades as follows:

•Park Benches- Jeff will prepare an article for publication in the conference news to setup a volunteer project to construct a dozen or so benches at work parties this spring. The work dates will most likely be March 13, mid-May and possibly another in early June.

•Bunk beds- Tom requested (5) bunk beds for the new log cabin being completed around the March timeframe and (5) more for a second cabin planned to be completed in May/June. Note that we have (5) remaining beds stored in the shop. We need to verify that all pieces are there and still useable. Need to cut a minimum of (5) more beds using templates stored at John T’s. garage. The work party dates are tentatively set for March 13 and early June to coincide with the park bench work parties.

•1917 Steam engine locomotive restoration project:

•Portable Bar-B-Que Pit:

The project is still on hold. The completion date is set for May 2005 in time for the 4^th of July camp salmon barbeque.

•Camp Board Report: Tom noted that a project manager has been retained for the Train Camp construction project and work will start as soon as the permit is issued.

Old Business:

2004 Retreat Planning-

•John P. to prepare the publicity package for the 2004 retreat. We will distribute it at the NPC annual meeting on May 1. John will discuss the retreat topic with the speaker and include it in the publicity package.

•Revise Bylaws- John P. discussed that we need work on revising Bylaws. We will check the Bylaws for the SE Conference CovMen and NPC CovWomen for reference.

New Business:

•2005 Missions Project- John P. discussed possibility of contributing to the Cascades capital campaign as the 2005 project. There would also be a retreat offering for Alaska missions.

•2004 NPC Annual Meeting- The date is set for April 30 and May 1 in McMinnville, OR. John P. will contact pastor Mark Larson at the host church to verify whether they can assist with the Saturday morning CovMen breakfast. John P./Jeff will prepare a promotional flyer for the breakfast to be included with the annual meeting package to be mailed to attendees. We will plan on approx. (30-50) men at the breakfast. The menu is tentatively set as: hotcakes, eggs, sausage, fruit, coffee, milk, juice and oatmeal. The CovMen annual report will need to be submitted by late March so it will need to be approved at the March 13 board meeting.