Trivia Day--February 16th Meeting Recap

After having to cancel our February 2nd meeting due to weather, we were all excited to get together again for MOPS!  After everyone had a chance to get some breakfast, I spoke to the group about what it takes financially to make our group function.  Here are some of the points covered in our discussion:

• We have wonderful sponsors, but their contributions only cover 1/3 to at most 1/2 of our total costs.
• All members of MOPS pay a $24.95 registration fee to MOPS international. We do not receive any of this money to use for our individual group costs.  
• We surveyed other local groups and got several responses.  Their group fees ranged from $85-125 (including the MOPS international fee).  Some groups also put a cap on membership and had people on waiting lists to join.  
• Our Owatonna MOPS goal has been to keep the fees to just the required MOPS international membership fee, so that any mom who wants to participate would be able to.  We also don't want to have to get to a place where we would have to limit our numbers due to finances. In order to keep this goal and make it a reality, we need your help.  We did some looking back and found that during our Antiquities fundraiser this fall, only 22% of our members volunteered to take a shift helping check people in for the photo sessions or to pick up pictures.  In addition, only 42% of our members bought a coupon for themselves. The $10 coupon entitled the purchaser to the photo sitting and one 10x14 photo and the entire cost of the coupon went directly to our group.  

After presenting these facts, I asked the tables to work with their groups to brainstorm some ideas for fundraisers that they would support both financially and with their time.  We looked over the ideas at the end of the meeting and saw a good variety of ideas! Steering team will talk about the suggestions more in depth at our next steering meeting.  Thank you for listening and for your input!

After that, we moved on to the fun stuff! :)

Joni Biebighauser and I worked together to create the trivia day categories and questions.  The categories were:

1. Cartoon Characters
2. Book Quotes
3. 80's Movies
4. Biblical Heroes
5. Disney Villain Songs
6. Hollywood Parents and Kids
7. TV Catchphrases
8. Amazing Moms

After all the results were in, the winning table was.......STRONG!
The Strong table won the right to eat breakfast first at our meetings for the rest of the year!  They also won an awesome "Trivia Nerd Barbie" trophy that will be kept on their table.  The trophy was designed and made by Brenda Boone. (Thanks, Brenda!) 

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Our "Silver Spoon Award" winner for the week is Kelly Gentz!

Here is a link with the recipe for her winning dish:
http://www.allkindsofyumm.com/2011/10/crock-pot-breakfast-casserole.html?m=1#.Vq-pDLhunIV

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Announcements:

• Mark your calendars for a MOPS Mom's Night Out at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 5th at Christian Family Church.  We will get to enjoy a fun night with games, other activities (maybe some volleyball!), and time to connect with friends. Please bring a dish to pass or a snack to share with others.
• We are planning to hold a garage sale this spring and we need your help.  We have tentatively set the date for April 22-23, but need to check on some things in order to finalize that. Please start collecting items from your home that you would be willing to donate to our sale. We will be looking for baby and kids clothing, gear, toys, supplies, etc. and women's clothing and accessories (maternity and regular).  We will not be including men's clothing or any household items.  In addition, we will need many VOLUNTEERS to make this sale a success.  We will need people willing to take shifts sorting and pricing items, people to work during the sale, and people to help with clean-up.  These fundraisers help our group function and we need your assistance to make it happen!

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Looking forward to our next meeting on March 1st:

At our meeting this week, we will be listening to our own Ann VandeZande speak on the topic of anger. We are so glad that Ann was able to reschedule after our February 2nd meeting was cancelled due to weather! In order to prepare for her talk, Ann has requested that you message her on Facebook with your own specific questions about your own experiences dealing with anger. (Please see her post from February 25th on the Fellowship Hall page.)  There will also be a container with note cards on the front table if you think of something the morning of the meeting.  We're looking forward to a great discussion!

The SPIRITED and JOYFUL tables are on for breakfast and the FIERCE table is in charge of bringing snacks for MOPPETS this week. Please bring an unopened box/bag of snacks, remembering to keep allergies in mind.  Recommended items include Cheerios, Kix, Chex, Goldfish, and Ritz crackers. Thank you!