Meeting Minutes

10:30am Call to order: Bas, Kim, Kimberly, Shereen, and Summer in attendance

Ordered drinks and food

Officers talked about load-in plans for Rose City Comic Con, including what we need to order last-minute for our booth, including linens for use as curtains and extra jewels for our House points glasses. Who needs to bring what from their storage and if we want to do a drawing for a pair of Yule Ball tickets during RCCC.

Bas has mailed our name change amendment to our articles. Summer chose her official title as Secretary and her SPEWW title as Back-Up Witch. Kim chose her official title as Treasurer and will figure out her SPEWW title soon so we can update our other paperwork, including our bylaws. These titles were agreed upon by the other officers present.

11:10am Summer nominated Kimberly as new Head of House. This was seconded by Kim and agreed to by Bas & Shereen.

The current bylaws have been gone over and officers agreed that aside from titles, they didn’t need to be changed at the moment.

Officers quickly spoke about Yule Ball ticket prices, on-sale date, and countdown on our socials.

11:40am: End of meeting

12:05 Call to order: Bas, Kim, & Shereen in attendance

Ordered beverages

Bas is stepping down as Deputy Headmistress. Summer expressed interest in joining the BoG. Bas put it up to a vote and Summer was unanimously voted in pending acceptance. Shereen texted Summer to extend the invite and it was accepted (1:30pm). Title to designated at later date.

Reviewed all formal paperwork to be changed and/or filed with the appropriate agencies annually, including Change of Name form, Conflict of Interest, and Bylaws. Shereen voted 2-to-0 to be added as official representative on all paperwork, including change of address.

Owners on organization paperwork will shift to BoG members from Bas and Brandie. Bas will update business registry with these changes and send to board for e-sign.

Discussed updating and re-filing our bylaws with Sec of State. Will also update our folder in Google Drive with all official paperwork, so as to be accessible by all BoG and Heads of House.

Reviewed our mission statement and decided to keep as is.

Will update Conflict of Interest paperwork to reflect name change and annual meeting to review and sign paperwork to vote/confirm and continue serving on the Board with SPEWW. Will also update Bylaws to reflect name change and new Board titles to be agreed upon before the end of the month, when we will have another BoG meeting to finalize paperwork on August 31st.

Shereen suggested a new page added to our official website where all of our meeting minutes would be added, as they should be public record, but not necessarily in a blog post format.

2:15pm: End of meeting

Officers discussed Wizarding Weekend and what was successful and what could be improved in 2026. We looked over the numbers and made the decision to give a check in the amount of $3200 to Rose Haven, along with all the school supplies we collected. Bas will write a check to give to Shereen, who will deliver both in the next two weeks.

We discussed some of the items Shereen has secured for the Yule Ball’s raffle and what we might be able to add to them to make them even better.

Rose City Comic Con is coming up and we discussed adding electricity for our booth for the dragon and lights. Shereen will take care of that this week. She will also contact Fern Exhibitor Services about obtaining more passes. Bas, Summer, and Shereen will be setting up as much as possible on Thursday and everyone will be on-hand Friday to finish set-up.

Bas let the other officers know that she would, officially, be stepping down as Deputy Headmistress effective immediately.

The officers also, briefly, discussed doing a crafternoon and finding a venue to host us, as well as a banned books event.

7:30pm: End of Meeting

5pm Call to Order: Bas, Jaime, Jessie, Kim, Mikayla, Shereen, and Summer in attendance

We talked about Yule Ball and our final numbers. We made a profit of ~$5178.39 and decided to donate $5,000 to the Marie Equi Center. We have enough money in the bank to use for a deposit on Yule Ball venue for 2025. We’re happy with the Sheraton, but we also want to see if any attendees have issues with it before making the final decision. Summer is going to send out our Yule Ball survey to ticket buyers this week.

We decided to get rid of our silver table linens to make space in storage and save time with set-up. Bas is going to try to sell them, with a significant deal for another non-profit.

Our 3 old white trees are looking sad, so Jessie is going to try to see if she can make one good tree out of the pieces and donate one (or all if they aren’t salvageable for Yule Ball).

We no longer use the pin organizing drawer at our events, so Bas is probably going to buy it from our inventory to use for personal things. We’ll keep the pin display cases to use when we have bigger space at events like Rose City and Fan Expo, so people can peruse while others are in front of pin trays.

After Fan Expo (Jan 24-26), Bas will be taking a few months away to spend her energy on personal things, but will still make sure PDXpelliarmus taxes get done. We made a goal of coming up with a new name before Tax Day. We’ll be making time to have an in-person brainstorming meeting.

We then discussed Fan Expo. We’ll be doing a similar set-up to Rose City. We are looking for pride/rainbow bunting or similar to add to our booth. We’ll change up our prize rules to having the same option of prizes for every non-Harry letter to make it less confusing for everyone. We will still do trivia for House Points. Shereen will be in charge of coming up with questions for each day. We’ll be raising money for Trans Wardrobe Project over the weekend.

Shereen is still checking on Way of the Wand schedule and getting more than 4 exhibitor badges, but as of now, we are on the schedule twice on Saturday for Way of the Wand. Jaime and Summer will be available for those (or only one if we that’s a typo). Jessie and Summer will be available for Sunday’s Way of the Wand. We aren’t changing anything, since we only have two weeks before the show. Shereen will get a booth schedule put together for everyone to fill in when they can be there when she gets an email back from Sydney regarding badges and final show schedule.

7:15pm: End of meeting

4pm Call to Order: Bas, Jaime, Jessie, Kim, Mikayla, Shereen, & Summer in attendance

We discussed last-minute Yule Ball needs, including how to cover for our lack of volunteers during the actual Ball. Volunteers for set-up are plentiful and we are covered for the entire morning, so we can get everything done as soon as possible.

Officers looked at the table set-up, names, and discussed if we needed any urgent items for swag bags. Jaime will be making the signs for tables. We also came up with ideas for what to do with our whole empty table where the group who purchased can not attend. We will give them to option of “donating” the table and getting a tax write-off. If that is accepted, we would like to offer said table to folks from the Marie Equi Center to see what we do.

We also talked about what time everyone will arrive at the Sheraton for set-up. Shereen will be there an hour before she has asked the volunteers to show up, in order to figure out where everyone needs to be.

6pm Call to Order: Bas, Jaime, Jessie, Kim, Mikayla, Shereen, & Summer in attendance

The officers spoke about Yule Ball duties and divvied up the necessary jobs into teams, including ball room/tables, lights & sound, lobby decor, swag bags, catering, virtual Triwizard Tournament tasks + scoring, and photo booth.

We discussed having a Goblet of Fire where we would add all the non-winning raffle tickets and pull for a large prize at the end of the raffles. Suggestion so far is RCCC tickets.

10:30am Call to Order: Aleece, Bas, Jaime, Jessie, Kim, Mikayla, Shereen, & Summer in attendance

Food and drinks were ordered.

Officers met to discuss if PDXpelliarmus would continue as an organization, and if so, how we would change to be less about Harry Potter and more about magic in general. We all agreed that we love this organization and were unwilling to give up doing good in our community in the name of wizards, but that we would change our name to be more in line with that and even less associated with JKR and her views about the trans community.

Aleece voiced that if we were no longer going to be Harry Potter-focused, she would not be interested in continuing to be an officer. Bas let us know she would continue with the organization, but would be taking a hiatus to concentrate on personal things that demanded more of her attention.

We all agreed to take on more responsibility in order to make that happen and still keep the organization running and continuing to throw wizarding-themed events to keep our community coming back to help us make the most impact with charities in the Portland metro area.

11:30am: End of meeting

6pm Call to Order: Bas, Jaime, Kim, Mikayla, Shereen, & Summer in attendance

Food and drinks were ordered

Bas let the other officers know that she had personal things that were going to be demanding her attention for quite some time and she may or may not continue on with PDXpelliarmus, but did not have a firm answer yet. We looked through the list of Yule Ball tasks and duties and all signed up for the things we each thought we would be good at, with others who could jump in and help where needed or for collaboration.

We discussed ticket prices and overhead costs, and suggested charging a bit more for tickets in order to cover those costs and still give a good portion of proceeds to our charity. We also spoke about options for photographers to best capture our Yule Ball vibe. They would need to be great at action shots, as the only still photos would be at the photo booth, which is unmanned and used for selfies.

We talked about what we want the Yule Ball ballroom to look like and how we can achieve that. We all left with new tasks and confirmed we would start looking for tablescape items, photo booth backgrounds, etc.

7:45pm: End of meeting

Officers discussed LeakyCon schedule, booth, and activities. We finally got some info, and learned that we will be in space #1 in the Marketplace, but also that the Marketplace is in the Portland Ballroom. Half of the Portland Ballroom, in fact, so it’s pretty small compared to other conventions. Also, we don’t know if we’ll be on an end or in a corner, so will have to wait for a map to decide exactly what decor/signage we could do.

We talked about what merch to bring, and agreed on buttons, stickers, tote bags, and pygmy puff craft boxes. For the buttons, we could either have a button board, which would mean bringing our cabinet, or putting them in some sort of organizer so we can have several of each button out and only have to refill as they sell. (Leaving cabinet at home and freeing up table space.)

We also talked about getting a riser for our new house glasses, so we can put them two by two inside of side by side. Horcrux Hunt – A few of us are going to meet at the Convention Center this Saturday to take some Horcrux photos. Bas will create a google drive to dump them in so we can start coming up with clues. If you have time to visit the Convention Center in the next couple weeks and want to walk through to look for more, do it!

Pixie Hunt – Bas got us new Pixie antenna and wings, so we will have the old ones as a backup. Because the space will be so compact, that might not be a full time activity after all.

7:30pm: End of meeting

Call to Order: Bart, Brandie, Robin, & Bas in attendance

Accio Books – With the official Accio Books campaign wrapped, we talked about the books we had donated for both Beaumont and Words Alive. Of the initial list from Beaumont, there were only 10 books we didn’t get, and we fell short on our goal of 36 copies of “This Side of Home” by 6 copies.  We’ll be delivering those books to Beaumont later this month.

The books going to Words Alive will be shipped in the next couple of weeks. (Thanks to Robin for the boxes!)  Per the group’s agreement, the House Points reported to the HPA for our donations were given to Hufflepuff, as they were the clear winner of our chapter competition.  I will make an official announcement regarding the final standings on Tuesday.

Harry Potter comes to Kennedy School! On Saturday, Brandie and I met with Beth from McMenamin’s Kennedy School. They will be showing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone on Sunday, July 30, 2017.  Our chapter will be “hosting” the showing, with a costume contest, trivia competition, school supply drive, and raffle.  The movie will begin at 12pm, with the doors opening at 10:45, and the activities beginning around 11:15.

Proceeds from the raffle will be going to IRCO (Immigrant & Refugee Community Organization), and if they have use for the school supplies, they will go to IRCO as well. If not, we will need to find a secondary charity to donate supplies to.  If you have a suggestion, please let us know!

We will also need to gather up raffle prizes! We are planning to have a specialized prize for each House, as well as a Grand Prize.  We will be contacting local businesses for donations.  If you have items of your own you’d like to donate, including HP crafts, we’d love to have it!

Even more importantly, we need volunteers! The Kennedy School theater holds 200, and I’d be shocked if it wasn’t full.  We will need 1-2 people at the raffle/donation drop off table, someone at the door to give out programs, and 1-2 people to assist during the costume contest and trivia.  Volunteers would need to be available from about 10am until the movie begins.  You are responsible for buying your own movie ticket ($4), but they may be other perks.  (See below.)

Participation Recognition – We’ve talked at previous meetings about how to reward anyone who gets actively involved with our chapter. Already, we are recognizing people who have assisted on previous events by placing them in the appropriate Years.  (For example, Morgan Johnson has been to both HEAP events, as well as Fantastic Beasts at the Bagdad, and she attended a meeting, so she is officially a Fourth Year.  Someone who is a member of the FB group but has never participated is a First Year.  Once all the Years are completed, you can pick your own title, such as Katie Anderson, Professor of Transfiguration.)

We are going to add collectable badge ribbons, one for each event. HEAP ribbons will be based on the year attended, rather than the total number we’ve done.  So if you’ve been to both, you can get a HEAP Year One and a HEAP Year Two ribbon.  If this year was your first year, you get a HEAP Year One.  Does that make sense?  We will also be getting “Wizard Activist” ribbons, which will be awarded for cumulative participation.  (To be determined.)

Yule Ball – Yes, we want to make it happen.  We will be researching possible locations and discussing what sort of event we want it to be in the near future.  As we begin to plan, transparency is going to be a big part of what we do.  We discussed and agreed that Kickstarter may be the way to sell advance tickets and gage the level of interest.  We’d love to have an elaborate ball with a hotel partner, waltzing lessons, plated dinner, and live music, but we need to make sure that we could sell enough tickets to cover the costs.

New/Continuing Business: First order of business: Jeff read the press release for the Imagine Better project and we discussed its potential impact on our group.

Second order of business: Discussion of next and future steps for the non-English language book drive.

Immediate Action: –Book recipients: Suzanne will contact ChildrensBookBank.org (Spanish is primary need)

Brandie will contact other HPA chapters in TX, AZ, NM a& SoCal to see if we could do an English for Spanish trade with them

Bas will contact Katie (work with children’s literacy programs)for other potential recipients.  Also will contact IRCO.

–Flyer: Jeff will start work on a flyer for the project. Brandie will help.

–NWFLYA: Brandie will try again to set up a meeting with Stephen, the organizer. Hoping to have a table and book drop off at this event.

–Facebook Group and Twitter account for the book drive: Brandie will set this up. Others will also be made admins of the pages. Volunteers?

–PDX Browncoats tag alongs: Brandie will discuss the possibility of having a book collection at EDCC since she will be hanging out with them for the event. Will they allow us to advertise on their social media?

Ongoing Action: -Create a calendar of cons that we might have a presence at to collect books.

-Possibly purchase a PDX HPA stamp to mark the donated books with

-Brandie and Beka will meet to discuss progress and future plans

Future Action: Book Mooch: another possible way to convert English language books to non-English. Corinne           may be the point person on this.

-Potential community partnerships (responsibility to be assigned at a later date)

–Jeff suggested the idea of creating an Imagine Better Panel for future cons and benefits

12pm: End of meeting

6pm Call to Order: Brandie S., Bas P., Corinne M., & Richard V. were in attendance

Old Business:

Went over topics discussed in last meeting including the different possibilities for future  projects (see Fourth Order of business in 10/5/13 minutes).

New Business:

First order of business: Introduction of new members Corinne S. & Bas P., explanation of what the HPA is

Second order of business: Discussion of first project.

– Brandie presented the idea that the first project be a non-English language book drive. Explained that she has at least two contacts that can help with this, Adrienne L. who is a foreign language book donation expert and Stephen, who is putting on NWFLYA in March, 2014. All in attendance agreed that this would be a good first project. Potentially, project will end with a collection drive at the NWFLYA convention.

-Brandie will make appropriate connections

-Potential for a booth and/or panel at the conference. Corinne and Bas would both like to help if    schedules permit.

-Bas to contact friend, Katie, who is involved with children’s literature projects for the state of  Oregon and who may be able to help with our book drive.

Third order of business: Secondary project.

-Bas presented the idea of a Blood Wars Red Cross blood drive in the vein of the Star Wars vs Star Trek blood collection battle that took place around Xmas time. Maybe HP vs Twilight? Other fandoms?

-Brandie will contact the Red Cross to find out about setting this up. Potential date in April. (This looks like it is an annual event now http://pdxpipeline.com/2011/12/28/portland-new-years-eve-blood-drive/)

Fourth order of business: Recap of The Project for Awesome (P4A)

-Brandie explained the P4A and showed the John Green video announcing that the HPA will receive $50,000 of the $869,146 raised by the Nerdfighters.

Fifth order of business: Brandie’s Basic Rights Oregon birthday fundraiser

-Brandie invited those present (and those not present!) to her birthday party on Feb 8th, which will also be a fundraiser for BRO to support marriage equality in the state of Oregon.

Sixth order of business: Set date for next meeting.

-Sunday, February 16th @ 11am at the Belmont library

7pm: End of Meeting

12:30pm Call to Order: Suzanne V.C., Lily V.C., Britney L., Krissie S., Niels T., Rob T., Jeff C., Brandie S., Bart S., & Beka G. in attendance

Old business: None – first meeting

First order of business: introductions, ice breaker question (Favorite Magical Beast?), and list of fandoms people love.

Second order of business: Introduction to what the HPA is, its origins, and its current projects.

Third order of business: Our goal is to do good works for the community in politics and charity.

Fourth order of business: New ideas for possible projects!
– Christmas store for domestic violence shelter needs culturally specific and non-English books. – Krissie
– Health related projects, immunizations, medicines – Britney
– Staged readings for kids in schools, using the fandoms as the catalyst for talking about real world – Bart
– Talking about bullying using fandom examples. Get involved with community clothing exchange.  – Suzanne
– Northwest Power and Conservation, presentations about climate change – Suzanne
– Basic Rights Oregon signature drive for marriage equality. – Beka

Another meeting in November – announcement to come via Facebook & email.
Saturday before Halloween – Corn Maze trip to Sauvie Island. Facebook invite and email will go out.

1:35pm: End of Meeting