Bard Family Reunion Highlights

May 27, 2007

These highlights were created based on the minutes taken during the family meeting.

Reunion Summary

The Bard Family reunion was held May 26-27 at the American Legion Post 167 in Bardstown, KY. Dinner was served followed by activities and games for adults and children.  

Children's games included sack racing, skits, relay races, corn hole, wheelbarrow races, balloon toss and more.  The children performed several skits for all members.  The skits were funny, entertaining and very well done.  A special thanks goes to Andréa and Margaret Allen for making sure all the kids had a great time!

Adult games included Corn Hole and Horse Shoes.   A trophy was given to the winners of the Corn Hole Tournament.  Mr. Brad Cambron and his wife, Missy are the winners or the First Annual Corn Hole Tournament.   Brad and Missy will return next year to defend their championship.  The Horse Shoe event was cancelled due to the late start and lack of time.  The horse shoe tournament will be held at next years event.

The reunion was catered by Lee's Fried Chicken.  Drinks and dessert were also served. 

A total of 79 family members attended this years reunion.

Bard Family Meeting

Meeting lead by Richard Allen

Minutes taken by Mrs. Carrie Pride

The Committee called the Bard Family Meeting to order with open discussion on several topics as follows:

2007 Bard Family Reunion Feedback

Rich asked for feedback as to the notification process and overall coordination of this years event.   The response was positive with several members expressing their appreciation for the hard work performed by all committee members.

 

Coordination Issues with the 2007 Reunion

Rich then expressed his concerns with the planning and coordination of this years reunion including the following:

1. Many members never responded to the committee to inform them if they planned to attend or not.  This made estimating how much food and drink we would need very difficult.  The committee had to guess on the attendance.   The result was the committee over estimated the attendance and too much food was ordered.

2. Most family members pay the minimum donation of $10.00 while some paid as much as $50.00 to $200.00.  There are also a few family members who pay above the minimum donation whether they attend the reunion or not.  For an example, Mr. Bill Bard of Michigan pays $100 every reunion whether he attends or not.  Without him and a few other members who pay more than the minimum we would not have been able to pay the bills.  Rich then suggested we raise the minimum to make up for any future short falls.  The majority in attendance voted to keep the minimum at $10.00 for everyone 18 years of age or older.

3. Games for the children and adults started very late due to family members showing up very late.   The reunion started at 12:00pm, however many members did not come until after 3:30pm.   The committee worked very hard to schedule activities for everyone, but we had to cut some activities out of our program because no one was there to participate and there wasn't going to be enough time to do everything.    As a family, we all need to make a commitment to supporting this important event and making sure our families attend on time.  One event we had to cut due to lack of time and participation was a very well thought out and fun event to help all members young and old to learn more about the Bard family history.

4. Attendance for this years reunion was low.  The question was asked, "why are so many members who are located in Bardstown, no longer interested in attending?"   A number of responses were heard and discussed.   All in attendance agreed to appoint committee member in each city where family members reside in numbers and that person(s) will be responsible for getting members interested in attending as well as encouraging them to make a donation whether they attend the reunion or not.  These members are listed below:

Bardstown - Johnny Cambron, Carrie Pride, Debbie Allen, Sabrina Logan, Shelia Cambron

Louisville - Kathy Garrison

Cincinnati - Rich Allen

Atlanta - Meddy Mills

Michigan - Jesse Burrell

Date for The 2008 Bard Family Reunion

Rich opened the discussion regarding next years date for the 2008 Bard Family Reunion.  Two dates were suggested and Pro and Cons of both dates were discussed.   The two dates were Memorial Day weekend and the weekend of the Buttermilk Days event.   A vote was taken and the majority of members want to hold the reunion during the Buttermilk Days event.  The reunion will be held at the Bardstown Legion Armory.  After the reunion events, members can attend the Buttermilk Days event.  If attendance is low and the event pulls members away from the reunion then we will hold future reunions during the Memorial Day weekend unless a majority of members vote otherwise.

 

Website

Rich asked the family members to please provide information for the website.   We need to recognize family members and highlight our successes.  This is a very valuable tool to encourage family members to achieve and drive for success.  Seeing the success of members can have a very positive affect on our children.  Children need role models and this family has been blessed with many members our children can look up to.  Children also look up to other children.  If your child has an accomplishment please let the family know, no matter how small we all want to know! 

 

Also, encourage your children to visit the website often.  Lead them through the family tree and help them learn of their families history.

 

We need addresses (postal and email) of family members as well.  This helps us keep everyone notified and up to date on future reunions and family.

 

Also, a member suggested the use of a barometer on the family Website to monitor and provide status of donations collected.  This will help members understand how close we are to our financial goal for the reunion.   This is a great idea, however we need accurate head counts on attendance to accurately project a budget for the costs of the reunion.  Please note, this could result in the budget growing/shrinking over time.

Fundraisers

Committees and family members discussed having possible fundraisers throughout the year and during Buttermilk to raise funds to help offset the costs of the reunion.  All in attendance liked the idea of members located in various cities pooling local resources to hold events to raise money.  the 2007 Committee planned a public dance after this years reunion, however attendance was very poor.   Holding a dance during Buttermilk may yield higher attendance for the 2008 reunion.

 

Welcome Night

Welcome Night was held at the Hampton Inn this year.  Attendance to welcome members was very low.   In consideration of the expense of the rental of a conference size room and food, suggestions were made for locals to provide food and a free location to welcome traveling family members.  Places suggested included the Family Center at Bardstown Church of God and the Bowman Cherry Center.   Also most churches offer fellowship halls for free.

 

Reunion Day Dinner

This years dinner cost totaled $419.85.  Several members suggested that local members make dishes to cut down on expenses and traveling members can help by providing plates, utensils, sodas, napkins etc.  It was mentioned that this was tried before at past reunions.   Some members felt if they provided food they did not have to make a donation and was upset when asked to.  Members need to understand, the donation does NOT cover just the food.  The donation covers awards, reunion location rental, toys for children, decorations (table cloths, banners, etc.), games for children and adults.

 

Expense Report

The treasurer (Rich Allen) provide an expense report for this years reunion.

Total Costs: $1,352 (Includes reunion and website costs)

Pre and During Reunion Donations: $1065

Deficit: -$287.00

As shown above, this years reunion was short $287.00.   I'd like to say thanks to those family members who donated more after the reunion to help shrink the deficit.   Also, I'd like to thank the American Legion Armory for the refund of the $100 fee required to rent the facility for the public dance. Due to very poor attendance, Brian Rogers waived the fee.   This will allow us to have approx. $50.00 to use toward next years reunion.

 

Election of Subcommittees for 2008

Lathon Logan, 2008 Bard Family Reunion Coordinator

Rich Allen, Treasurer (Asst. Coordinator)

Carrie Pride, Secretary

 

Awards

The family Historian, Mrs. Kathy Garrison presented the 2007 awards.   Award recipients were as follows:

• Oldest member - Mr. William "Bill" Bard of Detroit, Michigan.

• Youngest member - Missy & Brad Cambron, baby to come in September.

• Furthest traveled - Meddy and Sam Mills from Atlanta

Your Help Needed

Debbie Allen of Bardstown made an important announcement during this years reunion requesting our help for her son, Gregory Allen.  Greg has cancer and is in need of a bone marrow transplant.  We need volunteers to under go a simple test to confirm bone marrow compatibility.  If you live outside the Bardstown/Louisville area, you can have this test performed where you live and have the result shipped back for analysis.  If you are interested in helping Greg beat his illness, please contact Debbie Allen (502)348-4437, debbie.allen@ky.gov.  Lets also keep Greg in our thoughts and prayers.

 

Adjournment