December 2025 IW General Membership Meeting Minutes
December 15, 2025
American Legion, Carolina Beach
6 PM Meeting followed by Annual Christmas Party
Meeting called to order at 6:02 p.m.
BOD Members present - Eileen Clute, Julie House, Laurel Gerhat, Terry Merrick, Robin Pleta, Debbie Passmore, Kerri Collins
Total number of members present including the BOD - 54
Thank you to the SEA committee for the nice table set ups!
Welcome to Julia Chien- she joined today.
• Approval of the November GM Mtg Minutes
Motion made by Mel Lombardi. Seconded by Karen Graybush. All were in favor of approval of the minutes.
• Announcements
Mary Kaye will have the clothing at the back of the room at the end of the party. Contact Mary Kaye for pick up if you missed the meeting.
• Angel Tree
Debra S Degalis is collecting gifts for the Angel Tree in the back of the room. Thank you to all that participated.
• Passports
Passports are now for sale. Please see Kerri Collins if you would like one. Please consider buying one and forward on the email that you should have received on 12/11 with information about the passport.
• Purse with a Purpose
They are ready to be distributed. Please meet at 4:30 at Martha’s Kitchen on Thursday, December 18th to help with the distribution.
• Oceanside – 12/16/2025 3-7pm
Oceanside Art and Gifts is hosting an event for IW. There will be food, beverages and discounts.
• DR Winner
Winner of the trip to the Dominican Republic for volunteering at the Trash to Treasures event is Alicia Leo. Wanda Applebee donated a week at her place in the DR. Thanks to Wanda for this and for a successful event!
Shout out to Terri Bose. She is behind the scenes at her computer. She completed the reusable bag design, the passport book, and the redesign of the new rack card.
Thanks to Terry Ruris who made 80 draw string bags for the purse project!
•2025 Highlights
- Reminder about our mission. What are we here for? What is our purpose. We are about volunteering and fundraising so we can give back to the community.
- BOD objectives
- Transparency - crisp clear communications
- Engage volunteers, not just the 20/80 (20% of the people do the work). We still need more people to get engaged in the organization.
- Quarterly meetings with Leadership (Committee chairs and the BOD). Give the leaders the tools they need and create succession plans.
We are on an upward trend!
We had over 4908 volunteer hours logged.
We raised $35K through fundraising and $22K at Bingo. Although it does not run through our books, we also helped raise $21K at the Martha’s Kitchen fundraiser.
The passport fundraiser is still open. Over 200 have been sold far.
The grand total of money raised is just shy of $80K total!
What is new?
- Betterworld. This is the new platform that was used for fundraising. It worked well for some, not as well for others.
- Bank consolidation. We changed banks and have eliminated bank fees and are now earning interest on our reserve accounts.
- Partnerships. You can now log volunteer hours for Masonboro.org and the Senior Center.
- Recognition event for the leadership team. The BOD held a recognition event at Stoked for committee leads as a thank you for all that they did for the organization in 2025.
- New fundraisers. $6K was raised for the e-bike raffle. We had an Oyster roast.
The new fall fundraiser, Island Tasting Passport has been rolled out. Eileen recognized the team for their work.
- Community - the Centennial was new. It was a lot of work, but lots of fun. Eileen recognized the team for their efforts.
- We teamed with the legion to help them start their bingo Program. We continue to have a great partnership with them.
- Easter Jamboree - We had face painting at Mike Chappell Park.
- The Purse With a Purpose Project. We stuffed 80 purses with essentials and goodies. Purses and backpacks will be distributed at 4:30 on Thursday, 12/18 at Matha’s Kitchen.
- An updated Rack card is being printed. The card has information about what IW is about and will be used at our events to promote IW.
Missed Pleasure Island was a big hit. This is its last year. Pleasure Island Needs Talent is the new show and fundraiser that we are partnering with IM. March 7th. We have 10 contestants! Would like 12-15.
Some Highlights (with photos)– not enough time to list them all as we know you are awaiting the start of the Christmas party
- New Member Social- Tammy Neeb moved on. Debbie Scott is now hosting the events at her house.
- The Easter jamboree.
- The Centennial sand sculpture and photo. Janice and Rhonda recognized. IW at the beach for the drone photo.
- Paddles up at the Dragon boat race.
- Pink Tide walk.
- Trash to Treasures -Baked goods. Promotional table. Hats off to Wanda.
- Leadership team recognition at Stoked. That could be you next year!
- SEA committee. So many events. Sip & Shop. The Annual Picnic with a White elephant gift exchange and a volunteer band.
- 12/17 4-6 p.m. Wilmington Victorian Candlelight. Val donated tickets. Karen has them if you are interested.
- From 12/18 - 12/20, the Bellamy Mansion has free to tours in the evenings.
- Martha’s Kitchen BBQ fundraiser. If you receive any Christmas presents that you don’t want, drop them off to Pat Krum and they will be used as raffle items.
• Installation of Officers
Thanks to Gail for her time taking care of the elections! 63 out of 84 voting members cast their votes. Everyone was unanimously elected. The new BOD members will serve a two-year term from 1/1/26 - 12/31/27.
The new Board members were sworn in.
- Susan Hughes, President-Elect. (Absent and will be sworn in at transition meeting.)
- Kathy Becker, Secretary
- Kathie McBryde, Member at Large
- Melinda Bomar, Member at Large
•Christmas Party! With music bingo
A fun time was had by all!
Motion to adjourn the meeting made by Lesley Sloan. Seconded by Karen Graybush.
Meeting adjourned at 6:36 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Laurel Gerhat
IW Secretary