VSPChannel Meeting
March 5, 2015

The meeting was called to order on Thursday, March 5, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. by VSPChannel Chairman, Glenn Towery. The meeting was held at his home at 1994 Dresden Cove, Round Rock, TX.

Introductions were made of those in attendance which included:

Glenn Towery
Juanita Towery
John Spahr
Steve (Jay) Johnson
Andrew OʼBrien
Collin Hulbert
Chris Van Loan
Michael White
Matthew White
Vanessa Bogans

A new addition to the VSPChannel, Andrew OʼBrien, was introduced. Andrew, a veteran of the Iraq war, is an international speaker on Veteran suicides. He has been featured on numerous television shows and news broadcasts. He also speaks at military bases here at home and abroad. Andrew lends his expertise to the group in getting help to stop the rising number of veteran suicides per year. He has also agreed to be one of the spokespersons for the VSPChannel. Glenn Towery announced that we received our 501 c 3 status letter from the IRA making us an official non-profit organization. He also gave a project report on the channel shows as follows:

1. Two episodes of the “Chef Dad Sow” have been completed.
2. The interview with Dave for the show “Tai Chi with Sifu Dave” was completed.
3. The “Luster Hair Show” footage has been completed.

Michael White gave a report on marketing techniques and crowd funding, giving line item detail as to what needed to be done to make this event successful. It was decided by the members that the official launch of the crowd funding will be in 6 weeks. Glenn Towery estimated our goal to be $300,000.00. Michael researched and shared that the best days to start crowd funding was a Tuesday or Wednesday. Members agreed that social media would play a crucial role prior to the launch. Ideas to help in this endeavor included; setting up emails to collect veteranʼs stories, hit PR web for press releases, using Google.com or Mail Champ to develop online VSPChannel newsletter, production of a promo, determining levels of gifts and rewards, and using Indie Go-Go site for funding. A Launch Party will be planned for the kickoff. The members also discussed getting corporate involvement prior to crowd funding launch, of which Andrew was  familiar and offered suggestions. Glenn reported that he had a list of corporations who donated large sums of money to just causes. It was also suggested that a blanket email be developed and distributed explaining the VSPChannel and its goal.

Music master, Matthew White, astounded the members by reporting that VSPchannel will have the support of the Austin Symphony Orchestra in terms of musical support and donations. He reported that 87 musicians have volunteered their involvement.

Members were given assignments to report on at the next meeting to be held Thursday, March 12. The assignments were as follows:

Glenn – Work on the language for the crowd funding message and schedule video for the crowd funding for Friday, March 13.

Glenn & Juanita Towery – Research, find a financial institution to open a VSPChannel account to support crowd funding Steve – Set up social media access to get the word out on info and crowd funding for VSPC ( twitter, Facebook, etc.)

Michael – Marketing report after meeting with other members working on marketing

Andrew – Organize military bases to help with crowd funding and contact corporations and business for early donations

John Spahr – Develop and write bylaws for the VSPChannel

The group was happy to see that Collin Hulbert has rejoined the VSPChannel as their sports news anchor. Yaaay!

The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m. and a celebratory party followed with a cake to acknowledge our status as an official 501 c 3 non-profit organization!

Juanita Towery, Secretary
VSPChannel