SABA general meeting discusses upcoming year

November 30, 2021

BY MICHAEL RILEY
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The South Algonquin Business Alliance held their general meeting on Nov. 26 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. virtually through Google Meet. They got advice from Kelly Martin from Total Sports Media on how to proceed with the second edition of their zine, discussed
their organization’s financials, their new website coming up in February, various
action items they needed to respond to or defer until their January meeting.
Pollak thought the meeting went well and was very productive.
Gabriela Hairbedian, the chair of SABA opened the meeting at 9:04 a.m. with some assistance on the agenda from Pollak, who introduced Martin, a graphic design and marketing professional with over 30 years of experience. She was there at SABA member Steve Dunsford’s request to provide guidance on design and layout for the second
edition of SABA’s zine, which SABA hopes to have out by the end of April,
2022.

Martin gave them guidance on lowering the cost of the production of the zine by capitalizing on advertising revenues, and shopping around to get a better deal
on printing costs than they were able to realize with the first issue of the zine.
“I think this is really well put together. I really do. Kudos to whomever did those graphics. It’s very well put together and I like it,” she says.

SABA’s first zine, called “One Fine Day,” was the idea of SABA member Loretta Neil, and contained maps of the South Algonquin area, articles written by locals about the area’s history, a tribute to the last fishing guide in Algonquin Park, Frank Kuiack, and exclusive content readers would not find anywhere else. It was a huge success and really embraced by the community.
At the time, Pollak said that the title, “One Fine Day” captured the idea that the community has many stories to tell about one fine day in the community’s past or present, while also speaking to tourists that visit the township, so they can experience one fine day in South Algonquin.
For the second edition of the zine, which SABA hopes to have out by the end of April, 2022, they hope to streamline the design process and make it more cost effective and organized while increasing advertising revenues and optimizing the inclusion of advertisers into the second zine. Martin provided suggestions to facilitate these changes and said she would be very interested in working with SABA on the second zine. Pollak was similarly excited about this prospect.
“When Steve [Dunsford] suggested you might be able to talk to us I was very eager to talk to you. I think we can make this a permanent fixture in the community if we can find a way to get through the layout problems that we had. If I can find someone who knows what they’re doing, it won’t be as painful,” she says.
Martin says she has access to various Adobe products like In Design, Photoshop and others, that would make planning and executing the design and layout of the second zine easier than the last one.
Next, SABA went through their action items. They said they had sent letters of support to South Algonquin Township council about Ed Lentz’s projects; to expand the beach and to put in historical signage at Tom and Mick Murray Park in Madawaska. Pollak said they would get in touch with Lentz in February or March to get this going.
SABA also put out a renewed call for volunteers. Anyone interested in volunteering with SABA can get in touch with them by emailing info@mysouthalgonquin.ca.
SABA member and previous chair Evelyne Lesage talked about the Lemonade project with the Algonquin Lunch Bar in Whitney. The Lemonade Project was established by
SABA in response to the first COVID-19 lockdown and initiates community conversations that focus on all the good that exists in South Algonquin. As part of this initiative, the
Lunch Bar has agreed to provide hot chocolate, coffee and cookies for revellers at the Santa Claus parade in Whitney on Dec. 19. They’ve also agreed to do the same for the Winter in the Wild Festival coming up in Feb. 2022.
With regard to the bingo licence application, so that SABA can have weekly Bingo games to contribute to their fundraising goals, there had been no progress at that point, so it was carried over to the January meeting.
Next, Hairbedian discussed SABA’s financials over the past year and heading into 2022. SABA successfully procured two grants; a $10,000 grant from the Enabling Accessibility
Fund, to pay for their new website and a $3,000 grant from Community Futures. They also got $563 from memberships. The revenues for the zine, realized by advertising and community members buying pages were a net profit of $1,440.43 after taking out printing costs and postage costs. They also got $457 in donations and a further $66.41 from shirt sales.
Their expenses were; $1,017 for their logo, $2,000 for a lawyer to help them incorporate SABA and $33 to pay for their website domain. There is also a $1,049 charge for insurance that is due in March, 2022, plus other small amounts for service charges and office supplies, according to Hairbedian.
Currently, SABA has $9,227 in the bank, with $7,700 going toward their new website when it is finished early next year. They’ve already paid out $2,300 for the site at this
point. There is $1,527 left after that, with another $700 going toward a new laptop that SABA needs. That leaves $827 left, and they’ll need at least $1,049 by March of next year to pay their insurance. So, that leaves a shortfall of $222 that needs to be made up by next March.
Even with their current financial situation, they decided to contribute $200 to the Christmas giveaway stockings, as requested by Neil. Pollak felt it was a good idea to do so, considering all the support that they have gotten from the South Algonquin community. They felt reasonably certain that they would get in more income through memberships or fundraising by the time that the insurance payment was due, and if not, Pollak said she would make a financial contribution to cover any difference.

Pollak told Bancroft This Week on Nov. 27 that she thought the Nov. 26 meeting went very well, and thinks SABA is finding its feet as an alliance.

“We’re having fewer technical problems with connecting online, so there’s lots of learning happening there. Our regular attendance is growing, which is very important. And we’re covering more ground, more efficiently when we meet, so it feels increasingly productive for the time investment.
“We’re looking forward to an exciting 2022. I was especially happy to meet Kelly Martin, our new contact who will likely be helping with zine issue number two. I’m excited that she will be able to not only help us produce it but show us how to more efficiently finance it as well,” she says. “She brings a lot of skill to the project that we don’t have in-house. We’re going to learn a lot from her, I’m sure!”