Meeting Minutes: October 2013

​NYC AAZK General Meeting Minutes – Sunday, October 20, 2013

Location: New York Aquarium: Sharks in the City!
Current Members: Robin Sutker, Tom Anderson, Allison Shaw, Joe Nappi, Rob Blakely, Mo Ortiz, Heather Tassler, Mary Gremler, Michelle Medina, Matthew LeBron, Sarina Cella, Tyrone Nickens, Cindy Maur
Future Members: Melissa G, Nicole Ethier, Yang Ting Lau, Leonard A Bille Jr, Adrienne Nussey, Tammy Lam, Kiana Gourdine, Michelle Wu, Mike Camardell, Barry C., Virginia Fioribello, Stephanie Mitchell, Deanna DeRosa, Mike Wrubel, Sylvia de la Piedra, Martha Hiatt, Andrea Reimold, Natasha Karl, Kyle McKenna, Ellen Spencer, Hans Walters,Jillian Dombo, Neil DeMaster, J Elizabeth Clark, Christine Telesco Cancela, Angel R Cancela, Brittany Murphy, Francis Verna, Atu Marshall, Kayla Bergman, Lauren Del Grosso, Erin Mowatt, Brandon Waldron, Angie Coccoma, Hallie Schultz, Cristina Mendonca, Faiynn Goldferb, Christina Williams, Azzara Oston, Tierney O’Neal, Shuli Rank, Kelsey Kovner


Upcoming Events
-      Wednesday, Nov 20th-Enrichment Bonanza at the Bronx Zoo: Join us for holiday themed enrichment making including paper mache and other “presents” for our animals
-      Elections- Please let a current officer know ASAP if you are interested in an officer position starting Jan 1st. We will give membership an opportunity to learn about all candidates and membership will vote for our incoming officers before the Dec 20th meeting
-      Monday, Dec 9th- Holiday Party at Mc Faddens. Join us in celebrating a great year with drink specials and chances to win a free membership for next year.

Report of Finances for BFR- The totals are not yet fully in, but we do expect to make upwards of $4000 thanks to the efforts the Bowling for Rhinos committee with a special thanks to Lora Murphy, Liz Benham and Joe Nappi who were our top fundraisers. A special thanks to our WCS facilities who generously donated animal interactions for the BFR Committee to use as incentives for fundraising!

We are still selling BFR T-shirts!! T-shirts are still on sale! Email us if you want one! Chapter BFR t-shirts are $12 and National BFR t-shirts are $15
      
Committees- If you want to help make NYC AAZK’s events and meeting as fun as this NYA Event, please consider joining or helping a committee! Here are a few of the committees you can join:
-BFR                                                   -National Zoo Keeper Week
-Travel Grant Committee                     -Enrichment Committee
-Girl Scouts Committee                       -and much more!

Main Event- Sharks in the City!
We had a wonderful night of presentations covering topics from shark anatomy to novel shark/ ray training, to WCS involvement with shark in situ research. The presentations were followed by a behind the scenes tour of the NYA’s shark/ ray/ turtle holding pool. A special thanks to Andrea Reimold, Nicole Ethier, and Hans Walters for their great presentations and a special thanks to Lora Murphy and the NYA AAZK enthusiasts who planned such an impressive night!