April Meeting Recap

Thanks to everyone who came out for April’s monthly club meeting.  We had an excellent turnout, especially considering the last minute change of location.  A special thanks to Ian for hosting us again and on such short notice.  Another special thank you to everyone who brought out beer for the night.  I think there were more kegs of beer at last nights meeting than I have seen at a monthly club meeting in quite a long time – so good work brewing and sharing the beer!

Here is a summary of the items covered last night at the meeting for those of you who were unable to attend, couldnt hear us, or drank a few too many and cant remember what was covered:

  • First, we issued our new Associate’s Cards to everyone in attendance who has paid in full for this calendar year.  The new cards are awesome – they are thermal printed PVC cards like you would get issued from Costco or the AHA for example.  This card entitles you to discounts at local businesses.  Currently we have two discounts in place – 5% off at Culver City Home Brew Supply and 10% off @ City Tavern in Culver City.  As we are able to gather up additional discounts/benefits for memberships we will post about them here on the blog or you can click on the menu item above under About > Benefits to see a current list of club benefits.  If you have not paid your dues yet please do so ASAP so you can get your new card.  The only way to redeem said benefits is by presenting this new PVC ID card, last years cards will not be accepted.  Thanks again to Ramesh and Tad for putting this together for us.
  • We had to do a last minute change of venue this week, which was unfortunate.  There is a newish Q&A issued by the ABC regarding home made wine and beer and where you can serve these items.  Unfortunately one of the items on that list made it illegal for us to share our homebrew at Smog City, so we made the call to cancel that location for last night and move to Ian’s.  Right now it is very important for you as a homebrewer to understand the law so that you dont expose yourself to legal issues.  Here is a link to the new Q&A.  Also note that in this document it lists homebrewing demonstrations as illegal.  Thanks again to Kingsley for rallying the troops to a new location and to Ian for hosting.
  • Last night we held our vote to ratify the bylaws presented to the club last week on this blog.  The vote was nearly unanimous (the only nay being Dean – who wrote the bylaws – because he wanted there to be at least one nay).  This is really great news for our club and is the first official step towards our march towards non-profit status.  The Board and I will file our articles of incorporation as soon as possible and continue through with the remaining paperwork towards our goal of becoming a 501c3 Non-Profit club and filing for Tax Exempt status with the IRS.  A special thank you to Dean for the amount of work he put in to create these bylaws is needed – if you can buy the guy a beer sometime you should.  Another special thank you to the club associates who spent the time reading through the document.  Its not a fun read, but a lot of you spent the time and we all appreciate that.
  • We handed out the LAAW & PG Cask forms last night and many of you filled out your special ingredient forms.  For those of you who did not get a chance to fill out the forms before the end of the night, you can email me @ President@pacificgravity.com and I will send you an electronic copy of the form to be filled out.  For the next iteration of this event we will switch over to using a google doc so that it is 100% online.  If you are interested, please try and get your form in to me no later than Friday May 2nd.
  • The Summer Party will most likely be held on July 26th this year at Dean’s house.  We should know in another month or so if this is date is 100% set in stone.  There will be more information coming at next month’s Club Meeting regarding planning and organizing this event.
  • Lastly, as I mentioned at the March meeting and last night, we have been asked to provide donated homebrew to an event on May 17th in Manhattan Beach called “Bite at the Beach”.  This is a non-profit event which allows us as homebrewers to donate our brews to be poured.  I am really excited about this event.  If you look at the website you can see our logo on it up front.  You officially have one month until this event and I would like to get an idea of how many of you are interested in donating beer so that I can let the organizers know how much homebrew to expect.  Please email me @ president@pacificgravity.com to let me know if you are interested.  I will be bringing 10-15 gallons of beer with me for the event – many of you approached me last night saying you would be donating beer as well – which is awesome.  I will follow up this post tomorrow or Sunday with a single post dedicated to this event.

Cheers everyone!

Brian

Club Bylaws – For all Club Associates to review!

Everyone-

As discussed at last month’s club meeting at Culver City Home Brew Supply, the board has been working towards creating a draft of our club bylaws for all associates approval.  This is the first step in a potentially lengthy process towards converting the club to a 501c3 Non-Profit with the state of California and ultimately filing for tax exempt status with the IRS.

Please review the attached document and come to next week’s meeting at Smog City Brewery in Torrance prepared to vote to approve or reject the attached bylaws.  So to review, we WILL be voting next Thursday April 17th at the club meeting, please review this document prior to the club meeting.

Cheers and I look forward to seeing you all next week-

Brian

Pacific Gravity Bylaws.v2.04-01-14

Remember to Review the Bylaws!

Happy Friday PG members, thank you all for your interest and feedback regarding the bylaws.  For those of you who still have feedback, questions, or suggestions, please submit them to bylaws@pacificgravity.com by Thursday May 3rd.   Our bylaws committee, helmed by Dan Hakes, has worked hard to create a solid draft that is the first step towards our club gaining legal non-profit status.

Please also remember that only members with active status will be able to vote on adopting the bylaws, so if you have not paid your dues yet, this is the time to do so!  If you are not sure about your status, please contact our Treasurer, Craig Corley at: treasurer@pacificgravity.com

If you have not received a copy of the bylaws draft, please send us an email (bylaws@pacificgravity.com) so we can get one out to you ASAP.

Cheers!

The Bylaws are coming!

At the Pacific Gravity Homebrewers Club meeting last night it was announced that there is a draft of the new By-laws going out to all members in good standing (that means you have paid your dues).  So watch your email and look them over.  Please direct comments and questions to bylaws@pacificgravity.com.  Please be ready to vote on the Bylaws at the May meeting.

After the bylaws are approved, the bylaws committee will take up working on the Pacific Gravity Charter.  If you are interested in getting involved, contact us at bylaws@pacificgravity.com.

I would like to thank the committee for their hard work in this matter.

REMINDER: Bylaws Committee meeting at Dan’s this Sunday – call for participants.

Greetings, all.  This is a friendly reminder that the newly-formed Bylaws committee will be havng their first meeting this Sunday the 12th at 4pm at the beautiful home of Dan & Ann Hakes’ – 2379 21st Street, Los Angeles.  For those who’ve never been there, right-hand turns from Arlington Avenue are not possible, so it’s best to go all the way up to Washington Blvd, make a right, and then circle back around to 21st Street via Cimarron Street.

One of our most important goals this year is to finalize an official club bylaws document, which will allow the club to become a legal entity with non-profit status.  Stated simply, bylaws refer to the guidelines under which an organization, its board members, and its general membership operate and conduct business.

We need the input of a wide selection of club members – from the oldest to the newest – to make this bylaws document as relevant as possible relative to where the club is today and where it’s going in the future.  If you’d like to be involved in this process, please plan on attending this meeting, we’d love to have your input!

Please send an email to bylaws@pacificgravity.com and let us know if you’ll be able to attend. Thanks for your time.

By-Laws Committee Meeting

The Pacific Gravity By-Laws Committee is launching into the new year!
All past committee members are invited to participate as well as any other interested Pacific Gravity member. We can use your input, especially if you have any prior experience in this type of process.
I will be chairing this committee and plan to have monthly meetings until the By-Laws are completed.
The first meeting will be held on Sunday, February 12th at my house, (address below). Start time will be 4:00 PM. Please RSVP so I have an idea how many people will be attending.

Dan Hakes
2379 W. 21st Street
Los Angeles, CA 90018
323-203-5089
danhakes@mac.com or bylaws@pacificgravity.com