1-27-25 Villages Hiking Club General Meeting Minutes
Call to Order: President Bob Bogdanoff called the meeting to order in the Foothill Room at
7:08pm with the following Board Members in attendance: Co-VPs Social – Bibi Bruce, Linda
Arbaugh; VP Website – Jim Beyer; Secretary – Cheryl Allmen; and VP Hiking & Trails –
Gordon Carbonetti. Treasurer – Bert Tang and Marisue Cody were absent.
Officer Reports
VP Membership – Bob, representing Marisue, welcomed guests and members with
approximately 46 individuals in the audience and announced that the Club has a total of 350
members with the addition of 4 new members in the last month: Darlene Mears, Ann Hyland,
Pat Hyland, and Mark Thomas. Eleven individuals have withdrawn. New name badges have
been created and Bob indicated if you need one to let him know. Thanks was given to Lucy
McProud who greeted everyone as they entered the room and gave them their name badge since
Marisue was unavailable tonight since she’s caregiving an injured relative.
VP Website – Jim shared that the website is running well and there haven’t been any issues that
needed attention. He encouraged members to visit the Club’s website and enjoy all the photos
and history of the Club that have been recently added.
Secretary – Cheryl announced copies of the minutes from the previous month of November
2024 General meeting were available for review at the back table and website. Lucy McProud
made a motion followed by a second from Wendy Werner to approve the minutes. The
membership approved the minutes.
Treasurer –Bob subbing for Bert projected the reports on the white board and explained the
November and December 2024 financial reports indicating the Hill Land’s Report remains the
same-$2279.72. For approximately 6 weeks, funds were borrowed from this account and added
to the General Account to cover payments for the Santa Barbara Trip until attendees’ payments
were deposited. The borrowed funds were sufficiently returned to the Hill Lands fund so the
December 31, 2024 balance returned to its original $2,279.72. Balance for the General Report
on December 31st is $3,393.76 after donations of $100 each were sent to 12 outdoor organizations
we support and payments were made for the Holiday Appetizer Party expenses.
VP Hiking & Trails – Gordon announced that planning is beginning on the Spring 2025 Hiking
Adventure and the March Trail Maintenance Day. He also added trail sheets to the trails’
mailboxes at their entrances and providing more sign-in sheets also. He encouraged members to
volunteer to lead Rambler hikes outside the Villages as well. He indicated many enjoyed the
Hill hike on January the first, New Year’s Day!! The December Holiday Lights Walk was a lot
of fun and yummy treats were served along with hot chocolate and other warm beverages.
VP Social – Linda reminded the audience of the Soup and White Elephant social scheduled for
Friday, February 7 th at Foothill beginning at 5:30pm. Yummy appetizers will be available before
the guests get to try a variety of homemade soups prepared by the best of Villages cooks. Bring
a fun white elephant gift if you wish to choose a beautiful bagged gift with surprises inside. It
should be a very fun evening so if interested in bringing a soup to share or would like to RSVP
for the event, visit the signup sheets on the table in the back of the room. Hope you read the
recent Villager Newspaper that featured an article and photo of our December 14 th Holiday
Appetizer Party…such yummy appetizers, fun music and singers, and thanks to Carol Baker for
leading our hiking songs, David Bruce for organizing the beautiful music and inviting the
musicians and Ed Knott for a wonderful evening of dancing too!!
President – Bob encouraged members to respond to the Hiking Club’s Annual Survey that was
emailed to the membership and share your ideas so the Board can add some of the
recommendations to our activities and hikes. So far 22 responses have been returned. He also
mentioned there was a 2025 calendar on the table in the back of the room that is a place holder of
dates for the Spring and Fall overnight trips.
Next Meetings: General Meetings Monday, February 24 , 7pm Gordon Carbonetti – African
Safari; March 31 – Jerry Gililland – Yosemite; April 28 – Frank Langben & Nancy Mori –
Birds in The Villages; May – No meeting; and June 30 – Mitzi Macon – Antarctica
Break – 20 minutes break occurred and a thank you given to the social committee and those
providing refreshments.
Presentation: Speaker: Craig Haupt who is an outdoor enthusiast and enjoys hiking, camping,
back country skiing and kayaking presented lots of information and photos of his Hiking
Corsica’s GR20 trip. If interested in knowing more, visit:
https://honk.smugmug.com/Travel
Meeting was adjourned at 8:45pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Cheryl Allmen
Cheryl Allmen, Secretary