December 2014 Newsletter Update

[TIPCA Webmaster]

Dear TIPCA Members,

 

I want to remind you that on this Sunday, December 14 we will be having our December TIPCA Mass and Social.  The Mass will be held at St. Thomas Aquinas Church and it will start at 4:30 PM.

 

Following the Mass we will have our social in the Aldridge Hall.  During the Social we will have the Children's Christmas Party and also we will conduct the Election of the office-bearers for the 2015. Management Committee.  Please make a special effort to attend these events and join in the activities.

  
CHRISTMAS BALL IS SOLD OUT!!!  NO FURTHER TICKETS WILL BE SOLD 
  
We have had a terrific response to the E-Vite for the TIPCA Christmas Ball on Saturday, December 20.  Admission to the TIPCA Ball has been closed because we have reached the target capacity limit and so no more tickets will be sold. 
  
Some members have asked as to why TIPCA did not have a discounted ticket price for children.  We could not do this because the banquet hall management was charging us per personbasis without any discounted price for children and so we had to charge the same price.  In the past, many members expressed concern regarding kids running around in the dance hall at TIPCA Ball in a semi-formal dance setting, however looking at the overall interests of our members, TIPCA did not ban kids from attending the Ball.   This is one of the reasons why we had planned a separate Children's Christmas Party for kids so that we could have kid friendly activities, games, free gifts and appearance by Santa. 

As mentioned earlier, this time of the year there is an extremely high demand for banquet halls and so the rates are overpriced to meet the demand.  This was the prime reason we lost out on the Taj Hall on a Saturday as they got an attractive price from an other customer than what TIPCA could afford.  Just so you know, TIPCA is paying the current vendor almost the same price of your ticket of $30.00.  Apart from food and hall we have several other costs which TIPCA is currently funding to offset the costs.  Our goal is to make it affordable for the whole family to attend and hence did not mark up on the cost price. 

Just to table some facts and a bit of education....Immeasurable amount of time and effort is spent by the TIPCA Committee and volunteers to make these events  a SUPER SUCCESS for TIPCA members only, however, we still open it up for non members/guests - mainly for visiting family members from out of town etc. during the festive season and also for prospective member sign ups the subsequent year.  Under the circumstances, its only fair to charge NON MEMBERS a premium to these events to offset the costs incurred by TIPCA.  As you will see from the financial statement, main revenue of TIPCA comes from your annual membership fees which is extremely NOMINAL compared to what the various associations in Houston charge their members., Considering TIPCA organizes so many family friendly activities all through the year for every age group - members receive way more value for your membership fee!!   

Another request to you by our committee members is to please read the emails carefully, keep tabs and adhere to the contents, especially deadlines specified in the notifications for events, RSVP cut off dates and so on.  This relieves the organizers the last minute stress trying to accomplish tasks with limited time. 
  
  
FINANCIAL UPDATE (as of Nov. 25) 
  
Our Treasurer, Nigel Pereira, has been devoting a lot of time to keeping TIPCA's accounts accurate and up to date.  Below is a summary of the accounts for the year through November 25. 
 

Balance at beginning of the year	7,279.70
Revenues
Membership Dues	1,920.00
Other Revenues (T-shirt Sales, Bingo Tickets at events, Charge for guests at events)	830.00
Christmas Dance (thus far)	200.00
Expenses
Easter Picnic Expenses	249.71
Mass/Social Expenses	1,609.23
Community Expenses (Fr. KK Retirement, Asian Mass Lenten Mission at STA	1,149.00
Other Expenses (TopGolf for Youth, Food for Basilica Retreat, Website)	330.00
Christmas Dance Expenses (thus far )	557.00
Net Book Balance (Current)	6,334.76

You can see that we spent almost $1,000 more than our revenues for all of our activities.

  
Sponsors for 2015 TIPCA Masses 
Here is the list of sponsors for the first half of 2015 TIPCA Masses.  If anyone would like to sponsor an event/mass please let Sharon and Nigel Dacambra (daca...@sbcglobal.net) or Stella (stell...@hotmail.com) know.  If you wish, few families could get together to sponsor it jointly.  

Sponsors for 2015 Mass/Socials 
February  8 - Lillian and Oscar Mascarenhas
April 12 - Cedric Siqueira and Melanie D'souza
June 14  - Veena and Adolph Colaco
September 13 - Open
November  8 - Open
December 13 - Open 
  
  
 YEAR END REMINDERS 
It is this time of the year to renew your membership dues for 2015.  The membership fees hold good for Jan-Dec each calendar year.  Please mail your checks to our Treasurer.  It is your dues that help sustain TIPCA and allow you to enjoy the benefits of fun activities that TIPCA offers you all through the year!  We encourage you to be prompt with your membership renewal as we would hate for you to get dropped out of the electronic TIPCA distribution and miss out on all the notifications issued by TIPCA due to non payment of your membership dues.   
  
Because of increasing costs and in order to keep TIPCA financially healthy your Management Committee discussed the need to raise annual membership dues at their meeting on November 21.  They decided that for the months where we did not have a Mass sponsor TIPCA would continue to provide the meals at no cost to the members; however non-members/guests will continue to pay $5.00 per person.  In order to ensure that TIPCA continues on a sound financial footing while continuing the present level of activities your Management committee has voted to increase the annual membership fees. 
  
Annual Membership Fees will be increased to $50 for Family Membership and $25 for Single members.  The new rates will take effect from July 1, 2015. 

Members who pay their 2015 dues before July 1, 2015 will be charged the old rates of $40 for Family membership and $20 for Single membership.  So please pay your 2015 dues before July 1 so you can avail of the old membership rate. 
  
Attached is a form that you can complete and mail it to the Treasurer along with your membership checks; that way we can update our records and stay current.

  
TIPCA WEBMASTER UPDATES: 

PRIZE INCENTIVE!! 

There will be a special draw for all those who sign up for the new TIPCA Website  Please register on the new TIPCA website 'www.tipca.com'. We will have a drawing at the Christmas ball on 12/20 for all members who register. We will announce the winner at the Christmas Ball on Dec 20. Please email jsno...@gmail.com if you have trouble registering."   So far 22 members have signed up. 

We have just created a new functional website for our correspondence at www.tipca.com.

Each member will need to join this website to access features for the TIPCA group. 

To join, the website you will need to click the “Join Group” button on the top right of the page and fill in the required information. 
Once you have done this, we will approve your access to the website and you should receive an email confirming this. 

The new tipca.com website will be used for: 

1. Communicating the newsletter to our members. (We will use both the website and the google group until all members have signed in) 
2. Event calendars 
3. Event pictures 
4. Paypal Payments for membership and events. 

We hope you find the new website useful.  Any feedback towards improving the website can be sent via email to tipc...@gmail.com 

New Year event organized by Knights of Columbus, St. Thomas Aquinas Church 
  
For anyone looking for an entertaining evening to bring in the New Year with family and friends, the Knights of Columbus of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church are hosting their New Year's event at the Aquinas Center Hall, St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, 12627 W Bellfort Ave., Sugar Land, TX 77478.  Details below: 
  
The STA Knights of Columbus Annual New Year’s Dance will be held on December 31. Doors open at 8.00PM. Dancing will be from 9.00PM – 1.00AM. There will be a DJ and door prizes with a grand prize drawing for the “Wheelbarrow of Cheer”. Charges are $25 per couple / $15 individual (13 years and up). Hors d’oeuvres and setups will be provided. BYOB. 
  
For tickets, contact Cedric Soares: cxso...@gmail.com, phone# 832-721-3768. Please note this is NOT a TIPCA event, however, we would encourage you to support STA community by participating in their events. 
 
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy and Prosperous New Year!! 

TIPCA Committee