Outreach and Service, September 26, 2011

Outreach & Service Commission

Monday, September 26, 2011

Present:  Diane Jackson, Bill & Jennifer Dornbush, Carmen Rapp, Susan Russel, Kris Marshall

Meeting was opened with Diane reading an excerpt from the Savuto’s latest letter.

Minutes were approved and correspondence was shared. 

Current Business:

o   Fair Trade report: Bill noted that sales have more or less stabilized.  . Our chocolate selections will be highlighted for Halloween.  People may special order packages of Mini’s for Halloween.  Bill and Jennifer will do a Mission Moment in Worship talking about Fair Trade and the idea of Reverse Trick or Treat.  Susan has volunteered to cover Fair Trade sales after the 11:00 service.

o   Assignments for sales are as follows:  Oct. 2 Maurine and Diane,  Oct. 9 Marsha & Jack, Oct. 16  Carmen Susan,  Oct.23 _____________ , Oct. 30 Bill and Jennifer.

o   Garden report: Jennifer and Dian noted that over 1200 lbs of food have been delivered to FISH from the donation beds.  Garden will close November 30 unless people express the wish for a winter garden.  Then they can use the space till February.

o   Blanket Sunday:  $1696 was donated.

o   Habitat for Humanity:  We have signed a Covenant with Habitat and paid our $50 donation. Susan mentioned that Habitat is working with Cotati to get approval for houses to be built on land they own.  It is going through the city planning process.  Susan will do a bulletin board on Habitat in January.

o   Mission Event: Our speaker on Haiti was Warren McGuffin.  He was well received by @30 people in attendance.  He spoke of special projects by our Annual Conference in the town of Thomas that provides lunch for school children and is working to educate the community on sustainable agriculture, composting toilets and clean water in addition to repairs done on the church/school building.  Bill will write an article for Roseleaf if Diane can get specifics from Warren.

o   VVIM for Japan support has been great, over $16,200 so far with 72 individuals or couples becoming “team members” by donating $100 or more.  Others donated lesser amounts.  Donors will be recognized in worship on October 2, World Communion Sunday. Campaign will end at Comin Home Festival and money will be sent to UMCOR for Japan.

New Business:

o   Bill has created a Web Page addition about Disaster Response using articles from United Methodist Communications.  Check it out.

o   Kris talked about a one year commitment by Camps & Conferences Committee to create a plan for use of the old Hamilton UMC site in San Francisco.  They hope to have VIM teams work on it and turn it into an Urban Camp Site.  Once the plan is created it might be a good project for our VIM teams on weekends.

o   Underwear, Sock & Toiletries Drive for Christmas – we decided to do this project again this year.  We’ll talk about it in October.

Promoting Outreach in the Church:

o   Church Bulletin: announcements as needed

o   Roseleaf: November – Thanksgiving Offering -Conference Programs Apportionment Item - Diane

o   Bulletin Board: October – Fair Trade & Reverse Trick or Treat – Bill & Jennifer

o   Web Page: all of the above

Meeting was closed with a prayer by Kris at 5:30

Next Meeting: October 24 at 4:00 in the Carriage House

Respectfully submitted:

Diane Jackson