Mission Committee Minutes 4-08

Present: Co-Chairs: Alyson B and Diane L. Members: Mary B, J F, Shelia B, Carol B and Mary Rees F.

1. Minutes presented and accepted.

2. Meals on Wheels: We need volunteers for May 27-30. J Fazel will take 5/28, Shelia will take 5/30, Ginny Becker-Comings will take a day, which will only leave Tuesday. If you know of any other possible people who would be able to help with this important project, please contact Alyson.

3. The Soup Kettle is this Tuesday, May 20^th at Zion Lutheran Church from 4-6:30pm. Alyson was concerned that last month we didn’t really have enough volunteers and we had to make phone calls to get more people to help. Mary Rees Freeman felt that one of the problems this month was that we were unable to make an announcement during church services. Next month, Mary Rees Freeman will again check the church for determining the meal and will meet with J Fazel to check out his supply of fresh vegetables on Monday for the meal on Tuesday. Mary Rees Freeman has e-mailed the suggested information regarding a time breakdown in the bulletin and for the e-mail blast to reflect the activity. Such as: 4-5:30pm meal preparation and dining room set-up, 5:30-6:30pm serving the meal to the guests and 6:15-6:45pm is clean-up and dinning room re-set.

4. PADS continues to need volunteers on the 2^nd Wednesday of the month, which is May 14^th. The volunteers for this month so far will be J Fazel, Alyson Beucler & Mary Rees Freeman. J Fazel announced that on Sunday, May 18^th the guests of PADS would like to show their appreciation to PADS volunteers for their tireless efforts and the cheerful work they have done for them throughout the years. To thank the volunteers for their help, PADS guests will prepare a celebratory cookout for all food-service volunteers. The event will take place Sunday, May 18th at the Hoeft Resource Center at 1730 Berkely St in Elgin, from 1:00-4:00pm. Please RSVP to 847-608-9744 by May 12^th.

5. May food collection for the Food Pantry will be pasta & sauces, rice and other grains.

6. The May Rainbow Covenant Project collection will be for PADS.

7. Red Cross Flood Buckets and Health Kits - This information will need to be placed in the bulletin for the collection to begin for this project. Alyson and Mary Rees Freeman suggested to place the lists on the table for the flood bucket display and include places to purchase supplies and the costs of the items so people could have a better idea of where to shop for needed items. We will also try to get this information into the church bulletin.

8. Elgin Christian Development Corporation: We need to send another $100 to cover our $50 a month donation commitment to cover the months of April and May. Motion by J Fazel and was approved.

9. Hostas Plant Sale during the Garage Sale on May 30 and 31 was approved. The plant sale will benefit the Heifer Project. We need to have volunteers to work at plant sale at Garage Sale. Mary Rees Freeman will send out an e-mail to mission committee members to sign up for times to help with the plant sale during the garage sale.

10. Nothing but Nets Project – went well. We are waiting for a report from Kelly and the financial report regarding the amount collected to purchase nets. We will table final report until next month.

11. The Mission Committee is responsible for coffee during the month of August. This sign up sheet will also be sent out via e-mail to the committee members.

12. Taste of Epworth: Carol Burris reported this would be a new event sponsored by the entire church. The theme is dance to go along with the Dance with the Star Project. The church is asking all committees to provide a food table at the event and our team has agreed to a table featuring Salsa to eat and music for listening pleasure and fun, with a little costuming to match, again for fun. The date of this event is Saturday, June 21^st with the times to be announced. We of course will need mission committee members to volunteer to bring salsa, chips and work the table that day.

13. Communication Suggestion: In discussion the many items and events that we have going on, it was decided that we need to be making announcements during both services most every week. How to facilitate that is always a challenge. Diane Lancour suggested that it could be as simple as who ever is at either service just stand up and make the announcement to ensure our congregation will have all of our information to know what is going on with Missions and where they can help and participate.

14. Also, we will need someone to take minutes at the next meeting, scheduled for May 18^th at 9:45am as Mary Rees Freeman will be out of town that day.

Next Mission Meeting will be May 18, 2008 at 9:45am. (due to Mother’s Day on the 2^nd Sunday)