LCC MINISTRY AREA REPORTS TO COUNCIL April, 2012

LCC MINISTRY AREA REPORTS TO COUNCIL
April, 2012
Executive Team
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Team met on Sunday, Apr 22 - Jeanne Anderson, Gayle Moore, Lupe Rivas, Ann Fischbach, Pastor Susan.
We coordinated the Council Agenda and Calendar items for the Council Meeting (moved Retreat & Synod
Assembly planning to Old Business).
We set Sunday, April 29th as COUNCIL INSTALLATION during the Worship Service.
Suggest next COUNCIL Meeting to be May 28th.
Next Exec Meeting: to be scheduled.
Mutual Ministry Team
No meeting. Team Members are Jeanne Anderson, Janet Cole, Gayle Moore, Pastor Susan.
Next Meeting: to be scheduled.
Lay Intern Team – from Corinne
The Team is Diann Russell, Eduardo Trejo, Isaí Ambrosio, Corinne Cursi , Lupe Rivas.
Team met. Items of Discussion:
- Both the committee and Eduardo have submitted the mid-year intern
evaluation to the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary as required.
- Eduardo attended an intern candidate retreat in Danville on April 24th and
25th. He was able to practice his English skills; those in attendance were
predominantly English speakers!
- The seminary candidates are asked to submit a letter of recommendation, as
for example one from one of their previous faculty instructors. Eduardo will
contact staff of seminary in Puerto Rico, where he last studied, and ask for
such a letter.
- On May 9th Eduardo will meet the PLTS faculty members.
- This Sunday, April 29th, Eduardo will preach at Advent Lutheran Church in
Morgan Hill.
Next Meeting: will be in May; to be scheduled.
Worship & Music – from Janet
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Team met on April 7 . Attendance: Janet Cole, Erma Jo Hewett, Ann Fischbach and Pastor Susan
The Worship Team had a short meeting following Easter decorating.
· Altar rail repair completed by Lucas and paid out of Altar Guild account
· Ann completed two new communion napkins
· Tentative date for First Communion: June 17 (Father’s Day)
Next meeting – May 2, 10:30 am
Christian Learning – from Pastor Susan
First Communion Classes are held on Wednesdays at 4:00 pm and there are 6 children
participating. Let us know if there are children you think we should contact. Thank you to all who
continue to offer their time and talent with Children’s Sermons and Children’s Time on Sundays!!!
We completed our Lenten Midweek Study and Worship on the “Journey to the Cross”. Our Intern Eduardo
Trejo is teaching a New Member Class (introduction to the faith through a Lutheran perspective) in Spanish
which began on Mar 24th on Saturdays at 4:00 pm. There are two people participating at the moment. We
would still like to have an active committee to be working on Christian Learning throughout the year and
therefore would welcome new members. Do you feel called to serve on this team, lead Children’s Time in
worship, and/or participate in a Bible study? Let us know!
Evangelism – from Gayle
No meeting. The Evangelism Team is Gayle Moore, Wendy Hess Grams, Erma Jo Hewett.
1.Communications
st
•
The April newsletter was published and mailed well before April 1 . The May Newsletter is almost
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ready to publish; to be mailed Monday, Apr 30 to arrive before the Parking Lot Sale. We continue to work on
purging our database. The email list is now uploaded to [email protected] and the April Newsletter was
emailed directly from LCC; we are uploading to the website and posting links to the newsletter on Facebook as well.
Administration
1.Finance Team – from Ann
The Finance Team is Ann Fischbach, Marilyn Minke, Gayle Moore & Alma Martinez. The Team
meets every Tuesday. All bills for March are paid except the March Pension and the RP for $99.
Pastor Susan is holding 7 checks. The Tino’s bill for $939 for fixing our plumbing problems was paid
by CIS and we will be paying them back as soon as we get Ella May’s bequest or some donations to
offset this expense. We appreciate the discount from Ameri-Kleen on their services for cleaning the
floors after the plumbing issue. Gayle Moore paid that bill. Ella May’s bequest will be coming very
soon as the estate has been settled. Total debt at the end of the month is down about $255.
2.Fundraising Team – from Ann
No meeting. Team Members are ALL OF US!!
The Fundraiser/Fellowship Dinner in March was very successful. We made over $300 from that
fundraiser. It was a great idea and we should get another one on the calendar! The Parking Lot Sales are
starting up again. The first one is May 5th. The letters have gone out to all of our vendors and flyers have
been posted around the community. We will need LOTS of help. We are open to more team members and
MORE suggestions for Fundraisers!
3.Stewardship – from Marilyn
No meeting. Team Members are Marilyn Minke, Ann Fischbach, Gayle Moore.
4. Property Team – from Pastor Susan
Members of the Property Team (Earl Cole, Lucas Grams, Tom Hewett, Joe Barndt, Pastor Susan,
Eduardo Trejo) met on Mar 15th, at the Cowboys Corner Café and Apr 25th, at the Red Apple Café.
The possibility of an ATT cell tower seems to be on hold since ATT switched companies for scouting
locations and we are not sure where our application ended up. Principal Brett Knupfer from HA Hyde
is willing to work with us to explore the possibility of the school district helping with the sidewalk
repair and someone from the district came this week to get an estimate for the job. Church Work
Days were held on Apr 14th, and Apr 22nd. Many people came and helped out with weeding, planting,
mowing, pruning, repairing, and cleaning. The hole in the wall from plumbing repair in the girl’s
bathroom was fixed. Wendy and Lupe provided food and a good and productive time was had by all.
Our community garden cover crop was cut down and it is being prepared for planting now. Earl and
Tom installed a water meter for the watering system and Ana held a meeting for prospective
gardeners on Mar 3rd and on Mar 17th. She has also spoken at various school and community
meetings. So far we have four interested people for 12 plots and we need to recruit some more
people. Do you want a garden plot? Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, May 23rd, at 9:00 am
at the Red Apple Café.
Service & Justice
1. The Alta Vista After-School – from Lupe
Our After School program is going very well! Students are progressing very well and parents
are very eager to hear about their progress. Stella, our tutor, is very happy with their academic growth.
They're advancing in their reading levels and will be accessing their growth soon.
Stella is also working on test taking skills, so that as they take their CST tests next week at school, they can
show growth. It's amazing but school will soon be over. Last day of our tutoring will be June 6, 2012.
2.
CIS – from Donita
Enrollment: MWF Class is full with 30 children. There are 20 children in the TTH Class.
We are licensed for 30 children a day; total of 60 for both classes. The budget for this year is based on an
enrollment of 50 children. I am being realistic with these numbers and this budget.
Daycare program is doing well. There are openings in the daycare program.
Registration is open for both the Fall and Summer programs.
Lutheran World Hunger: This year the children participated in "The Buck a Chick" program. For every "chick "
picture the children colored we donated $1.00 to Lutheran World Hunger. They used each dollar to buy a chick for a
village. We raised $50.00 and bought 50 chicks for needy families. The children were very excited about the
program and their gifts to needy families.
Building Concerns: 1) The building is usually left in good condition. We found the front door unlocked. Someone
(not frrm preschool) unlocked the door with a key. The door was not locked again. The building could have been
entered at any time the door was left unlocked. We need to remind people using the building to lock that door if
they have opened it with a key. I don't know how long the building was left unsecure.
2) We paid to have the plumbing fixed: $137.47. The wall in the bathroom needs to be patched. I notified the
property committee.
Staff: Vivian is moving back to Manteca. She will be available to sub for vacations.
Our Calendar Dates:
3.
May 23
May 28
May 29
Graduation at 7:00 pm
Closed---Memorial Day
Summer School Starts
COPA – from Pastor Susan
We are still looking for volunteers now for the “Stand Up and Take Charge” Campaign who
will be captains and leaders in reaching out to 30,000 voters by November. Please let Pastor
Susan or Eduardo know if you are able to make even just a few voter contacts as our
contribution to this campaign. We will share more details at the meeting as to what this
entails. On Apr 30th there will be an accountability session for the Santa Cruz County
supervisors at Temple Beth El from 7:00–8:30 pm to ask them about their commitments to
our goals this year. The accountability session for Monterey County Supervisors will be from
7:00–8:30pm, Cristo Rey Church in Salinas.
4. CIMA – from Pastor Susan
The CIMA Steering Committee is Rev Joe Barndt, Chair (LCC),
Rev Susan Birkelo (LCC), Intern Eduardo Trejo (LCC), Rev. Stan Abraham (TLC), Gloria
Garing (TLC), Gayle Moore, Treasurer (LCC), Corinne Cursi (LCC ),Victor De La Torre (Salvation Army), Juan Castillo,
(Salvation Army).
1. CIMA’s counseling and advice program for immigrants continues to be effective. We will evaluated
the progress of our new office time at First United Methodist Church on Sundays from 2:00-3:00 pm
and made some suggestions for improvement as we planned to continue. The Methodist church
made a contribution to CIMA for $3,000 for their participation;
2. The Immigration Action Group continues to meet and held our Immigration Forum with free attorney
consults on Mar 25th, from 2:00–6:00 pm at Assumption Church in Pájaro. Around 200 people
participated and received services;
3. Progress is being slowly made toward CIMA’s being accredited and staff certified for increased
capacity to serve the immigrant community;
4. The LIRS/PCUSA retreat is scheduled for Jun 3-6 in Baltimore. Susan and possibly Isaí will attend;
5. Our next Steering Committee meeting will be on Sunday, May 6th at 3:00 pm.
5. Homeless Ministry Team – from Corinne
• The Winter Homeless Shelter and Feeding Program at the Salvation Army
ended on April 15th. Our last Winter team, led by Gayle Moore, fed 119
people, plus many more “seconds” on Friday, April 13th!
• On Monday, April 9th, I attended a city-wide Homeless Feeding Program
meeting at the Salvation Army to conclude the Winter Program. The
Salvation Army thanked all the churches for their faithful participation in the weekly feeding program, and for
their generous support during their special need at Thanksgiving time with the turkeys! The City of Watsonville
plans to ‘formally’ acknowledge all the volunteers who have supported the Winter Homeless Feeding Program
at an upcoming Council Meeting. As soon as we have a date for this, we will let the congregations know!
• I was happy to report that LCC has two teams that plan to continue the Friday night feeding program through
the Summer Homeless Feeding at the Salvation Army (Gayle Moore’s Team and Cursi-Minke Team). Merian
McLean plans to continue to provide her delicious main dishes on Friday nights to help us in our meal planning.
The Captain at the Salvation Army was also very happy to hear that we were planning to continue with some
support! If we have more people who want to provide meals, we can always call the Salvation Army early in the
week and let them know that we have a team ready to come on Friday night.
• On Thursday, April 4th, I attended a mandatory Food Safety Training Class at the Second Harvest Food Bank.
Every participating agency must have at least one “certified” person registered with the Food Bank, if food is
prepared in our facility.
• Next on the schedule – an inspection of our “food pantry”. This usually happens sometime in May or early June.
The Food Bank will contact me and set up an appointment to check the food pantry and our refrigerators and
freezers.
COMING EVENTS:
EVENTS:
THANK YOUS:
YOUS: