Social Concerns Committee Mtg Highlights - January
January11,2013
SOCIAL CONCERNS MEETING HIGHLIGHTS
The following are highlights from the SC meeting held on January 11, 2013 Present: Craig Koett, Msgr. Mike Yarbrough, Fr. Martin Garcia, Debbie Freno, Carol Short, Bob Short, Bob Lorenz, Rita Farmer, Rolland Cole, J.J. Hansbrough, Laura Hansbrough, Jim Ermis, Kathy Fetzer, Christine McClean, Goldie LoTurco, Deacon Guy LoTurco, Beth Roberts, Dan Wojciechowski,Excused:Jeanne Henschell, Ralph Welsh, Tess Welsch, Melissa Smiley, Nancy Lee, Joe Lorenz, Monica Arce, Rose Monday, Jim Ermis, Grace Minus, Patrick Fetzer, Opening Prayer: Bob Lorenz shared a prayer ; Craig Koett prayed, titled “Creating Community” Angel Tree Report: Kathy offered the following report on the 2012 Angel Tree donations: ____________________________________________________________________________________ 2012 Angels Not Percentage No. of Gifts Returned Not Returned Given____________
St. PJ’s 372 55 14.78% 661
Seton Home 78 3 3.85% 403
Blue Santa 120 30 25.00% 145
Children’s Shelter 65 7 10.77% 249
Mentor Families 69 1 1.45% 206
Hill Country Youth 80 3 3.75% 342
CAM 100 41 41.00% 59
St. Timothy 270 50 18.52% 220 Guadalupe Home 17 2 11.76% 44 TOTALS 1,171 192 16.40% 2,329 Approximate Value = $46,580
The number of Boy Scouts volunteers increased this year over last year. The CAM donations not returned probably due to a non-personal approach to the request. It was a gift card request. The percentage not returned is comparable to previous years. Dates for 2013 were also set so that we would not have conflicting donations at the same time. For the Angel Tree Donations, the dates are: Trees are up November 30-December 1st weekend with return on December 7-8. We need to check with the Banquet Hall calendar for the date of sorting. There is a potential conflict with the Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrations: the rosary on December 11th and the actual celebration December 12th. Details will be made known at future SC meetings. Christmas under the Bridge: This took place at the Haven for Hope Courtyard Area. The first distribution accented blankets and shoes. They were handed out as needed. The second distribution took place on Christmas Day. Socks went over well. We had purchased 500 pair. Wal-Mart gave us a tax-emption for these. They were most accommodating to us. Report from Haven should be coming soon. A total between 500-580 people were helped. The dates for 2013 collection have been set. They are: The bags go up on November 2-3, with collection on November 9-10 and November 16-17. These dates are all before Thanksgiving. Divorce-Separated Group: Dan reported here. The name has changed. The Widow(ed) element is significantly different from divorce and separation and has their own unique needs. Their needs are different. The group started two (2) years ago. We completed the first session of the program on December 15th. The program is called the Catholics Divorce Survival Guide Divorced / Separated Support Program. We will begin again with a second session, repeating the first, on Tuesday nights, starting January 15th. The desire is to offer this program 3-4 times per year. Our last session was on Saturday mornings. A change here to see if that helps those who were unable to attend Saturdays. Havens Ministry-Meals on Wheels-Prayer Shawl: Bob and Carol Short reported on these ministries. Havens is a small ministry with only five (5) ministers. They go on Thursdays at 10AM… Meals now have only six (6) stops for seven (7) people. We use to have fifteen (15). It takes about 1.5 hours to complete the deliveries. Mike Cleary, a deacon candidate, takes care of the scheduling…Prayer Shawl banner is now available. We also had a photo of the group taken. Shawls recorded via the creator of it as well. We include a rosary and card with the shawl. We gave out 127 shawls in 2012. We meet on Tuesdays at 1PM. We are also making hats, booties and blankets for newborns. A luncheon is to take place on the first Friday of March 2013. CAM: Rita reported on this. We had a wonderful holiday at CAM. We handed out gifts from December 20-24th. Walgreens has been most generous for CAM. We thanked Deacon David Seguin for the toothpaste and brushes he donated. Five Star Cleaners donated 500 coats that were cleaned prior to distribution. We will hand out the bags for CAM in May 2013. The schedule will be the following: Bags will be handed out the weekend of May 4-5 with collection each of the following weekends in May: May 11-12, May 18-19 and May 25-26. Bags will be secured from Baby Blue. Rosary Ministry: Beth reported on this. The Ministry is currently making 150 cord car rosaries to give the teen confirmandi as gifts during Lent. Last year we gave them the same when they were confirmed, but following the suggestion of Debbie Gray, it was decided it might be more meaningful to give them during Lent. We have also just completed 45 ACTS rosaries for the Men’s Spanish retreat next week. We will be working on cord Rosaries for Hope for the Future RCI children’s group, to be given right before Easter. The talk by Dr. Jimenez about Guadalupe on December 1st and 6th was co-sponsored with La Comunidad de Evangelización and TOOLS was a big success. Thanks again to Msgr. Mike for his generous sponsorship. Also, we felt the bilingual Rosary and Adoration for the parish on December 11th turned out beautifully, and we thank Fr. Martín for his hard work and efforts to make this a success. The Rosary Ministry would like to participate / organize more parish Rosaries around feast days in the future… We are also furnishing lunch for the Habitat for Humanity workers on Saturday, February 2nd…Since November 2012 to January 2013, 481 rosaries have been distributed…We also thank Bob and Kathy Lorenz for the plastic bags needed for the rosaries. Catholic Daughters of America: Chris reported on this. We currently have seventy-five (75) members with the possibility of six (6) more. CDA for Christmas adopted a family with eleven (11) children. We also toured the facility of the Daughters of Charity. We will have a Fashion Show as a fundraiser on March 23rd. We have volunteered for Hope for the Future as well. We are hoping to have Fr. Martin and Deacon David as models for the fashion show. We thank the Knights for their recent donation of $300 to the CDA. We are also providing donuts or fruit cup or pan dulce on the KC’s Taco Sundays. For the KC dinners, we are offering various desserts. Haven for Hope: JJ and Laura reported on this. On Saturday, October 6th, Haven for Hope Courtyard, St. Vinney’s Bistro, we served lunch for more than 350 homeless. Due to the large crowd, we ran out of chicken and mixed salad. As a follow up to this, and after consulting with the staff at Sgt. Vinney’s, when we served a Christmas Lunch on Saturday, December 15th, there were about 300 recipients, we increased the food we provided to include 600 pieces of fried chicken, 56 pounds of potato salad, 48 pounds of mixed salad, 10 pounds of tomatoes, 360 rolls and a variety of homemade desserts. The desserts were prepared and donated by our small team of Holy Trinity volunteers and consisted of cupcakes, brownies, cookies and candy. Volunteers serving the Christmas meal were: the Erschs, Etnyres, Grant Gaul, Renie and Chris Moken and the Hansbroughs…The next scheduled time for Holy Trinity at St. Vinney’s Bistro is TBD. One possible date is March 15th. Cancer Support Group: Jim reported on this. We meet the fourth Thursday of each month at 7PM, in the Faith Formation Building for 1.5 hours. We average eleven (11) members per meeting, with a high of twenty (20) and a low of nine (9). We had one presentation recently. This is a support group primarily for cancer patients. Some family members and children have come to our meetings. In a recent study, there were no placebos used. Each patient has a different treatment…If someone misses a meeting; a follow up phone call takes place. Msgr. Mike’s Report: With Craig’s upcoming retirement, we need a new chair. He asks that the committee considers this and let him know at the next meeting…Parish Pastoral Council encourages the SC to expand beyond our borders. What about a consideration for a mission outside the USA borders? Again, Msgr. Mike wishes the feedback from the SC at the next meeting…Bernie DeNisio will be the recipient of the Lumen Gentium Award that AB Gustavo offers to one parishioner per parish each year. Jim Ermis was the recipient last year, the first time it was done. The ceremony takes place on Thursday, January 31st at St. Dominic’s, 7PM. The recipients need to be present at 6:30PM. Deacon Oscar will be representing the parish at this event. Closing Prayer: Due to Craig’s retirement, the SC offered a blessing over Craig in gratitude and appreciation for his work as the closing prayer. We had light refreshments after the meeting as well. Next Meeting: SC failed to set a date at the meeting. Msgr. Mike scheduled the next SC meeting for Saturday, March 9th, at 9AM in the FF Building.