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Durham, North Carolina

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Diaconate Meeting 9/30/2007

 

Attendees:  Walt Beckwith, Dorene Palermo, John Lockhead, Lynn Chesnut, Bill Burig, Carol Kelly, Bill Hatch, Bruce Capehart, Rob Wilgus, Gary Lehew, Jim Joseph, Anne Vann,  Sharon Barnes, Helen Tharrington, Marty Warburton.   Diaconate Class of 2007 members Bill McAvoy, Sally Keener and Nancy Safrit joined the beginning of the meeting.

 

Walt Beckwith, moderator, opened the meeting at 2:10 with devotion.   He read Acts 6:1-6 regarding the first appoint of Deacons in the Bible and followed with 1 Timothy 3:8-13 about the roles and responsibilities of Deacons.  We then went around the room introducing ourselves as part of the kick-off for the new year.

 

Committee Overviews:

  • Assimilation – Sally Keener discussed the importance of making visitors feel welcome and plugging new members into the life of the church.  Some of the assimilation activities include time and talents sheets, church website, coffee social, and coordinating with stewardship campaign.  Marty Warburton agreed to chair the assimilation committee for the next year.
  • Congregational Care – Anne Vann discussed the role of Congregational Care is to meet the immediate needs of congregational members during times such as hospitalizations, new baby, deaths in family.  The most common care is providing meals, but may also include transportation, errands, etc.  There are currently 9 care leaders who agree to take on cases and coordinate the efforts of the congregation to provide for a given need.  Congregational Care has had 14 cases year to date.  The committee is currently seeking additional care leaders.
  • Fellowship – Bill McAvoy reported the role of fellowship is the organization/facilitation of  church social events such as church dinners, special events, supper clubs.  Bill’s mission of fellowship has been to engage the congregation in the organization of such events through sign-up sheets at church.  Bill has detailed the recurring event of the church with very specific information regarding each event.  A new chair is needed for this committee.
  • Local Missions – Local missions include all missions within Durham County.  WPC has been instrumental in the start up of many of the local outreach in the community.  The organizations we support are driven by the interest of the congregation – there are often church members on the boards of the organizations we support.  More detail of the specific organizations were discussed later in the meeting.  Nancy Safrit discussed  the organization YO Durham which has been the mission focus for 2007.  YO Durham has been initiated by DCIA and is a program designed to give Youths at Risk training and support.  The program includes a summer career academy, mentoring, and paid internships.
  • Global Missions – Global missions include all missions beyond Durham County.  Recent activity has included Hurricane relief and Mexico mission trips.
  • Mission Focus – Each year the Diaconate chooses one organization or theme to support with our time, talents, and treasures.  This year the missions focus has been Youth at Risk and the organizations include Durham Nativity and Yo Durham.  Next year mission focus will be determined later this year. 

 

Financial Overview

Barbara Fletcher reviewed the church financial statement including the balance sheet and operating budget.  She explained that local benevolences receive monthly checks to cover the committed donation.  She explained the relation between the operating budget (green sheets) which summarize annual expenses and the summary of restricted funds sheets (yellow sheets) which show the funds ongoing balances. 

 

Key points from Barbara’s discussions include:

  • Deacons may want to consider balances on the Summary of Restricted funds for each account when finalizing the next year budget
  • Do not forget discretionary funds when determining benevolences
  • Westminster Fund Distributions – additional funds available to Diaconate for triangle area missions
  • Jobs For Life – Defunct organization that has balance of funds in budget.  We need to determine where the funds came from and move back to the original fund.
  • Youth Mexico Mission fund is actually for all youth mission trips (national or international)
  • Hurricane funds specific to Katrina have been committed and existing funds can be used generically for hurricane relief.
  • Any campaigns to raise money for another mission must be reviewed and approved by the Session.

 

Structured Activity

The deacons moved to the fellowship hall for an activity focused on getting to know each other.  The group was divided in teams of three with one person from each Deacon class.  The teams spent a few minutes getting to know each other, then the 1st year deacon rotated to another team.  The activity continued until the 1st year deacon had spoken to each team.

 

Overview of specific organizations supported by Local Missions Committee:

Local missions are sub-categorized by mental health, education, homelessness, and Other.  Due to time constraints, the diaconate reviewed organizations in the first three categories only.

 

Mental Health

ุ      Threshold – Focused on adults with mental illness.  Services include a daily care facility where the adults can stay as well as have job opportunities at the facility.  They also coordinate job opportunities external to the facility for some participants.

ุ      Next Step Housing – Focused on housing for adults with mental illness. The organization is run entirely through volunteers and the board includes 9 WPC members.

ุ      Housing for New Hope – Consolidation of multiple organizations that were originally separate including PATH, Presbyterian Urban ministries, Phoenix House, Dove House, Andover and Sherwood Park apartments and New Directions.  A large amount of the Deacon budget goes to Housing for New Hope and it is important to note that Housing for New Hope encompasses so many organizations.

 

Education

ุ      Durham Nativity School – Year round middle school environment for youth at risk.  Based on the model of the program, these youth will complete middle school, attend a local private highschool, and after college return to the Durham area to work.   The school has 24 students and it is funded entirely through donations.  Anyone interested can attend a scheduled lunch or breakfast at the school to learn more.

ุ      Jobs for Life – Jobs for Life is a National program focused at mentoring adults with basic job skills.  There is currently no activity locally with this organization.

ุ      Campus Ministry – The diaconate supports the campus ministries at UNC, Duke and NCCU to fund activities for these organizations.  In addition, the funds we provide help pay the pastor at by Duke and NCCU.  WPC currently has board members at Duke and NCCU but needs a representative for UNC.  NCCU currently needs additional funds to support their ministry.

 

Homelessness

ุ      IHN – Serves the needs of the immediately homeless as compared to the chronically homeless.  Guest typically stay at IHN for 3 to 6 months.  WPC is a host church and has guests for one week at a time.  Immaculate Conception and St. Lukes support WPC during the weeks that we have guests from IHN.  There is an upcoming fund raiser dinner with basket auction.  Holly Schmidt will design the WPC basket.

ุ      Urban Ministries – Collection of location for Shelter Meals, Food Pantry, and Clothing closet

ุ      Shelter Meals – WPC serves dinner at the shelter the 4th Tuesday of each month.  Currently the youth serve 4 months, Deacons 2, Elders 1 and Choir 1.  Bill Hatch is working on filling all of the months for next year.  The deacons next shelter meal is December 22nd.

ุ      Food Bank – Provides food services to eliminate poverty in 34 counties in central and eastern NC.  Dana Lange is on the Board.  We have not had recent collections for food bank but support them with $7K in the annual budget.

ุ      Habitat for Humanity – Provides a way for the working low income population to buy and own a home.  The population can afford the monthly payments but cannot typically afford a down payment so they provide sweat equity vs. down payment.  There is currently the Presbyterian Build where WPC is involved in building the 1st affordable green build community of 32 homes.  There is another project Golden Belt focused on restoring mill houses in downtown Durham in conjunction with Durham County.  Additionally, beginning October 6th there will be a Women’s Habitat Build in the green community where WPC is currently working.  Habitat needs $50K per house for supplies. Habitat also requests unrestricted funds for operation expenses.  Dorene requests more board members from WPC.

ุ      Genesis Home – Serving the homeless community to prepare for permanent housing.  There is a new program focused on youth transitioning from foster care.  Louise reported there is a fundraiser on October 11 caleed Durham Downtown Dinner Table.  She also mentioned a list of supplies that Genesis Homes needs and suggested deacons visit genesishome.org for more information.

 

The next meeting will be Sunday October 14th at 5:00pm.  After conclusion of the official meeting, the Deacons were treated to a catered dinner in the fellowship hall.  Following dinner, the deacons shared communion.  Walt closed the meeting with lighting candles for each deacon to show the amount of light that the deacons can carry into the world.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Anne Vann