Deaconate Minutes

11-23-03

Those in Attendance: Shayne Ruffing, Scott McLeod, Sara Pottenger, Anthony
Dilweg, Carol Cunningham, Dan Milam, Betty Burghaus, Elena Cleary, Rebecca
Mattern-Mielcarek, Barb Vanden Broek, Morris Griffin, Bill Scott, Barbara
Rynerson, Mitch Dozier, Doug Wellemeyer, Mickey Herrin, Leslie Dorminey

Rebecca opened with a reading on the musings of the different kinds of
love.

Concerns: Rogers Wey is in intensive care. Bishop Saunders is in hospital
for pneumonia. Kenzie Brannon's mother passed away. Helen Crum is also in
hospital. Jane Green had surgery. Michelle Smith's father died recently.

Celebrations: The Laniers have a new granddaughter.

The minutes from October were approved unanimously.

Old Business:

Shoeboxes: We need to find homes for these gifts. Let Betty know by 12-1-03
if your benevolence is interested in distribution.

Donation Boxes (in mission center): Presbyterians are a very generous
breed, and as such folks continue to give and give and give. Unfortunately
keeping up with the overflow of donations has become a daunting task. As a
group the diaconate decided to put notes on the boxes during noncollection
periods to keep the boxes free from overflow. Barbara will put a notice to
this effect in the Deacon's Corner to help explain this situation.

IHN...Sara Pottenger: There was a lot of positive feedback regarding the
luncheon and all posts are filled at this time. IHN has a wishlist that
they would like the church to consider for a donation drive. Needed items
include: Shampoo, cameras, photo albums, blankets, hand lotion. The need
for more blankets at Westminster for use by IHN guests was also discussed.
The Diaconate felt that a blanket drive is necessary to cover this need.
Blankets will be collected thru 12/14.

Benevolence Review Committee...Barbara Rynerson: DCRC has made a request
for $5,000. Genesis Home made a request for the donations from the
Christmas Eve Offering.

Camp New Hope...Anthony Dilweg: Anthony recently consulted with Dailey
Derr. New Hope bought and founded a corporation and they are leasing the
camp from the church. The group aspires to host church functions, weddings
and business functions. In order to pull in this business, the facility
will need significant upgrades. The corportation is calling on 6 area
churches to try to raise capital to fund these improvements. Tony's
recommendation: Dailey will confer with the board to get the details of
their plan of action and an accounting of their expenses. Tony feels that
the Diaconate needs more details before committing funds to the cause.

Flood Relief: Shayne suggested contacting the Presbytery to explore whether
or not dollars have been earmarked for this cause. Lots of dollars and lots
of help is needed for these folks. A mission trip is planned for the 12,
13, & 14 of December. Shayne will investigate futher.

New Business:

The mission focus...Doug Wellemeyer: Doug's team met recently and developed
a plan of attack for the mission focus for this year. Doug provided a
detailed report outlining this plan. The team proposed that the mission
focus calendar move to a "calendar year" format. The team also recommended
targeted 4 agencies as beneficiaires of our mission focus: Housing for New
Hope, Genesis Home, IHN, and Durham Crisis Response Center. It was also
proposed that the Christmas Eve offering be split between these 4
organizations. Dan Milam made a motion that the Diaconate approve these
proposals. Barbara Rynerson seconded the motion and the Diaconate passed
the motion unanimously.

Shayne made a motion that the Mission Focus Team will determine how to
split the Chistmas Eve Offering between the organizations. The motion was
passed.

There will be a mission focus team meeting on December 1st.

Benevolence Assignments....Guest Elder Alice McLear: The Alive Festival
will be held on April 25. There will be sign up tables for committees.
Alice expressed concern that many of our church committes are going
unstaffed and the few folks that volunteer are being overworked.

Benevolence Dollars...Shayne Ruffing: At present the Diaconate draws
approximately $600.00 per quater from the endowment. We also received an
anonymous donation of $5000.00. We expect to have approximately $30,000.00
to distribute for the Mission Focus this year.

Kay Rosenmarkle will chair the Christmas Eve Dinner committee. Dana Lange
will co-chair.

Shelter Meal....Dana Lange: Dana sent a handout regarding the details of
the shelter meal. In sum, the Diaconate will provide the shelter meal on
Thursday, December 23rd. The menu will consist of chili, rice, green beans,
cookies and oranges. Dana needs a lot of help to pull this off, including
cooks and servers (please email Dana if you can help). This is an important
ministry for our community and good way to include our children in the
mission of our church.

Benevolence Assignments...Shayne: A very quick review.

Dan Milam closed with a prayer.