Minutes of November meeting: Approved. (No December meeting.)
Welcome to Lara Bierman, the newest member of FIAT. Jo Mouttapa couldn’t make it but will come next month to see if she wants to join us. We’re looking forward to that.
Report: DSJ Stewards of Our Common Home: Committee is making plans/suggestions to help parishes form Green Teams and putting together a presentation for ILM.
Sacred Heart Volunteer Day (last month, December): Half of us packed food for a day’s supply for people living on the streets, while the other half worked the clothing distribution center. It was a small group. How to increase H.F. participation next time? We’ll look into getting one of the Saturday slots, which are somewhat open if we reserve well in advance. Next meeting we’ll set a date and try to secure it.
Ministries Faire: It was a well-attended event, and Fr. Andrew was very pleased with all the sign-ups at the various ministries. We had 6 people sign up, all of whom were contacted. Lara and Jo were among them.
Survival Sacks:
The packing (Nov.) went well. We had a large group of enthusiastic volunteers, many who now, after years of doing this, are “old pros,” plus some who were new to the process. Every year one of the volunteers comes up with a suggestion to make things go better and faster. This year’s suggestion sped up quality control and cut our packing of 104 Sacks to 45 minutes.
The months this year with 5 Sundays (used for goods collections) are March, May, and Aug. Nov. also has 5, but we’ll pack early that month.
Issue/Topic for 2020: Last year’s was broad, and this year’s is narrow—children’s issues. We’ll call it “In the Interest of Children.” Possible sub-topics: adoption/foster care/Big Brother-Sister; homeless children/teens; drugs, alcohol, vaping; bullying; holding babies in hospitals; suicide among kids; social media; abuse; neglect; food stamps/SNAP. We’ll discuss a possible speaker at a future meeting. Jackie will do a bulletin article for 1/26 to introduce the issue and a Small Things (Feb.) on the topic.
Shoe Collection: At Sacred Heart during our HF Volunteer Day we learned that one of the most-requested clothing items is shoes. We know how fast kids outgrow theirs. We decided to hold a shoe collection (new and gently used) for Sacred Heart in April, emphasizing children’s shoes but accepting adult sizes, as well. Will probably be toward the end of the month. Dina will do a Roadmap on this in March and Jackie will do bulletin items in April.
Roadmap: Lara volunteered to be put into the rotation. A new list will be generated and distributed.
Next Meeting: February 8, 2020, at 10 AM at Jackie’s house.
Timeline: Jan: Intro. Topic via bulletin. July: Feb: Small Things and ? Aug: Survival Sack collection Mar: Suvival Sack Collection & ? Sept: Festival Apr: Shoe collection Oct: May: Survival Sack collection &? Nov: Pack Survival Sacks June: