Minutes of November meeting: Approved.
 
Reports

• Respect Life: Planning for Spring campaign
• Left-Over Survival Sack Items:  We had a few items left over and people brought things to the packing. They will be a small start for 2017.

 
Recap of 2016: Survival Sacks were particularly successful because we packed a few over 100 and had the largest group of volunteer packers ever. Our PACT speaker engaged some people during Mass and, during the Knights’ breakfast, he, along with FIAT members, further informed people and encouraged them to vote.  That went well.  Movie nights were mixed, improving after the first two nights when parking-lot resurfacing kept people away. The results of our phone bank (a new, exciting experience for our team), #End 45, and our advocacy emails are too hard to evaluate, because people needed to take action on their own.  And we’re not sure how many parishioners participated in the annual Spring Foreword run.
 
Survival Sacks: See Recap above.  We submitted write-ups and pictures to our parish bulletin and Sacred Heart.  Pictures have been added to the FIAT webpage.  We discussed moving the packing date earlier because of conflicts, especially during Advent, and because of the busy-ness of November and December and the mess in the vestibule during those months as other groups collect food, clothing, and Christmas gifts. Also, the most help for people in need usually comes during late November and through Christmas, so another month might be more beneficial. We’re considering early October, which will give us three 5^th-Sunday collection dates.  We’ll try to get other groups involved early and remind parishioners that people are homeless all year ‘round.
 
Santa Teresa Parish Poverty Simulation:  Info. was sent out to our parishioners via our bulletin, FIAT email, and Prayer Line.  We’ll send out a reminder a few days before the date (Jan. 28).
 
2017 Issue:  After discussion about issues we’ve covered in the past and ones that have practical things people can do to be involved, we tentatively settled on Improving Literacy.  We’ll continue to discuss this via email and make a final decision at our Feb.  meeting.
 
Meeting Place:  We’ll continue meeting at Jackie’s house for the time being.
 
Timeline:  We’ll begin it at our next meeting after a final decision is made on the 2017 issue.
 
Next meeting: Sat., Feb. 11 at 10 AM at Jackie’s house.