The following are the minutes from this meeting
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY THRIVENT CHAPTER MINUTES
Monday, November 10, 2003 6:30 p.m.
The November meeting of the Champaign Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans was called to order at 6:45PM at St John Lutheran Church in Royal. 5 Members, 2 Financial Associates and four Congregational Coordinator were present, including all three from St John’s.
It was M/S/C to add 12 new members to our chapter.
Minutes for the October meeting were reviewed, it was M/S/C to approve the minutes after correcting the spelling of Lynn Podoll’s name.
A welcome was made to the visitors at the meeting, and thanks for the hospitality provided by them.
Chapter Funds – we have $2930.57 available of Chapter operating funds, with approximately $200 paid out at the meeting; and $0 in Care Abounds in Communities project funding.
A review of the approved but not completed projects was done – with people assigned to follow up on each of the projects. Gifford School Library – final report shortly. LSSI – Outreach to needy families, Heavenly Tree (Erv), Wilson Benefit (Darrell), LSSI Appeal (Norm)
New Projects
Since all our funds are allocated we have no more projects available. It was reiterated that we need backup projects just in case something falls through, but given the projects not yet completed that shouldn’t happen.
Bruce Dani has a project that can be done on short notice if need be. It was mentioned that we had talked previously about donating funds to the food pantrys in the various churches – how we determine which churches have pantries and which pass information on to community food pantries was undetermined. Several churches pass canned goods on to EIFB or the Rantoul Food Bank.
The Heart Healthy Cookbook was discussed again – evidently the information wasn’t at the last meeting because of a communication problem (they thought the meeting was the week following). After some discussion it was M/S/C to fund this project ($800) from operating funds.
We reviewed congregational funding, with the reminder that there are several churches that haven’t yet made use of their funds, and for board members to contact them as appropriate to ensure plans are in progress for projects.
The CongCoords from St John Royal attempted to enter one project, and evidently entered it incorrectly; help was offered at the meeting.
We discussed the two congregations that seem to be in the wrong chapters – Grace in Rankin (listed on Champaign County while it’s located in Vermillion County) and St Paul in Gifford (Listed in Ford County even though Bob Hesterberg (from that church) is on the Champaign Chapter Board). It’s been mentioned when Thrivent has been contacted they say that it doesn’t technically matter which church is part of which chapter – but it would be good to get these corrected in the next year.
We also discussed the university chapels – University Lutheran (LCMS) and St Andrews (ELCA). They were given a choice to be part of Simply Giving or the Care in Congregations programs, and University chose the Simply Giving while St Andrews chose the Care in Congregations program; neither church has benefited from their choice, as St Andrews has not been able to put the three congregational coordinators in place, and University hasn’t seen any funds through the Simply Giving program.
Norm handed out a paper that he generated outlining what we did for the Luncheon Election, asking for feedback to add to it, so we can improve the event in future years. Many “excellent event” comments were received; a comment on getting people through the voting line and into the room faster was made – perhaps we can implement two lines next year (we talked about it this year, but operationally didn’t make it happen). Any further comments should be send to Norm, and he’ll make sure this paper gets entered into our archives.
Speaking of archives – our Communications Director position is open, and this is probably one of the tasks that fall to that position. Judy mentioned that a program she was previously involved with had someone who maintained a scrapbook of everything that was done by the group, so future years could see pictures and information from prior years events.
Erv mentioned that this year we have been a bit lax as far as record-keeping goes. Thrivent has provided Funding Request forms and Completion forms in our binders, and we need to enforce all projects having a full set of these filled out for next year.
Judy mentioned that the Heartland Region had invited her to a brainstorming session. She will be unable to go (this Friday/Saturday) because of health issues. Norm volunteered to go in her place if they will allow that; he will contact Peggy Johannsen with the change of personnel and see what the program is and whether it would be appropriate for him to go in Judy’s place.
As discussed in the last few meetings, we talked about what to do for our next meeting, given the suggestion from the Heartland Region that the board go out to dinner for an end-of year wrap up. It was M/S/C that the December meeting will be held at the Ribeye steakhouse in Champaign on Sunday, December 7th at 5:30PM. Spouses are invited to this end of year event.
The location of the meeting was discussed – whether to meet in one central location or whether to continue to move among the churches. While it would be more convenient to many of us to meet in a central location, we’ve recently started inviting congcoords to host the meetings, and to aid in communication among the chapter members we should continue our current system. Judy will look at meeting locations for 2003 and set up a set of meeting locations for 2004. The congcoords from St John’s (Royal) expressed their satisfaction at being asked to host the meeting and find out a bit more about what we as an organization do.
Regarding the meeting dates – it was felt that we should discuss this when we have as many members as possible present. It was thought that our meeting next month will have better attendance, and we will decide this issue at the Ribeye. Monday nights are bad for several people.
Respectfully submitted,
Norm Fisher for
Lynette Renfrow