The Lancaster County Chapter Board of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans met on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at Prince of Peach Lutheran Church, 1201 Benton Street, Lincoln, NE. President Jeff Peterson called the regular monthly chapter meeting to order at 6:34 p.m. and opened with prayer. Jeff expressed thanks to the members of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church for hosting the meeting and attendees introduced themselves. Board members in attendance included: Jeff Peterson, Shane Larsen, Jan Beck, Kristy Plander, Billie Frost, Judy Janssen, Sally Mertens, Vicki Onken, Keith Plummer and Margaret Simmons (6:45). Advisory Board members present included: Dennis Engelbart, Roger Simmons, Linda Stubbendick and Phil Wittig. Guests present were the Prince of Peace congregational coordinators – Glen Rosenthal and Jason Samsel.

Reports

Records Director: The minutes of the July 22, 2008 meeting had been distributed to the Board members prior to the meeting. The minutes of the July meeting were approved as printed and distributed and will be posted to the website.

New Chapter Members: The motion was made by Jan Beck and seconded by Kristy Plander to admit into membership of the Lancaster County Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans from July 20, 2008 through August 25, 2008 – 55 Benefit members, 10 Associate members and 14 Youth members for a total of 79 members. The motion passed.

Financial Director: The Chapter financial report from the July meeting through August 26th was distributed to Board members prior to the meeting. Kristy Plander reported a balance of $18,661 remaining in Care Abounds in Communities funds. The Chapter’s balance in operating funds is $5,678.66 plus the funds received this evening from the sale of tickets for the Salt Dog game (50% paid by individuals).

Saltdogs Game Review: The Events Director reported that coordinators were disappointed that the half price tickets ($5.00 paid by Chapter and $5.00 paid by attendees) were limited to 200 when over 300 attended the game event in 2007. This is a good event for Thrivent members and has been successful the past two years. The Chapter Board will have further discussion at the Fall Retreat.

Fall Event: The president announced that he may not be able to attend due to schedule. Shane Larson, Vice President, took names of potential nominees from Board members and will contact individuals those expressing an interest in serving on the 2009 Chapter Board. He will provide an update on the election contacts by or about September 10th. The positions of Assistant Financial Director and Communications Director are open on the 2009 Chapter Board.

Thrivent Builds: Linda Stubbendick, Thrivent Builds specialist, thanked everyone from the Board that attended the Waffleman for Habitat event that was held on Thursday August 21st at Sheridan Lutheran Church. Many of the individuals assisting with serving were Habitat homeowners. She also commented that the house being built on Sheridan’s parking lot to be moved to 33rd and ‘X’ Street was moving forward and hoped that many took advantage of the opportunity to view the house during the recent event.

Linda presented the application to support Thrivent Builds in 2009, which will probably involve building two homes. The motion was made by Billie Frost and seconded by Margaret Simmons to approve the 2009 Thrivent Builds application. The motion passed.

Events Director: Judy Janssen reported that 208 tickets were sold for the Saltdogs Faith and Family Night game on Sunday, August 10th. Thirteen churches bought tickets through their Lancaster County Thrivent Congregational Coordinators. We had excellent seats (right behind home plate) but were spread out more, as these are the sections taken by season ticket holders. Several concerns were made concerning the number of tickets so I did not purchase items to be handed out to the attendees.

The committee for the Fall Event met on August 13th and selected the menu and approved the schedule which is as follows: 12 noon to 1 p.m. – Serve lunch; 12:45 to 1:15 – Announcements (recognize congregational coordinators in attendance); entertainment on stage; draw for door prizes between entertainment; 1:15 to 1:30 – Break; Kid’s games with prizes will begin with Sally and her helpers; 1:30 to 2:15 or 2:30 – Bingo with Roger and helpers (limit the number of prizes per individual/family); 2:30 – Draw for remaining door prizes (need to be present to win). The committee is tentatively planning for 300 in attendance. Kid’s games will include the Bounce House; face painting; pumpkin decorating; cotton candy to name a few. Youth members from the chapter congregations will assist Sally with the game. Sullivan’s Catering from Malcolm will be handling the meal with the Thrivent Board of Directors and Congregational Coordinators assisting with serving. Set-up for the Fall Event will be on Saturday, October 18th and clean up immediately following the event on Sunday, October 19th. Nametags have been ordered and Dennis is checking into pencils and/or pens to be given at the time of voting for the Lancaster County Chapter Officers. The Fall Event Committee Judy Janssen, Shane Larson, Jan Beck, Sally Mertens, Margaret Simmons, Roger Simmons and a Financial Associate (yet to be determined).

Communication Director: Margaret Simmons reported that a postcard had been sent to all members concerning the Waffleman event at Sheridan on August 21st. She is preparing a ‘Save the Date’ card for the Fall Event and also a newsletter with information about Camp Carol Joy Holling and Camp Luther as the featured articles. The newsletter will also have information about the Fall Event and election and is to be issued during the month of September.

Fall Chapter Retreat: Jeff Peterson reported that he has discussed with Jason from Camp Carol Joy Holling concerning a service project (hands-on activity supported with CAIC funds) to be done during the retreat. This would be a family activity during a portion of the afternoon and evening as well as having a planning meeting for calendar year 2009. The Board discussed possible dates for the Fall Retreat with Sunday, November 9th being the first choice and Sunday, November 16th as an alternate date.

Website report: Jeff Peterson reported that the website is getting very limited use with approximately 50 hits per month. There are currently some links on the website that are not working. New links that have been added are not available unless the user is logged in on the website. Jeff will try and work on this issue over Labor Day.

Action Items

Community Service Team Director: Keith Plummer presented eight Care Abounds in Community (CAIC) projects for the Chapter Board’s action. All CAIC approved requests are being funded 1:1 unless otherwise noted.

Project #08-30242-56: This project request for $400 was from Beta Sigma Psi for a service project to benefit the Lutheran Student Center This event was held on August 24, 2008 and is titled ‘Beta Sigma Psi Service Activity’. The project request had been approved via email due to the date of the project. The motion to ratify the email vote was made by Keith Plummer and seconded by Kristy Plander to ratify the approved project request for up to $400. The motion to ratify the earlier action passed.

Project #08-30242-57: This project request for $2500 was from a group of individuals for the James Turner Family. This event will be held on August 22, 2008 and is titled ‘Our Saviour’s Has Talent’. The project request had been approved via email due to the date of the project. The motion to ratify the email vote was made by Keith Plummer and seconded by Kristy Plander to ratify the approved project request for up to $2500. The motion to ratify the earlier action passed.

Project #08-30242-58: This project request for $2500 was from a group of individuals for the Justin D. Stineman. This event will be held on August 24, 2008 and is titled ‘Justin Stineman Benefit’. The project request had been approved via email due to the date of the project. The motion to ratify the email vote was made by Keith Plummer and seconded by Kristy Plander to ratify the approved project request for up to $2500. The motion to ratify the earlier action passed.

Project #08-30242-59: This project request for $600 is from Messiah Women in Mission. This event is titled ‘Christmas Greetings to the U.S. Military scheduled to be held on November 4, 2008. The funds raised from this event are used to purchase supplies to make the cards and also send the cards to military personnel from our area. The motion was made by Keith Plummer and seconded by Kristy Plander to approve the project request for up to $600. The motion passed.

Project #08-30242-60: This project request for $800 is from Trinity Lutheran School PTL. This event is titled ‘Clubs Choice Products USA and scheduled to be held through September 11, 2008. The funds for this project will be used to purchase books and encyclopedia for the school library. The motion was made by Keith Plummer and seconded by Kristy Plander to approve the project request for up to $800. The motion passed.

Project #08-30242-61: This project request for $800 is from a group of individuals for a Children’s Christmas Store and will be on December 6, 2008. The funds raised from this event will go to the food pantry to purchase Christmas Food Baskets for the needy in the area. The motion was made by Keith Plummer and seconded by Kristy Plander to approve the project request for up to $800. The motion passed.

Project #08-30242-62: This project request for $2500 is from a group of individuals for Tom Latzel. The event is titled ‘Tom Latzel-Medical Fundraiser’ scheduled to be held on October 22, 2008. The motion was made by Keith Plummer and seconded by Kristy Plander to approve the project request for up to $2500. The motion passed.

Director of Member Engagement Region 378: Dennis Engelbart encouraged members to attend the Fall Family Festival at Camp Carol Joy Holling on Sunday, September 21st from 2-6 p.m. Activities will include the zip line, moon walk, paddle boating, canoeing, hayrack rides, hiking, face painting and more.

Dennis encourages the Lancaster County Chapter to send delegates to the Nebraska Fraternal Congress that will be held on Friday, October 10th. In 2007 Jan Beck attended the Nebraska Fraternal Congress, which was held at Camp Carol Joy Holling. Dennis is the president-elect of the Nebraska Fraternal Congress and is the Nebraska delegate to the National Fraternal Congress in Washington on September 4th to 6th.

Announcement: The next monthly chapter meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 beginning at 6:30 p.m. The location is Immanuel Lutheran Church, 2001 South 11th Street, Lincoln, NE.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m.