Most Blessed Sacrament
Human Concerns Committee
Minutes 2/15/2011

Present: Pat Hilmer, Mary Gibbons, Jan Cleaver, Sue Bongert, Belinda Kuester

Absent: Jenny Thorn, Kelly Butzlaff,Sara Pritzl, Diana Streblow, Carolyn Cada

The meeting was called to order by Mary Gibbons and led in prayer by Pat Hilmer

January minutes were approved.

Care Fair and Blood Drive Feb. 26

Mary met with Ruth Wellhouse, finalizing arrangements to have a blood drive at the Care Fair at St. Vincent's from 9 a.m. until noon on Feb. 26. Sister Diane will have a table set up for registration and a van will be parked outside to accommodate the drive. Committee members need only be present to answer questions. A minimum of 15 blood donors are needed for the drive. Pat and Belinda volunteered to phone past donors from St. Jude Parish, asking them to participate again this year by calling Most Blessed Sacrament's business office to set up an appointment. In addition, each committee member was asked to attempt to find 1 or 2 individuals willing to donate. Belinda will also be selling fair trade coffee at the event.

Stone Soup Supper

Mary reserved the gym at the St. Mary site for this year's stone soup supper. The event will be discussed further at the next committee meeting.

Help for the Homeless Collection

Boxes will be set up at both sites on the weekends of March 5 and 12 to collect personal care items for the homeless. The actual campaign runs from March 1 through 27. An article detailing the drive will be put in the bulletin by Mary.

Care Ministry: Interviews conducted by Jan and Mary over the past month have produced 8 individuals interested in becoming care ministers. Father Jim would like the group to initially focus on homebound visitations. Mary indicated that she and Jan would attempt to meet with Father Jim, Sister Diane, and Deacon Rick to establish an accurate list of individuals whose needs are presently not being met.

Review and Update of Strategic Plan

Mary asked that this task be deferred to next month.

Continuing Fair Trade Sales

Belinda asked about the continuance of fair trade sales, since a new order needs to be placed due to limited stock. The committee voiced a desire to continue with sales. Belinda suggested that extra coffee continue to be kept in the parish office at St. Peter's. Pat offered to stock the St. Peter site. Belinda will focus on the St. Mary site.

Shadow Boxes for Active Military

Shadow boxes are now mounted at both churches. Mary is working with Laurie to design a background for the shadow boxes. The boxes will include a prayer and a cross to remind individuals to continue to pray for our active military.

Parish Council

Sue Bongert, our Parish council liaison, updated the committee on parish events, such as the Valentine Dinner on February 12, the upcoming Parish Directory, and Sister Diane's retirement (July 1), as well as the ongoing selection process for parish committees which will occur in June.

Jenny Thorn will conduct next month's meeting since Mary will be absent.

In a round robin, members emphasized that the committee is progressing well with its goals.

The meeting closed in prayer.

Respectfully submitted,
Pat Hilmer