MID-NORTH CHURCH COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
January 04, 2010
Fortune Room, Trinity Episcopal Church
5:30 – 7 p.m.
Present:
Diana
Creasser, Trinity Episcopal Church; Alan Archibald, North United Methodist
Church; The Growing Community; Harriet Stambaugh, Trinity Episcopal Church;
David Scott, Unleavened Bread Café; Tom Strodtman, Tabernacle Presbyterian
Church; Karen McCune, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Mid-North Food Pantry; Sally
Spiers, Our Redeemer Lutheran Church; Mary Z. Longstreth, North United Methodist
Church, Faith Care Ministries; Sarah Blandina, Mapleton-Fall Creek neighborhood,
Mid-North Food Pantry; Stuart Marra, Hyatt;
Nicky Hammond, Hyatt; Becky
Smith, Hotel Workers Rising.
Opening
Business:
Diana Creasser called the meeting to order, Tom
Strodtman offered the opening prayer, the minutes of the previous meeting were
accepted as submitted, and self-introductions were made.
The Treasurer’s Report showed a checking account balance of $627; there
are checks outstanding and a pledge to MLKCC for its back-to-school rally.
President’s
Report::
The Executive Committee (current officers Diana Creasser, Sarah Blandina,
and Hank Glesing along with past presidents Tom Strodtman and Sally Spiers) met
on December 29 to discuss various ideas about how MNCC can go forward.
Because it’s time for election of
new officers, they developed a
slate with Dan Gushee as president, Sarah Blandina remaining as
Secretary, and Sally Spiers as Treasurer with Hank as Treasurer Emeritus.
Diana is willing to remain as president for a few months until Dan is
ready to fully assume the role. The
Executive Committee will remain as strong support.
They also determined that a
retreat should be held, subject to Council approval, in order to do
focused goal-planning. A tentative
date of February 13 was selected.
Old
Business: Mid-North Food Pantry:
Karen McCune, MNFP President, gave
a year-end report. There were several highpoints in the second half of 2009:
the move from 3421 N. Park to 3333 N. Meridian on August 01, and a major
fundraiser dinner, Step Up to the Plate, on November 07 . Since the move, the
Pantry has experienced an increase in client numbers of approximately 20%:
commodity shipments in October and November were used up almost as fast
as they were received. Moving into
the new facility required a certain amount of renovation including taking down
walls, installation of wiring and attaching shelving to walls, and painting.
The fundraiser resulted in approximately $11,000.
For the immediate future, there are plans to tweak operations to make
them more efficient, include fresh produce in offerings to clients, and install
a walk-in refrigerator/freezer donated by Lilly.
Old
Business: Ex-Offender Re-Entry:
Mary Longstreth reported
that there were no new developments.
New
Business: Unionization of Service
Employees:
Stuart Marra, Nicky Hammond, and Becky Smith
presented information about conditions affecting hotel workers in Indianapolis
that represent issues of social justice and the face Indianapolis presents to
visitors. Hotel service workers are
experiencing their status being downgraded from full time with benefits to part
time with no benefits -- and in some
cases, losing their jobs altogether --
as management strives to cut costs.
In addition, many of their former jobs are being outsourced.
This means that the quality of life for long-time dedicated and
professional hotel employees is being diminished, and their former duties are
being performed in a less professional manner.
Not only are their personal
budgets affected, causing many workers to take second and third jobs in order to
make ends meet, but the pride in their work and the respect they received are
also diminished; visitors to the hotel are being served by personnel who have
less dedication to welcoming them.
While
Indianapolis hotel workers are among the lowest-paid in the country, there’s a
national movement to unionize these employees.
A meet-and-greet rally will be held January 26 at Lockerbie United
Methodist Church beginning at 5:30.
MNCC member
present at this meeting were interested in the social justice aspects of this
situation, and there was some discussion about how we could “get behind” this
movement. In addition to helping to
publicize the meet-and-greet within their church, community, and/or professional
communities, an idea about initiating conversations designed to shed light on
this and other social-justice issues were expressed.
No specific plans were made.
New
Business: Election and Retreat
Because the election of new officers must, according to our
bylaws, be announced to the general membership in advance, this process will be
moved to February and be executed at the retreat.
The retreat has a tentative date of February 13 at one of the Trinity
facilities. Issues to be addressed
at the retreat include a review of our bylaws with special attention to member
representation, consideration of special groups and committees, and
goal-planning for the next three to five years.
Tom Strodtman said he would like us to consider again the issue of “what
we’re for” and Karen McCune would like a process for forwarding this question.
The retreat will be facilitated
by Council members; Alan Archibald said he would help.
New
Business: MLK Day Celebration:
Sally Spiers read a report
submitted by Carolyn Ramsey who is coordinated this MNCC annual celebration at
Our Redeemer Lutheran Church. Brian
Williams of North United will be the keynote speaker.
At the luncheon which follows, awards for Drum Major for Justice and Good
Neighbor will be presented. Trinity
Episcopal Church is helping to fund the luncheon.
All members of MNCC and the neighborhood are welcome to participate.
New
Business: State of the Neighborhood Event:
Sarah Blandina asked if the members wanted to mount a State of the
Neighborhood 2010. The response was
overwhelmingly affirmative; Sally Spiers offered the reminder that it was
mandated by the bylaws. Sarah said
she wanted to start the planning process in the next month.
She has developed a list of roles based on the experience of SOTN 2090
that need to be filled; this list is attached to the minutes as an Appendix.
She hopes MNCC members will step forward to fill these roles or find
someone in their church or organization community to do so.
Announcement:
Shirley Shazer announced a workshop,
The
Leadership Challenge, taking place at Broadway United Methodist Church
on January 23 and 30. This
workshop is based on a book by Kouzes and Posner and helps participants identify
their leadership strengths. The cost is
$160 for the two-day workshop.
Adjournment:
After an update from Diana on her stepson Josh’s condition, the meeting
was adjourned.
Respectfully
submitted,
Sarah
W. Blandina
Sarah W. Blandina
