Sister Parish Committee meetings are held the second and fourth Thursdays of each month at 7 pm. in the Parish Center. Newcomers are always welcome. If you have questions, please contact any of the members of the committee.
What follows are the minutes of the Thursday, June 10, 1999 meeting.
Thursday, June 10, 1999
Present: Louise, Bob, Mindy, Jeff, Joel, Alex, Carol, Katie J., Jim M.
Katie Johnson brought the
books we purchased in conjunction with Lisa Schwanke and
the funds raised by the sale of "The Littlest Christmas Tree".
About $300 of children's books will be sent to TNII with the
youth delegation. They will first be used by Janet Brown and
the Camp SJA kids next week. The kids will sign the books under
an inscription we wrote in Spanish in each one. The committee
was very excited about the quality of the beautiful books. Tim,
Mary Beth, and Louise all helped Katie with the selection.
The delegation orientation planning committee met and Mindy reported on the agenda. The presenters will be Mindy, Rick, Louise, Mark, and Marge. There will be several activities for ice breakers, etc. Orientations are Sat., June 19 from 9-3 and Sun., June 27 from 9-5.
Louise and Mindy will work together to make a current list of active members of our committee for distribution to everyone.
Bob requested and was approved $240 to continue our memberships and subscriptions to GHRC/USA, CERIGUA, and the Resource Center of the Americas. These are the organizations that supply us with much of our political information that appears at http://pconline.com/~sja/pol.html .
Louise asked someone to assume the role of treasurer for our committee. Joel agreed to do so, working with Nancy Logan of the SJA staff.
We reviewed a request for funds to assist Guatemalan immigrants living in the Twin Cities from Alex DeHinton, the Guatemalan Consulate for the area. We decided that the request was a better fit for the Justice Fund at SJA which requires a parishioner as a sponsor. Bob agreed to contact Mr. DeHinton about the concept of co-sponsoring such a request.
Bob asked for help organizing a leafleting campaign against Phillips-Van Huesen at various retail outlets in the Twin Cities. The campaign would protest against unfair labor practices in Central America. It was suggested that anyone interested in participating call Bob (612/789-9020).
Vickie Schmidt announced the 1st Northern Advisory Board meeting Aug. 20-22 in Fargo. The Southern Advisory Board recently convened for the first time. This board is different from the Board of Directors which is more of a nuts and bolts operational group. The Advisory Boards set goals for SP Inc. for the future and is made up of "grass roots" individuals of each of the hermanamientos. We would like to have someone from our committee attend. If you are interested, contact Louise(651/645-6821).
Louise handed out an article Tim ran across that looks at the philosophy of relationships between peoples. We should read it and be prepared to discuss it at the July 22nd meeting. If you would like a copy of it, contact Louise(651/645-6821).
Mindy will be setting up a display about Sister Parish this Sunday at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church at 31st and Chicago. This parish features different cultures on occasion and Guatemala is this week. They will also be having a Guatemalan dinner. The event runs from 9:30-11 am.
Jeff reported that he has heard nothing from Marge(although it is her honeymoon!!) about the possibility of putting daily reflections from the youth delegates up on the website. Mindy reports that this topic will come up at the orientation.
Alex moved that we have a "Welcome Little Leone-Getten" Party later this summer. Joel will look into hosting it on an August Saturday and get back to all.
The airport delegation sendoff will be the morning of Friday, July 16th at about 11 am. We have no more meetings(hence, minutes) until after that date. As plans firm up, I will send out a special notice.
Next Meeting: Thursday, July 22nd 7 pm Parish Center
Jeff