Ladies of Blessed Sacrament (LBS) – Meeting Minutes – 10/04/2022
President Eileen Foster called the meeting to order at 1:30 and welcomed all present. An opening prayer was said.
Eileen announced that our April 11th 2023 meeting will be an evening meeting to enable more ladies to attend as 1:30 in the afternoon may not be a good meeting time for many women.
Eileen thanked Joanne Tanner for making autumn floral arrangements for the tables in our social hall.
Elaine White, Alex Braley, and Aimee Kopiwoda provided snacks for the 24 ladies in attendance. Connie Latuszek and Dorothy Kociba provided the table arrangements. Joanne Tanner, Deb Rey, Isabel Viges, and Sharon Capriccioso signed up to bring snacks to our November meeting.
Secretary Elaine White read the minutes of our last meeting. Minutes were previously posted on parish website and on LBS FaceBook page.
Treasurer Tana Zemanek reported a treasury balance of $15,071.43. It was decided at our September meeting that we’ll gift $10,000 to various charities with emphasis on charities that provide help with basic necessities such as food, clothing, and shelter. The board previously compiled a list of 23 charities. The board then pared this list down to 15 charities. All those in attendance at our November meeting will vote on which of those 10 charities will get $1,000 each. Each person at the November meeting will get ten tickets. There will be 15 bags labeled with the name of each charity. Members can spread their votes around or place all tickets in the same bag. The charities selected are:
Blessed Sacrament Emergency Funds, Camp Fish Tales, Caregiving Network, East Side Soup Kitchen of Saginaw, Emmaus House of Saginaw, Global Compassion, Guatemalan Stove Project, Home to Stay (formally Midland Area Homes), Midland County Former Offenders Advocacy and Rehab (MCFOAR), Midland County Food Pantry Network (EFPN), Shelterhouse for Women & Children, Sleep in Heavenly Peace, Tall in the Saddle, Toni & Trish House, and Wings of Mercy.
The LBS will have a cider and donuts fundraiser after both Sunday Masses on October 16th and on November 13th. Money raised will be used to buy fleece for the blankets that we’ll be making for the homeless and disadvantaged in our community. Everyone is invited to our blanket making day on Wednesday, October 19th from 8 am to 3 pm. You can come for the entire time period or just part of the time. A pizza lunch will be provided or you’re welcome to bring your own lunch. Additional workers are needed. Please contact Anne Boyd (989-415-4243) to sign up.
Judy Kawiecki introduced Anne Canvasser, volunteer coordinator for the Midland Center for the Arts (MCFTA). Anne talked about the role of ushers at MCFTA. Training is provided. If you wish to volunteer, contact volunteer@midlandcenter.org or fill out an application on the MCFTA website at midlandcenter.org/volunteer.
Our next speaker was Pesi Kennett, outreach coordinator for Midland County Emergency Food Pantry Network (EFPN). EFPN distributes over 17,000 items (food, cleaning supplies, personal care items) per month through their eight food pantries. Pesi explained the various programs of EFPN, one of which is the Backpack Buddies program which distributes a weekend supply of food to elementary children in Midland County who qualify for free or reduced price school lunches. Anyone who needs help with food can call 989-486-9393 and press “1”.
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, November 8th at 1:30. All are welcome!