CCC FORUMS

melinda hawbaker · Joined: 15 Mar 2007 Posts: 4

Central Christian Church
CACS Department Meeting
June 4, 2007
6:30 pm in the Disciple Room

Present: Robert Bushey, Judy Ford, Melinda Hawbaker, Julie Martin, Penny Rutherford, Sue Simcox, Bruce Williams, Kevin Wilmot

Department Chair Melinda thanked everyone for coming and welcomed Brett Swallow, Co-Chair of the Fellowship Committee to discuss the opportunity to combine Play-Day with our All-Church Picnic this year on Sunday, September 9, 2007.

Play-Day / Picnic Discussion

How to handle our Congregational meeting – possibly hand out ballots instead of voting
Planning for enough food – maybe offer hot dogs for the kids, serve food during a smaller window of time
Our role? – festival atmosphere with games and entertainment for the kids
Our neighborhood is transitional
Sunday may bring a different crowd than other play-days held on Saturdays
Go door-to-door with flyers following a plan mapped out – advertise as a picnic
Encourage care of our property
Kids will most likely bring extended family
Have the kids sign in/register before playing games/eating
Maybe have bingo games for the adults
Call it the “Central Family Picnic”??
Combined event will be an opportunity for more of our congregation to see Play-Day and may help biases within the church
Consider having some of our church members act as “intentional” hosts for our neighborhood guests
May need to close portions of our parking lot

A Sub-Committee was appointed to work jointly with Fellowship Committee including Melinda, Sue and Bruce.

Possibility of Central Hosting a School Registration

Robert mentioned we may have an opportunity to partner with District #61 to host a school registration for children in our neighborhood attending Enterprise, Dennis and French Schools. The District is making a strong effort this year to get students registered early before school starts. The group agreed this would be a great service to our community and chose Sunday, August 19th from 3:00 to 6:00 pm to hold this event should the District pursue it as the new school year approaches. We discussed offering ice cream to the children and their families, as well as vouchers for them to get free school supplies from Project Success. Penny agreed to volunteer registering students during this event, as she is knowledgeable in this area. The principals of our area schools may also participate. We could distribute flyers throughout the neighborhood to promote the event and give a CCC pencil to every child who registers that day.

Good Samaritan Inn

Judy reported that our committee of five to eight people continues to prepare and serve weekday meals on the second Monday of every month.

Our Hunger Relief Task Force will prepare and serve meals on the remaining Saturdays this year:

June 16 August 18 October 6 December 15

Robert shared that he plans to give the congregation another opportunity to sign up this year.

Peace & Justice Task Force

Bruce reported the task force continues to work with the Central Illinois Organizing Project (CIOP) to support future legislation about Pay Day Loans in an effort to find solutions to the problem of Pay Day Loan companies increasing predatory lending. Recent legislation failed by just one vote.

The task force is working to form another Public Education Panel Discussion specifically targeting the inequities in school funding. Robert shared that Illinois’ school funding is ranked 49th nationwide, while we rank as the 5th wealthiest state.

They are also working to develop another DVD Series for the upcoming year.

The next meeting of the task force will be held tomorrow evening, June 5th, when the group will review their mission statement in relationship to the church’s.

Emergency Fund Offering

Julie reported she prepared for this offering to be collected on July 1st and 8th.

One Church One School

Robert shared that Hope Academy will close on June 13th and resume on July 23rd. He also reported that Safety Net, Hope’s After School program, has concluded and will not continue in the future. He is currently exploring grant opportunities for Central to provide an after school program there with our volunteers.

Next Meeting

Monday, August 6th at 6:30 pm

Respectfully Submitted,

Melinda Hawbaker, Department Chair