The meeting was called to order by chairperson, Anne Evans, who read some scripture passages to put us in a proper frame of mind for voting on Tuesday as well as our work for the evening. Stephen offered a prayer.

Meeting minutes from the previous meeting were read and approved.

Old Business:

1. Blanket Sunday - We collected $2010 and were very grateful to those who contributed.

2. Global Strategies - Everyone one agreed that Dr. Ammann gave a very inspiring talk and that it was a very successful event. We collected $1530. Again we were all very grateful to those who contributed. Anne said that a couple of members of the congregation expressed interest in doing more with Global Strategies such as supporting a health care worker and that some members expressed an interest in going to one of the countries in Africa where Global Strategies partners with local health organizations. Anne and Stephen suggested that we keep Global Strategies in mind as a special project for further consideration at our next meeting.

3. Stephen gave a short explanation of the budget and UCC share and our desire to increase our funding as much as we are able until we reach our goal of giving (10% of the operating budget).

4. Jackie gave a status of the Giving Booklets -- there are two additions needed which amounts to a minor modification and they (booklets) would be ready within the next couple of weeks. The board decided that 25 booklets would be printed at this time, one for each pew and a few extra available for the back of the church and for new visitors. Nancy Jo requested that names of the members of the Mission Board be included in the front of the booklet and it was agreed to do that. Stephen suggested that when the booklets were printed that they be brought to a meeting or to church so that the process of putting them together could be a joint effort. Nancy Jo said that the future publishing of the booklet would be discussed in the Communications meeting to be held on Tuesday evening. Being a member of both boards, Nancy Jo will be able to guide us through our new responsibilities with respect to publishing.

5. Jackie did a quick demonstration of the new green pages on our Skyland Web site. We are very grateful to John Wetherill for getting our pages published on the web.

At this point we took a quick break to enjoy Nancy Jo's wonderful apple pie, continuing our tradition of being the best fed board in the church.

New Business:

1. Anne reviewed the Missions calendar and Nancy Jo suggested that each member take an activity or event and be the lead person, that is, organize the rest of us to do what we need to do to make it happen. We agreed to the following:

a. Blanket Sunday does itself,

b. Bread for the World -- Jackie will head up this event

c. Crop Walk -- Stephen and Jan will work on this one. Hopefully we can get more of the youth involved. Jackie will pass on information on possible change of date.

d. Mountain Clean Up -- Nancy Jo will head this one up

e. One Great Hour of Sharing -- Nancy Jo will do words for the children on Sunday March 23rd.

f. We will discuss the remaining events at our next meeting.

We will invite Paula Leary to our May meeting and we will all work with her to help make the Skyland Run a successful event. We all agreed that Paula has done a marvelous job but could probably use more support.

2. Information on Council Meeting -- Anne reported that Gina Wetherill had requested that all boards and committees have a representative at the council meeting and report on what they are doing to meet the church's vision. We figured we were doing a pretty good job meeting our board's vision goals.

4. Coffee Hour assignments for March --

March 2nd -- Anne and Nancy Jo

March 9th -- Jan and Jackie

March 30th -- Harold and Angela

We will decide on April's assignments at the next meeting

3. Jessica Gaffney, Jackie's daughter, told us about an orphanage she works with in Tanzania where a group of about 20 boys who recently lived in the streets of Makambako are now housed but have almost no provisions such as shoes, tooth brushes, beds, notebooks and pens. Everyone was enthusiastic about helping these kids. It was decided that Jessica would do words for the children on Sunday Feb. 10th and that she and Jackie would come up with tags similar to those we use for the giving tree to get the things needed for the orphans.

Next meeting -- Anne asked if evenings was a good time to meet or was some other time better. Most said that evenings were better and that Monday evenings were good. The next meeting was set for Monday March 10th.

After a very busy and successful meeting (it is clear that Anne is keeping us at our usual brisk pace) the meeting was closed with a prayer from Stephen.

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