Notes from Sunday, September 13, 2009

The large item auction/van fundraiser is well underway.

• Karen will continue to announce at church that we are looking for donations of large items and, will, perhaps run a community note in the paper.
  
• Ryan will coordinate our efforts with Jim Shearman.
• Brent will finalize our plans for the location and get us an auctioneer.
  
• Jennifer will take care of a sale bill and contact the paper about the cost of advertising the event.
  

In conjunction with the large-item auction, Leanne will debut her Cookies for Cause (or whatever name she develops), selling chocolate chip sandwich cookies at $2.00 each/six for $10 with proceeds going to fund our work . . . probably the baritone. Leanne has suggested a baking party on Oct. 2o. More details to follow.

As of today (9/15) we have received about $600 for the baritone we purchased for our needy 8th grader. Juanita Lau is organizing a tamale sale ($18 per dozen) with proceeds to go to the project. Order by the end of this week by emailing Juanita at jlau@usd507.org or calling the high school at 649-2611. Delivery will be sometime next week--Wednesday or Thursday depending on how large the order is.

Stacey and Stephanie are confident that we have enough parents interested in our parenting classes to make them work. They will take care of the first meeting (Sunday, the 20th) and let the rest of us know what is needed: childcare, translators, snacks, etc. Each participant/couple will be asked to pay $10 to cover the cost of the book, but we will pay for those who could not otherwise afford to attend.

Stephanie is also working on Russell Child Development's annual Christmas fundraiser, and we opted to donate $100 toward the cause as a thank you for the projects we have accomplished via Smart Start.

Stephanie and Mendy also reported that we had between 45 and 50 kids at Faithweaver Friends on Wednesday, so volunteers and MORE FOOD are needed to make that project a continued success.

Rachel then reported that she would like to get our annual angel tree project underway before she has to have surgery. Rachel reminded us that we discussed some changes after Christmas last year that we should adopt for this year's go-round: provide a size chart and a list of toys appropriate for specific age groups; purchase extra toys for toddlers that we may not know about when Santa arrives, etc. Rachel will report to us on specifics of this project over the next few Sundays.

Rachel also reported that she and Matt are feeding the youth group at their house on October 14 should the class wish to join in; everyone agreed that a meal from Sam's consisting of lasagna, garlic bread, and corn--with pudding for dessert--would be appropriate. Rachel will sort out who is donating what when we have time to discuss the details.

Finally, the all-church clean-up day is Oct. 3, and some of us should probably volunteer to be on hand to clean our Sunday school room up and organize MAM once more. Ryan plans to be there and has recruited Julie Smith to help.

There's always lots to do, but it certainly feels good doing it!