St. Patrick's Altar Society
March 2016 Meeting Minutes Attendance: 31 members
St. Patrick's Altar Society March meeting opened with a prayer. The January meeting was the Society's Christmas Party and the February meeting was cancelled due to weather conditions, so no minutes were shared with the members. There were several correspondence items. A thank-you was received from the STARS Committee for the Society's donation for the event. A thank-you was received from both Mary Jo L. and from Betty Northup for their Christmas gifts from the members. Additionally a thank-you was received from Diane N. for the gift of a rosary and another thank-you from Villa Marie for the donation of cookies. A brochure for the 10th Anniversary of the Women's Spirituality Conference that was received was also shared with the members. And a packet of handwritten thank-you's from St. Patrick's 3rd graders were available for the members to peruse. The 2015 Annual Treasurer report and the Treasurer report for January 2016 were distributed and approved. A discussion was held on the restoring of a separate line for Flower Donation Funds on the Treasure Report so that the ladies in charge of the flowers could have a better idea on their budget for each holiday. A motion was made and approved for adding the line item back to the report. A discussion was also held on retaining the separate line for Outside Donations Fund. Several members felt it was important to designate the funds separately so that the Society does not lose sight of its responsibility of charitable giving. A motion was made and approved to retain the line item on the report.
Fr. Schweiger shared his excitement over the scheduling of the group "Radix" to perform "The Passion" in our very own church on March 16, 2016 at 7 p.m., and his wishes that all the ladies would come to the moving performance. Father also shared with the members that a contract had been signed for the new tabernacle and that he plans to post a couple of pictures of the tabernacle in the bulletin in a few weeks. He hopes that it will be completed in time for the one-year anniversary of our new church building on August 15th for the consecration.
There were no Commission Reports, except for a report from Debbie W. on Legislative. She had rosters available for anyone that was interested and she had an article from the Register regarding the Pro Life Day at the Capital. A count of over 2500 Best Choice labels was shared with the group. Jeanne V. reported that she would place an announcement in the bulletin requesting that ladies of the parish submit their Altar Society dues since there are still many that have not yet submitted. Melissa B. asked the members if they wanted to designate where to spend the money collected during the Christmas Party since it had been previously voted that the money would go to the new Social Hall. The members voted to place the money in the general fund since we have several large expenses coming up for the hall furnishings.
The countertop committee informed the group that they are on hold awaiting the installation of the cabinets. Father commented that his teams had met and that their priority is the Sanctuary. After that is finished, they will start on the other areas of the church building. Mary Jo L. informed the ladies that she has a record of the sanders of each Celtic cross and in which pew they were placed, for those that were interested. Diane N. brought in a quote for a coffee brewer, a sink, a faucet and a disposal. And she shared with the group that the annual garage sale will be held this year. She requested that members volunteer to meet in late April to go through the stored items to determine which items to keep for the sale and which ones to toss. A volunteer sign-up will be routed during April's meeting.
Melissa shared with the ladies the need for volunteers for serving for several events in April and sign-ups were routed. There is the Legion of Mary (ACIES) on April 4 from 6-9 p.m. with approximately 200 people, the Pro-Life Education Series on April 10 at 7 p.m., and the DDP dinner on April 8 at 7p.m. with approximately 120 people. There was a lengthy discussion on the DDP dinner regarding the options of providing the food or having it catered. It was decided that the meal would be catered and Melissa B. would call a couple of caterers to get quotes. Melissa also shared with the members that she was approached about holding a fundraiser for a parishioner's family. After a discussion with the ladies and Father, it was determined that the parish would support with the use of the building and possibly servers but could not support running the fundraiser as requested. The meeting ended with the wrapping of the utensils for the St. Patrick's Day Festival.