To all: Thank you for your time and dedication to our sister parish and the upcoming trip to St. Gabriel in Balaclava.
What we discussed in our meeting last Monday (Apr 29).
1) VACCINATIONS: Julia Kovac reported that she is reviewing the CDC website to gather information about required vaccinations and other health-related news related to traveling to Jamaica. She will report back at next meeting.
2) HISTORY: A 3-page document about the history of past Mission trips to Jamaica was created when Julia, Sandra and the Mischlichs poured through all of Katherine’s scrapbooks. Still needing to determine what to do with all the videos that John has. Would be nice to have a more permanent and concise rendering of the timeline, and highlights regarding the relationship with the sister parish in Balaclava. A display in the Gathering Space? A Shutterfly book? Other ideas? Who wants to lead/do this? Similarly, providing more “Jamaica awareness” information in the bulletin would be a good thing – Josh?
3) ALUMNI: Because of the history gathering, there is a 99% complete list of past Mission Trip “Alum”. This is on a Google drive and can be shared. We are in process of verifying/getting up-to-date contact information for each.
4) Travel Arrangements: Brittain reported that cheapest flights are Tues to Tues, July 23-30th, at about $550 per passenger, into Montego Bay. She will also check flying in/out of Kingston in case of significant savings. The sooner we identify exactly WHO is going, then we can make flight reservations.
5) Itinerary for days in Balaclava: Keeping in mind the pastors’ vision (strengthening relationship, growing in faith), discussed the possibilities of what to do: VBS, Talent Show, establishing/finalizing the scholarship, making picnic table or doing repairs at Sisters’ home for the elderly. Sandra will contact Fr. Joe & Fr. Mushi in order to see if this can be defined as soon as possible. If sightseeing, maybe on the last day of the trip, not during. Also, When itinerary is defined, need to determine if we are going to take supplies or donated items and what kind. Then may need to have a “donated item drive” during the month of July.
6) Jamaica bake sale scheduled for all 4 masses on Mother’s Day weekend, May 11-12.Sign-ups were passed around. Another email about the bake sale will be sent out with the shifts/workers. EVERYONE should bring in 12 plates or goodies/items to sell at the bake sale. Please get your friends or other people to help in baking items for the weekend. BTW, we will be sharing the Gathering Space with the School’s Art Show (as has happened in the past). This should provide for more “customers.”, but we’ll need to arrange tables/display so as to not be hidden! Josh and Brittain are organizing a raffle to be included during the bake sale, also.
7) Parish Ethnic Festival: Should we have a presence at the Ethnic Festival? Jamaican Food available? Who would be the lead on this?
8) Jamaica car wash after masses the weekend of June 22-23. Start getting friends and family lined up to help as we will need crews of about 8-10 people at each mass.
9) Next Meeting: Tues., May 14 or Wed 15th, @ 7pm, Parish Conference Room. **Tentative**
What we discussed in our meeting last Monday (Apr 29).
1) VACCINATIONS: Julia Kovac reported that she is reviewing the CDC website to gather information about required vaccinations and other health-related news related to traveling to Jamaica. She will report back at next meeting.
2) HISTORY: A 3-page document about the history of past Mission trips to Jamaica was created when Julia, Sandra and the Mischlichs poured through all of Katherine’s scrapbooks. Still needing to determine what to do with all the videos that John has. Would be nice to have a more permanent and concise rendering of the timeline, and highlights regarding the relationship with the sister parish in Balaclava. A display in the Gathering Space? A Shutterfly book? Other ideas? Who wants to lead/do this? Similarly, providing more “Jamaica awareness” information in the bulletin would be a good thing – Josh?
3) ALUMNI: Because of the history gathering, there is a 99% complete list of past Mission Trip “Alum”. This is on a Google drive and can be shared. We are in process of verifying/getting up-to-date contact information for each.
4) Travel Arrangements: Brittain reported that cheapest flights are Tues to Tues, July 23-30th, at about $550 per passenger, into Montego Bay. She will also check flying in/out of Kingston in case of significant savings. The sooner we identify exactly WHO is going, then we can make flight reservations.
5) Itinerary for days in Balaclava: Keeping in mind the pastors’ vision (strengthening relationship, growing in faith), discussed the possibilities of what to do: VBS, Talent Show, establishing/finalizing the scholarship, making picnic table or doing repairs at Sisters’ home for the elderly. Sandra will contact Fr. Joe & Fr. Mushi in order to see if this can be defined as soon as possible. If sightseeing, maybe on the last day of the trip, not during. Also, When itinerary is defined, need to determine if we are going to take supplies or donated items and what kind. Then may need to have a “donated item drive” during the month of July.
6) Jamaica bake sale scheduled for all 4 masses on Mother’s Day weekend, May 11-12.Sign-ups were passed around. Another email about the bake sale will be sent out with the shifts/workers. EVERYONE should bring in 12 plates or goodies/items to sell at the bake sale. Please get your friends or other people to help in baking items for the weekend. BTW, we will be sharing the Gathering Space with the School’s Art Show (as has happened in the past). This should provide for more “customers.”, but we’ll need to arrange tables/display so as to not be hidden! Josh and Brittain are organizing a raffle to be included during the bake sale, also.
7) Parish Ethnic Festival: Should we have a presence at the Ethnic Festival? Jamaican Food available? Who would be the lead on this?
8) Jamaica car wash after masses the weekend of June 22-23. Start getting friends and family lined up to help as we will need crews of about 8-10 people at each mass.
9) Next Meeting: Tues., May 14 or Wed 15th, @ 7pm, Parish Conference Room. **Tentative**