2008 Planning meeting minutes

Attending: Charlie Gessler, Diane Margrave, Patricia Terry, Laura Geisel, Pat Woolley, Hal Hurst, Susan Tucker, Wanda Arcos, Cheryl Proval, Dan Wilson and Margy Harrell
.
Patricia opened the meeting with prayer. Margy had the following agenda items posted:

Assessment:

Annual report
Status of this year's book choice
Scribes
Weekly Peace Pole Gathering
Issues/leaders
Bulletin board reorganization
Others:

Future Priorities:

Peace Partners with EPF
Website (dojusticelovemercy.org )
Peace demonstrations
EPF activities - month of March
Habitat builds?
Others:

The annual report was reviewed with no additions/corrections. Too bad we left out the "Salute to Peace" Concert at Disney Hall that many of the congregation joined us to attend, but it's amazing all we did last year!

ASSESSMENT
Status of book choice - It was suggested that we add 'arts' as another option for study, particularly films followed by discussions, with a possible pot luck, in addition to book studies.. A few different books are being considered. We decided that whatever book is chosen should be ecumenical, not 'preaching to the choir', and possibly action-oriented, e.g. 'what one person can do' to make a difference. Two papers from Trinity Church (NY) including "A Rule of Life" were offered as possible topics for discussion and perhaps a retreat. Patricia will forward the web site to everyone who is not familiar with this.

Scribes - Margy suggested that Patricia, Laurie and Laura coordinate to make sure one of them will be available to take the minutes for each P and J meeting. The minutes should be sent to Margy, Dan, Cheryl and Hal for review, and Hal will post them on the web site. Margy will add the P and J web site URL to her meeting notices each time she sends one out to encourage members to use it.

Peace Pole - Everyone agreed that it is a being well received. Members are encouraged to bring materials they would like to share for future gatherings and not feel limited by the printed prayers we have available.

Issues/leaders - Earth Day was mentioned as a resoundingly successful series of activities coming out of our focus on the issue - The Environment, but it was decided that we can do a major event every 2-3 years, not every year. However, we can plan some type of congregational activity yearly. Patricia suggested a speaker although no decision was made. We are all encouraged to prayerfully reassess how we can help lead our group on the various issues/topics we have chosen. Let's be creative!

Bulletin Board - How do we maintain and keep it fresh? Pat volunteered to provide materials to 'advertise' any up-coming events if she is given the information. Wanda volunteered to be the person who will 'funnel' information to Pat.

FUTURE PRIORITIES
Peace Partners - We have $300 pledged for this year - $100 from the P and J church budget, and $100 each from 2 donors. It was decided to see what happens with the effort this year before determining if we will want to increase this pledge for the next two years.
.
Web site - Hal is looking for new software to support the maintenance as it is not going as smoothly as he would like with the existing setup. He probably will not be able to make the changes until summer. Many expressions of gratitude were made to Hal for all he has achieved.

Peace demonstrations - We had previously agreed that we would participate in a demonstration at 5 PM, at Pier and PCH on the last Wednesday of the month. We would like to encourage other churches in the area to join us. Participants need to make appropriate signs. Margy will look for the P and J banner that was used for the demonstration in Los Angeles last year. Laura will put a notice in the Easy Reader and Beach Reporter.

EPF - March activities - There is a diocesan event on March 16. No other details given. We plan to share information on our demonstration with St. Luke's as well as All Saints and support St. John's efforts when we can.

Habitat build - Margy expressed an interest in having a group from the church participate in a build. Hal pointed out that Habitat builds are not like Corazon where you go one day and it's over, they need on-going volunteers. If we can't participate in this type of outreach, perhaps we could organize some tutoring or mentoring possibilities.

Others - Laura volunteered to coordinate the CROP Walk this year, and Diane Margrave will help out. Cheryl will be available as a resource person.
Hal suggested we have an event around the presidential elections, and a panel discussion was presented as a possible option. We all expressed a desire for more information - both specific and general.
Cheryl suggested that we have a 'peace blog' on the web site, and perhaps publish some letters that could be used to facilitate letter-writing for various issues surrounding peace. Perhaps this is a perfect opportunity to challenge ourselves to "do one thing" or two ot three…Since Hal will be revamping the web site it was suggested that we not add anything very complex at this time though we can still send out (and share with each other) all the letters we can manage to write.

Margy thanked all for coming together Saturday morning to work so hard and we closed at 11:30 after prayer.