Grace Community Center Blog.

Medical Team continues to grow even though we are not meeting on a regular basis just yet.  Plans are in the works to begin some basic training of volunteers so that when the center opens there will be enough people to cover the hours we hope to be open.  Thanks to those who worked the Fun Day booth.  Every opportunity we take to make the community aware of us is fantastic and maybe that one person who really needs help will hear of us and seek help.  If you would like to help out on this team, please contact, Marsha Smith, 239-573-4602. Medical experience is not a requirement…we’ll need office help, technicians, counselors, transporters, etc. to make this team effective.

Meeting was opened with prayer, Sherri welcomed two new folks to the meeting: Karen Graham of Nutz’n Boltz’n Attitude and Kelly from Salon Santina. Kelly presented plans for a fundraiser on June 22nd from 11:00 - 5:00 (Sunday) at Coralwood Mall hair salon. Offered will be hair cuts, shampoo and sets, cut and blow dry, massage, manicure, pedicure, waxings, all beauty services except perms and colors.  She needs licensed beauticians , nail techs., and massage therapists to fill out the day.  All charges for services and tips will be donated to GCC. There will be other things going on all day too: tee shirts, silent auctions, coffee and donuts. To sign on to help call Kelly at 239-938-4336.

Karen then displayed many craft items she and her late husband, Charles had made and sold at numerous craft fairs. She explained the need for rules and publicity to get the word out. Chris Jackson reported on the build-out and the certificate of occupancy is expected to be given us around October 15th. It will be close, but all agreed that if the multipurpose space was not ready, that the craft fair would be held outdoors in the parking lot. It will be November 15th, 10:00 - 4:00 (Saturday). All vendors need to fill out an application form and submit photos and/or slides with payment. A limited number of indoor booths will have electricity, others will not.  All outdoor booths will not have electricity. Costs are: indoor 10 x 10–$55.00; outdoor 10 x 10–$35.00. For more information call Marsha Smith 239-573-4602.

Having a church cookbook was discussed and those present agreed we should press forward to have them available at the Craft Fair. Sherri will contact Michelle and Janneale who volunteered to handle this fundraiser.

Finally, Debby Dukes gave a brief report on the golf tournament and will be meeting with Royal Tee next week. Other courses near here offered afternoon starts with limited means for fundraising, therefore, Majestic Golf Course right now is offering the best deal to us. Debby and her family has offered to provide the lunch this year. The date is April 18, 2009.  George announced that Scripts will now accept Presto Pay for payment. This means that funds will be taken directly from your checking account and then George can submit orders when he has enough to make it profitable.  Sherry turned in $95.00 from God is Good tee shirt sales.

Meeting closed with prayer.  Next meeting is Thurs., May 22nd at 6:00.

June 7- Julie, Marilyn

June 14- Brenda, Tina

June 21- Carmen, LaNelle

June 28- Marilyn

July 5-HOLIDAY- NO CLASS

July 12- Brenda, Tina

July 19- Carmen, LaNelle

July 26- Marilyn

August 2-Carmen

August 9- Tina, Brenda

August 16- Carmen

August 23- Marilyn

August 30-

This looks like this is going to be one powerhouse of a team. The food ministry team met again on Sunday, May 4 at the Cape campus.  We all agreed that all the food ministries involve feeding people in one of two ways; through the distribution of groceries or the distribution of cooked meals.  We also agreed that we need to be efficient and bring all food ministries under one umbrella.

These ministries are currently doing that here through this campus:

SHARE
CAN DO
HARVEST CAFÉ
FRESH MARKET – IMMOKALEE
BEARING FRUIT – CENTENNIAL PARK
NATIONS ASSOCIATION

Other partners:
CCMI –
GOOD SHEPHERD
SALVATION ARMY

What do we want to accomplish?   We need to evaluate the resources that are available and consolidate.  God requires good stewardship in all areas, so we are working to be faithful.

We can feed people through these steps:
Collection
Storage
Distribution – pros & cons
Preparation

Some things that we may want to accomplish, as we further define this ministry:
Consistency
Structure
Awareness X 2 – those who need and those who want to give
Make sure that we focus on the mission of Grace Church.
Define our own vision statement
Involvement – recruitment
Build relationships

Renee – focus on feeding people and the other things will fall into place.

Chris mentioned Charitytracker.com, as a possible resource.

HARRY CHAPIN FOOD BANK
Must have 6 months experience as a food bank to become a member.
Andrea spoke directly of her hands on food bank experience:
– used to work with HC and stated that they had weekly gives
4 in the family – 2 bags
8 in the family – 4 bags
Frozen meat sold @ a minimal cost ($0.7 on the dollar)
4 page application

Once established as a food bank, we need to offer other programs so that those in need can better their lives through:
Financial budgeting
Life skills
Employment opportunities
Empowerment

We need to decide on who to serve.  Are we going to serve marginalized families? Homeless? Both?  Or just work as a collection point for other existing food banks?

Cape Coral Community Church – maintains a small food pantry and try to help the needy  on a monthly basis.

Money is best, if possible – as it can go further through, say Harry Chapin Food Bank.  It is estimated that $5 buys about $20 worth of goods

Discussion also included taking food or meals to those in need, rather than having them come to the Grace Community Center.

•        Best to go to those in need rather than having them come to the Community Center.
•        GCC use of mail drop
•        30 gallon brute trash cans as collection depots for specific non-perishables
•        Collection bags (similar to what US Postal is doing) with a card of scripture and thanks handed out on Sundays for member to bring back

Chris is still trying to look at whether or not we can start this food pantry at the Cape campus on a temporary basis, before the Center opens.

You’ll recall that team member Karen Landon mentioned that CCMI needs some more help.  She writes:

Here are the needs at CCMI:

1)  Volunteers to work from 7-9 am preparing and packing Meals on Wheels.
2)  Meals On Wheels Route drivers; they usually work in the morning and are finished by noon.
3)  Volunteers to work from 9 am ’til 12:15 pm preparing, serving, and cleaning up after lunch meal.
CCMI would prefer volunteers who would be willing to schedule specific days they could work but anyone can call or go there any day to help.  Call Judy Nedeau, Director of Volunteers at 332-0441 or send an e-mail to volunteers@ccmileecounty.com.

Currently, our Soup Kitchen team goes once a month, usually on the last Monday of the month, to help.
_________________

Also, some follow up information as a result of a meeting with CCMI on Monday, May 5.

I’m looking into the fact Sarah Owen, our contact, seems to think that we can be a part of the Harry Chapin Food Bank.  I’m making a couple more calls to confirm.

We should be able to connect with the Homeless Management Information System. I’ll work on that.

We need some of our team to meet with Susan O’Dell at Community Cooperative Ministries to duplicate their intake and assessment system.  Who would like to do that?  We need two or three people to get an overview of their systems so that we can mirror them.  We can start that today. 239-332-7687, ext. 101.  Who wants to do this and lead two or three people?

And finally, as we build this team, we will need to see how it’s leadership develops, as I am only starting this team and not leading it on a permanent basis.

Next meeting, Sunday June 1, 1pm.

GCC Fundraising Team Meeting 03/27/2008 Opened with prayer. Golf Tournament was reviewed concerning positives and negatives.

Suggestions for next year: * Send thank you notes immediately* Personalize those notes * Locate signs at each hole where there are prizes or giveaways * Explain the prizes or giveaways at each hole to each foursome * Have more volunteers; have training for volunteers plus written instructions for each volunteer * Do golf hats for golfers/volunteers of a specific color * “Sell” the opportunity for a dealership to be able to sponsor a car “Hole in One” contest. * Don’t miss opportunities to use the car as advertisement for the tournament (i.e.

Discussion was held concerning the Shopping Card program. George Starner recommended we discontinue the program as the congregation response has been very poor recently. (only $10 was made for the last two months). The committee voted to put the program on hiatus for the present. It was reported that t-shirts are ready for our next two upcoming events. The Volunteer Fair was discussed for April 13, 2008. We need people to man our table & four committee members volunteered. The Community Fun Day was discussed for April 26, 2008. Our committee will be responsible for our own table at this event.

The discussion of the upcoming Craft Fair was tabled to our next meeting. Next meeting is scheduled for April 10, 2008 @ 6:00. Debbie Dukes invited everyone to a social barbecue at her house scheduled for April 19, 2008 to celebrate our successful First Annual Golf Tournament. Pastor Jorge arrived to thank everyone for all the work on the tourney and closed the meeting with prayer.

We held a very successful Food Ministry meeting on Sunday, April 6 with six food ministries represented: SHARE, Can-do (Cape Coral Caring Center) Harvest Café, CCMI Soup Kitchen, Good Shepherd and Salvation Army. Absent were Kathy Eagle and Immokalee feeding ministries, Bearing Fruit, Nations Association.

Chris stated that as a ministry of Grace Church we need to make sure that all of these ministries focus on one thing, the mission of Grace Church:

To partner with God in transforming people from unbelievers to fully devoted disciples of Jesus, to the glory of God.

That is what we do here at Grace Church – and that happens primarily through building relationships with unbelievers and eventually bringing them to the Lord. We are not simply another branch of Lee county Human Services, we are a church – and if that is not the key focus of your ministry, then it needs to be.

One way to accomplish the mission of the church is through these feeding ministries. We all agree that we want to feed the hungry in our communities. We see that happening in three primary ways here at Grace Church. Through a food bank, the Meals on Wheels program and by taking food to various locations in our neighborhoods and feeding the homeless. That is how we see the expansion of these services for the church when the Grace Community Center opens and building these relationships.

But if we’re not working on building relationships with our guests, than those systems need to be strengthened. One of the things were talking about in our benevolence program is “touches” – how many times can we “touch” our guests? For example – when we give out groceries, do we ask “how can we pray for you?” or do they fill out a prayer request? Do we send out a follow up note or a contact phone call a week or two after the first contact? Do we remind them when the next event is coming up? Do we invite them to do things here at the church? Do we ask them if they can be of service here? These are all things that we need to focus on as we have this blessed opportunity to serve the Lord.

Each ministry gave a brief summary of what it does and how it works. It was agreed that all of these ministries do one of two things; either feed the needy through a gift of groceries or through a meal. Some ministries do both.

Some challenges facing these ministries include: funding, some storage areas, getting enough or not dependable enough volunteers, not enough connection to God in the ministry,

Specifically SHARE said they struggle with the perception of low quality food (SHARE), variable pick up dates. The Cape Coral Caring Center only serves residents of Cape Coral – which is viewed as a negative, as we serve both the Cape and N. Ft. Myers.

The good things that are happening include seeing these ministries run smoothly, being able to help those in need, working with great volunteers, getting to serve guests directly (as the CCMI Soup Kitchen now does)

We are scheduling our meetings on the first Sunday of the month with our next one Sunday, May 4^th at 1pm.

Our assignment is to dream BIG God sized dreams on how we can best serve our neighborhood – and to look at ways that we can increase those “touches” with our guests.

In attendance: Chris Jackson, Lynette Schultz, Patti Burgess, Shannon Sapp, Judy Nichols, Roseanne  Nafke, Sarah Kolak. 

*Tables and chairs for the coffee shop have been donated.  We are still in need of more furniture such as leather couch, leather chairs, coffee tables & end tables.  We are also in need of commercial air pots and a piece of furniture, such as the bottom of a china hutch, that can be converted into a mobile coffee stand.

*We discussed plans for a mobile coffee stand on wheels to use for events at the community center until the coffee shop is able to open. 

* We would like to create a signature coffee drink for our coffee stand/coffee shop.  Something such as “toffee coffee” that would keep people coming back for more.

*We want to find a local business to make mugs for us so we can start selling them soon.  We would like to do both travel mugs and regular mugs, it would be good P.R. for the community center and they would also be good for discounts on coffee at our shop.  We are going to do some research on local businesses before our next meeting.

*We have t-shirts in stock now, but only sizes med & XL left at this time.  If anyone on the team needs a shirt please let Lynette know (lynette_schultz@hotmail.com).

*We would like to get a couple small signs made that we can us at all our upcoming events.  Shannon will be checking prices for signs.  We had the idea that we could get the inexpensive signs on a stake and put them in a flower pot (hopefully one in the shape of a coffee mug).  Patti will be shopping around for coffee mug shaped flower pots.

Volunteer Fair Sunday April 13th:  Patti will be in charge of the coffee shop table for this event.  We need coverage during all church services, as many people as possible.  We will be giving out free samples of coffee and hopefully signing up a lot of new volunteers.  All volunteers should wear their brown t-shirts.

Community Fun Day Saturday April 26th 10-3:00:  We spent a lot of time discussing this event since it is a very important day.  The coffee shop team will have a table set up and will be selling coffee and also coffee gift mugs for Mother’s Day.  We will also be manning one of the Pepsi wagons.  We won’t be able to put chocolate in the gift mugs since it melts in the heat, discussed other items to put in the mugs.  Patti will look for silk flowers that could be attached to pens to go in the mugs.  Lynette will look for non-meltable candy/cookies for the mugs.  The coffee shop team will meet at Lynette’s house on Sunday April 20 at 1:00 pm to put together the coffee gift mugs, everyone welcome, call Lynette for directions (699-2655).

We had our first GCC Children’s Ministry brainstorming meeting on 3/29/08 and it was well attended by veterans of Grace Kidz. We discussed the needs for children for the first Sunday morning worship services.

A few questions - time of worship? storage for materials? will there be a walkway across the canal from the neighborhood next (behind) the GCC? How will we - Grace Kidz - handle registration for kids who walk in without parents? will there be a bus ministry - eventually?

We will have representation at the volunteer fair April 13th - thank you Nancy Starner for filling us in!

We will look into the expense of purchasing a laptop/projector or a document camera for Grace Place lessons - will be available for all ministries to use at the GCC.

Our commitment to prayer: God, please help us to see and invite those that are gifted and passionate about children who have yet to find their place in service at Grace Church. Help them to see in themselves the gift they can be to the children who worship at the GCC. We pray for those that are loving, compassionate, fun, patient, caring and committed to children. Help us to have the courage to invite and ask. In Jesus name, Amen

Grace Community Center

Youth Program Committee Notes3-4-08 In attendance:  Nancy Starner, Mahlon Modesitt, Tricia Waltenburg, Annie Harrison May, Marsha Hoksma (?) Joy Gregory and Tina KilburyMarsha opened with prayer.Nancy gave updates on the Golf tournament, April 13 Volunteer Fair, April 26 GCC Community Day, March 8 Pickup Basketball game and the center build out.We will have a recruitment event specific to the youth program after the April 13 volunteer fair.  Plans need to be made to carry out the first family event (ice cream social) in July, Back to School Bash in August and ongoing program to start in September.Joy is still working on the forms.  Nancy has sent her copies to download.Nancy will order skits from Inkspiration for Annie.Tina reported on the field trip to USF where Tina, Ryan Wambolt, Josh Dennison, Jarrett Dennison, Carly Kilbury and Nancy were able to observe and tryout XRKade equipment.  It was a positive experience and we got good feedback from the youth that went on the trip.  We are now in the process of working with iTech Fitness to streamline our plans.  Tina met with Betty Garrison and participated in a bidders conference for the Carol M. White Physical Education grant.  Tina feels that we need someone knowledgeable in the area of student health/physical education standards to work on the grant. The grant deadline is March 24.  Chris is working to identify people to help write the grant request.Trish reported on research she did in the area of spiritual development.  She will continue to research programs for both boys and girls.  Fred Schultz has agreed to build kneeling benches for the center.Michelle has been working to get bids for vending machines and will report in the near future.Mel and Marsha reported on resources and ideas for reading tutors.  Currently reading, math and Spanish tutors have been identified.  It was decided that we needed to continue to build teams and assess needs once program starts up in the fall.Trish has a connection with Patrick Nolan and he said he would work with us to advertise upcoming events on Fox 4.Next meeting is scheduled for March 18 6:30 PM.  

March 1- Marilyn

March  8- Brenda

March 15- Stan, Tina

March 22- NO CLASS DUE TO EASTER BREAK

March 29- Renee, Marilyn, Stan

April 5- Stan, LaNelle, Renee

April 12- Brenda, Tina

April 19- LaNelle, Marilyn

April 26- Stan, Marilyn, LaNelle

May 3- Stan, LaNelle

May 10- Brenda, Tina, Renee

May 17- LaNelle, Stan

May 24- NO CLASS-MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

May 31-Carmen, Stan