District 4 Meeting Minutes — Tuesday, May 24, 2005, 7:00 p.m.
Location: House of Prayer, Newark

Present: The Reverend Elizabeth Kaeton, Bill Kinnaman, St. Paul’s, Chatham; The Reverend Lauren Ackland, Larry Taber, Hester B. Wharton, Grace, Madison; The Reverend Bernie Poppe, Beth Rauen Sciaino, Chris West, St. George’s, Maplewood; The Reverend Cork Tarplee, The Reverend Herb Tinning, St. Stephen’s, Millburn; Sharon Babb, The Apostles’ House, Newark; Louie Crew, The Reverend John Hamilton, The Reverend J. Carr Holland, Edward Onaodowan, Grace, Newark; The Reverend Judy Baldwin, Doug Eldridge, Dolores Macauley, Stella Morris, House of Prayer, Newark; Edith Gallimore, John L Smith, Trinity & St. Philip’s Cathedral, Newark; Sam McKeown, Joan Mebane, The Reverend Mary Frances Schjonberg, The Reverend Dr. Bevan Stanley, Christ, Short Hills; Patrice Henderson, The Reverend Sandye Wilson, St. Andrew & Holy Communion, South Orange; The Reverend Chris Brdlik, The Reverend Laurie Matarazzo, Charles Rall, Calvary, Summit

Guest: Matt Heyd, Trinity Grants Program, Trinity Church, Wall Street, New York, NY

o Thanks were given to the House of Prayer members who provided us with a delicious dinner, Tom Carr, Rosalia Christian, Charlotte Chappel, and Shan Atkinson.

o The April 26 District 4 minutes were approved as amended.

Special Convention and Election Committees

Copies of the Resolution for the Special Convention were mailed to parishes for clergy and lay deputies. Extra copies are available at this meeting and include the Guidelines for the Election of District Representatives to the Search/Nominating Committee and the Transition Committee. These documents are also available on the diocesan website, www.dioceseofnewark.org. Each district will elect one clergy and one lay representative between the dates of June 18 when the Special Convention will be held and June 25. It was agreed that our June District 4 meeting would be moved to Wednesday, June 22, at St. Paul’s, Chatham. An email will be sent to the district to inform people of the change in date.

The District 4 representatives elected to serve on these Committees do not need to be current District 4 representatives. Any person in good standing with his or her congregation who has completed the Anti-Racism training (or plans to do so by June 31) can stand for election. [This has been amended because the training is not being offered before this deadline. All members of the two Committees will take the Anti-Racism training together regardless of prior Anti-Racism training.] District Nomination Forms should be in to Lauren Ackland by no later than June 10, 2005. The nominations will be duplicated and mailed to all District 4 representatives. Ballots for the June meeting will be prepared as ballots are for Diocesan Convention and votes will be taken until someone receives the majority in each order.

According to Elizabeth Kaeton, the job descriptions for the Search/Nominating Committee and the Transition Committee will be available online after tomorrow. There will be every effort to achieve balance on the Committees, through the additional representatives which the Standing Committee will appoint. It was recommended that parishes post these job descriptions for those who don’t have internet access or who aren’t on the diocesan listserv.

Patrice Henderson explained that the Transition Committee will help the new diocesan bishop with the details of his or her move, providing information on real estate, school systems, garbage collection, etc. It will also be necessary for this Committee to be attentive to the needs of Bishop Croneberger as he wraps up his work as diocesan bishop.

Presentation on Feed the Solution

Sharon Babb, The Apostles’ House/CDC Development Office Assistant, Diocese of Newark with Matt Heyd, Senior Associate, Trinity Grants Program, Trinity Wall St.

The Trinity Grants Program sponsors the Diocese of Newark’s Feed the Solution program with which Sharon Babb works. Sharon introduced the urgency of the need facing the hungry population of New Jersey. The number of hungry in NJ could fill Giants Stadium 9.4 times. The situation is worsening, in the last four years the number of adults coming to food pantries has increased 125% while the number of children has increased by 148%. The Trinity Grants Program believes we can and must do more and it is crucial that we get at the underlying causes. Almost 12,000 people were fed at The Apostles’ House last year. It is important to ask people seeking food assistance how else can we help them to become self-sustaining.

The other part of the Feed the Solution effort is advocacy. Along with The Apostles’ House in Newark, the Trinity Grants Program selected Episcopal Community Charities of the Diocese of New York and Cathedral Community Cares, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York, as partners for Feed the Solution. A number of District 4 congregations helped found The Apostles’ House in 1984 to provide services to homeless and at risk families. The Apostles’ House invites District 4 congregations to join in the advocacy effort to stem this growing problem. Feed the Solution asks that together we do three things:

1) Allow Sharon Babb to come to a coffee hour after church and raise awareness through a presentation on the issue of homelessness and hunger. Some feeding agencies currently have had to curtail the days they are open in order to not run out of food this year.

2) Give an offering of letters. In contrast to NY and PA, NJ has no emergency line item for food. When the food runs out there is no safety net to bring in more food. An offering can be presented during a Sunday Eucharist as an expression that all are welcome at our table.

3) Hold a hunger-related activity for young people in your congregation such as a Hunger Simulation or a Souper Bowl Sunday collection. Help with a Thanksgiving turkey collection; last year the Community FoodBank of NJ did not have enough turkeys to distribute. Raise awareness with children in your summer Vacation Bible School by asking them to bring a can.

A handout was provided to sign up for these activities to be handed into Sharon or mailed to her at Episcopal House. Sharon is available as a resource and will both provide materials and work with your congregation. She can be contacted at (973) 430-9972 or sbabb@dioceseofnewark.org. Sharon explained the Hunger Simulation for youth, an exercise where they are stratified in different economic classes, given a limited amount of fake money, and as a result have access to different food. Sharon is working on an expanded version inclusive of housing, transportation, and employment which could be done at an Adult Forum. This is a tangible way of placing people in a situation to make the life decisions that many people in need are forced to make daily. It could provide insight in advance of an offering of letters.

The national Episcopal Church is a key sponsor of 18 organizations and churches of a June 4-7 event in Washington, D.C., to learn more about education and lobbying efforts around hunger issues. There is a course track for 20 year olds to train young people to be effective lobbyists on this issue. Over the last 10 years there have been almost 14 resolutions on hunger that have come out of General Convention. This effort needs the support of our voices in congregations. Feed the Solution could be a project that all District 4 congregations could share in common. Sharon is bringing Feed the Solution to other districts in the diocese. Feed the Solution bags, buttons, and wrist bands were also distributed.

Matt Heyd reported that 96% of Episcopal congregations participate in a hunger effort at some point throughout the year, according to Hartford Seminary. Tackling hunger reflects the Episcopal Church’s Eucharistic theology and its understanding that all should share at the table.

According to Sharon, the goal of Feed the Solution is to be advocate for hunger issues as they arise so that hunger is challenged at the causal level. Feed the Solution asks that we call, write, and talk to neighbors about this urgent need. Sharon can provide materials for a resource table in your parish, along with sample letters and stamped envelopes. Offerings of letters could be made once a quarter as a part of the gift you give back to God.

Edward Onaodowan asked about the federal minimum wage bill which Sharon said was recently defeated. She agreed that it’s important to work to have it reintroduced to get at this root cause of hunger. For 2006, there are cuts in place for assistance for women and children and for the first time there will be a national monetary limit placed on food stamps. Sharon believes we need to raise the rage level and indicate that a wide range of people are concerned about hunger. Rutgers is working on mapping where people who are hungry live and Sharon predicted it will shock people to realize hunger exists in their own communities.

District 4 Special Event

Edward Onaodowan distributed a report on the work of the Ad Hoc Committee to develop a joint social event for the parishes in District 4. This Ad Hoc Committee includes Edward, Dolores Macauley, Hester Wharton, Tom Mathews, and Marilyn Lehren. The Committee proposed that the joint social event include a District 4 talent showcase featuring choirs, sacred dancing, musicians, and children’s choirs along with two anthems performed by a combined District 4 choir. Food and refreshments should be contributed by all District 4 congregations. A tentative date was set for Saturday, October 15, from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. The issue of tickets or donations at the gate was left up to the District 4 representatives as a whole. Marilyn agreed to produce flyers for the event which will be coordinated by the Ad Hoc Committee.

The Ad Hoc Committee was thanked for their efforts. Judy Baldwin agreed that the plan sounds wonderful especially because it spreads the preparation among all the congregations. Elizabeth Kaeton recommended that the diocesan calendar be checked for this date and suggested we approve the plan for the special event subject to the calendar check. Larry Taber also suggested that congregations check their local town/city calendars to see if there are conflicts. Some discussion was held about the time frame. Carr Holland recommended that the date is also checked with church musicians as their participation will be essential to the event. Additionally, rehearsals will have to be held in advance. It was agreed that each congregation will check with their musicians and calendars and get back to Edward within the next two weeks via email, edowan@msn.com. Dolores intends to meet in advance with music directors to coordinate the two anthems and the individual pieces in the talent show. In their email to Edward, congregations were also asked to provide the name of their music director and how best to reach him or her. Edward will pass this information on to Dolores.

The next meeting of District 4 will be on Wednesday, June 22, at St. Paul’s, Chatham, at 7:00 p.m. Elections for the Search/Nominating Committee and the Transition Committee will be held. Supper will be provided.