The vestry most recently met on Thursday, April 9, for their monthly meeting. We start each of our meetings at 6:30, sharing a meal provided by a vestry member. The business portion of the meeting begins at 7:00 with an opening prayer.
We reviewed the agreement and policy between St James’ and Cub Scout Pack 163, of which we are now the Charter Organization. We thank the St. James’ and Pack 163 leadership for the many hours of communication and work to make this connection possible.
The Parochial Report for 2014 was reviewed by the vestry and approved for submittal to the national church’s database.
We were introduced to an upcoming event on May 2, a diocesan-led training event in San Mateo at St. Matthew’s: speakers and sessions designed to explore the challenge of ministry in our context, and the resources we may already have for tackling those challenges.
Elaine Vallecillo-Miller shared with us the progress and plans for our Disaster Preparedness.
Nancy Castaneda updated us on St. James’ Cares – specifically, the various ways people will soon be able to ask for help, and how those ways will be made known to the parish in the very near future. The group’s first “test request,”providing short social visits to a home-bound parishioner, has proven very successful, with the outpouring of volunteers a pleasing sight.
The decision was made to combine the July and August vestry meetings into a combined single meeting on Thursday, July 30.
The meeting concluded with discussion about the Sunday School program, and the acquisition of a new thermostat for the Little Church. We then broke into our 2 groups focusing on improving ways to welcome, invite and integrate visitors and new members of St. James’, and growing the participation and impact from the many ministries already in place.
Our meeting closed at 9:00, and we finished our evening together with compline service in the Little Church.
~Meg Amouroux, Jr. Warden