Vestry Meeting and Thank You

By Judy Woodland

March 8, 2023

Hello St. Francis' Family:

The Vestry met a couple of weeks ago and appointed its officers for the year. Your Sr. Warden is Charles Todoroff; Jr. Warden is Pat Kucharek; Recording Secretary is Terry Bloomquist; and Parish Clerk is Doug Wilson. Doug is not a member of the vestry, but that is not a requirement to serve as clerk. Other members are Susanne Mueller, Rob Hanson, and Barb Wotring. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free speak to one of them and they will be happy to address anything you bring before them.

Carol Todoroff is continuing to serve as Parish Treasurer. She does such a great job; we would be lost without her. Carol and I also continue to serve as the Worship Committee. We design the worship leaflets for Sunday, using a guide for the lessons and hymns that Pastor Tom provides for us every month. It's a very labor-intensive job, and our Parish Secretary Kim is really good at fine tuning and publishing our bulletin every week. Thank you, Kim.

Pat Wiltse is our Altar Guild Directoress, overseeing the quiet ministry that involves getting things ready for Eucharist and other special Holy Days. Those serving on the Guild are Pat, DeAnne Sweircz, Carolyn Rakoczy and I. If you see them around, tell them how much you appreciate their quiet, behind-the-scenes work.

The Thrift Shop has a board of directors consisting of Pat Wiltse as Board Chair, along with Doug Wilson and I. Grace Center has a Board of Directors as well. This board consists of some members of the community, as well as Debby Anthony, John Wotring and myself as members from St. Francis'.

Thank you to DeAnne Sweircz, who sets up the schedule each week for Lay Readers, Lay Eucharistic Ministers, and Prayer Leaders. This is a never-ending job, and her dedication to this does not go unnoticed. Also, thank you to Rob Hanson for turning in our water samples to the Health Department every month, and for watering our plants. Again, a quiet and unseen ministry that is very important. And of course, I couldn't leave out our beloved Kitty Lorenson, who quietly looks after our kitchen and is always willing to step in to organize if there is a funeral or the like where we need to provide a meal. She also sets up for our Monthly Parish Brunch.

Not to be missed of course is a very big THANK YOU to our Pastor Tom and Sandy. They have made our worship experience such a joy and we are so blessed by their commitment to minister to us on a regular and long-term basis. We are also blessed to have Fr. Brian Chace and Fr. Bill McClure to fill in when Pastor Tom is taking a Sunday off.

I think that gets us caught up on everything. If I have left someone out, please let me know. I just thought this was a good opportunity to point out all the lovely souls to work hard at keeping our little church family a finely tuned machine.