The meeting was called to order at 7:03 by Anne Malmquist, Moderator.
Cabinet members in attendance: Anne Malmquist, Moderator; Rev. Beth Stotts, Pastor; David Sheibley, Treasurer; Diane Sheibley, Clerk; Mark Sorgman and David Hanson, Property and Finance Team; Diane Glass, Community Engagement Team; Carol Chaffee, Congregational Engagement Team; Eric Stotts, Spiritual Engagement Team.
Diane Sheibley took attendance. Quorum was met.
Rev. Beth opened the meeting with a devotion and a prayer.
October Minutes
The meeting minutes from the October meeting were presented and reviewed. Carol Chaffee motioned to accept the minutes as written; Eric Stots seconded. The minutes were approved with minor corrections.
Pastor’s Report – Rev. Beth Stotts
Rev. Beth was pleased to report that a meeting of all the Bridgewater clergy finally took place after a long time and several personnel changes. They will now be having lunch once a month. She did an obituary writing seminar at the senior center, and East Bridgewater senior center called and asked if she would do it for them. There has been a lot of Advent work. The Advent book study is on “A Christmas Carol,” and all ages are welcome to participate in the discussion on Dec. 17. The Thanksgiving service was really nice but not very well attended, although BTV taped and streamed it. There was about a $100 collection for the food pantry.
Treasurer’s Report – Dave Sheibley
Receipts for October were better than those in September, and we’re about $3,000 higher than at this time last year. We raised about $7,300 from the fair, with that total to be added to from Christmas on the Common sales. We raised about $810 on the opera night concert.
Congregational Engagement Team – Carol Chaffee
Carol reported that Ginny Young has resigned from the Team leadership, and Kathleen Mosher had previously resigned, so Carol is the only one at this point. [If anyone would like to help plan upcoming events and projects for Congregational Engagement, contact Moderator Anne Malmquist, or Carol.] There will be a Christmas caroling event at Anne Chaffee’s housing complex on Dec. 16, 4-6pm, organized by Carol and Marci Langevin. Diane will make a flyer to hand out at Kids Church to encourage participation. Poinsettias will be sold and in the sanctuary beginning Dec. 17. The former members of the History and Memorials Committee will be helping to organize. The Care Team has been reaching out to people on the mustard seeds list and updating the list that is published.
Community Engagement Team – Diane Glass
The Opera Night held earlier this month was a fun evening, and raised about $800. Krissy is handling the Warmth in Cold Places project, and they will be distributing donated items on Dec. 18 in Taunton. Christmas on the Common is this Sunday, Dec. 3. Our bathrooms will be open for the public, and our crafters and jewelry folks will be selling items. Remember that the streets around the common will be closed and/or limited during that time.
Property & Finance Team – Mark Sorgman
Mark reported that the P&F Team met with two people who are willing to work on the fundraising committee, Lynn Pietras and Sandy Kuipers. If anyone has any fundraising ideas, send them to Mark and he’ll pass them along. The committee will be focusing on doing fundraising this year, not developing an overall plan. There is broken plexiglass on one of the stained glass windows. Many of the lights in the building were replaced with LEDs, which will be more efficient and cost-saving. It was arranged for through Mass Save. The P&F Team will be installing a lockbox for the office key, like those used by realtors. The code will be distributed to those who need to access the office during off hours.
Rev. Beth would like to pass the front walkway fundraising project to the fundraising committee. She has done a lot of research for it and can pass that along to them.
Spiritual Engagement Team – Eric Stotts
Kids Church during Advent has engaged in drawing poinsettias and writing letters for the homebound in our community. Krissy will be heading up the Heifer lessons for January. The living gift market is February 11. We have at least three teachers for Heifer, and we had three teachers for Advent. On Dec. 24, there won’t be a pageant, but the kids will be helping to lead worship. Kids Church is also doing a toy drive to benefit the school Kathleen Mosher works for, the Cardinal Cushing school. They are coordinating with the girl scouts that use the building as well. Donation drop boxes will be inside the back door and at the thrift shop.
Ad Hoc Teams – Anne Malmquist
Anne noted that we need some “ad hoc” committees to help the teams, which was the vision of the new constitutional structure. We have folks working on fellowship time following worship, and on breakfast. We need ushers and greeters. Do we need a memorials committee? Deacons – we need to develop a new description to be able to get more people involved, remote members, too. Need to develop a talent database to engage individuals based on their interests. Rev. Beth would like to work on developing a new directory.
Next Cabinet Meeting
There will not be a December meeting. The next meeting is January 17.
Rev. Beth offered a closing prayer.
The meeting ended at 8:09pm.
