Minutes: Monthly Meeting, October 16, 2007
St. Luke's Episcopal Church,
Following the serving of
lunch, DCIA Vice President Chuck Byrd opened the meeting with a welcome and a communal reading of
the DCIA Affirmation.
Guests from the Congregation
at Duke Chapel and Judea Reform introduced themselves and were welcomed.
We were welcomed to St.
Luke's Episcopal Church by Assistant
Rector, Joe Hensley, The congregation , which now numbers about 200, was
founded in 1956 by a mission from St. Philip's and is now in its second
home. DCIA is one of the first community
groups to use its spacious new Johnson Community Room. We also learned that our simple meal of soup
and bread was prepared in recognition of World Food Day, with wholesome
ingredients produced locally.
Announcements: In keeping
with the new policy of asking for written announcements read from the podium,
Chuck Byrd presented several events and requests for volunteers, which will be
posted on the DCIA website.
Special emphasis was placed
on the needs of Project
Homeless Connect - coordinated through the
Nominating Committee
Update: Joe Harvard, Chair of the Nominating
Committee, made a request for DCIA officer nominations for 2008.
Yo
For more information, please
contact Krystal Foxx, Mentor Coordinator at 
(919) 688-2036 or email <krystal.foxx@gmail.com>.
Families First Update: Pebbles
Lindsay Lucas announced that 5 new families in transition from welfare to work
were matched with congregations. Success
stories were also shared, including parents who have earned high school
degrees, moved into homes, and families which now have their own cars. Currently 9 congregations are participating
with a goal of involving 15 this year.
Teens Building Bridges is moving along and providing an opportunity for YO:
Introduction of By Laws
Revision Proposal: Spencer Bradford called attention to copies
available in hard copy and on the web.
There will be discussion about the proposed changes at November's
meeting, with a vote to be taken at the December meeting. The three significant changes proposed are:
1. Reconfiguration of current Board of Directors
to become a Membership Assembly with potentially enlarged Executive Committee becoming the new
Board of Directors with official oversight
responsibilities.
2. Formalization of attendance and financial contributions
requirements of membership in DCIA -
Ø
While member
congregations are encouraged to attend every meeting, they will be required to
have a representative in attendance at at least 2
monthly membership meetings.
Ø
Required annual
financial contribution in any amount by each member congregation.
Ø
A version of
DCIA’s mission to be included in the By-Laws.
School Bond Referendum Information relating to
InterNeighborhood Council Initiative
Representative Bill Anderson
introduced the "Can you Spare a Change"
initiative designed to address the challenge of panhandling with the goal of
gaining involvement and support from DCIA and its member congregations. The message is that direct cash donations to
the apparently indigent may actually exacerbate rather than
ameliorate their problems. INC has
developed a campaign designed to rechannel concerned citizens charitable impulses away from cash gifts to
panhandlers to financial contributions
to the community groups capable of effecting positive change for the poor and
homeless. Individuals who want to help
in personal way are being encouraged to
contact Urban Ministries or Housing for New Hope to refer individuals they have
met soliciting donations or who otherwise appear to have unmet material
needs. Outreach workers will then seek
to get help to those who have been referred.
More information about the initiative will appear on the DCIA website.
The meeting closed with prayer
requests for those in need, followed by silent prayer and adjournment.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lucy Haagen,
Secretary