The St. Francis Bulletin

FROM THE RECTOR:

The annual parish meeting will take place on Sunday, February 5, after the 11:00 a.m. service. I promise that you will be out of there well before the start of the Super Bowl. We will do the usual things at this meeting although we may do them in a slightly different fashion. We will have reports and news from the various organizations and committees in the parish. We need to replace four outgoing Vestry members and approve the annual budget for the parish.

This year’s election will be done slightly differently from those in the past. Usually, the Vestry present a slate of candidates that are quickly approved by a voice vote of the congregation. This year the Vestry has asked several people to run for the four vacancies left by outgoing members Kyle Read, Keith Harrell, Rebecca Hoard and Bill Burrow. Each of these Vestry members have served at least three years and in some cases significantly longer. They deserve your respect and thanks for their willingness to serve on the Vestry which is the governing board of the parish. Keith Harrell is willing to seek a new term on the Vestry and along with Keith, Claire Ducker, John Hays, Jim Crandell, Nancy Jones and David Stephan have indicated a willingness to serve. These folks also deserve your thanks for their willingness to serve in this capacity. As always there will be an opportunity to nominate from the floor, so there may be even more candidates than these six. Several years ago, the staggered three year terms of the Vestry members that are written into our parish by-laws became less staggered than they are supposed to be. Therefore, this year we will adjust the terms to that to that the top three vote getters in the election will serve three year terms on the Vestry and the person with the fourth most votes will receive a two year term. I hope that’s clear. If not, I’ll attempt to explain it to everyone’s satisfaction at the meeting. In order to vote at the meeting you must be an adult, at least eighteen years of age, a registered and pledging member of the parish during the previous calendar year. If you have never filled out a registration form for membership you must do that to become a member. Likewise, there must be a pledge card on file with the treasurer of the parish, Mark Rambin, during calendar year 2005 in order to exercise your franchise. You will be allowed to vote for four candidates. Should any ballot contain more than four votes it will not be counted. I hope that there is a large turnout for this meeting.

In Memorium

On January 12, St. Francis lost one of its stalwarts. Bill Jackson, Iwo Jima survivor, gentle soul, and good friend, lost his battle with a blood disease and gained eternal life. Over the years Bill had become a fixture at St. Francis, very often standing in the back of church, folding and handing out pew sheets, counting heads for communion and then helping to count the collection. Bill was always self-deprecating but also always willing to be of service in any capacity. No matter how badly he may have been feeling (and I suspect that toward the end it was pretty bad) he always stood to shake my hand as I approached him and greeted me in the same friendly manner. He would tell you about his health if you asked but would never bring up the subject. He was not a complainer. He took things as they came as did most of his generation and was grateful to God for what he had. Even though Bill hadn’t been in church for a few weeks before his death, the place look strangely empty the day after his burial because I knew he wasn’t coming back.Bill’s difficulty following the prayer book is now over and his worship of the Lord is taking place on a much higher level than he could have thought possible. I know that many will miss Bill Jackson. I know I will. But he is where he was always meant to be. “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Outreach Project: Caritas Community Kitchen and Food Pantry

Caritas of Austin is a non-profit, nongovernmental agency whose mission is to assist with basic needs in times of crisis and envisions a community of hope, respect and self reliance.Founded in 1964 as a safety net for the community's working poor, Caritas is an integral part of our community's human services network and Travis County's largest nongovernmental source of assistance. This year, over 20,000 Travis County adults and children will benefit from Caritas’ programs. Caritas serves the working poor, the unemployed, the homeless, the near-homeless and documented refugees.

The congregation of St. Francis has elected to donate time and food to the Basic Needs Services at Caritas by assisting with the hot meal program and contributing to the food pantry. The Community Kitchen provides hot lunches to more than 450 people each weekday on a no questions-asked basis. The Food Pantry is one of the largest in Central Texas and provides take-home food, fresh produce and personal hygiene items.

You can help in this effort by donating canned food or personal hygiene items for the Caritas Food Pantry. Two large baskets are available in the meeting room to hold your donations. When the baskets are full, the items are delivered to Caritas by Susan LaRoux for them to distribute to the needy. Our Community Kitchen program involves a 4-5 hour block of time on the third Friday of each month to help prepare, serve, and cleanup with the hot lunch program. There is a sign-up list posted on the wall in the meeting room with many slots open. The February date is the 17th from 9:30-1:30 (or so). Nancy Giacolone is spearheading this effort.

Games Night

Family Games Night is not for kids only! Do you know that over half the people who come to the Family Games Night could only be considered young in that they are young at heart? Over half the participants are adults –without children at home. On the first Friday of each month, a fun-loving group gathers in the meeting room from 6:30-8:30 p.m. for a light pot-luck dinner and a couple hours of playing some rather unusual board games. If this sounds interesting to you, just come on down and join us!

Summer 2006 in China. Short-term Mission Trip

Are you interested in a one-month ministry experience in China next summer? Educational resources and Referrals-China is seeking people with at least a year of college education and an interest in China to participate in a language and cultural exchange program. It combines teaching conversational English to small groups of university students with an opportunity to exchange cultural perspectives and tour some of China’s most famous areas. Pam and David Stephan are considering this program, and if you are interested as well, you can e-mail them at pstephan@grandecom.net More information on the program is at http://www.errchina.com under Summer Programs (Tainjan or Jinan). If a group of 5 or more comes from our church, we will get a discount on the costs.

All mothers and grandmothers of the church are invited to attend the mothers’ prayer group at the home of Kay Francis, 125 Golf Crest Cove, in Lakeway. The group spends an hour on the second Monday of every month at 11 a.m. praying for their families. For more information, call Kay Francis at (512) 261-4325.

The Austin Police Department is seeking volunteers to work with their Crisis Response Team. The Crisis Response Team consists of APD employees and team leaders who respond to requests from uniformed officers to provide on-scene emotional and mental health support to victims of crime and trauma. Volunteers receive training in crisis counseling and always work with a staff member. It requires a commitment to complete 40 hours of training over two consecutive weekends and, after that, signing up to work one shift per month. If you are interested or if you would like more detail, please contact Steve McCown (282-2310).

Newsletter Submissions

Birthdays
2 Erin Darling
4 John Gaitan
5 Patricia Burnette
7 Burt Pigg
9 Kyle Read
11 Elizabeth Elliott
12 Mike Ready
18 Liz Stewart
24 Callie Burnette
25 Ashlynn Russey
27 Fred Savage
     Gary Francis