Want to know the what’s happening? The latest news from the Parish Council, Ladies’ Altar Society, or your favorite subcommittee? Please scroll down to your subject of interest:

Ladies’ Altar Society:

If you would like to become a member, please contact Yolla Jabbour. Her recent report included the following:

• The Mothers’ Day celebration was a great success.
• LAS is planning a retreat for the ladies in August where they will receive instruction on iconography.
• LAS is planning a picnic in September.
• Yolla stated that there are 19 fee paying members at the present time.

Fellowship of St. John the Divine

Please contact John Morris for more information. His recent report included the following:

• Hospitality team did not meet in May but a meeting is planned for June.
• The Parish Family Night was a success last month but unfortunately, no children have attended, so far.
• John asked for volunteers to travel on 8^th to 28^th August to help paint the dorms at Saint Tikhon’s Seminary
• John stated that over 400 registrants attended the Sioux City event and that it was a great success.

Building Committee

Please contact Edward Haddad for more information. Building status as of 17th June 2005:

• Payment made this week for April progress.
• Invoice for May will be for $20,000 for payment in June. This means we have about $150,000 to complete the exterior works.
• The brickwork will be complete next week.
• Concrete is scheduled to be poured for the patio, side walks, etc., on Wednesday 22nd June thru’ 24th June.
• Samples were shown for the color of the dome. It was decided to meet again on Sunday 19th, in daylight, to decide which color should be used.

 Fundraising Committee

Please contact George Haddad for more information. At the parish council meeting in June, the following was reported:

• In an effort to raise funds for the interior works, it is planned to provide a list of works, with anticipated cost for each line item, and request that each member of the parish adopt a line item for which they would be responsible for raising the funds to complete.
• Ways must be found to involve the parishioners more, so they understand the necessity to raise funds.
• Directory of church members is required by fundraising committee.
• We raised more money last year: More money came in from pledges and donations by this time last year than have been received so far this year.

Communications Committee

• In an effort to raise communications throughout the community, it was requested that the council communicate with each other more, informing each other on the progress of their projects.
• It was suggested that the minutes be sent to council members as soon as they are complete, but normally with one week of the meeting, so they can identify action items, etc., with plenty of time to complete before the next meeting.
• It was requested that the Newsletter be issued monthly, instead of quarterly.
• It was requested that the website be updated more frequently with parish activities, Liturgical calendar, and committee activities.
• It was decided to try to make the parish software more readily available to all authorized personnel. Deployment on the Internet was seen as the solution.
• It was seen as priority to compile a complete list of email and contact details for all parishioners.