NORTHWESTERN OHIO
SYNODICAL WOMEN'S ORGANIZATION

Board Meeting
August 17,2002 9:25 a.m.

First Lutheran Church, Findlay, Ohio

Present: President - Pat Hirschfeld; Vice-President - Mary Satterfield; Secretary - Linda Tooman; Treasurer - Wanda Straub; Board Members - Nancy Sander (E), Corrine Hurni (MY), Marilyn Lee (SE), Jacquie Fritz (SW), Joyce Nelson (T); Son Light Editor - Cora Kettler.

Absent: Gayle Guernsey (C), Jeanne Matthews (NC), Pastoral Advisor - Julie Beitelschees.

Opening:
President Pat Hirschfeld called the meeting to order with the board reciting the Purpose and Mission Statements of the Women's Organization. Treasurer Wanda Straub lead us in devotions from a book written by Marva Dawn entitled "Morning by Morning."

Minutes:
The minutes from the May 4,2002, meeting was approved with the following corrections:
--Mary Ellen Gottried is from North Salem, Ohio, not Woodville.
--The name of the scholarship recipient from Wittenberg University is Andrea Rebecca Schultz, not Rebecca Schultz as printed.

Treasurer's Report:
Treasurer Wanda Straub reported a balance as of August 17, 2002, of $ 2,384.34. Wanda also called attention to the decrease in the unit offerings and offerings received at the conference Spring Assemblies from 2001. The biggest reason for this decrease could be due to the lack of circles and women's organizations at the unit level. The treasurer's report was then placed on file.

Correspondence:
--A letter was received from one of our Tanzanian guests, Tina. Her husband has passed away, and is struggling with emotional and financial issues. She asked for financial support. As an organization, we decided it would be best if we did not send funding for this. However, if units or individuals would like to help support she at this time, those gifts would be welcome. An article will be put in the "Son Light" explaining Tina's situation, and information will be provided on where gifts may be sent.

--An invitation to the Ordination Service of Linda Rahe was received. She was a 2001 NWOSWO Scholarship Recipient. The service was held on July 21,2002.

--A letter and evaluation form was received from Bonnie Belasic, Unity Village coordinator at the Philadelphia Triennial Gathering. . President, Pat Hirschfeld, presented new materials and resources that are available from Churchwide. Board Member, Jacquie Fritz, shared that she attended a workshop at the Gathering which introduced these materials. She thought they were excellent. Jacque Fritz and fellow Board Member, Joyce Nelson, will meet and discuss how to get these program materials out to the conferences and units, especially the program about "Katie's Table."

--Thank you's were received from the following organizations that were recipients of the Synodical Grant:

- Turning Point in Marion, Ohio
- Open Arms in Findlay, Ohio
- Shared Bounty Thrift Shop in Stony Ridge, Ohio
- Focus Homeless Shelter in Toledo, Ohio
- Home of Hope in Sandusky, Ohio

President's Report:
The following was reported by Pat Hirschfeld:
- Attended the NWO Synod Assembly for two days - May 31 and June 1, 2002. At the assembly, Jennifer Hanson expressed interest in starting a unit at her church in Toledo. Pat referred her name to Joy Griggs, Peg Mink, and Joyce Nelson of the Toledo Conference, and followed up with a phone call.

- Attended a luncheon in Toledo for the Tanzanian guests (ladies involved in the government in Tanzania) on June 9th. This was sponsored by the Toledo Consortium. Contact was made with two ladies from Dodoma.

- On May 9, June 12, and July 25, Pat attended planning and study meetings of those going to Tanzania.

- On June 27, lead a meeting for the Delegates going to the Triennial Gathering. Everyone was present. All appreciated the time together.

- Also on June 27, Pat met with Vice President, Mary Satterfield, at Bowling Green State University to look over the facility and get prices for the up coming Synodical Convention in 2003.

- Went to the Holiday Inn French Quarter on July 2 to check the facility, get prices, and dates for the 2003 Synodical Convention.

- Attended the Triennial Gathering as a delegate from July 8 -14,2002. On July 10, Jacquie Fritz, Jeanne Matthews, and Pat attended the Advanced SALT Training Session at the Gathering.

Conference Reports:

CENTRAL - no report at this time.

EASTERN - The Eastern Conference Board met on August 7th to finalize plans for their fall retreat. It will be held on Thursday, Sept. 26, at the Sorrowful Mother Shrine in Bellevue from 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. The speaker will be Ruth Gray from St. John's in Fremont, and she will speak on the new study of the book of John. Special music will be provided by Fran Eckert and Carol Everson of Lakeside. The cost is $12,50 per person which covers coffee and rolls in the morning, lunch, and the use of the facility. Naomi Conley, secretary, has sent out flyers to all conference units.

Officers Training will be Saturday, Nov. 2, at Trinity Lutheran in Sandusky from 9:00 a.m. - 12 noon. May 3, 2003, will be the Eastern Conference Spring Assembly at St. Paul's, Clyde.

Board representative, Nancy Sander, asked if someone on the board has a LWR tape. Jacquie Fritz has one and will get it to her.

MAUMEE VALLEY - Their fall retreat will be held on Saturday, Sept. 28. It will be held at St. Paul's in Defiance. The speaker is Mr. Paul Zumfelde from Lutheran Social Services. Devotions will be led by Pastor Judith Wascher from Hicksville. The cost is $7.00 for the luncheon, and they are anticipating 100 persons to attend.

NORTH CENTRAL - The North Central fall retreat will be held on Friday and Saturday, October 18 & 19, at Our Lady of the Pines in Fremont. Pastor Bill Diehm from St. John's, Oak Harbor, will be the keynote speaker on Saturday. He recently toured Greece and followed '"The Footsteps of Paul!."

SOUTHEASTERN - Their Fall Retreat/Training will be held on Saturday, Oct. 5, at St. John's, North Woodbury, with the theme, «Listen, God is Calling." Stop, listen, and go signs will be used throughout the day. Included will be Bible Study, singing, prayer partners, crafts, officer's information, sharing, and Holy Communion.

Upcoming dates: January 11, 2003 (snow date will be 18) - President and officers meet at Martin Luther,

Bucyrus (a.m. only). May 3, 2003 - Conference Spring Assembly at Good Hope, Bucyrus. Board Member Marilyn Lee asked if the Synodical Board will be picking the spring assembly theme again this year. It was very helpful to have it early, like last year, so the conference can start their planning.

SOUTHWESTERN - Their conference fall retreat will be held in Wapakoneta on November 2. They possibly will be giving the presentation of SALT training used at the Leadership Training Event held in May. Board member Jacquie Fritz gave an overview of the SALT workshop she attended in the Triennial Gathering. Also mentioned in her report was that the NWOSWO had over 250 in-kind gifts taken to the Gathering. Jacquie also talked about the programs and resource materials that she gathered and received while she was in Philadelphia.

TOLEDO - Saturday, Oct. 19, will be the day for the Toledo Conference fall retreat. It will be held at St. Stephen's in Sylvania. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. The cost is $8.00 which includes the lunch. The program will be presented by Bonnie Kinschner. Her topic will be "Holy Laughter, Holy Tears." There will be a Holy Communion Service in the morning. Their ill-kind offering is asking for books for kindergarten - 3rd grade children. They will be making bookmarks for the mixer.

"Son Light" Report:
Editor Cora Kettler reported that she is working on the September issue, and is hoping to have it out by the first week in September. Board members like the new format. It is being printed in Delphos, and currently subscriptions are around 600. Cora will check on the price to print colored pictures in the newsletter. Also, she is asking for more information for articles about experiences in Philadelphia at the Gathering.

Women's Ministry Task Force (GET REaL) Report:
The Task Force has not met recently. However, they have made plans to do two pilot programs. Dates for the programs are October 26 and November 16, but there was some confusion on where they will be held. Chairperson, Diane Kashmer, asked for :funding to cover costs of the workshops for their pilot programs. There was discussion if there was a budgeted amount in the treasury for programs such as this. Treasurer Wanda Straub looked back in her records, and found there is $400 put aside for the Anti-Racism Task Force Programs. Motion:

Mary Satterfield made a motion to support the Women's Ministry Task Force by the amount of $200. The motion was seconded. The motion carried.

OLD BUSINESS:

Synod Assembly:
Thank you to Jeanne Matthews and Linda Tooman for preparing the display at the NWO Synod Assembly for the women's organization. The assembly was held on May 31-June 1. It was suggested that next year we display our banner. Pat Hirschfeld mentioned that a young lady from the Toledo Conference stopped by and has interest in starting a women's group. Toledo Board Rep., Joyce Nelson, will try to make contact with her or have someone from the conference make contact. President Pat also noted that our women's organization should always be represented at the synod assembly by our synodical president.

Triennial Gathering:
Our NWO Synodical Women's Organization had 101 women participate at the Triennial Gathering. Church wide, there were around 3,200 women present. Members of the board who attended said that the speakers and workshops were wonderful. Bishop Mark Hansen and the three women bishops who spoke also were excellent. Comments were heard that Philadelphia was not a very handicap-accessible city, and that the Gathering was delegate-oriented (non-delegates were not well informed of the convention business). Pat Hirschfeld presented her delegate report, and it will be printed in the nex"1 edition of the "Son Light."

Mary Satterfield received a letter from Pastor Paul Seim of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Neehah, Wisconsin, asking to use the gathering banner for a Global Mission Churchwide Event to be held in July, 2003. A big thank you goes to Mary Ellen Gottried of North Salem, Ohio, for making the banner. She is a very talented lady; she had made over 65 banners. Mary Satterfield now has the banner. Wanda Straub volunteered to coordinate a system so that the banner will be displayed at various church units or events throughout the synod.

Pat Hirschfeld received a letter concerning the detention and eventual deportation back to Tanzania of a Lutheran church official from Tanzania who was to be present at the Gathering. There was a mix up with her passport and visa due to an error made by the U.S. Embassy in Dar Es Salaam. Catherine Braasch, executive director of the Women of the ECLA, has written a letter to U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, concerning the matter, but has had no response yet. This letter will be printed in the "Son Light."

Jacquie Fritz presented a report of the SALT Training session she attended. She mentioned the Churchwide would like to see the synodical boards do an organization self-assessment by using "The Drucker Foundation Self-Assessment Tool, " a program developed by Peter Drucker. Five questions need to be asked: 1. What is our mission? 2. Who is our customer? 3. What is our customer value? 4. What is our result? 5. What is our plan? This is also a good tool for the Women's Ministry Task Force to look into. Our board decided to do this program at our board retreat in the fall. Our synodical also needs to develop our own mission statement.

Tanzania Project with LWR:
A letter was sent from the Lutheran World Relief Consulting Firm in Nairobi concerning the Project Manager in Tanzania that our synodical has been implementing. They sent a copy of the project proposal to our synodical, and also one was sent to Lutheran World Relief Headquarters in Baltimore for their approval. The cost of the three year project will be $ 166,654.95 (the cost to LWR is $ 148,909.95, and the cost to the ELC in Tanzania is $17,745). Pat Hirschfeld will be in contact with the LWR Headquarters to see if the proposal has been approved, and then what we should do next.

Tanzania Trip: Bishop Marcus Lohrmann sent a copy of a letter that he sent to Bishop Mwamasika thanking him for the official invitation for members of our synodical organization to attend the Convention of Christian Hekima Women in the Dodoma Diocese in October, 2002. Those attending are: Pat and Eugene Hirschfeld, Juanita Tucker, Laura Stellhorn, Carmen Hogrefe, Kris Johnson, Pat Weygandt, and Debra Weygandt.

Motion:
Since the president of our synodical will be in attendance, Mary Satterfield made a motion that we contribute $500 to Pat Hirschfeld for financial support on her trip. After a second to the motion, there was discussion concerning the current balance in our treasury and if we would be able help with funding. It was decided to ask conferences to have special offerings at the up coming fall retreats for this cause. The motion was then amended to read:

Motion:
Mary Satterfield moved that the board contribute $ 500 to support our President, Pat Hirschfeld, on her trip to Tanzania, funded by a special synodical women's offering with any excess to go to the Tanzania Women's Project. The motion was seconded by Jacquie Fritz. The motion passed.

Capital University Money for Africa Seminar: The board had tabled discussion from the last meeting involving possible financial support for a project at Capital University to send students to Africa for missionary work. This project has taken place since our last meeting, so no action needs to be taken at this time.

NEW BUSINESS:

Web Page:
Diane Kashmer has resigned as coordinator of our synodical Web Page. Kris Johnson has volunteered to take over the responsibilities. It is recommended to have two people on the web page team, and we are currently searching for a volunteer to help Kris. Board members are asked to write biographies of themselves to put on the page.

2003 Synodical Convention: Two locations are being considered for the 2003 Synodical Convention. Pat Hirschfeld and Mary Satterfield visited Bowling Green State University and Holiday Inn French Quarter in Perrysburg as possible sites.

BGSU has a new student union and convenient facilities within the student union that would work well for the convention. Housing would be accommodating. However, transportation could be difficult and parking is limited. The meeting space would cost $ 3,312. Dates for the convention would have to work around the university's scheduled summer student orientations.

Holiday Inn French Quarter also has a nice facility, with hotel rooms connected. Plenty of parking is available. All meeting rooms are $ 500 a day. The cost of a hotel room is $85 per day, which could be divided between four persons. Luncheons will be served in their atrium, and the banquet would be served next to the meeting room. The date for the convention would be Friday & Saturday, July 18 & 19, 2003.

Motion:
Marilyn Lee made a motion to have the 2003 Synodical Convention at the Holiday Inn French Quarter in Perrysburg on July 18 & 19, 2003. There was a second, and the motion passed.

 The theme would be "Listen, God is Calling," in keeping with the Triennial theme. The program committee will further develop ideas from the theme. Many scripture verses and topics can be used. A possible speaker discussed is a vibrant woman with the Dr. James Dobson Group.

The following Board Representatives were selected for convention committees:
Banquet - Corrine Hurni (Maumee Valley)
Budget - Wanda Straub (treasurer)
Tellers - Jacquie Fritz (Southwestern)
Credentials - Nancy Sander (Eastern)
Registration - Cora Kettler (Son Light)
Offerings - Joyce Nelson (Toledo)
Minutes - Linda Tooman (secretary)
Displays - Marilyn Lee (Southeastern)
Ushers/Hostesses - Jeanne Matthews (North Central)
Hospitality - volunteer
Worship - Pastor Julie Beitelschees
Program - Mary Satterfield (vice-president)
Resolutions - Gayle Guernsey (Central)
Devotional Booklet - volunteer
Site Manager - volunteer

The Board Representatives of these committees will need to find volunteers to be on these committees, and it was recommended that the committees may be filled by women in their own conference. There was discussion on the difference of a resolution and memorial. A resolution needs to be submitted by a deadline before the convention. A memorial is made at the convention. The Resolution Committee will decide if memorials will be allowed from the floor at the convention. More details about the 2003 convention will be included in future issues of the "Son Light."

Next Board Meeting:
The board's fall retreat will be held at the cabin of Jacquie Fritz on Coldwater Lake, Michigan, on Friday & Saturday, Oct. 11 & 12. We will meet at the cabin at 6:00 p.m. on Friday evening. Jacquie Fritz and Jeanne Matthews will present the program; Pat Hirschfeld and Mary Satterfield will conduct the business; and Marilyn Lee will lead the bible study.

Adjournment:

The meeting was closed at 4:00 p.m. with prayer.

Submitted,  Linda Tooman, Secretary