Sustainable Sanctuary Coalition of Greater Kansas City
MINUTES
June 2, 2008
Village Church, Room 127
Next Meeting: July 14, 7-9pm, Village ChurchAttending: Barb Chaplin, Leawood United Methodist Church Craig Cotton, Linwood United ChurchChuck Gillam, Village Presbyterian Church Eileen Horn, Climate and Energy ProjectRoseTherese Huelsman, Guardian Angels Catholic ChurchMid Lawrence, Shawnee United Methodist ChurchKarin McAdams, Penn Valley Friends MeetingCarol Meyer, St. Pius X Catholic Church Susan Pavlakis, Unity Church of Overland ParkAl Pugsley, Village Presbyterian Church Jerry Rees, Village Presbyterian ChurchBarbara Shepard, Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist ChurchBarbara Stillman, Colonial United Church of ChristCurt Straub, Unity Church of Overland ParkMargaret Thomas, Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist ChurchJim Walton, St. Andrew Christian ChurchTerry Wiggins, All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church Call to Order: Margaret called the meeting to order at 7:05, and read a meditation by Dale Trott.The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as they had been presented. Resource Sharing:
- Barbara Shepard reported on the Moms Against the War event, which attended by about 500 people. Al was on TV news May 13 about his electric truck. He taped the piece; he will make a VillageU presentation in October. Chuck said there will be 5 or 6 environmentally focused Village U classes in the fall, he and Jerry will bring catalogs and send emails. Chuck asked that we congratulate ourselves, and especially Jerry and Margaret for our part in the challenge to the Holcomb coal plant. Terry reported that All Souls will receive its Green Sanctuary Certification at General Assembly in June this year. Jim reported hearing Kate Corwin, of Green Works in Kansas City, on the radio on the way to the meeting. Jim talked about the biodegradable trash bags idea that Jerry had floated on the list, and wondered if we should be organizing a purchasing cooperative to help ease the additional cost of buying earth-friendly items. Carol reported that 60 to 70 people biked and walked to her church at an event she organized in May. Carol also reported of one-Sunday-a-month glass collection from members, and one trip to the recycling center.. Karin noted that Harvesters has several places where they will pick up fresh vegetables to get them to people in need. [see http://www.harvesters.org/GiveFood/Index.asp?x=050|030|010&~=; if the link doesn’t work, Go to Harvesters.org / Give Food / Plant a Row. Terry reported that Village Church and All Souls are featured congregations in Kansas and Missouri, respectively, in a forthcoming report on Faith in Action (still confidential). We agreed that the churches will have separate events, and there will be a press conference on the release date. SSC will be mentioned at events. Terry had received an email from Melissa Hope, asking for SSC’s endorsement of the Renewable Energy Standard Missouri ballot measure (aka Clean Energy Initiative). She then sent out an email to the Yahoo list, and received approval to sign the endorsement (which means that we approve and affirm, but does not imply further action. She distributed a list and asked for additional suggestions of who else Melissa might contact for endorsements.
- Suggestions:
- collect these ideas, post them on our website.
- Create a template for sharing ideas
Eileen reported on Kansas Interfaith Power and Light (which she formerly called Congregational Commitments program).
- She went to the national Interfaith Power and Light conference in D.C. There are 4,000 congregations in 26 state IPL chapters nationally. She will obtain a copy of the video “Renewal” for SSC. It is available for $5. She passed around brochures from several states, including both general (e.g., California) and about programs (e.g., Oregon). Each state has different programs and activities, depending on members’ needs and desires. She is envisioning that the Kansas Interfaith Power and Light will have an advisory committee, which only has to give a stamp of approval, and a steering committee of 12-15 people, which will be more active. The steering committee is coming together. She requested the names of congregations interested in having energy audits or in the “Cool congregations program used in Iowa.
- Locally, Energy Solutions Professionals is a young company that does audits (reference from Rick Gasaway)
She mentioned ShopIPL.org, an online energy efficiency store for faith communities and their members sponsored by Interfaith Power & Light. It has educational items, light bulbs, thermometers, controls and switches, and much more.
- She asked for sources of funding that we might know about.
RoseTherese led us in continued strategic planning.
- We decided that our yearly quarters will be 1 – Fall, September to November, 2 – Winter, December to February, 3 – Spring, March to May, and 4 – Summer, June to August.
- We placed the activities that we had named at our retreat into each of the quarters:
- Prior to First Quarter
- Get information about possible future large events
- Chuck will contact Vern Barnet regarding his plans for another interfaith conference
- Although Eileen’s Kansas Interfaith Power and Light initial event might happen first, it focuses more on the energy-related activities of churches, rather than on the spiritual grounding that SSC could bring.
- Clarify SSC internal structure
Fall:
- Assemble and organize resources (Jim, Al, Karin, Chuck);
- Initiate Educational Programs (RoseTherese, Carol, Jim)
Winter
- Get press
- Provide/distribute educational resources
Spring – outreach to clergy
- Summer – (plan/hold?) large public event
Barb gave an honorarium to RoseTherese for her work, especially for the retreat We decided to postpone discussion of clarification of our internal structure until our July 14 meeting. Next meeting: July 14, 7-9pm, Village Church: Al will facilitate, with Curt and Barb on the agenda-planning team. Karin will do the minutes. Respectfully submitted,
Terry Wiggins and RoseTherese Huelsman