Flower & Altar Team Meeting 3/2/17

Flower and Altar Minutes

First Parish Congregational Church

Date: 3/2/17

Present: Marjorie Belanger, Co-chair; Polly Curry, Deb Hjort, Jo Nancy Gunn, Co-chair

Absent: Diana Burton, Martha Conlan, Brandi Flanangan, Patrice Tripp, Mari Warner

Item	Discussion	Resolution
Welcome  New members: Diana Burton Deb Hjort (pronounced ‘yort’, if you need help, like Jo Nancy)	Brief overview of Flower & Altar and monthly facilitating of flower sign-ups, and assistants.   Deb was given a brochure about Flower & Altar. Meeting times were reviewed. Diana is also OK with 4:30 (via e-mail prior to meeting).	Deb will assist Polly (facilitator) and Marjorie in May.   We will keep 4:30 as the meeting time on the days we have a meeting.
Palms: 3/100 palm strips @$14.95/strip set Shipping $15.50 [ $60.45 ] Prep: 4/8   time? Palm Sunday- 9th	Confirmed 3 sets ordered as was discussed in January. Deb Richards sent an e-mail asking if we wanted three or four large palms this year.  They are in memory of her daughter.  She will take them home after Easter, and the weather warms.	Jo Nancy will let Deb decide or three or four palms.  We will arrange them. Palm preparation 4/8 Sat.                           9:30 a.m.
Budget	New format used for keeping track of budget and non-budgeted income.  Note made of anticipated costs for palm strips under budget category.	Use form, updated for each meeting.
Easter: Flowers (We are listed on the flower sign up sheets) Prep: 4/15  time? Easter 16th	Discussion of when to start taking orders for Easter lilies. Martha will not be available to help on 19th.	Ordering will start 3/19.  Jo Nancy will make the announcement.  Jo Nancy and Deb will take orders after church on the 19th.  Arranging:  Sat. 4/15                     9:30 a.m.
Easter – Other	Discussion of  whether to offer another flower as well as the lilies; possibly purple tulips, purple being ‘for royalty’.	Marjorie will check into costs this weekend and let us know.
Flower Giving Assignments: Review	Deb will assist Polly and Marjorie in March.  All Sundays in March are signed up for flowers. The first and last Sundays in April are open, as is all of May.	Jo Nancy will send in a notice for the Sunday Update to remind everyone and let them know what is open at this time.
Coffee Hours: 6/11 8/27( Music & Arts switching with us)	Confirmed that we will have Coffee Hour on the 27th of August rather than the 13.
Florist information	Gathering information  on florist sources was discussed.  We will gather business cards for accurate information, and include mention of our local grocery stores for flowers or arrangements.	Marjorie: Artistry in Bloom, Everlasting & More Polly: Scarborough florist/s Jo Nancy: Prestige Flowers, Tom’s florist
Other:	Big Palms in memory of Mike and Deb Richards daughter.	Jo Nancy will check with them re notice included in  the Update on Palm Sunday.
Next Meeting       Time? Adjourn	We will be gathering  for preparation work twice in April, as well as touching base in church or by e-mail as needed.	Next regular meeting: Thursday,  May 4                      4:30 p.m.

Flower & Altar Team Meeting 1/26/17

Flower and Altar Minutes

First Parish Congregational Church

Date:  1/26/17

Present: Jo Nancy Gunn, Mari Warner, Martha Conlan, Marjorie Belanger, Polly Curry , Patrice Tripp

Absent: Brandi Flanagan

Item	Discussion	Resolution
Opening prayer	Jo Nancy
? New members	Mari and Martha have a couple of potential new members
Decide on 2017 Chair/Co-chair person/s		Jo Nancy and Marjorie will continue as chair/co-chair
Reviews/commen-tary re 2016: Poinsettias Other Thank you notes	Patrice sent photos of 2016 Poinsettias: needed more water. Had 27 large/19 small 2016. Will check with Flaherty’s for 2017	Patrice will print photos so they may be put in file cabinet   Poinsettias: will continue with larger and small. Option for red & white in 2017.  Thank you notes: thank “regular flower givers” in person and send notes to occasional givers
Budget & Non-budget Income Review	Parament cleaning and palms will be included in budget and flowers under non-budget	Agreed as discussed
Flower Giving Assignments  Review	Reviewed and updated for 2017	Completed with primary and assistants for each month
Palm Sunday April 9 Source: Andrew Lane	Consider paying for palms when ordered. Will save shipping costs	Jo Nancy to order Will meet at church on 4/8 @ 9:30 am to prepare (Patrice unavailable)
Easter     April 16 Lilies: source When order Arranging	Morrison Center does not do Lilies ? Flaherty Farm	Marjorie will contact Lowes to determine when would need to order/pickup Will take orders on 3/19 & 3/26 Will meet 4/15 to set up for Easter (Martha unavailable)
Other:   ???? *Info sheet of local florists – placed under flower sign up sheets/different color	Discussed local florists (Thoms, Artistry in Bloom, Shaws). Should ask Sue B, Steph B who they would recommend.	Will plan to have a list with contact info of local florists by sign up sheet. Coffee hour dates: 2/19 6/11 8/13  Request change, perhaps with                 8/27
Meeting minutes-is this agenda format helpful?  (format used for posting minutes)		Agreeable to use this format for agenda/minutes
Next Meeting Adjourn		March 2nd @ 4:30 Closing prayer, Jo Nancy

Flower & Altar Team Meeting 12/29/16

Flower and Altar Team

First Parish Congregational Church

Date: September 29, 2016

Present: Cyndi Howard, Reverend Deborah Breault, Mari Warner, Patrice Tripp, Polly Curry, John Ropes, Jo Nancy Gunn – Co-chair

Item	Discussion	Resolution
Welcome to Reverend Deborah Breault, joining us to meet Team members and learn how we work. Schedule Review	Upcoming Facilitators and Assistants were checked: October – Polly/ Marjorie; November – Marjorie/Martha; December – Marjorie/Martha with the support of the whole team.   December 18 – Poinsettia Sunday December 25 - Christmas	John will continue to be a supporter of the Flower and Altar Team, helping when he is in Saco.  He will not be a regular Team member.    We thank John for all his help and look forward to the times he can join us in the future.
Paraments  schedule	Dates and colors were reviewed through February. White paraments for communion Sundays, the first Sunday of each month. The possibility of using blue for advent was suggested, differentiating the advent season from Lent.  We do not have blue at this time and it has been a while since it was considered.  Deborah let us know of the Almay church supply company which is located in Pittsfield, Maine.	Deborah asks that we use white for weddings and funerals as well as for communion.  We will do so with notification.  Monthly Facilitators will need to check the office calendar regularly.   We will talk further about blue paraments.
Bow-making Workshop with Deb Nielson, Leader	Tuesday, October 11, 6:30 pm  Youth Room, downstairs The notice is in the October Messenger	Mari will get in touch with Fred Connolly re a slide notice over the next two Sundays.  Jo Nancy will get a notice to Stefanie Burgess for the Sunday Update for October 9 , and check on supplies of wire and green floral tape.  Team members will bring scissors and wire cutters.
Flower & Altar information card	Several Team cards have been developed.  Ray Lund has pictures that could be used for F&A.  Work on the card/brochure could be a starting point for our Team Awareness Announcement.  Brandi Flanagan could not make this meeting but is interested in working on the card/brochure.	Mari volunteered to work with Brandi on this project.  Target date is November 5, first Saturday. Jo Nancy will let Ray know that they are working on this and will be in touch with him.  She will check to see if he has pictures related to the changing of the paraments, a key activity.
Vitality Team – Team Awareness Announcements	Flower & Altar – December 18     Teams have up to 3 minutes to raise awareness of their work and invite membership. They may have a table display in the atrium on their Sunday. Copies of the announcement schedule were passed out.  Our date is also Poinsettia Sunday.	We will follow up on this after we have our brochure done.  We will consider a pictorial presentation.  December 18 is also Christmas Sunday and will be a FULL service.   Meeting for this to be determined.
Thanksgiving cornucopia	Deb Nielson has done this for many years.  This year she will guide us in building it.  She can meet with us at 1:30, Saturday, November 19.   Needed: large basket; vegetables, such as a variety of potatoes, small pumpkins, a variety of squash. Faux fall leaves are in the Fair closet with Greens material.	Jo Nancy will follow-up on a basket. Members will bring in vegetables, and we will check with Brent Peters.
Gingerbread Fair – Greens Arrangements	The Team had decided not to head up this table this year.  A note was sent to Charlotte Lapham re our decision , with assurance of individual’s support, and some of the things we had learned that helped the process.  We are holding the Bow-making workshop as a fun means of building our skills and preparation for the main workday.	Send copies of the e-mail to and from Charlotte to F&A Team members.
Poinsettias	December 18 is Poinsettia Sunday.  We discussed placing an order with the Morrison Center or at Lowe’s, seeking good plants and stability in delivery.  New order sheets may need to be done.  We are not sure whether or not the Women’s Fellowship will  arrange ordering of the plants for Fair delivery.	We will ask Marjorie if she will investigate ordering plants at Lowe’s.  Polly will find out if the W. F. will have plants ordered for Fair delivery.  Jo Nancy will make up our order sheets, using a (different) color if poinsettias are early ordered for the Fair. November 27 and December 4 may need to be our ordering dates.
Paraments cleaning	The paraments have not been cleaned for some time.  The archival information does not name the cleaners used before.	Jo Nancy will look into the possibility of using a cleaner in Saco or Portland, considering experience as well as cost.
Adjourn		Next meeting to be determined.  Team members will be in touch by e-mail and at Team activities re information learned.