Council Summary from March 19 and March 20 meetings 2020

Council Summary from March 19 and March 20 meetings 2020

When Council held two “conference call” meetings last week, the situation caused by the Covid-19 virus was just beginning for ACC.  We discussed adjustments occurring in worship and ministry, possibilities for Holy Week, and looked at progress on the Medical Debt Relief offering which on March 19 stood at $1679 from ACC.  Nate’s ministry continues with online services and phoned “visitations’ to members. The online ministry is spreading far beyond the membership, a very exciting development.   

The Council is looking at the financial impact on the Church due to canceled rentals of all groups using the church social hall and meeting rooms. We agreed to close rentals until the end of the shelter-in-place order.   

This is a considerable loss of income, yet we felt returning both fees and deposits is the right thing to do.  We are communicating with the schools who are renting our space and closed when the West County School District closed for Shelter in Place.  A Crisis Response Finance Committee has been formed including Randy Laferte, David Hertzer, Elena Caruthers, and myself to begin looking at the consequences of Covid-19 closures on our finances for different periods of time up through the Summer.  The information gathered will guide Council decisions.   Stabilizing pay for our staff has been a top priority. We’re giving Jacob more time in the office to take care of some long neglected tasks, and Javier has shifted his work to deep cleaning and painting. 

Faith gave us a thorough report of the activities of the boards: Hospitality and Outreach, Missions and Social Justice, Faith Formation, and Deacons (Worship).   We continue to Be the Church. 

In Building and Grounds improvements, we have paid the balance of the Labyrinth project cost, approved funds and completed the patio landscaping, and put on temporary hold the replacement of the sidewalk in front of the church. We continue to explore an esthetically pleasing and clear sign for the building to be placed on the balcony over the steps. We have temporarily slowed down the exploration of feasible designs for bathroom remodel due to Shelter in Place orders.  Two plumbers have agreed to give us feasibility advice when we can begin bringing folks into the building.

Council is nearly finished with revising and updating ACC Policies. A next step is forming a small committee to draft procedures for tracking and acknowledging memorial gifts. If you’d like to help with this, please let Sara Laferte know.

The Care Clusters are keeping us in “Community” as we work through this difficult and unpredictable time.     On the behalf of the Council, I’d like to wish the members of the Congregation Well as we Shelter in Place. 

Linda Young

Moderator,  ACC 

A Note From Ed Moore, About His Parents Milton and Nona's Passing

A note from Ed Moore, about his parents Milton and Nona.

My father passed away Nov. 22. He had a stroke about a week or so prior to his passing, and it was a blessing he went rather quickly. Mom died March 5 in her sleep. She had Alzheimer's for a 8 or so years, but it would come and go. But like all such things, it progressed. I suppose one of her blessings is that she became rather lucid a couple of days prior to her passing. 

Dad was an only child, and so was mom. He was born in 1920 in Anaconda, Montana. Mom was born in Fargo, North Dakota. They met in high school in Butte, Montana, and participated in dances and their church youth group activities. 

Dad served in the army during WWII. When they moved to Kensington, they made a lot of friends in the neighborhood of Anson Way and Eureka Ave. The Parkers, Ferreiras, Zettles, Cunninghams, Cox's, Newkirks, Greeps, and McCombers were chief among them in that area, but their friends also included the Spencers, Weldons, and many others who I can't recall at the moment. I know I'm leaving out some people and misspelling names unintentionally, and I apologize.

Dad worked on the Manhattan Project when they moved to Richmond after the war. The Richmond house preceded the one in Kensington. After that, he worked for the Atomic Energy Commission in the Berkeley office on Bancroft. Mom was a bookkeeper at a drug store on Telegraph and later for the Hotel Durant. One of my fondest memories is when we had water balloon fights. Mom would sneak outside, turn on the hose and squirt everyone, which of course would draw fire from those of us with any water balloons left. Other fond memories were when she and Janice Parker would take us to Stinson Beach to body surf. 

Their friendship with the Parkers grew, and we went on many camping trips with that family in California, Nevada, Idaho and Montana. All in all, mom and dad struggled in their early life, but they always took care of my brother Steve, who is a retired law enforcement officer in Nevada, my sister, Nancy, who worked for AT&T, and lives in Mission Viejo, and me. I am a retired writer for newspapers and corporations. 

My parents moved from Kensington to Mission Viejo, to be near Nancy, around 2011. I moved from the Bay Area to live with them and provide over night care in late 2013. They had caregivers during the day. My sister and brother and me made sure they had a good life all they way to the end. I'm sure they would want me to thank everyone for your friendships. I know you meant more to them than than words can ever express. 

Please feel free to print this in the Outlook, and again, please forgive me for leaving out some people, and misspelling names. Please accept our sincere thanks for you friendship and love for them and us. So now our family turns another page, and we begin a new chapter in this book of life. Please say a prayer for my dad and mom. I'm sure they will appreciate it. Please feel free to contact me. Bye for now.

Cancelling In-Person Worship & Small Group Gatherings

Dear friends and members of Arlington Community Church,

Governor Newsom’s recent executive order, which you can read here recommends that "Gatherings of individuals who are at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19 should be limited to no more than 10 people, while also following social distancing guidelines."

Because the core of our congregation is in the higher-risk category, we are making the difficult decision  to cancel March 15 worship, and to suspend small group gatherings (including Bible Study, Memoir Group, Choir and Bell Choir rehearsal), until further notice . 

My heart breaks at the loss of connection with these gatherings going away temporarily, but this is clearly a crucial time in the spread of the virus in our country. We cannot be certain who is infected, and we need to make sure that we are doing everything we can to keep the most vulnerable among us safe.

Rest assured that church is not disappearing. I will be offering a  “virtual church video”  with a short message and prayer that will be available for you to experience from home on Sunday morning. Information on how to access the video will be in tomorrow’s Parishscope. 

ACC is also in the process of forming a “care team” that will be able to respond to people’s needs, in the event that members of our community do get sick. While respecting your privacy, I hope you will let me know (revnateklug@gmail.com) if your own health situation changes. 

During this frenetic day, two hymn lyrics have been running through my head: “The storm is passing over” and “We’ve come this far by faith.” We don’t know what the next day will hold, but we do know that one day this, too, shall pass. In the meantime, we move forward accompanied by God’s tenacious love.

Please don’t hesitate to be in touch.

Rev. Nate Klug, Pastor

Linda Young, Moderator

Arlington Community Church Council

February, 2020 Council Summary

February, 2020 Council Summary

Greetings members of ACC, 

This is to let the Congregation know what is going on in Council.  Our first meeting of the “new” 2020 Council was on Thursday the 20th.  You have a lively bunch looking out for ACC and are welcome to visit any Third Thursday.  We regularly hear a report from Nate, summarizing his work for the month, and hear reports regarding our finances. We discuss and make decisions regarding operations of the Church, improving the building, and programming.  One recent project has been reviewing and revising all our church policies. Sara Laferte is coordinating that work, and we are nearly finished updating all policies.  When those are complete (probably this Spring), we’ll give you information about how to access the Bylaws and the updated policies. 

Many of our capital improvements are nearing or at completion including the installation of the Labyrinth, and Landscaping of the Patio.  (Plants will be mulched soon.)   Our next step in capital improvements are repairing the sidewalk above the church in front. David Hertzer is managing that project and it will be funded by a bequest and some of our surplus funds.  In the meantime, we were just presented with architect drawings of options for remodeling the bathrooms in the Narthex. We wish to expand capacity and to comply with ADA requirements. An ad hoc committee is forming to review those options in detail, narrow down options, and have a feasibility study done. If you are interested in serving on this committee, please see me.  The options are helping us think creatively about use of limited space.  Given the large groups that use our facility it Is more important that ever that bathrooms are accessible and long lines can be avoided.

Soon a new sign will be hanging on the railing above our entry with the name of our church and directions to office, sanctuary, and social hall.  The new small signs that Nate and Jacob have already put in place have been a good beginning to help visitors find their way around the church.. Nate, Joe and Elena are working on the new sign project.   

If you have questions, feel free to ask any of the members,   

Linda Young, Moderator   

Faith Able, Vice Moderator

Randy Laferte, Treasurer

Elena Caruthers, Financial Secretary

Sara Laferte,  Secretary

Joe Pratt, At Large Member

Eleanor Crump, At Large Member

David Hertzer, At Large Member

Nate Klug, Pastor

Help ACC Erase $4 Million of Medical Debt in the East Bay

Help ACC Erase $4 Million of Medical Debt in the East Bay

Inspired by other UCC congregations in Chicago, St. Louis and around the nation, nine UCC churches in the East Bay, including Arlington Community Church, are working together to erase the medical debts of our neighbors in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.

What is Medical Debt?

Medical debt destroys the financial stability of large segments of America’s most vulnerable communities: the sick, the elderly, the poor, and veterans and is a primary cause of homelessness. It also targets the middle class, driving many families who are barely getting along into poverty. By forgiving this debt we strive to give struggling individuals and their families a fresh start, and prevent new cases of homelessness amongst our neighbors.

How does this work?

Our local campaign will be made possible by an extraordinary non-profit organization called RIP Medical Debt, founded in 2014 by two former debt collections executives. Over the course of decades in the debt-buying industry, they met with thousands of Americans saddled with unpaid and un-payable medical debt and realized they were uniquely qualified to help these people in need. They used their expertise and compassion to create a process to forgive medical debt: they would use donations to buy large bundles of medical debt, and then forgive that debt with no tax consequences to donors or recipients.

The results have been spectacular— over $1 billion in medical debts eradicated so far, providing financial relief for over 520,000 individuals and families. The best part is how cheaply we can buy the debt: for literally one penny on the dollar. Our “stretch” goal as local churches, over the course of Lent, is to raise $44,000 together – which will retire $4.4 million in medical debt in the East Bay. 100% of this money will go to freeing our neighbors in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties from medical debt.

Who is participating?

Nine local UCC congregations are leading this effort, all of whom will come together to worship on Good Friday: FCC Alameda, Arlington Community Church, Berkeley Chinese Community Church, First Church Berkeley, City of Refuge UCC, Mira Vista UCC, First Congregational Church of Oakland, Plymouth UCC, and Sycamore UCC. Every local UCC church is raising their own collection, which we will bring together during Holy Week.

What is our goal?

Again, our collective goal is to raise $44,000 together – which will retire $4.4 million in medical debt in the East Bay. How powerful would it be, if we could announce during our joint Good Friday worship that we have accomplished much of our goal?

How can I contribute?

Here at ACC, we will be giving the entirety of our weekly “loose offering” during Lent to this campaign – that’s six Sundays worth of offerings. So, bring cash or check with the memo line “RIP Medical Debt” to worship each Sunday. We have a large goal to reach, so each week’s contribution matters!

We will also accept individual lead gifts. If you would like to make a lead gift to get our campaign underway (remember: every dollar given forgives $100 of debt!), please email Rev. Nate at revnateklug@gmail.com.

Labyrinth Installation Update

Labyrinth Installation Update

at Arlington Community Church

by Ruth Robinson

Have you seen it yet? The amazing design work by Lars Howlett is about 90% complete as I write this on Thursday, 2/6. Our wonderful work crews put in time, hard work and we all learned new skills. Plus we all had a lovely time – from the morning blessings as we began to delicious lunches and then a tired but happy goodbye in the afternoons.

We welcomed Lars on Monday with his assistant, John Horrell. On Tuesday and Wednesday and part of Thursday we had excellent ACC helpers. While we took it on faith as we started that all would be beautiful, and we so appreciated Lars’ patience with each of us as we learned, we saw the results Wednesday afternoon when the taped outline of the artwork was removed. There it was! 

At the outset, Lars put a temporary altar in the center of the Labyrinth, complete with objects from other labryinths around the world, and sacred items from many of us. We asked in simple prayers that our intentions for this labrynith would be blessed. Indeed, while chilly when we started, the sun shone on us and warmed more than our bodies.

On knees a lot and in the kitchen were: Faith Able, Anut (our visitor in worship who is here from Thailand), Ken Barnes, Katherine Boswell, Nina Dodonova, Concha Delgado, Nina Harmon, Lauren Hotchkiss, Ken Jones, Randy and Sara Laferte, Joe Pratt, Ruth Robinson, Linda Young, Javier Gonzalez. Nina Harmon organized super snacks, breakfast goodies and lunches. It kept us going. Special thanks to Larry Brookes and Nina Dodonova for being gracious hosts to John Horrell so that he didn’t need to face commuter traffic to Santa Rosa on two nights.

There will be a community and church dedication of the Labrynith on March 28th. Details will follow. 

Annual Congregational Meeting- Sunday, January 26

At our upcoming Annual Meeting, we will be voting to approve our 2020 Budget. Our 2019 Actuals and our 2020 Budget, both as a one-page "snapshot," and as a more detailed document, are available now, and you are encouraged to take a look before the 26th. Simply email our Treasurer, Randy Laferte, at rlaferte@yahoo.com , and he will send you a copy.

In addition, we will consider two proposed changes to our ACC By-Laws. Take a look at the proposed changes below.

Proposed ACC By-Law Changes

Membership Meeting: January 26, 2020

Prepared by J. David Hertzer

A.    Article IX-Church Governing Board. Section A. Church Council: Modify first sentence of Section A as follows: 

1.    Present wording: “Section A. Church Council: The governing body of the church shall be a Council made of a Moderator, Vice Moderator, Church Secretary, Treasurer, Financial Secretary, the Minister of the church, and two (2) At-Large Members.”

2.    Proposed wording: “Section A. Church Council: The governing body of the church shall be a Council made of a Moderator, Vice Moderator, Church Secretary, Treasurer, Financial Secretary, the Minister of the church and three (3) At-Large members.”

B.    Article XII-Boards and Committees. Section A. General Provisions. Modify first sentence of Section A:

1.    Present Wording: “In addition to the Church Council and the Board of Endowment and Housing Fund Trustees, the Church shall have the following four (4) standing Boards identified as the Board of Building and Grounds Trustees, the Board of Faith Formation, the Board of Missions and Social Justice and the Board of Worship and Pastoral Care.”

2.    Proposed Wording: ”In addition to the Church Council and the Board of Endowment and Housing Fund Trustees, The Church shall have the following five (5) standing Boards identified as the Board of Building and Grounds Trustees, the Board of Faith Formation, the Board of Missions and Social Justice, the Board of Worship and Pastoral Care, and the Board of Hospitality and Outreach.”

C.   Article XII-Boards and Committees. Section B. Purpose of the Boards. Add to Section B a new subsection 5 as follows:

“5. Board of Hospitality and Outreach - The primary purpose shall be to organize fellowship opportunities, including special events, for the Arlington Community Church congregation and the wider community.”

Thank You from the Food Bank of Contra Costa & Solano

The church received a letter from the Food Bank of Contra Costa & Solano in thanks of our donations to the food barrel.

Dear Arlington Community Church,

Thank you for your wonderful food drive donation of 260 pounds of food on 11/14/19 from the friends of Arlington Community Church! Your donations equate to 217 meals which brightened many faces. We are very appreciative of your continued support of the Food Bank and those in need in our community!

We serve 178,000 people each month and distribute over 70,000 pounds of food every working day. Those that receive your food donations, whether they are children, seniors, low-income or just hungry, gratefully appreciate your kindness in thinking of them. THANK YOU for providing food to feed those in need. We hope you will continue to support the Food Bank and the new families and seniors that come to us for assistance. Together we are ending hunger!

Sincerely

Neil Zarchin

Food Drive Administrator

Guest Preacher: Rev. Carol Manahan

Rev. Carol Manahan

Rev. Carol Manahan will be sharing the Word with us as a Guest Preacher on November 17 (Rev. Nate will be here to lead the rest of worship). Carol Manahan currently serves as Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at California College of the Arts in Oakland and San Francisco, and coordinates the Ecological Practices minor for undergraduates.

Carol served as Associate Conference Minister, Northern California Nevada Conference UCC, from 2007-2012. In addition to working with churches during interim periods and pastoral searches, she acted as conference liaison for three associations. Carol earned an MA in Art at San Francisco State University, an MDiv at Pacific School of Religion, and an interdisciplinary PhD in Environmental Ethics, Biblical Studies, and Biogeography at the Graduate Theological Union.

2019 North Richmond Christmas

2019-NORTH RICHMOND CHRISTMAS

 People have dignity when they can purchase gifts/food for their own families.      

Families of North Richmond are very grateful for the partnership that ACC has had with the Neighborhood House of North Richmond since 1960’s.  Our ACC Christmas project is part of our partnership.  Thank you for your generosity of past years and we invite you to extend the same this year from Sunday November 10th through Sunday November 24th.   

This Year we are simplifying by asking folks to make donations to the project.  A member of the Board of Missions and Social Justice will use the funds to purchase gift cards at Target and Food Max. These cards will be distributed by Corrine Sain early in December so parents can shop for their children.  She’ll determine the number of families served based on the number or cards she receives.  

As you are considering how much to give, this might help:   In the past, we have purchased Target cards worth $25 per family member, so if you’d like to support the purchase of gift cards for 4 children, then a $100 donation would do it.    If you would like to support cards for two Seniors, then a donation of $50 would work.   In the past we also provided groceries for family holiday dinner which were costing around $100 for a large family, so you may also may wish to donate money for 4x $25 cards or $100 for a family’s dinner.    

CHECK GIFTS FOR ANY AMOUNT ARE INVITED. Please make checks to Arlington Community Church and on memo line write North Richmond Christmas.    (These donations are Tax Deductible.)