A Rowdy Saturday and an Ordination Sunday
Shane told me afterward that he thought today's Farmer's Market Annual Meeting worked a lot like Congress. I did not hear hearty enthusiasm in the observation.
I always come to these understandings too late, but I wish now I had had the insight and courage to say something like this at the meeting: I thought the purpose of this meeting was to elect a new board and to provide input for the board to consider in making decisions for the upcoming market season. I am uncomfortable with this group making budget decisions at this meeting today, and uncomfortable also with exacting a mandatory "donation" from every unsuspecting person who paid their membership dues.
While I am fully in favor of reevaluating the financial picture--a necessity, given the fact that we ended the year with a deficit--I still can't believe we categorically decided to slash $4,000 from the advertising money and didn't raise stall fees by a dollar or two. How is that supposed to "grow" the market? All I can say is that all those ideas for free advertising had better produce results.
I am also fully in favor of improving the floor of the outdoor facility and installing overhead fans, but I find it hard to believe that we almost decided that every member should be made to pay $100 as a donation toward the project--just the 25 of us members who were there today though. I hate to think how things might have turned out if no one had prayed for the meeting, as I know some of us did.
Shane was elected to the board. I wasn't sure whether congratulations or an expression of sympathy was more appropriate.
***********************
The Arlington Church is planning for an ordination tomorrow evening. Five people are in the lot: Freeman Yoder, Jerry Yoder, Sam Miller, Greg Bontrager, and Brent Oatney. Of those five, Greg is the only one whose parental family has a long, multi-generation history in the Beachy church. None of this has any bearing on qualifications for church office, obviously, but is an interesting feature of the congregation's demographics. This group of men represents roughly 1/3 of the men in the congregation who would commonly be considered eligible for ordination.
I always come to these understandings too late, but I wish now I had had the insight and courage to say something like this at the meeting: I thought the purpose of this meeting was to elect a new board and to provide input for the board to consider in making decisions for the upcoming market season. I am uncomfortable with this group making budget decisions at this meeting today, and uncomfortable also with exacting a mandatory "donation" from every unsuspecting person who paid their membership dues.
While I am fully in favor of reevaluating the financial picture--a necessity, given the fact that we ended the year with a deficit--I still can't believe we categorically decided to slash $4,000 from the advertising money and didn't raise stall fees by a dollar or two. How is that supposed to "grow" the market? All I can say is that all those ideas for free advertising had better produce results.
I am also fully in favor of improving the floor of the outdoor facility and installing overhead fans, but I find it hard to believe that we almost decided that every member should be made to pay $100 as a donation toward the project--just the 25 of us members who were there today though. I hate to think how things might have turned out if no one had prayed for the meeting, as I know some of us did.
Shane was elected to the board. I wasn't sure whether congratulations or an expression of sympathy was more appropriate.
***********************
The Arlington Church is planning for an ordination tomorrow evening. Five people are in the lot: Freeman Yoder, Jerry Yoder, Sam Miller, Greg Bontrager, and Brent Oatney. Of those five, Greg is the only one whose parental family has a long, multi-generation history in the Beachy church. None of this has any bearing on qualifications for church office, obviously, but is an interesting feature of the congregation's demographics. This group of men represents roughly 1/3 of the men in the congregation who would commonly be considered eligible for ordination.
posted by Mrs. I (Miriam Iwashige) at
8:05 PM
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