I care for ya, baby

Well, looks like the human care board at church has solidified to seven members, me included. Considering that I was afraid that no one would want to continue to serve, I feel blessed. Seven people who've been on the board for varying lengths of time will be a good mix, especially given my novice standing as "chair". Whatever. Our first meeting is this coming Thursday.

The first order of business will be to hear a presentation from R.A.C.S. (Rape and Abuse Crisis Service). Our plan is to change our energy assistance program from "broad" to "deep". Instead of trying to spread what little funds we have for helping on utility bills across the many people who are sent to our church seeking help we will sponsor something like the utilities for one family per quarter getting started out as they leave R.A.C.S. and set up their lives again. That feels right. The scary thing is how high utilities are becoming, and how sometimes not even $1,000 can get people out of the energy debt hole they've dug already. Calories expended in the form of heat and light are getting more and more expensive. I fear the impact on the poorest.

I am a bit more settled with the idea of being "chair". I've taken a long, slow inventory of everything our church is doing that falls under that guise and we are not as parsimonious as I first feared. People do volunteer. People do give. People do serve. We'll make something happen. We already do. And as we go, I'll talk about it here, since this is a safe forum (I hope! :-) for observations about my first trip "behind the curtain" at church, so to speak.

Ciao for now.