THE CHRIST CHURCH CONNECTION The Newspaper of the Mother Church of the Dakotas

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1 THE CHRIST CHURCH CONNECTION The Newspaper of the Mother Church of the Dakotas From Your Interim Rector Last week, the empty tomb. This week, the empty pew. (Church Curmudgeon on Low Sunday, the Sunday after Easter. Well, we had an excuse for low attendance on April 8th. That nasty bit of winter jumped us. It was a white knuckle ride home to Sioux Falls, let me tell you! The hardy souls who made it to church heard me end my sermon with Hebrews 10:24-25, and let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. I don t want to nag the folks who are faithful in keeping the Lord s Day holy. I m hoping that if you are reading this that you are one of our parish members who s fallen out of the habit of worshipping with your brothers and sisters in Christ. I m not going to tell you that God s stopped loving you, or assail you with fire and brimstone about your Sunday absence. But I wouldn t be true to my God-given ministry if I failed to tell you that: Christianity without common prayer is incomplete. So the New Testament warns against neglecting to meet together. Christianity without common prayer is defective when it comes to displaying love. So the New Testament says that we should get together and provoke one another to love Christianity without common prayer is weak when it comes to serving God on God s terms. So the New Testament teaches us to come together and provoke one another to good deeds. The your in Matthew 5:16 is a plural, addressed to the whole church together: In the same way, let your (y all s) light shine before others, so that they may see your (y all s) good works and give glory to your (y all s) Father in heaven. Jesus is concerned with what we do together, y all. Christianity without common prayer deprives us of mutual encouragement by depriving us of one another. So the New Testament exhorts us to be encouraging one another. It s not easy to live by Jesus teachings. I ll be the first to tell you how badly I fall down on the job without other Christians to encourage me forward. Common prayer is serious business. So the New Testament tells us we need it all the more as you see the Day approaching. That s right, what we say in the Creed and in the Mystery of Faith is real, Christ will come again. Our readiness to encounter him and eternity is aided by common prayer. And diminished without it. I encourage you to be here Sundays at 10 a.m., y all. Timothy+ May 2018

2 In Loving Memory of Thelma Branaugh May 6, 1924 ~ April 10, 2018 Thelma was born on May 6, 1924 to Odin and Cora Moen in southeastern Minnesota. When Thelma was an infant, her mother passed away, so she was raised by extended family members until the age of 5 when her dad married her stepmother, Viola. Thelma attended a one room country school house and graduated from Spring Grove High School. Following graduation, she took off for California with her girlfriends to work in the ship yards as a welding inspector during WWII. She married Billie Hein in 1947 and worked in Madison, SD at a creamery. Billie passed away in Thelma married Charles Showers in 1960 and provided a loving home for Charles children, Bill and Linda. Thelma and Charles enjoyed fishing wherever they lived and traveled. Thelma married James Branaugh on January 19, 1980 at Christ Church Episcopal, and they enjoyed nearly 27 years of marriage. Thelma welcomed Jim s grown children, Jeff, Robin, Greg and Marc, into her life. Thelma was a whiz with numbers and worked using that love of numbers at Battin Electric, Gurneys, and volunteering as church treasurer. She always had a sense of remembering the exact year she bought an appliance and what she paid for it to the penny. Thelma enjoyed working on crosswords, jig saw puzzles, growing African violets and philodendrons, crocheting afghans and creating doilies, embroidering dish towels, working in the garden with Jim, and spending time with family. She looked forward to trips to Minnesota to visit her sisters and brothers. Thelma always had fresh baked cookies for Jim and for anyone else that came to visit. You would always know that her brother, Chester was coming when there was black licorice in the candy jar. She spent many years volunteering at her church and chairing the bake sale for Christmas in July. Thelma loved the times that she spent with Linda and Suzi shopping for new clothes and jewelry. She also loved spending time with her cat Felix. Thelma was active in the VFW and served as President of the Women s Auxiliary. She and Jim spent many Saturday nights having supper and dancing at the VFW followed by Sunday nights enjoying root beer floats and popcorn with Jim s sister Mae and brother Budge. She was well known among her children and grandchildren for her canned beets and pickles and her creamy mashed potatoes. Thelma is survived by Bill (Suzi) Showers, Tabor, SD; Linda (Jim) Winterringer, Yankton, SD; Jeff (Deanna) Branaugh, Yankton, SD; Robin (Joe) Tischler, Sioux Falls, SD; Greg (Denise) Branaugh, Sioux Falls, SD. She is survived by 13 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren and 2 great- great- grandsons. She is also survived by three sisters, Donna Otterness, Spring Grove, MN; Beverly Housker, Spring Grove, MN; and Patricia (Ted) Tweito, Georgia. Thelma was preceded in death by her parents, sister Virginia Oakes, brothers Chester, Thomas, Stanley, and Vernon Moen. She was preceded in death by her husbands, step-son Marc Branaugh and a great granddaughter. The family wishes to thank Autumn Winds, Yankton Care Center and Majestic Bluffs Chalkstone Unit for their loving care and friendships. Memorials in her name will be donated to Christ Church Episcopal of Yankton and the VFW Auxiliary of Yankton.

3 Missouri River Cleanup Saturday, May 5 th, 2018 Time: 8:00am to Noon (Volunteer sign-up starts at 8 a.m.) Location: Yankton s Riverside Park Boat Ramp Volunteer T-shirts & refreshments provided (Donuts, coffee and brats & chips for lunch) Gloves and trash bags will be available For more Information about joining the Christ Church Team: Carol Smith at Or casmith2013@yahoo.com

4 Social Media Ministry Christ Church is improving our presence in the social media world, and we can use your help! There s our website: Congratulations to Beth Kathol Ability Building Services continues to grow in its mission to serve a broad range of clients in the Yankton area, Shown are, from left: Ashley Heimes, A.J. Olson, Beth We re always up for suggestions on useful info to add there. We also have a Facebook page, com/christyankton/ Like it, visit often, comment on posts, and most of all share it with your Facebook friends. We re now on Visit it, retweet our messages, and include the tag #ChristLovesYankton in your tweets. We are working to build a following and engage the community around us. Share others tweets with the #ChristLovesYankton tag. It is our hope to get going on Instagram in the near future. If you use any of these social media platforms, please get in touch. We really want to keep them fresh to spread news among our members and to engage the community and the world beyond our walls. Contact Somer Bares, Carol Smith or Father Tim if you re interested in helping with our social media ministry. United Thank Offering Just a little reminder for everyone to get their blue boxes out or get them from the back of the church. Liz will give a little presentation or reminder to pick them up and start dropping their coins in for giving thanks and appreciation for the day. Boxes will be turned in on May 20th. Congratulations Barbara Black on her Retirement At the end of this academic year, Barbara will retire from Wayne State College, after 24 years as a tenuredtrack faculty member of the School of Education and Counseling - retiring as a full professor. She earned a BSE in English from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, in December of 1971; an MAE in English from Wayne State College in 1986; and an EdD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of South Dakota in She is really looking forward to having more time for family and friends! Kathol, Jeremy O Grady and Amber Tacke. Ability Building Services (ABS) has been in Yankton since its founding by a parent group that decided not to institutionalize their children with disabilities. Since then, its services have grown in scope and complexity from simple vocational training to detailed individual plans intended to enrich the life of each person served. ABS Executive Director Beth Kathol, who has been with ABS for 33 years, said it was created by a group of parent advocates that wanted alternative services for their children in They wanted to have communitybased services and supports for their children to live, and grow up, and work and play in their community that they grew up in, rather than state institutions. So ABS was created for people with intellectual disabilities to be able to experience life in their own community and to live, work and play here. Ability Building Service s mission is to provide opportunities for enriched lives, Kathol continues. So we want to provide those opportunities for people, and create plans for people to flourish in their home towns and in their communities, to have friends, be able to go do things, work, play and do everything that anybody else without a disability would be able to do, she said. With that in mind, Ability Building Services developed the concept of the Person Centered Plan, in which people identify what their goals are and what they want to work on. So each plan is as unique as each person. The goal is to integrate each person served into the community, but not in a forced or artificial way. We are always trying to get the people we support more natural supports in the community, so that the people in their lives are friendships they formed, with people that they have things in common with, so that

5 Congratulations to Beth Kathol (Con t) the only people in their lives aren t paid staff, Kathol said. Individuals become part of the community through employment, churches and different service groups, and they develop friendships, she said. That is one thing that we always find when we ask, they want more friends, she noted. They want more friends and to be able to go out and do things with their friends just like you and I would want to do. One ABS department works with people out in the community to develop their job skills and find jobs within the community, but work can also be done onsite at ABS, Kathol said. We have a sheltered workshop environment here, where people can get job skills, she said. We do contract work for Truxedo and Lewis & Clark Hydraulics, and people are paid to do that, and in the interim are also learning a job skills and learning occupational sorts of skills along the way. Of the approximately 130 people served by ABS, about 50 have jobs in the community. ABS serves people of all ages, even seniors. We do have a department that s just for retirement, for people that are no longer wanting to work and are of retirement age and they do more retirement goal activities and crafts and different things, Kathol said. And we ve got an Art Department where people are doing art projects and painting. Living arrangements vary from person to person. ABS has a few fundraisers each year, including a pancake feed and a golf tournament. The proceeds go to ABS s foundation and are saved for future needs. Kathol is happy to say that ABS has great relationships with local mental health providers, doctors and dentists, and is lucky that our legislators do understand what Ability Building Services does and what a viable part of this community we are. The people we support just want to be part of community life, she said. They are your neighbor, they are your coworker, they are the people shopping at the grocery stores with you and eating at the restaurants with you and going to the movies with you. Ability Building Services does not use volunteers, but anyone interested in donating to or hiring from ABS is encouraged to contact them at Article courtesy of Cora P&D The Banquet PLEASE NOTE: Four to five volunteers from Christ Church are needed to help serve at the Banquet on Thursday, May 10. Please coordinate with Birdie Strnad at Volunteers need to arrive by 5:00-5:15 pm. They also need three dozen dessert bars delivered to the Banquet by 5:00 PM on that day. Thank you! Note From Editor In order to save ink I have taken all artwork out of the pages except front page. Also, I have consolidated information to save ink and paper. We have 10 different residential locations (in Yankton), but not everybody that we work with is at a residential location, Kathol said. We have group homes that have a greater level of support for the person, and then we have people that live in apartments, drive and have minimal support. It depends on what their level of need for support is. So we form fit that to the person. To support each person, ABS has about 140 people on staff who work shifts on days, evenings, overnights and weekends to provide the right amount of support for those being served. ABS s employment requirement, according to Kathol, positively impact Yankton. We employ quite a few people, she noted. We are a very viable employment source in the community and all the money that comes in to ABS and the staff that all work and live in this area, all that gets turned over in this community because everybody lives here, buys groceries here, their kids go to school here.

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7 Easter Sunday

8 Kid s Camp This Sunday, March 11th, is designated the 2018 TEC Sunday across our diocese. TEC Sunday is the perfect time to talk to your congregation about the importance and significance of camp. Please use this day, or another Sunday near it to talk about TEC and its transforming ministry to our young people. Young people from across the diocese and beyond have emphasized the importance of camp in their lives. Attached are bulletin inserts for use in your congregation. Please feel free to use them in whatever way may benefit your congregation. You may also consider other ways to speak to your congregation about camp. For example, if you have campers in your congregation, you might invite them to share their experiences and to register for the upcoming season! to consider giving to TEC and our young people. Please consider a special offering on TEC Sunday to help support TEC financially. While every single camper is subsidized, and many receive full scholarships to attend, camp is not free. The ministry of Thunderhead greatly depends on your financial contributions to keep camp affordable and accessible. Every little bit, whether its $5 or $500, helps us to welcome all to camp. Please invite individuals, Men s Groups, Episcopal Church Women, etc. Finally, if you are interested in experiencing camp for yourself, please join us! Whether you can come for a whole session, a day, or even just a few hours, know that you are welcome. Please let me know if you would like to visit us in the 2018 season. Peace and Blessings, The Rev. Portia Corbin Missioner for Camping and Retreats Camp Director Please see next page for sponsorship

9 53% of campers in 2017 required a full scholarship Registration Fee for an individual camper: $150 Actual Cost for an individual camper: $692 EVERY camper is subsidized. Your contributions are essential to the ongoing ministry of Thunderhead. I will support TEC and our youth by: Sponsoring a camper scholarship for $150 Sponsoring the actual cost of camp for $692 Contributing $ to the TEC endowment to ensure the future of camp. Other Send payment to: Diocese of South Dakota 408 N. Jefferson Pierre SD Don t forget to register your young person for the 2017 season! episcopal-center/

10 May 3 Norm Wright 7 Chris Herrick 13 Steven Tacke 15 Quinn Sayler 16 Gary Bares 18 Chelsea Kathol 20 Corbin Sayler 24 Owen Warren (Crowe) Katrine Newland 26 Steve Adamson 30 Jim Cope May 2 Bernard & Phyllis Kubal 5 Steve & Jennifer Adamson 16 Maxine & Ernest Haberman 18 Tom & Nancy Langdon 25 Jim & Barbara Black 27 Chris Herrick & Birdie Strnad 29 Ric & Marilyn Wilson If your birthday or anniversary was left off our list, please contact Carol Smih at or churchsec@iw.net We pray for those who have requested our prayers: James, Craig, Claire, Heather, Norah, Kate, Carolyn, Elijah, Lynette, Paul, Tessa, Matt, Tory, Britney, John, Tonna, Richard, Gerry, Annie, Jay, John, Dominick, Kathy, Ken, Don, David, Jenni, and Dylan and family.

11 Vestry Meeting Minutes (March 26, 2018) Present: Fr. Tim Fountain, Dawne Unruh, Liz Lynch, Steve Adamson, Barb Lyle, Sue Lauck, Dick Unruh, & Chris Luke Opening Prayer: Led By Fr. Tim Approval of Minutes: A motion to approve vestry minutes from 2/26/18 meeting was made by Steve and seconded by Due. Unanimous yes vote to approve. Treasurer Report: See attached report dated 3/26/18 Deacon Report: See attached Report by Deacon John Senior Warden Report: Will bring up issues during business part of agenda. Junior Warden Report: Steve reported that he was asked to get our cleaning lady to clean the old rectory. A discussion was held and was suggested to clean the upstairs one week and downstairs the next. This will cost and additional $20.00 a week bringing the cleaning total to per week. A motion was made by Liz to approve the above cleaning rotation for the old rectory for the additional fee of $ The motion was seconded by Sue. Unanimous yes vote to approve. Search Committee Update: Dick presented that the Search Committee is working on the Survey results and so far 32 out of 74 came back, which is a good return. Norm is tabulating the last few surveys that have come in and the committee will share the results with the Vestry at a later date. A meeting is going to be planned for late April or May to meet with the parish to discuss having a full time or half time rector. The next step the Search Committee will start working on is the Church and Community profiles. that once we receive bills for services provided they are paid promptly. New Business: A discussion was held in regards to looking at speakers in the back of the church; the consensus was that this is not pertinent at this time. Also a discussion was held on updating the office in the old rectory, the feel was that this would be best to include the new Rector, to get their input on how they would like the office. There was discussion held on having different plans in place for emergencies at Christ Church, such as an evacuation plan etc. Father Tim sent an to Chris Corbin to see what resources were available; this topic will be addressed again at a later meeting. Discussion was held on the Kids Hope Easter Breakfast. It was decided to purchase some breakfast pizzas and fruit and set up a free will offering. Father Tim stated his normal office hours will be Monday through Thursday as most of the business through the church is during the front part of the week. These hours will fluctuate occasionally depending on needs etc. Next Meeting: 5PM Motion to adjourn was made by Steve and seconded by Barb. Closing Prayer: Led by Father Tim Old Business: Terry Williams looked at the gutters and believes they can be fixed and may cost roughly $ Dick stated that there is money in the maintenance and repair budget for that. Once weather is a little nicer we will get written bids to get this work done. A question was asked if tuners were paid, Dick stated

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