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May 9 - extended registration deadline

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May 16 - 18 Women's Weekend

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May 1, 2008

April 17, 2008

The registration deadline for Women's Weekend has been extended through May 9th.  Register online now for this great annual retreat.

Photos taken at April 17th Art Auction.  Thank you to Hank Holman for providing these photos.

Added to Board Reports:

• April 8th ECW Board Meeting Minutes

• Spring 2008 Black Belt Convocation Report

It's time to register for the 59th Annual Women's Weekend May 16  - 18th.  You can register online and then send payment to the address noted.  Join us for this fun getaway weekend!

From Alleen Cater:

Greetings, all,
One more plug for the April 17th auction at All Saints' in Homewood.  Click here for a "Short list" of the items for the Silent Auction.  "Short List" is a misnomer, as we are now up to 250 items, with more coming in.  We have something for everyone.  Top of the list is the gourmet dinner for eight at Bp. Parsley's home.  We now have Auburn tickets to go along with the Alabama tickets (neither is for the AU/UA game).  Don't forget about that puppy!  Vacation homes, great wines (in various price ranges), pottery, quilts, jewelry in all price ranges - you name it, we've got it!!  We're only charging $5.00 admission so you can spend all your cash (credit cards and checks, too) on these fabulous items.  full details on event...

Women's Weekend page updated with more details of fun and interesting activities planned by the Tennessee Valley Convocation including a Book Signing by author Rev. Richard Losch of his book All the People in the Bible - An A to Z Guide to the Saints, Scoundrels, and Other Characters in Scripture.  Make plans to attend this getaway weekend May 16  - 18th.

April 2008 Archives Report added to Board Reports page

Here for 2 Posters you can print and post at your parish and other places to help us publicize the Arts Auction.  (legal size 8 1/2 x 14 inch color) (letter size poster/flyer 8 1/2 x 11 color).  We are counting on all women in the diocese to help us make this event a success.  Even those not in Birmingham can contribute in various ways, and in the coming 2 years, we will have similar fundraisers in North Alabama, and the Montgomery area.  Full event details are here...

New!  We now have a way for you to register online for Women's Weekend.  Details on the Weekend are here...  Please make plans to attend May 16 - 18 at Camp McDowell.

Board reports added:

• April 4, 2008 Financial Report - Operating Fund

• April 4, 2008 Financial Report - Segregated Accounts

• April 2008 Website Report

• April 2008 Report from Women's Weekend Coordinator

• PLTE ECW April 2008 Report

• DOK April 2008 Report

Click here to see a great Preview of the Auction Items for the April 17th ECW Arts Auction.  Please take a look and start dreaming of bidding strategies to win that item you really want!  (Note:  This preview is only viewable using MS Internet Explorer.)

Here is a publicity flyer about the April 17th ECW Arts Auction.  Please print it and post it at your parish and hand out to members of your parish and your friends.  Help us spread the word so we can have a success in raising funds for the new chapel to be built at Camp McDowell.  It's easy to send this flyer by email:  once you have the flyer showing on your computer browser, click File, then click "Attach to Email....".  (or if using FireFox, click File, then click "Send Link".)

Reports added to Board Reports:

• Parish Giving Report as of 3/31/08   How does your parish compare to other parishes in the diocese in its giving to the work and ministries of the Diocesan ECW?

• April 2008 Report of President Elect

Your help is needed with the April 17th ECW Arts Auction

to raise funds for our diocesan ECW pledge to the ACTS2 Campaign to go towards the Sacristy of the proposed new Chapel at Camp McDowell.  Please prayerfully consider how you and your parish can help and get involved.

• The Montgomery Convocation will have their Spring Meeting on Wednesday, May 7th at the Church of the Ascension as they celebrate their 100 year anniversary. Attendees will be treated to nationally known speaker and author Rev. Mary Earle of San Antonio, Texas.

• The Mountain Convocation Spring Meeting will be Tuesday April 29, 2008 at Church of the Epiphany, Guntersville.  The speaker will be Paula Dabney on "Greening of the Church".

Church of the Epiphany, Guntersville will host World Day of Prayer, March 7, 2008 at 11 am. This service sponsored by Church Women United is an annual observance of prayer. This year's service will focus on the country and people of Guyana.

more details...

Plans are underway for an Arts Auction on April 17th to raise funds for our diocesan ECW pledge to the ACTS2 Campaign to go towards the Sacristy of the proposed new Chapel at Camp McDowell.  Please make plans to contribute and attend!

See photos from the DOK Spring Assembly held Feb. 2nd at Grace Episcopal Church in Cullman

• Diocesan ECW Devotional Chair Anne Kimzey shares ideas for Lenten devotionals

• Birmingham Convocation Spring meeting will be held March 7th at the Cathedral of the Advent, registration 9 - 10am, meeting to follow.

We now have an Online Submission Form for you to update the Diocesan ECW Board with info about your parish ECW leaders and contacts.  Please use this form and help us keep in touch with you!

New Search feature added - we have hundreds of pages on Alabama ECW website now and sometimes we know you might need to search for what you are looking for.  Hopefully the new search page will help you find what you are looking for....

Photos posted from November 2007 event to introduce the Trinity Wetumpka cookbook fundraiser which was at a Business After Hours event with the Wetumpka Chamber of Commerce.  Pictured at right from the event is Trinity Wetumpka Rector Rev. Ben Alford with Wetumpka Mayor Jo Glenn.

January 2008 Board Meeting Minutes posted

2008 Alabama ECW Budget posted

Website updated with 2008 Theme

"Blessed Is She Who Believes"

• See resources for further study on our theme and Bishop Parsley's address on our theme

See photos from Annual December tri-parish gathering of St. Luke’s, St. Mary’s on-the-Highlands and Advent in Birmingham on December 3rd

2008 ECW Scholarship Application forms are now available on our Scholarship page.   Please note the application deadline of April 30th.

Slideshow presentation shown at Fall Conference on ECW Diocesan Communications uploaded

ECW President Dee Buzby shares her thoughts about the ordination of Bishop Suffragan McKee Sloan on January 12:

Ladies,
Just a short note to try to describe the very beautiful service yesterday at the Advent. First of all, Brian and I arrived at 10:00 and all the seating was taken, we stood till 12:45 when several seats opened up. We were pleased that Marilyn stood with us and kept us company. What a service! All the pomp and circumstance that our Church does so well. The procession was festive and Alleen did a super job carrying the Diocesan Banner (former Corporate Gift) and she made us proud. The music were hymns that we all love, the number of Bishops- at least 7 or 8 from our Province IV- who laid hands on Kee, our Presiding Bishop who during the announcements received the warmest welcome including a standing ovation, the sometimes hilarious sermon by David Meginniss, and our new Bishop celebrating the Eucharist. The reception was very nice and Marilyn and I enjoyed working with the women of the Guild, especially Linda Kennedy who so graciously organized the reception. It as packed. Alleen made a beautiful caviar pie in the shape of the Episcopal Shield which was beautiful and delicious and which must have taken much patience.

 

After the reception, I had the opportunity to meet the Presiding Bishop at Carpenter House and she was lovely. I knew she was tired and this was her down time so I stayed just a few minutes. She has a warm and welcoming feeling about her.

Brian and I then went to the new campus ministry building and enjoyed the Tea and Conversation with the Presiding Bishop. I would describe her as confident, very intelligent, very spiritual, articulate, compassionate, and having a sense of humor. Just wish this could have been recorded. The questions ranged from the problems in our church today, to a college student asking about the priesthood, and to biblical questions. It was a comfortable time and I enjoyed it.

Blessings to you all,

Dee

Also, Alleen Cater, past president, shares her thoughts about the event and and her Episcopal Shield Caviar Pie:

Attached is a photo of the caviar pie I made as a contribution of the diocesan ECW to the reception yesterday. It's Johnny Tyson's recipe and instructions, but it was still a learning curve for me. As I was using tweezers and a very small spatula to pick out waxed paper strips and stray bits of caviar, it occurred to me that it would have been much simpler to have a big chocolate chip cookie decorated with the shield; but ....  nothing's too good for our bishops! I'm happy to share Johnny's recipe with anyone who wants it.

In addition to being as lovely as Dee Buzby said it was, yesterday was also a high moment of closeness, joy, optimism and togetherness for our diocese, in my opinion. The Holy Spirit led us all, no doubt; the fruit of that Spirit is infectious and we should all try to catch and keep it. How wonderful to see women of various parishes working hand-in-hand with the women of the Advent! Thanks to one and all. The women of this diocese are the best! Please let me know if there are others who should receive thanks for their help. I was rather late getting into the reception and missed seeing who all was helping.
Blessings,
Alleen

Posted on Board Reports page:

• Annual Financial Statements for 2007  (updated with final reports on 1/29/08)

• 2007 Parish Giving Report

• DOK Jan 2008 Report to ECW Board

• Webmaster Jan 2008 Report to ECW Board

Posted Brochure on DOK Spring Assembly in Cullman Feb. 2nd

The Diocesan 2008 Calendar Handbook can now be downloaded.  Also our Calendar and ECW Board pages have been updated with 2008 information.

St. Mark's, Birmingham invites you join the "Voices of Praise" and their children as they present a musical and narrative performance of Jesus, There's Something About That Name, December 23rd at 5:00pm.  more details....

Trinity Wetumpka is offering their beautiful cookbook, "Shall We Gather", in our Alabama ECW MarketPlace.  It features wonderful recipes with emphasis on the use of Alabama products and beautiful orginal artwork by award winning Wetumpka artist Hope Brannon.

See photos from the cookbook fundraiser kickoff...

Alleen Cater informs us of this video interview of ECW board president Kay Meyer (scroll down to 11/9/07 link) during the national board meeting October 15 - 19.

Read about our recent Fall Conference in Auburn and see photos.

• Tana Branch, East Alabama Convocation Coordinator sent the following:

"The Episcopal Church Women of the East Alabama Convocation are wonderfully talented.  Their kindnesses, helpfulness and generosity in planning and implementing their different parts of the 2007 ECW Fall Conference in Auburn was greatly appreciated.  We had many hands at work knitting, setting up, registering, decorating, preparing food and the innumerable activities that make our fall gatherings successful.  Thank you to the ECW board members for their steadfast leadership.  They understand the needs of the different parishes and can "sit their own brooms" with great dignity and perseverance.  As soon as St Stephen's Birmingham gets their registration material out for 2008, I'm there!!  Please be sure to register early!"

• The women of the Church of the Ascension were proud to feed nearly 400 hungry parishioners and guests at their annual Chicken Curry Luncheon, Thursday October 25.  Homemade curry, tomato aspic, marinated green beans along with the always popular rum cakes was the traditional fare.  Hattie Boo Johnson was this year's Chicken Curry Luncheon chairman.  See photos.

At Fall Conference, some of our reports were shown as slideshows.  We will place them on the website.  The first one posted under Board Reports is the Fall 2007 Treasurer's Report Slideshow, which was created by Lisa Gruner and Brenda Mayhall.  More to come....

Anne Kimzey wants to:

"thank everyone who donated "vitamins for the diocesan Haiti mission.  Malnutrition is such a severe problem in Haiti, and these vitamins are truly a critical need.  You can see photos and read the daily updates about the trip at our diocesan website: http://www.dioala.org/ministries/companion_diocese_haiti.html.

So far they have been building desks and benches for schools and planning the medical mission for February.   They also spent a day at the nutrition clinic in the mountain village of Crochu and visited the site of a well and water project we have funded in Thomazeau."

St. Philip's Episcopal Church NoteCards added to the MarketPlace - depicting St. Philip's Episcopal Church, Fort Payne, during its 50th Anniversary Celebration

From Alleen Cater, ECW President, concerning Fall Conference and The Memorial Roll:

One of the most moving moments of all my time spent on ECW each year comes during the Memorial Eucharist at Fall Conference, when the names are read of all the fine women in the Diocese of Alabama who have died in the last year.  There are so many names that it takes several readers to get through the list.  Always I hear some names which are dear to me.  Even hearing unfamiliar names evokes an image right out of the gospel and hymn:  and endless line of the saints of God "serve These as Thy hosts above."  Each time I am deeply and newly humbled to be included in the faithful group here.  It reminds me of an endless chain of paperdolls.  If you've heard the list being read, you have your own image of that moment.

The deadline is upon us for sending along the names of all of our parish sisters who have died since September 2, 2006.  Contributions to the scholarship fund in memory of those women can be sent to Carpenter Hall, 521 North 20th Street, Birmingham, AL. 35203 and marked "memorial gift."   The deadline is for the names only and the contributions may be sent at any time, thought it's good to send them while the suggestion is in front of you.  The deadline is September 15, but we want the names even if the deadline has passed. 

If you have not registered for Fall Conference yet, please go ahead and do so.

Blessings for a great day,

Alleen

Alabama Folk School

Need a Get Away?  Here's your chance.  How would you like to spend time studying your favorite craft or trade at a retreat center that features modern accommodations as well as over a thousand acres of forests, canyons, and waterfalls?  Come join us for a week or weekend to participate in any of the 40 classes ranging in everything from pottery, weaving and woodcutting to dance, music, and printmaking located near Poplar Springs, AL.  Please check the website www.campmcdowell.com/FolkSchool and register today to secure your spot.  For more information, contact Megan Huston at 205 387-1806 or folkschool@campmcdowell.com.  There's a rocking chair waiting for you!

• The Diocese of Alabama has received two UTO partial grants for 2007!  We're told that not many dioceses receive more than one grant, so we're particularly blessed.  The two grants are to Jubilee Community Center, Inc. in Montgomery and Safeplace, Inc., in Florence.  Read more about the amounts and projects funded by the grants.
• A new resource for Julian of Norwich, passed onto us by Alleen Cater, has been posted on our Study page - "Love's Immensity: Mystics on the Endless Life".

The ECW of the Diocese of Alabama has made a gift of a cross in memory of the late Rt. Rev. Furman C. Stough, Eighth Bishop of Alabama, which hangs in the center window of the Chapel at Carpenter House.

Alabama ECW has pledged $65,000 over 5 years to the ACTS2 fundraising campaign for our Diocese.  This is to be applied towards the $125,000 item of the Sacristy for the proposed new Chapel at Camp McDowell.  We will keep tabs on how we are doing to reach our goal on this page.

Added to our Study page:

• The Rev. Huey Gardner suggested www.explorefaith.com as a good site to visit.  The following link will go straight to lots of references to Julian of Norwich. http://www.explorefaith.org/cgi-bin/s.cgi?st=1&q=Julian+of+Norwich

Check out the terrific new webpages for National ECW

Set of NoteCards of St. Wilfrid's Episcopal Church added to Marketplace