Ad Council Notes May 2025

Trinity United Methodist Administrative Council Meeting

May 15, 2025

Present: Rev. April Wegehaupt, Pastor Anny Kapundu, Pastor Carla Gunn, Steven Stoppkotte, Carol Stoppkotte, Vaughn Minton, Deb Brummund, Bruce Schreiner, Susan Stoppkotte

The Administrative council met Thursday, May 15, 2025, at Trinity. Chair Steven Stoppkotte called the meeting to order. Pastor Anny opened with prayer. Steven read Trinity’s Mission and Vision Statement. Minutes of the April Meeting were approved.

Old Business:

Community Garden: Carol Stoppkotte reported that the garden is all planted. They had some younger neighborhood girls interested in helping on Wednesday evening. A sign has been ordered and will be hung on the gate. The United Methodist Foundation awarded a $2,500 grant to the garden, that will be used to purchase a shed. The current watering schedule on the garden is Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.

Roof:

Susan has searched through records and information in a bulletin indicates the grant fund was started in 1972. She will send this to Bruce. Rev. April said it may be possible to use some of these funds towards the Associate Pastor’s salary as a training time.

Administrative Reports:

Finance: Bruce Reported that we are ahead $46,733.24 for the month of April. $75,000 was moved to the general endowment fund. Our monthly giving has been good.

Bruce recommended and made a motion to pay $4,500 in Mission Shares this month. Deb seconded and the motion carried.

Trustees: Rev. April reported that carpet has been chosen for Miller Hall and they are choosing tile for the serving area. Floor It will be ordering and installing rolled carpeting. The color chosen is Golden Umber and total cost will be about $23,000. There is still money in the kitchen fund that will fund appliance replacement if needed.

The parking lot will be striped for a cost of $525, with wider handicapped spots included.

A gazabo is being planned in the playground area to cover the slab of cement. Damien Wegehaupt has been working on a plan and will need volunteer work to build it at approximately $5,000 cost. This project will use memorial funds, playground funds and healthy congregation funds. Hopefully this project will be done by the end of the summer. Deb Brummund made a motion to move forward with the gazabo project using memorial funds and other dedicated funds. Vaughn Minton seconded the motion, and it carried.

A meeting will be held on Thursday, June 12 at 7 pm for the Capital Campaign roof project.

SPRC:

Party for Pastor Anny will be held Wednesday, May 28th from 5:30 to 7 in Miller Hall along with the Wednesday meal.

Party of Pastor Shella Choi will be held Sunday, July 13th following worship during the BBQ time.

Long Range Planning:

On hold right now due to busy church! The group will be helping with the fishing tournament on June 22. T-Shirt sales will be held again June 2 to June 21st.

Program Reports:

Family Ministries:

Christina is on vacation this week. This Sunday is Senior Sunday with a breakfast at 8:30 am with 2 graduates. They will also be recognized during worship on Sunday. This Sunday is Pretzels and Puzzles following worship in Miller Hall. Everyone is invited.

Pastor Carla:

Video is shot for hospitality committee and will assist ushers and greeters on their duties. This will include where the first aid kits, AED’s and fire extinguishers are located. It will also point out handicapped seating in the Sanctuary and will focus on Welcoming and Hospitality. The video will be available on Trinity’s YouTube page. Penny Allen, April Wegehaupt (Martin & Andrew too), Carol George, Jacob Pribnow and Carla Gunn are the stars in this production.

Attendance pads will be returned to the pews. Carla will be taking Plarn on the road to Edgar. She is continuing to contact visitors and encourage membership.

Missons:

Saturday, May 10, Loaves & Fishes served 513 families with a box of shelf stable food, two boxes of fruit and vegetables and two loaves of bread. One thousand and sixty-five people were fed. Fifty three percent of those fed had kids in their family. Crossroads ministry received extra food not given away. Mission committee members fed the hungry people at Salvation Army on Sunday the 11th of May. There was low attendance this month. There was a request for a budget increase of $300 to the missions budget. They serve 4 meals a year and would request the total be $1200 for a year at $300 per meal. The Salvation Army has also asked for help serving meals on Thursday evenings, but things are unstable there at this time. Please pray for new leadership.

Healthy Congregations:

The program is being revamped and will increase the amount awarded to $1500 from $1000. Trinity has usually supported Howard School with lice shampoo, coats and shoes for the kids. They would like to do 100 bags of love again with help from the congregation. There are plans for an American flag with a solar light to be placed on the church property. Tom Graves is assisting with this project. They are also planning on ordering reusable bottles for church members. Currently visitors are receiving a reusable bottle and keep it cold bag. Members have asked for reusable bottles. The peace garden needs to have the pavers placed in concrete and the rocks removed and replaced with mulch. We have had issues with unsupervised children moving the pavers and throwing the rocks into the grass. Money will be divided from previous uncompleted projects to assist with the peace garden expenses and other projects.

Pastor’ Reports:

Rev. April:

The fishing tournament still scheduled for June 22 at Suck’s lake. She will be scheduling a meeting for volunteers. Prizes have been purchased and given. Channel 4 will hopefully be covering the event and sharing information about the event. Paid advertising on Facebook will also promote the event. Registration is online. Posters will be handed out on 4th Street and hung on the fence facing 6th Street. We are hoping to have an ice cream truck at the event also. Rev April will be taking vacation June 27th to July 1. Sundays in June are scheduled for preaching with a special speaker on June 7 & 8, Rev. April on June 14 & 15, Jay Stewart on June 21st & 22nd. Pastor Carla will be preaching June 28th & 29th. Pastor Shella will preach for the first time on July 5 & 6. Clergy will be attending Annual Conference the first week of June.

She has been thinking about themes for next Christmas (Wonder) and Easter (Eggs). Long range planning will be working on the church’s 160th birthday to take place in July of 2026. The Sudanese last Sunday will be May 26th. There is discussion about changing the codes for the church after they are finished.

Pastor Anny:

She has been packing, visiting members in their homes, visiting Riverside and Good Samaritan retirement homes. Her last weekend preaching will be May 31 & June 1. She & Kalaba will be having an Open House in Cario on Wednesday, July 11 from 3 to 8 pm. She thanked everyone for her years of service here.

The meeting was adjourned.

NO meeting will be held in June and consideration will be given to meeting in July.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan Stoppkotte, Temporary Secretary