April, 2023 Meeting Minutes
DION -Minutes from April 17, 2023 – General Meeting
Attendees: Rabbi Dorit, Shimon Edut, Barbara Emerson, Rev. Cass Charrette, Jen Young, Sandra Terry, Yvonne Moore, Helen Barnes, Madge Anderson, Yvonne Moore-Fant
Rabbi Dorit opened the meeting, welcomed everyone, and poised the question:
What could Metro Detroiters most use? Everyone gave thoughtful answers.
MINUTES from last month had been sent electronically. There were no corrections or additions. Motion to approve by Helen, seconded by Barbara. Minutes passed.
Treasurer's Report - Given by Jen Young
Checking Account - $7,505.07
Saving Account - $6,004.39
Deposit - . None – but 15 cents interest
Total - $13,509.61
Motioned to accept by Sandra, Yvonne seconded. Approved
Committee Reports
Education:
Tutoring at Bagley continues.
Discussed briefly about possible after school program of gardening this summer at Central H.S. where they have an inner courtyard. Will have to discuss with principal about this since unsure if will have summer school program this year there. Teachers could continue this project in the fall. Alternately, students could help with Arif Huskic’s garden in Hamtramck this summer.
We are thankful for Snack Pack and Hygiene Supply Donations for the months of January, February and March from St. Aloysius Church group in Detroit spearheaded by Mike Carstens.
For the month of April and part of June, Islamic Center of America made a generous donation of 700.00 for which we are most grateful.
For the month of May, Temple Kol Ami’s Social Action Committee is handling the Snack Packs – and is spearheaded by Wendy Wilder-Werner. Greatly appreciated.
Theater Night:
Singing in the Rain is the musical for our Theater Night Fundraiser at Stagecrafters in Royal Oak.
Purchased 80 tickets at $25.00 @. Sell for $35.00@. Money due end of April.
Play is at 8pm on Thursday, June 8th. 2.5 hours with intermission.
Free Parking for 2 hours in garage next door, costs 75 cents for each additional hour. We can get a few more tickets if we sell all these by the end of April.
Picnic Committee:
Partnering with Detroit Unity Temple and People for Palmer Park.
Split expenses. Rev Guice will submit for a permit which he has never paid for – but the City of Detroit asks for $ 750.00 for renting a site for an event in one of their parks.
Nice area, bathrooms close by, plenty of parking.
Sunday July 30, 1-5pm in Palmer Park, off Pontchartrain.
Need a tent, tables and chairs
Planning meeting Sunday May 7, 4 pm, In-person at Rabbi’s house and via Zoom
Membership Outreach:
Yvonne's son Isaiah Fant will offer a workshop on “Diversity and Peaceful Relations in the Workplace “ via Zoom. This program is hopefully going to attract some of our younger DION members.
May 15, 2023, 7 pm.
We may hold future meetings at his offices which are on 11 Mile and Evergreen in Southfield.
Reports from partners:
This Saturday, April 22, Earth Day
First Methodist Church, Royal Oak
Faith on Earth, Green Initiative
Rally, March and Fair, Tabling
Crime Stoppers:
Fundraiser Golf Outing coming up in June
Wednesday, May 10, Grosse Pointe War Memorial, Meet and Greet
Cities of Peace
Hamtramck work signing up residents for help with water bills.
Sandra offered to send get well cards to
Sharon Curran and to Burt Vipond.
Next meeting Monday, May 8, 2023 - 7pm. .
Respectfully submitted,
Rev. Cass Charrette, Recording Secretary
May, 2018 Meeting Minutes
Detroit Interfaith Outreach Network Meeting Minutes
May 14, 2018
MINUTES OF DION GENERAL MEETING
Monday,May 14, 2018
-Intros and Welcome – met at home of Rabbi Dorit Edut
- Minutes of last month’s meeting had been sent out electronically. They were approved by those in attendance.
- The Treasurer’s Report was given by Rabbi Dorit in the absence of Rev. Dianne VanMarter. Currently we have $3940.70 in the checking account and $3,000.24 in the savings account. We paid the $50 required deposit for Belle Isle for the Summer Picnic on Aug. 5, and reimbursed Janet Meir $12.89 for literacy supplies, and $274.04 to Shimon Edut to reimburse for refreshments and one-day insurance for the Coffee Concert in March. We deposited the $600 check from the Interfaith Leadership Council for the three scheduled Coffee Concerts , though the last one was cancelled; they told us we did not need to return the $200 but could record this as a donation to DION. We sent a letter of thanks to them for their generosity.
- Committee Reports and Old Business
a. Membership – Shimon reported that all members have received at least one email and all those who were paid members last year are receiving phone calls reminding them to renew their membership. To date we have 15 paid members, including several gold and platinum members.
b. Picnic – Barbara Emerson reported that letters for soliciting donations and funds have gone out ; we have received a letter for BetterMade Potato Chips offering us a donation for the picnic – Dianne Van Marter agreed to pick this up on the Friday prior to the picnic. We are still in need of help with publicity, signage, grilling for this event. Sylvie Salei has agreed to do the kids’ makeup again. David Meir wants to donate a generator which will be stored at The Party Source, along with the stage we gave them last year – and they will bring these items at no additional cost to the picnic. They provide us the tent, tables, chairs and coolers – and we have received their bill of $449 which we will pay shortly. The State of Michigan is requiring an additional $250 Site Fee because we are classified as an “Event”. We have filled out and submitted all the paperwork they required and have been assigned Area 6B, near the Giant Slide. There was discussion about either going to a different park next year or seeing if we can get reclassified as just a picnic for next year ( it would mean not having any interfaith service and not having people distributing literature about their organizations, according to the State’s classifications.) This decision will be made after this year’s event. A Picnic Committee Meeting is scheduled for
c. Education and Partnership with Central High School – Janet thanked those who participated in the Career Day at Bagley Elementary School last month. We hope to continue our Literacy Tutoring Program there next fall and are always in need of more tutors. Janet has also agreed to set-up a schedule whereby different faith sites and organizations agree to take one month ( two Fridays) where they will prepare the Snack Packs for Central High School to help DION with our partnership program there to ease the food challenge issue for many of the teens. Janet will be calling people during the summer so we can restart this in Sept. DION made up Snack Packs for May which Rabbi Dorit will deliver this week. We are also continuing to supply Central High School students with hygiene products, socks and washcloths on a monthly basis. We are grateful for all those who have contributed to this effort. Another delivery will be made this month and again in June, and then we will take a break until Sept since most of the students will not be there over the summer.
d. Elections - We will have three vacancies on our Executive Board for At-Large Board Members due to the resignation of Jennifer Young, and the completion of 6 year terms of Stephanie Day and Madge Anderson. Nominees for these positions are Sharon Curran, Rev. David Kasbow, and Helen Barnes. Also, the Executive Board met and voted to amend the Bylaws by making a temporary extension for the next two years so that Rabbi Dorit Edut would continue as President until 2020 while a search for a new President is made. Elections will be held at the July 2018 meeting – though online ballots will again be available.
e. Gardening with Common Word Alliance
DION will help Common Word Alliance, the interfaith organization led by Arif Huskic , based in Hamtramck, with their Community Garden.DION members will be going to help with planting, weeding, and picking crops once a month –in June, July and August. Dates will be forthcoming. We did help with the CWA CleanUp of Hamtramck on Sunday, May 6.
5. Reports from Partners and New Business –
Michelle Abd El-aziz invited all to attend the Talbiyeh ,Inc. Theater Night Fundraiser for the Learning Lab in Detroit at the Detroit Repertory Theater on June 17 at 7:30pm. Money raised from this will go to help this former Veterans Post on Harper Ave to become a place for kids and adults to learn or improve their grades and be involved in positive activities after school. Tickets are $35@ or 2 for $50. Contact Michelle at 248-219-9879.
CrimeStoppers of Southeast Michigan along with Pastor Barry Randolph is holding a Million Children March on June 30 to Stop The Violence. It will begin at the Church of the Messiah on East Grand Boulevard and march down Jefferson, near Belle Isle. This is just the Detroit contingent – there will be marches all over the country on this day and DION is asked to participate, and spread the word to schools and families to join in. Exact times will be available shortly.
The NAACP chapter of Grosse Pointe will be having a program honoring Rosa Parks on Thursday, May 27, at the Grosse Pointe Unitarian Church, 17150 Maumee, off of Cadieux. Prof. Danielle McGuire of Wayne State University’s History Dept will be speaking about her recent book about the life of this great Civil Rights pioneer.
The Metropolitan Council of Churches of Detroit and Windsor has asked us to save the date of Sept. 20 for their 19th Annual Herald Awards Banquet at 5:30pm at St. George’s Romanian Orthodox Cathedral , 18405 W. Nine Mile Rd, in Southfield. DION was a recipient of this award several years ago, and the Metropolitan Council has been a supporter of DION for years.
6. Next Meeting: MON, JUNE 11, 6PM – at Crime Stoppers of SE Michigan, 18000 West Nine Mile Rd, Suite 500.
Respectfully submitted – Sandra Terry, Recording Secretary
March, 2018 Meeting Minutes
Detroit Interfaith Outreach Network Meeting Minutes
March 12, 2018
Detroit Interfaith Outreach Network Meeting Minutes
March 12, 2018
Attendees: Rabbi Dorit and Shimon Edut, Sharon Curran, Janet Meir, Tanise Hall, Randy Vavrick, Larry Rood, Sandra Terry, (conference calls) Barbara Emerson, Helen Barnes and Rev. Diane Van Marter.
Intro and Welcome: Sandra Terry welcomed everyone to the CrimeStoppers of Southeast Michigan offices in Southfield.
Minutes: Sent electronically to members prior to meeting, accepted and approved.
Treasurer’s Report: Dianne Van Mater, Treasurer, sent in a finance report that was given to members. Beginning balance was $3608.63 in checking account minus expense ($128). Feb. balance was $3480.63. Saving account $3000. Both accounts total $6480.63. Report was accepted and approved.
Committee Reports:
Education- Janet reported on the tutoring classes and stated that schools are on winter break in Feb. Rabbi Dorit announced that Bagley will be holding its annual Career Day on May 10, with a morning and an afternoon session. Members are asked to be willing to come a spend time at the tables during either of these sessions to talk with students about their careers and their companies. Rabbi Dorit will forward the flyer to everyone so you can contact the school counselr, Ms. Jones, directly, to volunteer.
Interfaith Coffee Concert: Our second Interfaith Coffee Concert, in cooperation with the Interfaith Leadership Council of Metro Detroit, will be held this Sunday, March 18, at Fort St. Presbyterian Church in Detroit. It features guitarist and folk singer/composer Tom Allen. Tickets are $10 at the door or $8 in advance. We hope for as good a turnout as we had at the first one, though not as many advance tickets have been sold to date.
Summer Picnic: Barbara Emerson reported that we have yet to get the official papers from Belle Isle as they have changed their registration procedures. We have divided into subcommittees to do the various tasks and are looking for more volunteers from our membership. Subcommittees include: Publicity, Food, Donations and Outreach to Partners, Entertainment for Adults, Entertainment for Kids, Site Prep and Cleanup, and Interfaith Service. The next meeting will be held on Saturday afternoon, April 21, at 4pm at the home of Rabbi Dorit, 10075 Nadine, Huntington Woods.
Cultural Trip: Our next trip will be to the Native American Center which Rev. Kasbow will report about at the next meeting. The trip will be in early June.
T-Shirts- It was suggested that all members wear their t-shirts to all events, including concerts and picnics. Also, we will publicize this t-shirt on our website and our FB page. Sixteen t-shirts were sold at $16 to date. Report submitted by Larry Rood.
Membership Drive: Will start in April. Emails will be sent to the entire membership, with renewal requests sent to those who paid their membership last year. This will be followed by phone calls two weeks later. When people join, they will receive a thank you letter and a membership card. We will again offer three levels of membership: Platinum for $100 which will entitle a member to one free Theater Night Ticket and advertising at all our events; Gold for $50 which will entitle a member to either ½ off a Theater Night Ticket or a free t-shirt; and Regular for $12. All will receive membership cards for 2018-2019.
New Business and News from Partners
- DION is invited to participate in the annual “Walk for Israel” May 6 which celebrates the 70th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel this year. Call 248-737-8700 or www.walkforisrael.org Non-profit organization. Announcement made by Ms. Vavrick.
-DION was asked to help with CWA(Common Word Alliance) Garden this spring and summer in Hamtramck. We will do this instead of the MUFI Gardens this year. (CWA Clean-Up Hamtramck ! is Sunday, May 19, 9a.m. – 1pm)
- DION has been invited to participate in an Interfaith Seder at Temple Beth-El on March 22 at 7pm.
- Also we are strongly encouraged to attend a conference called “Just Water” , Saturday, April 21 at Hartford Memorial Baptist Church. It is a daylong conference about building better faith-based approaches to water issues, such as shutoffs, storm water runoff methods, etc.
- “Ask A Native American” program, sponsored by the IFLC, will take place at Unity of Royal Oak, on Thursday, April 12, at 7pm.
- IFLC is presenting “Exploring Religious Landscapes – Prayer Across FaithTraditions” in the spring. The cost is $20 each and $60 for four segments.March 13th is Christian prayer, April 26 is Islamic Prayer, May 17th is Sikh Prayer, and June 13th will be a panel comparing and contrasting prayer in different traditions. You must register by email or phone. Please call 313-338- 9777 or Wendy.IFLC@gmail.com
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- We are invited to a Class on Multifatih Collaboration – an Interfaith Panel Discussion and Dinner – Sun, April 15 at 3pm at the Grace United Methodist Church in New Baltimore ( 49655 Jefferson Ave, Chesterfield, MI). Please bring a dish from your cultural heritage to share.
Good and Welfare: A get- well card was sent to Helen Barnes who recently had foot surgery. Also birthday cards were sent to Helen and Lenora Brown.
Respectfully Submitted,
Sandra Terry, Recording Secretary
January, 2018 Meeting Minutes
Detroit Interfaith Outreach Network Meeting Minutes
January 8, 2018
Dion Meeting Minutes
-January 8, 2018
Attendees: Shimon Edut, Rabbi Dorit, Sharon Curran, Fred Cislo Jr., Bishop Barnes, Mrs. Barnes, Rev. David Kasbow Cass Charrette, Jennifer Young, Helen Barnes, Barbara Emerson, Janet Meir, Rev. Diane Van Marter (on conference call), Stephanie Day.
Minutes were read as written in silence, approved and accepted. No additionss or corrections made.
Welcome and Intro
Member’s telephone numbers and addresses were recorded for future use. Round table introductions followed by welcomes were from each member.
Treasurer’s Report
Rabbi Dorit announced that cards were sent to each birthday member for the month of Nov. and Dec. There are no birthdays in Jan. or Feb. of those present or of other members as known . Pastor Diane Van Marter officially became Interim Treasurer as of Jan. 1 until our General Elections in June. All business material will be turned over to her from Mr. David Meir who is retiring from the Treasurer’s position
At present, one deposit was made from the proceeds of the theater event in the amount of $405 on Dec. 22. An expense of $3 incurred from the bank. The mystery check number 243 in the amount of $50 was given to Stephanie Day for games and prizes at the 2017 Picnic. Last month $42 was paid to the Holocaust Museum for our guided tour there – this covers the expense of those who paid DION directly for this tour Several others paid the Museum(. The attendance at this Cultural Outing was good.close to 30) Bank balance is $4,712.31. Saving acct. is $2,000. Each year $2,000 will be deposited in a separate savings account to raise seed money for a large-scale fundraiser event in five years, as was decided on by the Board during the Strategic Planning Sessions. We received two donations, Mr. Harris and Pastor Guice. The total was $125.
The suggestion of having two people sign up to bring food for the meeting each month was rejected. A decision was made that everyone should contribute a little something at each meeting.
Committee’s Reports
The Interfaith Coffee Concert will be held on Sun. January 21 from 4p to 6p. Flyers were made by Barbara’s daughter Roz and sent via the email. Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door. Shimon will collect the money at the door. The featured musician will be Amy Saari and her Choir. Everyone was asked to bring non-perishable food to help feed under privileged people who are fed at the mosque twice a week. More tickets need to be sold. Some members were given tickets to sell.
Education Report
Janet gave a report on how the tutoring classes were doing. We are in need for more tutors. DION is asking volunteers to have patience and be nice. Minimum time is one hour, one day a week. Career Day is in April.
T-Shirt Fundraiser
T-Shirts are ready to be sold. Rabbi Dorit suggested we all wear them at the concert. They are light blue with DION’s logo. We are charging $16 @ and will only make $8 on each one; we have 50 to sell as our first order.
Cultural Trip
Jennifer Young is planning the trip for next month, in February, to the Arab American Museum in Dearborn. The date will be Sunday, Feb. 18, from 2-4pm. Tickets are $5 for seniors and students, $10 for other adults and we will have a guide who will also show us the special exhibit call “THEM”. People need to RSVP to Rabbi Dorit or Jennifer.
Summer Picnic
Summer Picnic for 2018 will be chaired by Barbara Emerson. It will be held on the first Sunday of August, this year August 5 at Belle Isle. The first Picnic Committee meeting will be in Feb and will be announced soon.
Partner’s Reports
Rev. Kasbow gave insight on the Renewal of Marriage Vows Ceremony which will take place at his Metro Family Church on Feb 11 at 2pm.
Cass gave an overview about the development of her organization Democrary Circles - in Ferndale. Her goal is to help eradicate homelessness and hunger.
Pastor Barnes talked about issues he has with the large property around his church in Hamtramck which is often used as a dumping ground. DION helped to clean it over a year ago. Diane suggested he think about making a garden there or a park/playground for neighborhood children.
Jennifer shared information about her fundraising organization., Interfaith Power and Light, and their work in Detroit .
Warm-up Detroit- Martti Peeples was not able to be with us tonight. She wants to donate a coupon to give to a needy family. They will receive a week’s worth of groceries.
World Sabbath is March 11, at Christ Church Cranbrook.They are still looking for children to make peace banners and learn the peace song ( on their website
Mr. Morris Dees, great Civil Rights leader and head of the Southern Poverty Law Center will be at Detroit Unity Church on Sunday, Jan. 28 at 10 a.m.
Martin Luther King Program was held at New Mt. Moriah Church, and Jewish Community Relation Council partnered with the church on this event on Jan. 14.
Respectively Submitted by the Recording Secretary
Sandra Terry