Happy New Year, 1997

Happy New Year, 1997!

Here we are at the start of another year, and what a year 1997 promises to be for our chapter! This year we can look forward to a gala 25th anniversary celebration; to the election of our first Community Council; to the Bi-annual Dignity/USA Convention in Boston; to name just a few of the major events! And we will continue our monthly AIDS/HIV+ Healing Masses, but at a new location and day. (The Lesbian and Gay Center on the 2nd Thursday of each month.) And with your support both financially and physically, we will continue our other ministries as well, providing: Sunday Masses every week; tithing of a portion of our weekly collections to Special Delivery; weekly collection of food to assist the AIDS Foundation Food Bank; to name just a few!

But before we begin to tackle the New Year, I want to take a moment to thank those who helped the chapter in so many, many ways this past year.

A very special thank you:

To Linda Rieder for Chairing the Bylaws Committee and to John Crepeau for getting the whole process started.
To George for all the wonderful balloons and decorations for our monthly pot lucks.
To all those wonderful volunteers who helped with a successful yard sale!
And another special thank you to George for going all the way to Hemet to pickup the donated freezer!
To Don and Joe for the freezer donation and for all who donated to this sale!
To Art for helping with the pickup of many of the donated yard sale items the week leading up to the sale!
To Katherine Kamrath for the wonderful music and song for our liturgies and also for the entertainment at our anniversary party!
To Patrick for the outstanding newsletter he has continued to produce every month for us!
To Neil for always getting to the church early to do the preparation and setup!
To Ed, Ted and Frank for handling the kitchen for our socials and pot lucks! And to Dorothy for supervising and keeping them on the job!
To all those who participated with us in the AIDS Candlelight Vigil and the Annual AIDS Walk!
To Jeff for all the advertising and promotional work!
To Jeff again for all the photography, the electronics setup and for being our very own personal (and my favorite) DJ at our potlucks and the anniversary party!
To John for stepping forward to serve as our Vice President and for Neil for taking on the double jeopardy jobs of Secretary and Liturgy Chair!
To all of you for being there when I needed it the most! Like the extra support and comfort I received from so many of you when my sister struggled, and then lost her battle with cancer!
To our presiders, Jack, John and Tom for always being there for us! You guys are really special! If the hierarchy in the "official" church were more like you three, then Dignity just won't have to exist any more!
To Patrick for taking on the responsibility for the chapter's 25th anniversary celebration coming up in a few months! (Sold all those tickets yet?)
To all who contributed the extra money needed for advertising our Christmas schedule!
To all who responded to our special Christmas Appeal; you've helped to make a big difference!
To Cee Jay, Wendy and Kim for becoming actively involved members this past year! (My nagging finally got to you!)

1996 was also a year when some members of our community passed on to a new life with Christ. Let us always remember John Kelsey, Richard Barnes, Everett Hessie, and the valuable contributions they made to our lives and to our community. Please remember them, their families and my sister Helen in your prayers.

May 1997 bring you much happiness, prosperity and most of all, Christ's Peace! And when this year ends, may we have even more people to thank and less people to whom we bid farewell. Happy New Year and God Bless!

Mike Bekemeier

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