47th ANNUAL CONFERENCE

The 47 annual conference was held using Zoom on Saturday, November 14.  Nine women from our unit joined the meeting. There were 185 attendees from all around Florida.

Dr. Judith Pierre Okerson. conference President called the meeting to order right at 10 o'clock. 

Bishop William Carter gave the invocation. He reported that 4 of the 8 superintendents in Florida are women.

Donna Spear, conference treasurer gave Mission Giving recognitions. There were 88 Five Star Unit, proudly we are one of therm. And 140 Rainbow Givers with seven of our unit members on the list. 

A nice memorial Service was conducted.

Anne Winn gave the number of members who have passed away from each district. ECD had 12. Atlantic Central had 79 and Gulf Central had 61, they are large numbers.  I wonder if many lost their lives in storms? 

Ressie Mae Bass gave a nice tribute to Ann Hunter, former Conference President who passed away this year.

Edith Bricker spoke about Social Action for  Climate Justice.

She gave us training on using our phones for the letter writing campaign to Chevon to cut methane emission. 

It is very easy, here is what you need to do. Go to unitedmethodistwomen.org

 At the bottom of the web site click on advocacy. Scroll down to Climate Justice and click on it. Scroll to Sign the letter to Chevron and click on it. Fill in the form with your information and click on the space for the draft letter to appear, and then hit submit. 

Harriet Jane Olson was the guest speaker

 She gave a great motivational and informational speech on how UMW is moving forward. She reminded us to breath and see how we are all in it together, both locally and globally. She reminded us to recognize success we have had during the pandemic, both personally and as units. She reviewed projects that UMW have been doing especially in social action. She highlighted three projects in Africa that are helping women there to become leaders and given livelihood training. The Faith Talks that occur twice a month and podcast. How we all have grown in use of technology. This has encouraged younger women to become more involved and seeing UMW as more relevant. 

The business meeting was opened. Four new officers were voted on and installed.

 Mission U will be held in mid July at Southern Florida College and also virtual with School to Prison Pipeline being the topic studies.

 There is a  virtual women's retreat to be held on Dec. 6 from 1:30 to 6:00.  The cost is $10 and you register at www.flconfumw.org. It sounds like a nice event. 

The meeting ended exactly at noon. 

SPRING LUNCHEON GIVING

 UMW has had months of fund raising during the pandemic. After the spring luncheon was cancelled the 46  beautiful baskets that were created for the auction were posted on this blog and slowly sold. Thanks to all those who purchased one or two. 

By October there were still baskets that hadn't been bought.  Margaret put all the baskets that had not been sold at her craft show.  Seeing the baskets in person was so much nicer then just looking at them on the blog. By the end of her show only a few remained and most of those were sold at the Holiday Bazaar. 

The money that was raised by selling the baskets went to Faith Neighborhood to help with all the food needs in the community. The final check from our "spring luncheon"  of over $1000 was presented to Trish Kry by Diane and Pam on October 28th.

HOLIDAY BAZAAR 2020

UMW was blessed this year to be able to have our Holiday Bazaar. It was held in the Wesley Center so there was more room for people to keep social distancing. There was only a month to get the word out and have things ready for the bazaar. Thanks to many donations of items and the things already in the craft shack we were ready for the bazaar. Many hours were spent getting things priced and ready for the bazaar.

Ron and Rick worked late Thursday night putting up the tables, so Friday morning we were able to come in bright and early. Table clothes were put on. Kim and Jan started bringing in the items for the Made with Love area. 

Carolyn and Pat helped keep everyone working and what to do.

Wagons were loaded and unloaded.

Pat getting things out of boxes and to the right tables.

Noelene and Andrea fixing the items on the holiday tables.

Kim hanging up some handmade decorations she had created.

Karen and MO sorted a lot of jewelry.

Margaret putting a display on the table.

It is starting to look like Christmas.

The flow was to the left of the door, then down and up and down and up always keeping the six foot distance. Pictures for sale helped with the flow.

Tables looking very good by noon on Friday.

Just putting out a few more items and some last touches.

Lots of buys at the country store.

 

The Made with Love tables were full of beautiful items.

MO still working on the jewelry. The jewelry took the longest to put out. Where did it all come from?

Carolyn and Jan getting the handbags ready.

The holiday shop added the festive touch.

Saturday morning at 8:30 everyone was ready for the customers to buy the treasures. Ann was  taking cash and Megan and Sharene were able to do credit cards. 

There was never a huge crowd, but a steady flow of customers.

 Everyone kept social distancing and all had a good time.

Sherry's jams, and canned goods are always a hit. She sold out before the end of the bazaar.

Sorry I didn't take a picture of the credit card tree and fine jewelry table. But it was a great last stop before checking out.

Thanks to all  the food goodies that Morning Joy circle members contributed to help workers have something to nibble on when they took a break. Dorann and Pam did a great job of hosting everyone on Friday and Saturday.

At 2 'clock the items that weren't sold were packed up, table clothes folded, put away and money counted. ( About $4,000 ) So glad UMW could have the bazaar this year and raise this amount to help with missions. Thanks to everyone that made it happen.