Community Relations Commission

1 Minutes of a Meeting of the 2 Northbrook Community Relations Commission 3 Interfaith Sunday Subcommittee 4 Wednesday, January 28, 2015 5 6 Present: Commissioners Chris Kosla (Chair), Dr. Rochelle Singer; and Members Ron 7 Mantegna, Mary Hansen, Alice Lonoff; and volunteer Bob Lozaro. 8 9 Guests: None. 10 11 Absent: Commissioner Safa Hamed (teaching conflict) 12 13 Call to Order / Purpose of Meeting. 14 Chairman Kosla called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. in Room 2 of the Northbrook Public 15 Library. The purpose of the meeting was to plan for the April 19th Interfaith Sunday which is a 16 joint-event sponsored by both NBCR and the NB Clergy Association. We agreed to follow the 17 same general format for the event as in years past. Chairman Kosla will ask the Clergy 18 Association to contribute funding toward the event, and will also ask for greater participation 19 from the Houses of Worship. 20 21 Hear from the Audience. 22 There was no outside person in attendance. 23 24 Timing of Events / Locations. 25  The event will kick-off at 12:30 pm at a place to be determined – people will be given 26 passports with maps and information about the participating Houses of Worship, free 27 t-shirts, and as folks gather, we will be lead in song with the theme of “Sing for Peace.” 28 Alice will see if her church Deacon can lead folks in song and provide words for easy-to- 29 sing appropriate songs. We plan to invite Ray Wehr, Melissa Earley (president of Clergy 30 Assoc.), and Sandy Frum to give brief comments. Mary Hansen will be in touch with the 31 Park District to see if Greenbriar Gym, Sportsman’s, or West Park are available, and if 32 not, what other venues are possible, and the costs associated with the available venues. 33  Participating Houses of Worship will be open for visitors from 1-4 pm (timing to be 34 approved by the Clergy Association). Spiritual Assembly of Bahái's will be at Village 35 Hall. 36  From 4:00-5:30 there will be a gathering at Village Hall for a trivia contest with prizes, 37 free pizza slices, water. We anticipate up to 125 participants for the pizza event. Bob 38 Lozaro will update Trivia questions regarding NB history, and info on religious 39 organizations. We will work with Clergy Association on these matters. 40 41 Free Items/Food. 42 We had a lengthy discussion of appropriate giveaways. The majority agreed that T-Shirts will be 43 handed out again because they get worn around town, and can be used in advance of the event to 44 help publicize it. This assumes there will be adequate funding available. We will not seek 45 donations / or payments for food or other items. Bob Lozaro will contact the Police and Fire 46 Departments seeking trinkets to hand-out to contest winners. Bob also volunteered to order the 47 pizza slices. Chris will check on sources for inexpensive bottled water. Our sub-committee will  Minutes of a Meeting of the Interfaith Sunday Subcommittee January 28, 2015 48 bake cookies / treats to hand out and will seek additional contributions from Community 49 Relations members. 50 51 Flyer / Banners / Outreach. 52 Chairman Kosla had a sample flyer from last year. He will work with Michael Strong for 53 Village help with printing once the Flyer is updated, and will also see if Banners from 2013 are 54 available to re-use. Ron Mantegna will help with P.R. Mary Hansen will get the word out to 55 youth organizations and religious education classes. Alice will arrange with her church for space 56 at Cherry and Western for a banner. 57 58 Passports. 59 These will be updated – working with the Clergy Association once we have firm commitments 60 from the participating Houses of Worship. Alice will help Chris obtain greater participation. At 61 our last Interfaith Sunday, in 2013, we had commitments from about 13 out of 23. Rochelle 62 Singer will order stamps. We may print in the Passport the words to the songs to be sung during 63 the gathering time. 64 65 Next meeting will be Thursday, February 12th, and Commissioner Kosla will notify us of the 66 place. 67 68 The meeting concluded at 8:35 pm. 69 70 Respectfully submitted, 71 Alice Lonoff 2