Houlton Council of Catholic Women held their Jan. 6 meeting in the parish center of Saint Mary of the Visitation Church with President Lynette Dobbs presiding.
Moderator Rev. David Raymond gave the blessing before the light luncheon and preceding the meeting. Guests were Tammy Blanchette, Kathy Klein and Isaac Brown.
The January committee had charge of the lunch and the center was beautifully decorated. To start the meeting, Jane Mitchell gave the secretary’s report in the absence of Charlene Tabb and Lynette gave the treasurer’s report in the absence of Mary Grant, who was on the sick list.
Lynette thanked everyone who worked on the Christmas Bazaar. A goodly sum of money was deemed from the lighted wreath, given by Jane Mitchell and won by Kathy Bartley. Money from the wreath was added to the Seminarian Fund, and will be sent to the state at the end of June or earlier.
An anonymous donor gave a money gift to the annual Giving Tree project. A needy family was aided with this money and the balance will go into a fund for future use.
Jane Stile brought us up to date with her Christmas shopping, gifts from Walmart and Marden’s stores. From the gift cards she purchased blankets and throws and they were given to the Food Pantry recipients. Toothbrushes and toothpaste were also placed in their Christmas boxes.
Hope and Justice Commission of St. Mary’s Church received a generous donation from Houlton Council of Catholic Women. The commission will use it at their discretion. State meeting will be held February 1, For those interested in attending, please let Lynette know. Twenty-nine years is the total number of years that Mr. Hughes has been building cradles with dolls, pillows and comforters and donating them to St. Mary’s Church. When he died, his son in another state carried on the tradition and mailed the cradles without cost to the parish. The dolls and cradles were four this year. We thank Joyce Hughes and her family for carrying on this wonderful project and to help make many children a little happier in this giving season.
For February, Council’s project is distributing Valentine bags to homebound. Houlton Council of Catholic Women will carry on this happy visit to friends with a Valentine bag of goodies. Some of the items named to give are: prayer cards, cookies, cheese and crackers, hard candy, apple sauce, graham crackers, Clementine oranges and other candy and a Valentine card made by students in the Faith Formation classes.
Members at the end of the meeting recited a decade of the Rosary with various people and intentions held in prayer. Winning the door prize directed by Jane Mitchell was Tammy Blanchette and Molly Bailey.
The next meeting will be Monday, Feb. 3, 6 p.m. in the parish center.
