Katy Dickinson

Chocolate Dinner for SMUM

On 17 October 2009, Saint Timothy's Episcopal Church ("St. Tim's") in Mountain View, California held a fund raising formal dinner and auction called "A Feast of All Things Chocolate" to benefit Santa Maria Urban Ministry or SMUM. Peggy Aoki was the head chef, assisted by Jennifer Ezell of St. Tim's. The cooks clearly had fun putting together the meal, especially the desserts. Both dark and white chocolate fountains were offered for dipping strawberries and cake. My favorite was the ganache in shortbread boats. St. Tim's youth served the dinner. The event was hosted by the Vestry (elected church leaders). We won certificates for two custom made cakes in the silent auction.

My husband John Plocher and I are on the SMUM Board of Directors and were asked to speak about SMUM and why we support it. Some of what we said:

Santa Maria Urban Ministry was founded as an outreach ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real in 1983, providing emergency food to the residents of San Jose's inner city. SMUM is a partner agency of the Second Harvest Food Bank, and has been designated to serve those in need within the eight Central San Jose zip codes. SMUM provides basic services to meet short-term needs, such as food, clothing and referral services, and by supporting long-term transformation through education, counseling and seasonal programs.

John and I have been helping mentor a dozen or so grade and middle school kids in the after school program for several years. During the school year, we focus on homework and computer skills. Last summer, we went on field trips to The Tech Museum of Innovation, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the San Francisco Zoo.

Due to a shortage of regular volunteers, the after school program is only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but we could be open every weekday if we had more adults available. Sometimes we have too many high school students earning service hour credits; what we need is adult volunteers. When we started, John's and my qualifications were minimal - a desire to help, a couple of hours a week and a willingness to learn Spanish from a first grader! Since then, the kids have stolen our hearts. Our Spanish is improving slowly.

SMUM now has an operating budget of about $200,000/year, of which less than 15% comes from the Episcopal Church. More than 100 families a week from come to the facility for basic foodstuffs to supplement what they are able to buy with food stamps. Dozens of homeless clients get hygiene packs and clothing as well.

Several dozen children are part of the preschool and after school homework/computer programs. Many Latino clients work seasonally in the central valley as fieldworkers and move to San Jose on the off season to work in the construction and service areas. Unfortunately, it is still somewhat the norm in that community for young teens to drop out of school to babysit younger siblings or to go out to work along with their fathers, brothers and uncles in the fields. SMUM's after school program has two goals:

• Every child will feel safe and cherished.
• Every child will be encouraged to complete high school.

A Feast of All Things Chocolate, Photos

SMUM, Photos

Images Copyright 2009 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Posted at 04:35PM Nov 18, 2009 by katysblog in Church  |  Comments[0]

Chick Flick Nite

Every few months, the women of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Saratoga, California) have gathered for Chick Flick Nite. Marian Abbott coordinates the event on behalf of the Episcopal Church Women (ECW). We started a year ago with "Calendar Girls", followed by "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day", then "Shall We Dance?". Last Friday, we dressed up for Halloween and watched "Young at Heart". We bring snacks and enjoying snickering and laughing out loud in the company of women.

Images Copyright 2009 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 02:55PM Nov 02, 2009 by katysblog in Church  |  Comments[0]

How to Run a Church Convention

The Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real held its Diocesan Convention 2009 last weekend. I was a Delegate from St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Saratoga, California) and my husband, John Plocher, was an Alternate Delegate and also backed up Web Sacristan Stephenie Cooper in managing the information flow to the big screen. Our son Paul was a convention Youth Representative for the first time. This blog entry is to document how Stephenie and John set things up so that there is a record for our own future use (and because it might be of use to others). This blog does not provide much information about the sound system, which had a separate crew managing it.

Ours is not a big diocese, there are 47 parishes (church areas) between Nipomo and Palo Alto on California's central coast, with 189 possible lay Delegates and 134 possible clergy Delegates. Our leader is Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves.

There were 200 to 250 people in Sherwood Hall (Salinas) during the two days of convention. Sherwood Hall has a raised proscenium-style stage which is forty feet deep and sixty feet wide. Here are some diagrams John drew of the stage layout and hardware, plus photos of what it looked like in the hall and behind the big screen:

Overview

Stephenie has been running the computers for convention for many years; this is John's first time. The computer resources required to run convention have been doubling or tripling each year. The big screen presents everything at convention, including the agenda, instructions, song lyrics, the text of resolutions and ballot lists, plus videos and slide shows. The convention has a somewhat flexible schedule since resolutions may be amended, discussions may go longer or shorter than planned, and people may arrive with a video or slide show to add that is unexpected or does not match what they said they would bring. The convention follows Robert's Rules of Order for meeting procedure.

Stephenie lives near us, so she and John mocked up the convention audio/visual layout at our house in the weeks before the event. They used almost every laptop we had plus monitors borrowed from the computer lab at SMUM (Santa Maria Urban Ministry). John bought about $125 in bits and pieces to put everything together.

Stephenie and John relied on PC and Mac laptops using simple and standard tools. That is, the displays used the same hardware and software tools with which the information was originally put together. There was no special software package. Reusing standard pieces allowed quick responses plus maximum flexibility, additions, and changes during the event. There was much dynamic interaction and modification of both music and meeting content. In general, Stephenie ran the screen while John queued material and coordinated with people who came backstage to add or change or discuss what was coming next.

The convention had very few computer problems this year. Every once in a while, during a transition we in the hall would hear a voice coming from behind the screen saying "almost ready..." Of course, several people replied with "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."

Here are John's notes:

Requirements

    *  Working from a detailed master agenda that is subject to real-time revision,
          o Project desired content on main auditorium screen where it can be seen 
             by delegates and head table.
          o Show slideshows, movies and presentations authored and produced by 
             others.
          o Show song lyrics - and follow along verse by verse as sung.
          o Show announcements (break, lunch, count down timer).
          o Show resolutions:
                + Modify to show motions to amend in progress.
                + Show total and individual debate limit timers.
                + Update as voting results dictate.
    * Show "default background image" whenever other content is not being displayed.
    * Allow real-time editing and addition of content - agenda changes/reordering, 
       new songs, movies, resolutions, etc.
    * Synchronize activities to meeting in progress as dictated by the Secretary 
       of Convention.
    * Do this all from a back stage position without direct views of auditorium 
       or head table.

Hardware setup (see diagram above)

    * a 4-way Video Amplifier cabled to a local video monitor, the projector and 
        a head table monitor. 
    * The 4-way amp was connected to a 4-way VGA KVM switch that only used the 
        "V" connections.  This allowed us to easily choose the video source to 
        be displayed from any of the
    * 4 laptops, which were connected to external video monitors and configured to 
        use both the laptop screen and the external monitor as an "extended desktop".  
        2-way VGA amps connected to each laptop so they could drive both the 
        monitor and the KVM switch/video distribution amp setup.  The use of a 
        dual-monitor setup allowed us to edit and direct content from one screen 
        while using the other as a potential video source (more on this below).
    * The laptops were networked together via a local wireless hub/router that 
        was also connected to
        * a 320GB networked hard disk for shared file storage
        * a networked video camera (Axis 2100) aimed at the head table
        * a color copier/scanner/printer

Operation

- All systems were set up to use the convention "image" as the default desktop 
screen background, so that when no windows were open, their "second" display 
could be used as a placeholder video source.

- One system was set up to be the presentation and movie display host.  
Quicktime, powerpoint and other software was loaded onto it, and its 
"headphone out" audio jack was connected to the house sound system.

- Another system was set up to show the Axis video camera's display on its 
primary screen so to get visual feedback cues from the presenters. 
(This could have been done with a TV monitor and inexpensive surveillance 
cameras instead.)
 
- A monitor speaker was run from the house sound system so that John and
Stephenie could hear what was happening in front of the screen and in
the hall.  There was also an audio feed into the sound system so that music 
and movies could play from the computers.

- A third system was configured as a web page editing station in addition to 
being the primary content display driver.   The content was accessed by 
special links from an annotated detailed agenda that sported additional 
presentation cues, such as "SONG", "RESOLUTION 1",  "LUNCH ANNOUNCEMENT", 
"MISSION MOVIE", etc.   All content on this system was in HTML, and the 
special <href> links on the detailed agenda (and on the song lyrics index 
page) were of the form <A .... target="projector">...</a>.  This allowed 
us to display the detailed agenda and song lyrics pages iin a browser 
window on the laptop screen, and have the "projector" window that popped 
up when a link was clicked positioned "fullscreen" on the second monitor.  
Displaying any piece of content was as easy as clicking on its cue.

- The last system displayed a copy of the detailed agenda.  Its second display 
was cued with a copy of the 1-page simplified agenda used by the delegates.  
This proved to be useful in coordinating a presentation and lyrics from two 
systems or to pull up a default display during breaks.

Thoughts for next time

Bring and use at least 4 video monitoring cameras so that backstage can see the 
head table, the presenter's lectern, the musicians and the delegates/audience.  
Being limited to only one of these shots made coordination and timing difficult.  
If there had been more debate on the resolutions, we would not have been able 
to closely coordinate timers, motions and the like.

Move the main display screen up from the stage by at least 8 feet to get it out 
of the direct and reflected stage lighting (improves sight lines, heightens
contrast).

Choose a sans- style font and a better background/foreground color contrast
for greater visibility in the large hall.  Play to the eyesight of the most 
senior members of the group. 

Develop a stage lighting diagram at least 2 months before convention so that 
the Sherwood Hall AV and IT staff in Salinas can work with us to optimize 
things.  Use an 8-1/2" x 11" sheet of paper - same proportions as the actual 
40' x 60' stage.

Get a projector that has at least 2,000 Lumens.

Images Copyright 2009 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Posted at 05:02PM Oct 27, 2009 by katysblog in Church  |  Comments[0]

Shop for a Cause

I spent last Saturday morning sitting at a table in the Valley Fair Macy's shoe department distributing discount tickets in exchange for $5 donations to Santa Maria Urban Ministry (SMUM). My husband John Plocher and I are on the SMUM Board of Directors. We also volunteer in SMUM's after-school homework and computer lab program for grade school kids.

Edy Unthank (SMUM's grant writer, also on the Board) had arranged for SMUM to be one of Macy's "Shop for a Cause" program charities. Macy's contacted the organizations which sold the most tickets and offered us each a table next to one of their entry doors so that we could sell even more. I put my orange and yellow Mexican blanket on the table, set out a big bowl of candy and SMUM brochures, set up my laptop to loop John's SMUM video, and asked every shopper I could to accept a 25% discount ticket in exchange for a $5 charity donation. In four hours, I collected 68 donations! Edy took the afternoon shift and collected 40 more for a total of $540 (see photo below). We snooped one of the other charity tables last Saturday and were told they had only sold $135 worth of tickets all day - so SMUM did very well. Including the tickets we sold in advance, SMUM raised over $1000 from this program.

Thanks, Macy's!

Image Copyright 2009 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 03:47PM Oct 21, 2009 by katysblog in Church  |  Comments[0]

Blessing the Animals (Horses in Church)

Last Sunday was the popular Blessing of the Animals service at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (in Saratoga, California). We took our two cockatiels (Simon and Garfunkel) to church in their cage. The blessings started with two draft horses and a very-small-looking regular horse cloping down the aisle. Our birds are not shy so they made loud squawks during the sermon. There was much dog visiting and some barking on this one day when the animals come to church to honor St. Francis of Assisi. The first hymn was from 1848:

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

Images Copyright 2009 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Posted at 11:08PM Oct 06, 2009 by katysblog in Church  |  Comments[1]

Three Bishops Visit San Jose's Inner City

For the last two years, my husband John Plocher and I have been volunteer after-school tutors once a week at Santa Maria Urban Ministry (SMUM) in the inner city of San Jose, California. Today, SMUM hosted a lunch and tour for three bishops: our own Bishop Mary plus the two Bishops of our Companion Diocese who are visiting this week:

• The Right Reverend Mary Gray-Reeves, Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real, The Episcopal Church
• The Right Reverend Gerard Mpango, Diocese of Western Tanganyika, Anglican Church of Tanzania
• The Right Reverend Michael Perham, Anglican Diocese of Gloucester, Church of England

John and I were invited both as volunteers and because we serve on SMUM's Board. I wore the Tanzanian dress I bought yesterday from Margaret Mpango (Bishop Gerard's wife). Rev. Lorenzo Robles, his wife Carmen and the SMUM volunteers told the Bishops and their staff about the many programs managed out of this small building, including: food and clothing distribution, a preschool and after school program, tax services, a computer room, family counseling, and soon: a small medical clinic.

Katy and Tanzanian Visitors

Greetings at SMUM

SMUM Presentation

Lunch Line at SMUM

Lunch at SMUM

Reading Email at SMUM

3 Bishops, Carmen, Lawrence

Bishop Gerard & Carmen

3 Bishops with computers

Images Copyright 2009 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Posted at 08:39PM Sep 21, 2009 by katysblog in Church  |  Comments[0]

Discussing Mission with Three Bishops

John Plocher and I spent this afternoon at a workshop at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in San Jose, California with our own Bishop Mary plus the two Bishops of our Companion Diocese who are visiting this week:

• The Right Reverend Mary Gray-Reeves, Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real, The Episcopal Church
• The Right Reverend Gerard Mpango, Diocese of Western Tanganyika, Anglican Church of Tanzania
• The Right Reverend Michael Perham, Anglican Diocese of Gloucester, Church of England

The workshop covered several topics. There were presentations about new programs to benefit the people of Bishop Gerard's diocese, including distributing solar ovens and setting up scholarships in this very poor area. John and I were in the "mission" discussion group with Bishops Michael and Gerard plus Reverend Canon Daniel Nyugwa (on Bishop Gerard's staff), Reverend Canon Brian Nordwick (El Camino Real's Diocesan Administrator), and Rev. Amy Denny-Zuniga (Priest-in-charge of St. Luke's, Hollister, and recently a missionary serving in El Salvador).

Particularly moving for me was a discussion about models for mission. Amy spoke about three models she had become aware of during her prayerful consideration:

• It's About Them
  This is the traditional colonial model of mission. It assumes that the missionaries have something needed by those receiving the mission. There is an undertone of "converting the lost". Doing good work and spreading Christian gospel is the goal.
• It's About Me
  This is a more recent model focused on transformation of those going on mission who have life changing experiences from living the reality of extreme poverty. The model is based on pilgrimage: the missionary as pilgrim. The missionary seeks her own transformation humbly. "No one is too poor to give or too rich to receive."
• It's About Us
  This is the engagement model, focused on relationship and accompanying others in their struggle, being a companion. The goal is transformation in relationship. This model is integral to the companion diocese program.

Bishop Michael spoke about mission work at home and abroad. He sees mission as evangelism: providing spiritual leadership and talking about faith openly. His Diocese of Gloucester has several other companion diocese relationships, including two in India. Bishop Michael spoke about partner churches needing to say what they need (not just responding to what missionaries want to give). He sees prayer and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as the way to help people in many countries. Countries that have more to give will lose their sense of patronage as they realize they are helping themselves by helping others. The MDGs need to be achieved for the mutual benefit of the whole world. Bishop Michael and others spoke of going into another culture and receiving moving, humbling hospitality from the poor. He said the experience did more for him than for them even though they were unbelievably grateful for his visit.

Margaret Mpango (Bishop Gerard's wife) offered attendees a way to benefit the poor women of Tanzania very directly. She sold beautiful handmade embroidered clothes, baskets, plus lengths of batik and printed cloth at the back of the meeting room. Margaret Mpango is looking for a way to sell more of these excellent products - pictures are below. I can put you in touch with her if you are interested in either buying or distributing these.

Three Bishops

Solar Oven

Three Bishops

Margaret Mpango, Bishop Mary

Rev. Brian Nordwick

Revs. Amy and Daniel

Rev. Amy Denny-Zuniga

Margaret Mpango, Epiphania Nkala

Textiles For Sale from Tanzania

Textiles For Sale from Tanzania

Textiles For Sale from Tanzania

Images Copyright 2009 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Posted at 10:46PM Sep 20, 2009 by katysblog in Church  | 

Three Bishops Celebrate New Ministry

Yesterday, the parish of St. Andrew's (Saratoga, California) celebrated new ministry with the Reverend Channing R. Smith, our new Rector (senior priest). We also welcomed our own Bishop Mary plus the two Bishops of our Companion Diocese who are visiting this week:

• The Right Reverend Mary Gray-Reeves, Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real, The Episcopal Church
• The Right Reverend Gerard Mpango, Diocese of Western Tanganyika, Anglican Church of Tanzania
• The Right Reverend Michael Perham, Anglican Diocese of Gloucester, Church of England

This is the third round of visits among the companion Bishops: the three already met in Tanzania and in England earlier this year.

Events started Friday at the San Francisco airport where a crowd gathered with balloons and signs to sing in welcome to Bishop Michael and Bishop Gerard. Yesterday was the Rector installation service at St. Andrew's, and today is a companion diocese service followed by lunch and workshops at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in San Jose, California. Last night's installation was glorious and joyful. I was the driver for the preacher, Rev. Dr. Mark Anschutz, and his wife Peggy so I had the opportunity to talk with them in advance. Leroy Kromm's direction of the music was masterful and inspiring. I am looking forward to hearing more from our visiting Bishops at the cathedral today.

Waiting for the Bishops at SFO

Three Bishops Hugging at SFO

Bishop Gerard Serenaded

Escorting Visitors to Cars

Welcome Songs

Pictures Before Installation

Waiting Under Oak to Start

Waiting to Process

Service About to Start

Bagpipe Band

Installation Service

Welcoming New Rector with Gifts

Three Bishops at the altar

Celebrating Our New Rector

Communion with 3 Bishops

End of Service

Reception after installation

3 Bishops and John Watson-Williams

Images Copyright 2009 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Posted at 01:05PM Sep 20, 2009 by katysblog in Church  |  Comments[1]

Field Trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Our second Studio 17 Santa Maria Urban Ministry field trip was last Saturday, to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Despite the long drive, we all had a good time. The new "Secret Lives of Seahorses" exhibit is beautiful but the jellyfish and octopus are still my favorites. We started off by watching the penguins getting fed...

Studio 17 at the Aquarium

Zuri the Penguin

Checking out the bay

Leaping Blennies - skipping fish

Moon Jellies

Sea Nettles

The big kelp tank

Patting a bat ray

Sea otter

Seahorse model

Seahorse

Weedy Seadragon

Seahorse

Studio 17 with WP641 Caboose

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Posted at 06:29PM Jul 30, 2009 by katysblog in Church  | 

Summer Field Trips

I have written many times about volunteering as an after school tutor for the Studio 17 program at Santa Maria Urban Ministry, an outreach ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real here in California. This summer, Rev. Lawrence Robles, my husband (John Plocher), and I are taking the kids on Saturday field trips. Two weeks ago, we visited The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose. Tomorrow we are taking these inner city students to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Since the kids love to see their pictures on the web, here are some photos of our Tech visit:

Studio 17 computer room

Almost ready to start walking

Walking to The Tech

Computer Portrait

Posing with a Pharoh

In front of HP garage photo

After seeing the IMAX show

Playing in Second Life

staring at french fries

Walking back to SMUM - Passing an El Camino Real Bell

Images Copyright 2009 Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Posted at 05:15PM Jul 24, 2009 by katysblog in Church  | 

New Rector at St. Andrew's

The last few weeks have been very busy at my home parish, Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church:

• Two weeks ago, we enjoyed our annual visit from Bishop Mary, who confirmed twenty teens and adults.
• Yesterday, we said a sad goodbye to our Interim Rector for the last two years, the Reverend Kate Atkinson.
• This morning, the Vestry and Rector Search Committee gave an informal but delighted welcome to our new Rector (the third Rector for St. Andrew's since 1957), Rev. Channing Smith. Bishop Mary will formally install Channing as Rector in September 2009.

Some photos:

Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves

Rev. Kate Atkinson

Rev. Channing Smith

Images Copyright 2009 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 02:40PM May 04, 2009 by katysblog in Church  | 

More Good Free Games

My 16-year-old son Paul is researching learning games for me to pass on to Studio 17, the after-school program where I volunteer at Santa Maria Urban Ministry (inner San Jose, CA). These computer games are free and educational (more or less) but are also fun to play. I started publishing this list on April 23, 2009.

The two "Pandemic" games below require a very dark sense of humor since the player takes the part of an evolving deadly virus killing humanity in a world pandemic. However, the game does give the player an unnerving understanding of how diseases move and change.

• Maverick very basic graphics but interesting physics (dated 1981)
• Pandemic Game be a deadly new virus evolving worldwide
• Pandemic 2 an improved version of the Pandemic Game
• Tetri Tower a physics building game
• Two Rooms two linked mazes

Posted at 06:54PM Apr 29, 2009 by katysblog in Church  |  Comments[1]

Good Free Games

I have been concerned to watch the Studio 17 kids at Santa Maria Urban Ministry playing mindless smash-and-blood or doll-dress-up games during their after homework computer time. I have started a list of "Good Free Games" as alternative suggestions. Studio 17 will also be buying some games (like Zoo Tycoon and Crayon Physics) soon.

I asked my 16-year-old son Paul to research and recommend Good Free Games which were fun to play but also educational. I added to Paul's list games recommended by other sources. This afternoon, Studio 17 tried out about half of the games listed here and had a very good time. Additional suggestions are welcome!

• Algebra vs. The Cockroaches killing insects with math
• Ball Reflexion anticipate bounce directions
• Bucket Ball learn ballistics
• Contour learn topography
• Epsilon
• Insurgo create a building framework
• Make Your Own Kaleidoscope image manipulation
• Magic Pen like Crayon Physics
• Pixelist
• Seed Game (my favorite!) create your own flower DNA
• Time 4 Cat
• wOne-2

I am adding to this list as we find more games, see More Good Free Games - or search for "Good Free Games".

Posted at 09:16PM Apr 23, 2009 by katysblog in Church  |  Comments[2]

Tax Day at SMUM

Santa Maria Urban Ministry (SMUM) hosts a variety of community support programs in San Jose's inner city, including food distribution, a preschool, Studio 17 (the homework and computer club at which I volunteer on Thursday afternoons), and clothing distribution. The small building is thoroughly used! Last night, Lewis headed up the VITA volunteer team at SMUM, helping to prepare and electronically file income tax returns on America's Tax Day.

In VITA's own words:

"Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) volunteers provide FREE Income Tax Preparation Assistance to low-Income, elderly, disabled and limited English speaking people. Volunteers get FREE classroom training during the Saturdays in January at the San Jose IRS Office in Santa Clara County, and certification by the IRS after satisfactorily completing an open book exam."

John was at SMUM last night taking pictures for their newsletter. He guessed there were 150 people speaking many languages in the very full computer lab, waiting area, and parking lot. Only a few people arrived too late for the electronic filing deadline (9 pm California time = Midnight East Coast time).

VITA at SMUM

Studio 17 at SMUM

Here is the same SMUM computer lab being used by the kids of Studio 17:

Images Copyright 2009 by John Plocher and Katy Dickinson

Posted at 02:24PM Apr 16, 2009 by katysblog in Church  | 

Healing for Holy Land and Africa

The SAMA (St. Andrew's Medical Assistance) auction and dinner will be held this Sunday, 22 February 2008. The fund raising event will be held at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church Hall, starting with a silent auction at 5 pm, followed by a Middle Eastern Feast and live auction.
Tickets are $30/adult - $15/child - $100/family (pay at the door)
All are welcome!

Outreach program of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church 13601 Saratoga Ave. Saratoga, California 95070 USA (408) 867-3493, http://www.st-andrews-saratoga.org/

SAMA Programs
SAMA exists to provide hope and healing to a hurting world. SAMA raises support annually through the annual Middle Eastern Feast and Auction, Christmas Crafts sale, and other fund raisers.

Ongoing Medical Programs SAMA supports in the Holy Land include:

• Ahli Arab Hospital (the only Christian hospital in Gaza)
• The Four Homes of Mercy (a home for the severely disabled based in Jerusalem)

SAMA also supports health programs in Africa:

• In 2008, SAMA supported St. Mary's Hospital in Odibo, Namibia. St. Mary's is an Anglican-supported hospital for which SAMA provided linens for 50 beds as well as funding expansion of their birth delivery room from one bed to two.
• In 2008, SAMA also supported the Chiedza Clinic, in Harare, Zimbabwe. The clinic is part of the Chiezda child care center which serves perhaps 300 kids, many of whom are HIV positive, and their families.
• As part of St. Andrew's 50th anniversary celebration in 2007, SAMA raised almost $5,000 which (in conjunction with Episcopal Relief and Development) purchased 965 specially-treated mosquito nets to prevent malaria in Africa

Auction Catalog

Click HERE to see the draft (Feb 19) auction catalog (PDF format).
There may be some changes in the published catalog version.

22 February 2009 - Live Auction Items

Item # 2004

Caboose Brunch - by John Plocher - Brunch for six in a private 1916 historic railroad caboose (Western Pacific Feather River Railway WP668) in Willow Glen, San Jose.

Item # 2005

Wine - 1964 Treasure from Louis M. Martini - Martini Family wine collection - 1964 Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon. This was a very good year - well known for excellence.

Item # 2006

Wine - 1959 Treasure from Louis M. Martini - Martini Family wine collection - 1959 Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. A sleeper year but now one of the best. Delicious!

Item # 2007

Rabbit Etching by Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson - Original delicate and realistic black and white etching of two rabbits by famous San Francisco artist Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson. "Edward Hopper and Walter Hopps" 1983 14"x17" framed with glass.

Item # 2008

Private Flight Plus Brunch - Private flight plus lunch. Experienced Palo Alto pilot Charles Jackson of the Shoreline Flying Club will be your host for 2 hours in a 4 seat Cessna 182 Skylane II. Want to tour the San Francisco Bay and see the Golden Gate Bridge from the air? Here's your chance!

Item # 2010

Middle Eastern Dinner - Middle Eastern Dinner for eight on a date after March 2009 that works for both cook and auction item winner.

Item # 2012

Case of Wine - 2006 Soquel Vineyards Partner's Reserve - 2006 Soquel Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Partner's Reserve case of wine (12 bottles) from the Garvey Family Vineyard in the Napa Valley

Item # 2013

Exquisite Designer Necklace by Erin Mac - Necklace by Erin Mac who designs jewelry for the Hollywood Oscar event - Veridian Art Deco Venetian Master-Cut Briolette with an 18k White Gold and Diamond Enhancer on a Stainless Steel Cable with a 14k yellow gold lobster clasp. From the House of Erin MacGeraghty fine jewelry and watches.

Images Copyright 2008-2009 by Katy Dickinson, John Plocher, Charles Jackson, Eleanor Dickinson, Patricia Martini, Erin Mac

Posted at 02:00PM Feb 19, 2009 by katysblog in Church  |  Comments[1]