MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF BLESSED GÉRARD HELD ON 5th MAY 1998.
Historisches Dokument · Webfassung / Historical document · web edition
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF BLESSED GÉRARD HELD ON 5th MAY 1998. PRESENT: Fr. Gérard, Dr. P Z T Thabethe, Mrs. N Thabethe & Mrs. C A Kalkwarf ABSENT : Mr. G. Kalkwarf Fr. Gérard opened the meeting with a prayer at 21:00 hrs MINUTES were read and proposed as true and correct by Dr. Thabethe and seconded by Mrs. Thabethe PRESIDENT‘S REPORT : New Members: Fr. Gérard asked the executive council if the management committee could approve new members. He explained that three monthly intervals was too long for new members to wait and with the Executive Council only meeting on a quarterly basis, it made membership approval difficult. Both Dr. and Mrs. Thabethe agreed this to. Fr. Gérard asked for advice from the council regarding information about people who make application to join our organisation. The reason behind this is that we have two members who were approved but we since found out that they are involved in dubious religious movements. We found out through the internet that one of them is involved in esoteric and Masonic organisations. This member has advertised on the internet, that he is a member of the Brotherhood of Blessed Gerard. We could be seen, through this, to be part of a masonic movement. Another member has founded a "split off" church of the Catholics. Fr. Gérard suggested that termination of membership for inactive members and for disciplinary reasons, could be a solution. He also suggested that we introduce a membership award for extraordinary membership. He further proposed awarding a bronze certificate for 5 years service and a silver certificate for 10 years service etc. This was agreed to. ROME 2000: Fr. Gérard asked that the members of the executive council remember to keep September/October 2000 available so that they would be free to go the Rome to serve as a medical team for the year 2000 celebrations at the Vatican. He stated that the Brotherhood of Blessed Gerard would be prepared to pay the costs of the travel to express the organisations gratitude for the time and effort put in by executive council members. Please note spending money would be the member's own responsibility. ABRIDGED VERSION OF THE NEWS LETTER: Mrs. Kalkwarf informed the meeting of the new type of newsletter, which has been published by the organisation. This newsletter is mainly for fund raising purposes and will be sent to all patients and/or their families and VIPs and donors. FEASTS TO BE CELEBRATED: St. John's Feast on 24th June: Mrs. Kalkwarf reminded the meeting of St. John's Feast, which will be celebrated on Saturday, 20th June 1998. This would be for members only. Invitations will be sent out in good time. Fr. Gérard suggested that we have an "imvusulelo" from Friday night to Saturday morning, for the Zulu speaking members, The English speaking members would join in for a festive Holy Mass on Saturday morning. This was agreed to. Mr. Hlongwa and Mr.Nhleko will be contacted to give their input and help organise their local groups. Blessed Gérard's Feast on 13th October: This will be a big celebration on Saturday 10th October. All VIPs will be invited to this feast as well as our members. PROJECTS: BLESSED GÉRARD'S CARE CENTRE & HOSPICE: VOLUNTEERS: The management committee has officially approved the following volunteers from foreign countries. Mrs. Nayda Del Moral a nurse from the USA who will come for one month Mrs. Barbara Saranac a nurse from the USA who will come for one month Mr. Björn Peters, a volunteer firefighter/first aider from Germany will come for three months Mr. Stephan Killian, a paramedic from Germany will come for two months Miss Marie-Sophie von Venningen a nursing assistant from Germany will come for two months. Mrs. Katie Truesdale a nurse from the USA will come for one month Mr. Gunnar Schröter a first aider from Germany will come for one month Miss Karolyn Luffelman a first aider from Germany will come for one month. Two paediatric nurses from Germany want to come for one year this month (to be confirmed) ADDITION TO BUILDING: Fr. Gérard pointed out that our sluice room is far too small to function properly and would need to be enlarged. There are other rooms, which we see, will be need in the not too distant future ie. 1 new hospice ward, caregivers' rest room & shower, gardener's store, new mortuary and a nurse's station. We would need to fund raise for this purpose and he has asked Mr. Gregory Meyer to give us a cost estimate. AIRCONDITIONERS: All these are installed and are working well. The management committee thanked the executive for approval of these. AIDS FOR THE DISABLED: All the bathrooms and toilets have been fitted with aids for the disabled patients. RAPE CRISIS CENTRE: A meeting was called, by Business Against Crime, for all interested parties to form a committee to set up this facility. Fr. Gérard, Sr. Sanet van Zyl and Mrs. Kalkwarf attended the meetings. At this meeting we offered Blessed Gérard's Care Centre as a hub. The subsequent meeting was held in the care centre. There are still on-going discussions. ISITHEBE AIDS COMMITTEE: Fr. Gérard reported that the management committee was invited to join the iSithebe AIDS Committee. This committee comprises factory managers, industrial nurses, shop stewards and volunteers from the factories in iSithebe. The concern of this committee is the high incidence of people being found to be HIV positive. Their ensuing deterioration into full-blown AIDS, finally resulting in the bording and/or death of factory personnel. (One nurse claims that 80% of the work force in her factory could be HIV positive) This committee was seeking help in the nursing and counselling of their own staff members. Our team was approached to give advice and to look into the best manner in which we could help. The Care Centre hosted the last meeting of this committee, when it was decided that our facility would be ideal for the purpose of education, advice, home nursing and hospice care for all people and families affected by the HI Virus. Selected volunteers will be trained as AIDS counsellors along with other members of the iSithebe AIDS Committee. Through this committee the industries in the area will be asked to fund the running of the Care Centre and it's allied work. Dr. Thabethe thanked the management committee for the work put into this. EMERGENCY & POOR SICK FUND: A letter was received from Mr. Hlongwa with regards to Mr. Mzimela's house. The roof is in dire need of repair and the Local Group of Mangete/Mandikini has requested that our organisation help them financially. 8 sheets of corrugated iron would be needed. Fr. Gérard proposed that we donate the money needed for this. The committee concurred. FINANCE REPORT Fr. Gérard gave a short report on the finances and referred to the printout, which each member has. There being no further business, the meeting closed at 22:35. NEXT MEETING: Tuesday 4th August, 1998 at 19:30