Dear Friends of Meeting Ground and the guests and residents we serve,
We will be hosting our first Open Table Meeting on Wednesday Dec. 16th to launch the recruitment of table members including the persons who are currently homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Many of you are already familiar with Open Table and have attended introductory information sessions. If you have not had the benefit of this or need to learn more about Open Table go to www.theopentable.org
I am especially pleased that in addition to the guidance and training provided by Open Table’s national organization, Laura and Gary Cochrane, volunteers who have been very active at the Mary Randall Center and the Emergency Rotating Shelter, will be helping each of the Cecil County Open Tables. Also, Robanne Palmer, Meeting Ground’s Volunteer Coordinator will be helping to guide and appreciate the volunteers you recruit.
The meeting will take place at the Mary Randall Center at 6:00 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.
Please extend a welcome to other members of your congregation and community.
Here is a sneak preview of the Open Table process and the next steps will be be taking together.
To begin the Open Table process, each of the congregations/community needs to identify a Congregation/Community Coordinator who will manage the Open Table process for their congregation/community. The Coordinator works with Meeting Ground to coordinate, communicate and implement the steps leading to the launch of Tables and the process to support them while they operate. It is recommended that a Coordinator serve on a Table to get "real-life" experience. Coordinators learn the following Open Table processes and implement them in their congregation/community with direction and support from their Open Table Team:
- Recruitment of Table members
- Referral process for Brothers/Sisters
- Organizing the Table for operation
- Candidate assessment/backgrounding process
- Training planning and implementation
- Pre-Launch meetings
- Ongoing Table operations
An Open Table Project Handbook provides the direction and information needed to successfully launch a new Table. Through weekly conference calls with the Open Table Team, the Congregation/Community Coordinator will have the support, knowledge and resources needed to make the launch successful.
Meeting Ground will hold the group license from Open Table and pay the group fee and the fee for each table. Table member fees ($10 per month for each person serving on a table) will remain the responsibility of the table members. Please be clear about this cost when you are recruiting members to serve on your congregation’s/community's Table.
I look forward to seeing you on the 16th. In the meanwhile please contact me with any questions or go to the Open Table website at www.theopentable.org
Remember God is smiling about you,
Pat Marks
