The Annual Meeting is this Sunday! Please come and join the festivities, which will include a pot luck feast, thanking of our retiring vestry members, voting and welcoming our new vestry members (please read their bios below) and recalling some of the gifts we have shared together as a parish this year.

I hope you will join in this important gathering.

Peace,
Sarah+

Candidate for 4-year term:

Allen Heinemann Allen Heinemann began attending St. Peter's Episcopal Church in 1984. He served as a Vestry member from 2008 to 2009, Junior Warden from 2001-2002 and Senior Warden from 2003-2004. He worked with Marian Alexander DeBerry in coordinating the Visions, Voices and Devotion capital campaign (Forward Fund IV) that added an accessible entrance, accessible washroom, electrical upgrades, air conditioning and new lighting. He began singing in the choir in 2011. Outside of St. Peter's he is a professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in the Feinberg School of Medicine atNorthwestern University and director of the Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes Research at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Allen and his partner, William Borden, celebrated the 26th anniversary of their commitment ceremony with a civil union in 2011 at St. Peters.

 

Candidate for 3-year term:

Levi Harris

Levi Harris has been at St. Peter's since December 2006 and was confirmed in the Episcopal Church in June 2008. He is currently the chairman of the Stewardship Ministry Team and is past chair of the Parish Life Committee. He also serves as a greeter, lector, intercessor, and sub-deacon.

Levi is an Assistant Defender at the Office of the State Appellate Defender in Chicago. He and his partner, Jacob Trimble, live in Lincoln Square with their cocker spaniel, Jojo.

Qiana Johnson

I am a librarian by profession and have worked at the Northwestern University Libraries for seven years (on the downtown campus). Previously, I was an assistant editor at the University of Chicago Magazine. I was also previously, an emergency veterinary technician. I have been a card carrying Episcopalian since my confirmation at St. James Cathedral my first year of college. During that time, I was an active member of Brent House, the Episcopal center at theUniversity of Chicago. After college, I was a member of the St. Paul and the Redeemer parish, participating as an acolyte, chalice bearer, and Sunday school teacher. At St. Peter's, I have enjoyed participating in the outreach ministries and the choir. I love using the gifts I have been given to take care of others. I have also enjoyed becoming more engaged in the community. In my spare time, I enjoy crafts including sewing, knitting, and jewelry making. I also spend a lot of time cooking and trying out new recipes. I share my home with two awesome cats-Ariel (meaning "Lion of God" who's afraid of his shadow) and Narcissa (code name Chaos).

Marene Smith

Christmas Eve service just concluded and it was beautiful! I am enjoying everyone having refreshments, when I was approached with a question, "Would I like to be nominated for the vestry?" May I take a moment or two to process that question and its commitment? I returned a call four days later with an acceptance to be nominated. I had said my prayers with God and I had my spiritual discussion with my friend who is 86 years old. And we both concluded that it is God's will and I would be cutting off God's blessing to not accept.

I have been a member of St. Peters Church since Good Friday 1994. It is only fitting for Christmas Eve to have a post mark for me and our Lord.

If you see it as God's will, I ask your prayers and support and, if it's not to be, I thank you for looking in my direction. And I thank God.