Our May 17 meeting was hosted by Diane Sowieja, manager of the Living Well Bookstore at St. Michael's Catholic Church, Farmington, Minn.

Jan Palmquist, gift buyer from Genesis Bookstore at Prince of Peace Lutheran in Burnsville, Minn., brought a beautiful selection of handmade cards created by a woman in Esko, Minn., which attendees were able to purchase at a great price-and avoid shipping!

Our guests were Dee Bigelbach, a sales rep from Midwest, who set up a table with garden items and some suggested best-sellers for Christmas. Several of us made appointments to meet with Dee at the Minneapolis Gift Mart later in the week to see the full selection of Midwest products.

Also, Carol Krebs, manager of Pathway Bookstore at Christ Presbyterian in Edina, Minn., brought a member of her congregation who creates handmade Bible study totes. We were able to look at the prototype and discuss price points and give her our thoughts about the feasibility of carrying a product of that nature.

Our last guest was local author Kerry Casey who has written a book called Fall to Grace (Five Friends Books). He provided each of us with a copy of the book, spent some time telling us how he came to write the story and talked about his unique marketing strategy, found at www.fivefriendsbooks.com.

Heidi Macias is manager of Books of Hope at Community of Hope Lutheran Church in Rosemount, Minn.