Outreach News June & July

A VERY BUSY BUT EXCITING TIME OF YEAR!

• Month of June – Food Drive
• June 17th to July 15th  –  School Supply Drive
• July 15th – Pack a Backpack
• July 28th – Delmar Gardens
• July 29th – Prepare Food for Co-op Monday Night Dinner

JUNE FOOD DRIVE – The Semi-Annual drive in June is the month in which St. Matthew’s focuses on collecting additional items for the Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministries.  In addition to collecting our usual items of dried beans, jelly, and shampoo, the coop is asking for donations of canned pineapple. The pineapple is always in high demand and just seems to fly off the shelves.

SCHOOL SUPPLIES DRIVE – Mid-June through July 15th we will be collecting school supplies for the clients of Seven Springs. You will find a list of supplies on the Outreach bulletin board and a link to the Amazon Wish List below.   On Sunday, 7/15, after the service we will fill backpacks with the school supplies.

Purchase from the Amazon Wish List

SING-ALONG / BIRTHDAY NURSING HOME MINISTRY AT DELMAR GARDENS

4-5 PM SATURDAY JULY 28

Come join musicians from St Matthew’s to sing Christian songs or help serve cake, ice cream and punch and mingle with the clients at the nursing home in Lawrenceville. For more information please contact Heather Pratt, Mindy Barringer or Chuck Marsh.

FOOD PREPARATION FOR MONDAY NIGHT DINNER AT THE CO-OP

After the service on 7/29 we will prepare sandwiches, cut and package watermelon, and package cookies that will be served at the co-op on Monday evening, 7/30.



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Welcoming the Stranger — Our Refugee Family Update

Refugee family: Zeba P. and her three children, Judith , age 13,  Arron, age 10, and Jason, age 7, are from Pakistan, and arrived here June 7.

Their apartment is fully furnished (Thanks to all who donated!) They could use a washer and dryer, so if you have a working used one or know someone who does, let Mark DiGiovanni know: 678 227-8142.

If you want to help Zeba and her family, you can offer to take her and the children to parks, museums, shopping, etc. as they don’t have a car (or a driver’s license) yet. And dropping a gift card in the mail will always be helpful – and greatly appreciated. For information on contacting or visiting Zeba and the family please contact the church office, or see this Sunday’s bulletin announcements.



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Stephen Ministers Look A Gift Horse In the Mouth

Using a little horse sense, Stephen Ministers from First United Methodist Church (Lawrenceville) and St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church (Snellville) came to Winning Strides for a unique continuing education experience.

In equine assisted learning, we often use metaphors to reach our objective. Each Stephen Minister was asked to choose an item in the arena that represented a spiritual gift or strength they use in their care giving as a Stephen Minister. Some examples included being a good listener, having compassion, being trustworthy, skilled, and full of faith. Then, with the horse representing a care receiver, the group had to move the horse from one end of the arena to the other without touching it.

This was a harder task than they thought, since care receivers (and horses) often have a “mind of their own.” But in the end, they learned:
·     sometimes you have to lead and sometimes you have to gently push
·     care receivers get “stuck” on their journey
·     patience is always required
·     you never give up and always stick with your care receiver.

Even with torrential rains, an earlier tornado warning, and cool weather, spirits were high and laughter abundant.

 

Stephen Ministers are trained care givers, who are sometimes called the After People.

They are ready to come alongside anyone who has suffered a crises in their life and provide comfort and support for as long after as needed.

Stephen Ministry was started 40+ years ago and is active in 13,000 congregations.

For more information, visit their website at www.stephenministry.org.



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Reading Camp at Snellville

Sponsored by St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church

Reading Camp at Snellville, held annually since 2013, will be up and running again this year from June 18-22. It is modeled after the Reading Camp program begun by the Episcopal Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky.

A non- religious, no-fee camp, the camp focuses on campers who are rising 3rd, 4th and 5th graders and who demonstrate a deficit in reading skills. Campers participate in morning learning centers and afternoon traditional camping experiences. Nutritious meals- breakfast, lunch and two snacks are provided.

The 2018 camp, whose theme is “Alone and Brave”, is an all day camp Monday to Friday, June 18th- 22nd. The morning focus will revolve around “The Island of the Blue Dolphins”. The afternoon programing will include a guest children’s author and book signing, gardening, crafts, soda straw rocket making, yoga, cabin reading and a program presented by the Gwinnett Co. Public Library.

Our campers come primarily from the greater metro area, including public, parochial, and home schools. Although the campers are English speakers, many languages are spoken in their homes including Korean, Chinese, Amharic, French, and Creole. Many qualify for free and reduced meal programs.

For the 2018 camp we have an adult volunteer staff of 30+ and 6 teen counselors, five of whom are former campers. We are fired up and ready to enjoy a fun week with our 20 campers!



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A Thank You Note From Mother Liz+

This last Sunday’s service of Pentecost was a great celebration – of the coming of the Spirit, of the reflection of the Holy Spirit as seen in baptism of three new children into the body of Christ, and in the welcome of new families to membership at St. Matthew’s at both the 8 and 10:30am services. AND we celebrated graduation of six high school seniors!

I would like to thank all of those who worked to make the Sunday so special: the altar guild, the flower guild, the great decorations, the choir, the children’s participation, Tammy Pearson’s altar flowers – there are so many more people I could list – it just goes to prove our motto – it REALLY is the people! Thank you! Mother Liz+



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Episcopal Church Women (ECW) Is Back!

ECW (Episcopal Church Women) is BACK! All women of the church are automatically members, and are invited to attend a Salad Social and Organizational Meeting on Sunday, June 10th at 12:15. Please bring any kind of salad to share with your fellow sisters. Drop your salad off before church and we will keep it in the refrigerator until it’s time to serve. We will hold a short organizational meeting to ask for volunteers to be on our board and we are looking for a treasurer and a scribe. Please call Rebecca Bowen 404-808-6408 or Nancy Drury 678-779-3482 with any questions.



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June Food Drive for SE Gwinnett Cooperative Ministries

JUNE FOOD DRIVE- June is the month in which St. Matthew’s focuses on collecting additional items for the Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministries.
In addition to collecting our usual items of dried beans, jelly, and shampoo, the coop is asking for donations of canned pineapple. The pineapple is always in high demand and just seems to fly off the shelves.

Beginning on Sunday, June 3rd, the Outreach Committee will be handing out bags with attached food list after both services, so please fill bag and return to barrel outside of the Parish Hall.  All items will be promptly delivered to the Coop.



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Police Appreciation Week

St. Matthew’s partnered with Snellville Police Department as part of the One Congregation One Precinct (1C1P) initiative started by Movement Forward. The program is designed to foster better communication and cooperation between law enforcement and local congregations. Part of the program is showing appreciation for the Snellville Police Department, but during Police Appreciation week (May 13-19), we decided we would honor two of our very own parishioners who are police officers! Dennis Doane is an officer with the Gwinnett County Police Department and John Hansen is an officer with Dekalb County Police Department. On Sunday, May 13, Mother Liz presented both of them with a police car box filled with a gift card, candy, St. Michael medal, and donuts!

On the same day Mother Liz blessed the thin blue line prayer blankets made by the Knit, Crochet and Pray ministry to be given to police officers who are injured or are sick.

St. Matthew’s showered the Snellville department with love throughout the week with Chick-fil-A biscuits on Tuesday morning, home cooked dinners on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights, donations of donuts, chips, candy and police car treat boxes filled with all kinds of goodies! We were even able to donate treat bags to the Lilburn Police department on Wednesday because of your generosity.

While Police Appreciation week may be over you can still make our Snellville Police department feel the St Matthew’s love by making a homemade birthday treat for an officer’s birthday. If you would like more information about this wonderful outreach ministry, please contact Becky Olbon at beckyolbon@yahoo.com or by calling 770-923-9186. We so appreciate all our police do to keep our communities safe. God’s blessing on all who serve this or other communities.



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Vacation Bible School & Special Needs VBS– Rolling River Rampage

Monday, July 9—Friday, July 13

9:00 a.m.—12:30 p.m.

Rising Pre-K — Fifth Grade (ages 4-10)

Cost: Before June 15 — $20.00 per child

After June 15 — $25.00 per child

(payable on the first day of camp)

Online Registration is open for volunteers and campers!

To register a camper, click here.

Can you help? Many adult and youth volunteers will be needed

for this fun and meaningful week.

To register to volunteer, click here.

 

SPECIAL NEEDS VBS:

Rising Pre-K through Rising 5th Grade (ages 4-10)

Tuesday & Thursday, July 10 & 12, 2018 

9:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon

COST:$10/child before June 15; $15/child after June 15

To register a special  needs camper, click here.

For the third  year in a row, we are pleased to announce a Special Needs Vacation Bible School, for part of the week during VBS.  It will happen concurrently with the VBS described above, but in a different space and with an abbreviated time and modified schedule. If you have experience with children on the Autism Spectrum or with physical handicaps and would like to help, please contact Abby Whatley at mailto:abbyd@uga.edu.



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New Director of Music Announcement

Mr. Kyle Osborne is St. Matthew’s New Director of Music

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Kyle Osborne as St. Matthew’s Director of Music, effective April 16, 2018.

Kyle comes to us from St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church in McDonough, where he served as Director of Music and organist since 2016. He has over ten years’ experience in  Episcopal churches but has also served in Catholic, Presbyterian, Baptist and Christian churches. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in organ performance from Stetson University in Florida and has done post-graduate work at the University of Tennessee and the University of Texas.

Kyle received enthusiastic approval from every member of the Music Search  Committee. David Chandler, chair of the Search Committee, described Kyle as a virtuoso organist who embraces a diversity of musical styles and cultures; who has  experience in working not only with adult choirs, but with children and youth, and who has the capability to build a music program.

Kyle will be on campus the week of April 16, and will play at the 8 a.m. service on April 22. Please join me in welcoming him to St. Matthew’s.

I would like to thank David Chandler and members of the Music Search Committee for a job well done, not only in finding excellent candidates for our next Director of Music, but also for creating a Vision for the music Program.

I would also like to thank Russell Meyer for a wonderful job as our interim organist and choir director over the past several months. Russell came on board in the aftermath of the flood with the music library in storage and no rehearsal hall. Yet he made it work and led the choir capably during this transitional time. Russell, we are grateful for your leadership and talent.

Peace, Liz+



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