YARD SALE!!!
June 22, 2019 9:00am until 2:30pm
Please put aside items that you want to donate to the sale (see bottom of the page). Make sure items are clean and in good repair. Please let us know if items need small/easy repairs. If you have items to donate you may bring them to the church during the week of the 24th. If you are dropping things off, please put your name on them in case there is a problem we will know whose “stuff” it is. We need volunteers to help sorting and pricing items for the sale, Tues – Fri. On the day of the sale, we need helpers to set up, tear down and work as cashiers and general staff. There will be sign-up sheets at the church. Please help, if you are able!!!
CHURCH PICNIC! after worship service
July 7, 2019 12 pm
The Aweh-Kisob Family have very graciously offered to open up their home and yard to us…and POOL!!!! The hamburgers and hotdogs will be provided. If you would like to have other meats, please plan on bringing them. Please bring a side dish, a salad, or a dessert to share. Please sign up on the list in Fellowship Hall and indicate what you plan to bring. Please bring your own chair! If you have a favorite yard game, please consider bringing it along. Our aim is to have a good time. If you have any questions, see Yvonne, Nelson or Sally, who is helping to coordinate the picnic. Come! Join us at:
269 Carlisle Road
Bedford, MA
(If you are able, please stay and help with the clean-up)
People Helping People Vacation Lunch Program for Kids
While the news is full of stories about how the economy is doing better than ever, the reality is that 21% of all children in the US still live in families with incomes below the federal poverty limit and just as many live in families with incomes higher than the poverty limit, but that still doesn’t cover their basic needs. Poverty can impede children’s ability to learn and contribute to social, emotional, and behavioral problems. Poverty also can contribute to poor health and mental health. Research is clear that poverty is the single greatest threat to children’s well-being.
Many families who struggle financially can rely on their children receiving free or reduced-price lunch and breakfast at school, so at least their children get one or sometimes two meals a day. For many of these families this time of year is bittersweet; while the kids are excited for their summer break from school, it comes with a lot of anxiety and worry for parents, how will they find the money to feed their children for 10 weeks, how will they find the money to pay for summer camps or childcare to keep them safe, engaged, and out of trouble? The USDA does run a Summer Food Service Program which can help cover the gap when school is out for summer, but the rules and guidelines for running these programs leave many rural and suburban communities without adequate support. For a program to qualify for support at least 50% of the children attending the program must meet poverty guideline requirements, and in an affluent town like Burlington, only about 5% of the residents live in poverty, so chances that 50% of the children signed up for any one summer program are living in poverty are slim. This doesn’t change the fact that in the current school year 616 children are receiving free or reduced-price lunches within the Burlington school system. That is 616 children who will run the risk of going hungry this summer!
Back in 2016, People Helping People designed a program that extends a little extra help to these children and their families. The program is a pantry version of a school lunch: each week families are invited to pick up a bag of ingredients and recipes needed to prepare a preset menu of 5 lunches, 5 snacks and 5 drinks. The menus are designed using the My Plate nutrition guidelines. The program is offered to all school-aged children signed up for pantry services and with the assistance of the Burlington Public Schools it is also offered to all families signed up for free or reduced-priced lunches. This program is hugely popular with the families that participate, and we have received a lot of positive feedback from families about how much their kids like it, how surprised parents are to find their kids trying new foods and how kids love the chance to help get involved with preparing their own lunches and helping their younger siblings.
The Burlington Food Pantry benefits greatly from a very generous community, and 70-80% of the food on the shelves are donated either from individuals, organizations, businesses or local food retailers, like Farmer Dave’s CSA or grocery stores. These abundant donations allow the pantry to have a huge variety of food on the shelves to hopefully provide all clients with at least some of their favorite foods. However, the Vacation Lunch Program, due to the pre-set menu, require large quantities of a few ingredients, making this program more reliant on purchasing its food directly from local retailers, thereby making this program far more expensive to run than the regular pantry services. So People Helping People is reaching out to ask for your help to provide some of the staples used in the program, please consider donating something from the following list:
Bottled water (8 or 16 oz)
Milk (8oz, white or chocolate)
Snack sized Fruit cups or apple sauce
Jars of salsa
Jars of pickles
Whole wheat crackers & Ritz crackers
Peanut butter & jelly
Pepperoni
Snack sized bags of nuts
Snack size raisins
Baked beans
Canned pineapple
Snack sized bags of pretzels, veggie straws, pop corners, or pop corn
If you’d prefer to make a financial contribution to help offset the costs of the Summer Lunch Program, please make a check out to “People Helping People — Food Pantry” and note “Summer Lunch Program” in the memo line. To make an on-line donation go to https://tinyurl.com/PHPdonation and list “Summer Lunch Program” in the notes field.
Stewardship Report
God, from my youth you have taught me.
Psalm 71:17
Each year on Pentecost Sunday, we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit and the birthday of the church.
The Holy Spirit remains with us still, connecting us with the church of the past, continuing to inspire
the church of today, and pointing us to the church of the future. Each year, this celebration is marked by
receiving the Pentecost Offering which nurtures the faith of those who are the church to come —
children, youth, and young adults.
Psalm 71 testifies that a foundation of faith established during childhood helps ensure lifelong faith
and service. The patterns and lessons established during these formative years continue to bear fruit
throughout a person’s life. By giving to the Pentecost Offering, our congregation participates in helping
our children, youth, and young adults grow up to proclaim with the Psalmist, “O God, from my youth
you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.”
QUICK FACTS
“Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit”:
A Pentecost Gathering of the Presbytery of Boston
June 8 from 4-6 PM
In celebration of the ways in which the Spirit is moving within our churches and beyond, the Presbytery of Boston invites you to join us on June 8th for an afternoon of song, story, and fellowship!
This is a collaborative Presbytery-wide effort and we need the participation of everyone to make this a successful event. We encourage churches and individuals to share your musical talents with us, whether voice or instrumental, in a 4 minute song, and to share your personal testimony about where you see the Spirit at work in the life of your church and community, in about 2-3 minutes. The special offering will be directed to the Boston Food Justice Young Adult Volunteer Program, in support of the Pentecost Offering’s mission to help the church “encourage, develop, and support its young people” and will count toward the $15,000 matching gift challenge of the Trustees.
We are also asking that churches bring at least one dish to share at a community meal which will end the celebration.
The celebration will be held at the Presbyterian Church in Needham, located at 1458 Great Plain Ave, Needham, MA 02492
Please contact Trina Portillo, pastor@burlingtonpres.org, by May 31 to confirm how your church would like to participate in this event.
Worship Committee
As this is being written, we have come through a soggy May and are enjoying more sun and warmth than we have in a long time! Going into June, here is a glance at upcoming worship services at BPC. We really hope to see you on Summer Sundays!
June 2 is Intercultural Church Sunday on the Presbyterian Planning Calendar. There will be some special music from the Voices of Africa as we also celebrate Communion.
June 9 is Pentecost, the birthday of the church, and also Teacher Appreciation.
June 16 we will focus on our Youth as well as on Camp Wilmot. Kayla McKinsey, Co-Director of Camp Wilmot will be with us and Brenda Flynn and Erin Alarcon will coordinate the service with Kayla.
June 23 is designated Music Appreciation Sunday.
June 30 worship is being planned.
Traditionally we worship with UCC on two Sundays during the summer, July 7, we will host UCC and August 4, UCC will host us. Remember that on August 7, their service will start at 9:30 am.
As always, you are encouraged to participate in worship (yes, even during the summer!), so please continue to check the signup sheets and volunteer at least once in the next couple of months as worship assistant. Elders and Deacons are needed to help serve communion on June 2. And July 7.
Christian Education
Sunday, May 26th will be the last day for elementary, middle and high school classes.
Sunday, June 2nd will be the last day for the young children’s class.
On June 9th (yes, Pentecost!) we will celebrate our teachers and assistants.
Mission and Advocacy
Each month we will provide a prayer to be used in our committee and board meetings. We also want all the members of the congregation to be able to join us in prayer. This month’s prayer is below. Please use it at home and to start your meetings.
Heavenly Father,
Open my eyes to see as you see and weep as you weep.
Open my heart to love the broken and care for those without hope.
Open my hands to hold what I have lightly and to share cheerfully.
Open my mouth to speak for the voiceless and to shout for mercy.
Open my ears to the gentle whispers of your Spirit and to obey what you say.
Open up my life to the call of your voice and the needy cries of the dying.
Amen.
Circus Smirkus
Craig Garnett and Claudia Waite are hoping to organize a group to attend a Circus Smirkus performance in Waltham in July. Group ticket sales begin on May 1.
Scheduled performances are on July 25, 26, 27 & 28 at Gore Place in Waltham. Show times are Thurs 7 pm, Fri & Sat 1 & 6 pm, and Sun 11 am & 4 pm.
If interested, please send an email to claudiawaite@aol.com please supply number in party, ages of children (if attending), and which performance works best for your family. To learn more about Circus Smirkus
visit smirkus.org
Take me out to the Ballgame!
Come one, come all to a church baseball outing!
What better way to enjoy a summer evening than at the ball park with friends!
14 tickets available in section 119 for the Lowell Spinners August 3 game vs the State College Spikes. Game time is 5:05 PM. Friends and family are welcome to join! Only $4 per ticket, cash or check made payable to the church. Please send an email to Kathleen at the church office to let us know how many tickets you would like to reserve. First come, first serve basis.
Summer Music
Members of the congregation are invited to provide special music during the summer months. Please contact Susan Larson or Rev. Trina so it can be scheduled.
Food Pantry Needs
We receive donations for the Food Pantry on the 1st Sunday of each month. The Food Pantry needs donations on a continuing basis. Please consider purchasing some 20 oz. dish detergent, individually wrapped bars of soap or bottles of shampoo. Your help is appreciated. Thank you
Yard Sale Donation Suggestions
Appliances Radios, mixers, bath scales, CD players, (must be
in good working order). No TVs, no computers or
computer components.
Arts & Crafts Pictures, supplies and/or creations.
Baby Furnishings Pac-n-plays, potties, porta-cribs, safety gates,
back packs, baby monitors.
No child safety seats.
Books Children’s books are good sellers…
Camping Equipment Tents, stoves, lanterns, sleeping bags, back packs.
Clocks & Watches In working order or only needing a battery.
Household Items Lamps, rugs, chairs, kitchenware, wall hangings,
curtains, dishes, pots and pans, crystal, etc.
NOTE: Do not bring large items to the church until a few days before the sale. Any large items that do not sell must be picked up by the donor after the sale.
Jewelry Earrings, bracelets, cufflinks, necklaces, tiaras. Please separate items into plastic baggies..
Musical Instruments From Kazoos to Trombones.
Pet Supplies Toys, beds, crates, leashes, collars.
Plants All sizes, fresh (indoor or outdoor) or silk.
Records, CDs, In good condition. NO VCR TAPES
Sports Equipment (Small Items only), tennis rackets,
basketballs, footballs, baseball
gloves, roller blades, . No
weight benches or barbells. No skis, poles or boots.
No hockey equipment.
Tools Hand and power, garden, mechanic, tool boxes.
Toys Fisher-Price and Playskool items, dolls, balls, board
games, puzzles, outdoor play equipment, sleds,
video games.
Vehicles Bikes, trikes, big wheels, wagons.
Clothing Is Not a Big Seller and Will Not Be Accepted
Please Be Sure All Items Are Clean!!
Presbyterian Church in Burlington 