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we are pleased to present your May-June 2017 First Presbyterian Church of Green Bay newsletter!
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"Food for Thought" by Pastor Randy
Note: You can access previous, current, and upcoming blogs at the link below.
Session Retreat
On Saturday, May 13, Session members will be attending a retreat led by staffing consultant Sarai Rice. Sarai (pronounced Sara) is a Presbyterian minister who heads a non-profit organization in Iowa. I have previously attended two of her workshops at Pilgrim Center in Green Lake, Wisconsin sponsored by Winnebago Presbytery. I found them to be very helpful.
Sarai has conducted phone interviews with many of our church members and some of our staff. She will soon be having a phone conversation with our Personnel Committee leading up to the retreat.
Why this retreat topic? Read the rest of Pastor Randy's article here . . .
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Integeneration Musical May 7
Don't miss "The Ultimate Question," an intergeneration musical, which will be performed during the worship service Sunday,
May 7 at 10 am.
Join us to meet the likeable game show host, Jeff Heezworthy, along with the eager and excited contestants, and the Ultimate Singers. Should be lots of fun!
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Benefit for Mark Silverberg
Artists United is holding a benefit for First Pres member Mark Silverberg, who, as you know, is in poor health. The benefit will be on Monday,
May 8, at Riverside Ballroom, 5 pm (social), 6 pm (dinner/entertainment).
$25 ticket includes dinner and entertainment - tickets are available in the First Pres Church office.Details on Mark's journey can by found on his site at:
www.caringbridge.org/visit/marksilverberg. As always, we ask for prayers for Mark and Mary.
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Esther Circle Bible Study
Joan Reynolds will be our hostess when the Esther Circle meets and studies lesson 9 on
Thursday, May 11
at 1:00 p.m.
All women are welcome to any of our meetings.
This will be the Esther Circle's last meeting before summer break. Meetings will resume in September.
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Letter Carriers' Food Drive
The 25th Annual Letter Carriers' Food Drive will be held on Saturday,
May 13. The Presbyterian Pantry is one of 10,000 food agencies that will benefit from this nationwide effort.
We expect food to arrive at the church's Banner Hall at about 3:00 p.m. Volunteers are needed to unload, sort and shelve donations. If you can help, please plan to arrive shortly before 3:00 p.m.
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Thursday,
May 18, brings us to an end of the Pres Folk 2016-17 year and we will be enjoying a potluck meal at 12:30 p.m. Please join us for food and fellowship. Pres Folk will take a break for the months of June and July, and will have a planning meeting in August.
For more information, contact Nancy Kwaterski
at 920-434-9483 or Shirley Schoffelman,
920-
434-8746
or
shirley2988@att.net
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Nibble & Paint with Patcee
In loving memory of Mary Dee Dupont, Patcee Bucher will be hosting an "Nibble & Paint" event on Saturday,
May 20 at 2:00 p.m. You do NOT need to be an artist to participate.
Join Patcee to create an inspirational painting to which you can add personal touches and make it truly your own. Patcee will take you step-by-step and help you as needed. You will be working in acrylics, so your painting should be almost dry by the time you take it home. The event is free, including all the supplies, most of which are courtesy of Mary Dee. We will need at least six people to make the class work - while it is intended for adults, children ages 11 and up who are interested are welcome to join in as well.
The "Eat" part of the event is going to be - hopefully - nibbles contributed in a pot luck style by the participants. You can sign up on the bulletin board at the church, or through this
link.
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Milestone Birthdays
Congratulations and felicitations to members who had milestone birthdays recently! They include:
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Harlan Merrell - 90 years
(pictured w/Marilyn)
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Vic Halloran - 90 years
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Lynn Shober - 80 years
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High School Graduates
Congratulations to four of our young members who will soon be seeing the results of their hard work and graduating from their respective high schools. Olivia Crooks, Christian Gehri, Audrey Rasmussen, and Taylor Wittman will be starting their journeys through higher education and have shared a bit about themselves here. Join us on
June 11 to help celebrate their accomplishments!
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Olivia Crooks
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Christian Gehri
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Audrey Rasmussen
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Taylor Wittman
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Pulaski HS |
Ashwaubenon HS |
Preble HS |
Presbyterian Women Scholarships:
Graduation is soon upon us, so it's time for the graduating seniors who plan on continuing their education to apply for the PW Scholarship. Contact Mary Barlament at
ltmbe@hotmail.com
or call 562-5081 to request an application. All applications should be turned in by the end of May.
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First Communicants
Blessings on Hannah Bauer, Sara Bostedt, Elliott Stenson, Clayton Rockow, Aubrey Early, and Mamme Yaa Berko, who each made their First Communion in April. Congratulations on your first holy communion. May God's love and blessings be with you and remain with you always.
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Baptism Blessings
Blessings on the family of Anna Elizabeth and Nora Grace Jansch, daughters of David and Sara Jansch, as well as granddaughters of Nancy and Pete Blashka.
The girls were baptized, as their brother had been before them, here at First Pres, before the family moves to Germany for a military deployment.
May God grant your little ones all the blessing of His gentle love and may they each enjoy a lifetime of health and happiness. Congratulations!
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Sanctuary Carpet
The Carpeting Task Force made a recommendation to the Session at the April meeting. We are ready to proceed!
Please "Pay it Forward Generously" with a donation to the carpet fund.
With your help, we can beautify our sanctuary and eliminate the bunching of the old carpet.
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Playground Equipment Needed
As a reminder, Bruce Deadman's Rotary Club is helping renovate the playground area at Tank School and want to provide new and used playground equipment such as balls, nets, etc. They hope to have enough equipment to allow kids to take some home as well. As you start (or continue) your spring cleaning, if you run across any gently used sports equipment, especially balls of any sort, please bring them to the church office before Memorial Day.
Cash contributions also appreciated. Please make any checks payable to the Green Bay West Rotary Foundation. Please call Bruce Deadman at 920-412-3885 if you have any questions.
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Help our YAV Lacy Schimmel Raise Funds
Member Lacy Schimmel has been accepted to be a Young Adult Volunteer for a year starting in August.
YAVs will live in the community and serve in various community-based ministries in Chinook, MT.
YAVs need to raise money to help with their year-long expenses. Funds are raised to support programmatic expenses, as well as, stipends, health insurance, and food allowance. Any funds raised beyond the needs of the individual volunteer are used to support other volunteers and the general YAV program in Chinook.
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More Pay It Forward Stories
First Pres has continued to hear about the far-reaching goodness that has been generated by our
Pay It Forward Stewardship effort, and have a few to share. We welcome the opportunity to encourage others to act, so please don't hesitate to send us your own!
Dave & Lisa Mason
Dave Mason, DDS and his wife Lisa (pictured at left), family friends of the Earlys, saw our Pay It Forward article last November, and decided they would do something similar. They presented envelopes with $10 in each one to their 25 staff at a Christmas get-together and explained the concept.
At staff meetings for the next couple of months, people had an opportunity to share what they did. For instance, Dave and Lisa were out for fish and saw some people they thought could use a boost, so they covered their dinners; another staff person mentioned seeing someone at Goodwill, and paid toward that person's purchases. Dave and Lisa reported that, not only was it a great occurance for the people receiving the assistance, but even greater experience for those who were the givers!
Aaron Mikulsky, son of Phil and Sue Mikulsky, was in town and attended the service at which the concept was introduced. He reported back, "Leading up to Thanksgiving, I have created an envelope including $10 and the Congratulations! card for each of my 22 leaders at work, performing a similar exercise. I'm encouraging them to serve, give back and help each other on the team."
Thank you Dave, Lisa, and Aaron - well done!
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CE Corner with Ken
I would like to first recognize those individuals who have assisted with many of the CE activities for the past two months:
- Thank you to Kathleen Ford and Lacy Schimmel for facilitating the First Communion Training and to Jane Bies for making the beautiful cake.
- Thank you to Amy Wittman, Nancy Siewert, Lacy Schimmel, Kathleen Ford, and Deb Gauthier for leading in the teaching of Sunday School this past calendar year.
- Thank you to the CE Committee for all the work that you did in coordinating the Lenten activities and the Pancake/Porkie Brunch on April 30th.
- Thank you to those who donated clothing for the "Cat Closet" at Green Bay
West High School. They were delivered and very much appreciated by West High.
A total of $375 was raised for the Presbyterian Pantry by the youth who were involved in the 30-Hour Famine on April 21-22. Way to go!
Read Ken's entire article here . . .
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Neighborhood Picnic June 25!
We are collaborating with the Seymour Park Neighborhood Association, the Green Bay Police, Fire, and Parks & Rec Departments, along with other churches in the neighborhood to sponsor a picnic at Seymour Park on Sunday,
June 25, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Grilled burgers and drinks will be provided. Please bring a salad or dish to share. Most importantly, just plan to join us and meet some of our neighbors!
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For May, the Pantry volunteers are requesting donations of cereal and for June, Hunt's Spaghetti Sauce. You can place them in the shopping cart in the narthex at your convenience.
As always, they can certainly use monetary donations as well! Thank you.
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Improve your giving management by giving online
Did you know that you can manage your giving to First Pres online? Giving online is easy and it allows you to set up automatic recurring contributions and view your complete online giving history from anywhere you have access to the Internet.
To set up your online giving to the church, go to
www.firstpresgreenbay.org
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Stained Glass Windows Facts
We continue our series of information about the very beautiful stained glass windows at our church...
Upper Window St. James Major
The pilgrim's staff is a symbol of many journeys. The scallop shells at the bottom represent his many conversions. The sword and lightning bolt are symbols of his zeal, and the spade reminds us of his compassion for the working people. The man's wallet on top of the staff is to be used to spread the good news of Christ.
James was one of the close friends of Jesus and the first matyr among the Apostles.
Upper Window St. Andrew
The fisherman's hook and fish represent his former occupation of fisherman, and that he would become a fisher of men. The cross saltire, also called the St. Andrew's cross, is in the form of an X, and is a symbol of his martrydom. To prolong his suffering, he was tied on the cross, not nailed.
St. Andrew was the brother of Simon Peter and a disciple of John the Baptist.
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Jane Bies would like to ask everyone, as you shop clearance sales and maybe even rummage sales, please think of the Toy Box. FYI, we won't be able to accept books or stuffed animals this year.
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Please "like" our Facebook page
and invite your friends to like it:
www.facebook.com/FirstPresGB
. Let Connie Greenawald know if you need assistance.
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1st - Cassandra Aceituno;
Ross Early; Karen Walker
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17th - Hazel Pettit
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2nd -
Nathan Behnke
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18th - David Young
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4th - Janette Bies; Laurie Schmitt
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19th - Judy Exl; Richard Parkinson
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6th - Aaron Sperduto; Roy Yates, IV
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22nd - Jo Leicht
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7th - DeAndre Jones;
Kelechi Omotoso
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23rd - Emma Laughrin
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8th - Louise Lowery
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26th - Debbie Mylener;
Kolawole Omotoso
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9th - Rebecca Schmitt
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28th - Brenna Schmidt
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14th - Jessica Yates
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29th - Christopher Olson
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16th - Jonathan Anderson;
Emily Belonge
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30th - William Andersen;
Nicholas Young
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June Birthdays
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1st - Connor Rowell
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17th - Loren Dunn
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2nd - Jennifer Micallef
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18th - Sophia Sperduto
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6th - Deirdre Rasmussen
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20th - Hailey Hansen
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8th - Kathleen Ford;
Akinmayowa Omotoso
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21st - Meredith Ingram
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9th - Amber Boyer
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23rd - Scott Wittman
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10th - Trevor Gossen
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24th - Ken Sann; Levi Schmidt;
Jennifer Solper
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11th -
Brian Rasmussen
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25th - Dennis Siewert; Esther Weise
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13th - Gene Stenson
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28th - Peter Blashka; Leah Mott
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14th - K
endall Batal
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29th - Mackenna Altmann
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15th - Eugene Reynolds
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30th - Keirstyn Batal; Yaw Berko
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July 16-21 - Intergenerational Mission Trip for middle school, high school, adults, and senior citizens. The "Hands & Feet" initiative will be held leading up to the next General Assembly in conjunction with AMEN|Saint Louis - A Ministry Embracing the Neighborhood. The goal of the Hands & Feet initiative is to strengthen local and national mission efforts of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) by encouraging partnerships and mission involvement with cities hosting the biennial meeting of the General Assembly. Volunteer for a week of urban ministry in St. Louis. Contact the church office if you are interested in participating!
August 1-3 - Vacation Bible School is scheduled for August 1-3 from 5:30-8:00 p.m., with the theme of "Hero Central". We will be focusing on local heroes with games, crafts, music and fun along with a surprise guest. If you are interested in helping out, please let Ken Sann know.
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