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April 2021 E-News
A mission project of the
Southern Illinois District - LCMS
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2020-2021 School Theme:
Walking Together In Christ
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Happy Easter! He is Risen Indeed! The angel declares these words to the women at the tomb … Matthew 28:6-7a “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples!“
This was WONDERFUL, life-changing news that Jesus had conquered sin and death and was ALIVE again!! What precious news this is to us even today and especially in our ever-changing world. May the JOY of the resurrection flood your hearts to overflowing this season!! Alleluia!! Many exciting and wonderful things are going on here, and NONE of them could be possible without your continued prayers, gracious hours of volunteering, and GENEROUS financial support! You continue to amaze us and God is blessing these students! THANK YOU!!!
Click here to see the mission and ministry of Unity School
(and feel free to pass this link along to friends and family)
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SAVE THE DATE!
Share in the Miracle!
April 29
Virtual Event
from 7-8 p.m.
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Unfortunately, because of COVID restrictions, we cannot do our usual “Share in the Miracle” Dinners. ☹ We know this is disappointing to those of you who usually attend because the dinners are fun! They are a chance for you to hear what God is doing at Unity and visit with some old friends and other supporters. But we are NOT going to let COVID win! We are doing an SITM mailing campaign and we ask for your support. (Watch your mail box.) Also, we will be doing a virtual event on Thursday, April 29, from 7-8 p.m. We will be on Zoom (all you need to do is download the app on your computer or cell phone).
Meeting ID: 853 8229 1647
Passcode: 62204
We will also be on Facebook Live through our Unity Facebook page.
When you log on, you will see all the other Unity supporters, and you can listen to our Principal, Pastor Dickerson, and me, the Development Director, share the MIRACLE that Unity school is! We will show a new video so you can see the latest happenings and hear from some of the students who have graduated from Unity during the past 10 years. It’s going to be a fun night! Why not gather a few friends in your living room, pop some popcorn, and do a “Watch Party” of this virtual event? The more the merrier. Read the SITM Letter by clicking here: SITM 2021 Letter
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We are so grateful for Laura Montgomery and Susan Nahmensen from LESA for coming to lead chapel. LESA is the Lutheran Elementary School Association and provides many scholarships for our students! Our students enjoyed Mr. Bob Polansky, Director of Camp Wartburg, who spoke about bats and how we, like them, need to use our ears to listen to God’s Word. Rev. Roger Drinnon, from Olive Branch Lutheran Church in Okawville, came and talked about how the disciples were united in their mission to follow Jesus and spread His Word after His resurrection and how we should do the same.
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In our Belong to Jesus Time, our students lead every Thursday. Ms. Clay's 4th graders taught us about how two men prayed … one was boastful and one was humble. Mrs. Gould’s 2nd grade class performed a puppet skit to tell the “Parable of the Sower” from Matthew 13:3.
Mrs. Venable’s 1st grade class did a great skit on how God can fix broken things and how on Easter Jesus fixed our biggest broken problem in the world … SIN! He did this by dying on the cross to save us from our sins … thank you, Jesus! And way to go, students!!
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March was a BUSY month at Unity! It started with Dr. Seuss Week -
"Oh the places you will GO!" Students in Mrs. Gould’s classroom made hot-air balloons and wrote down where they’d like to go. They also enjoyed green eggs and ham and drew their own Cat in the Hat poster!
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On St. Patrick’s Day - The librarians showed their green in the O’Library. |
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Happy Birthday to these MARCH Birthday students!
They enjoyed their Birthday Bags, so thanks to all our donors!
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Our wonderful 8th grade teacher, Mr. Williams, also
celebrated his birthday!
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This was the LAST DAY the Library cart rolled down the halls. Because of COVID, the librarians had been bringing a cart of book to the rooms…. |
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Because after this day… students started coming INTO the library!
YEA for reading!
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Our talented Pre K-4 Class has learned how to spell their name in sign language! Click on this video to see them spell with ASL!
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The library ladies, under the direction of Ruth Bush, used a Thrivent Action Team Grant to gift all the 8th graders with their very own catechism book! What a treasure for them to keep!
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Easter is a great celebration of what Jesus has done for us! He died on the cross to pay for our sins and rose on Easter morning. Our students are budding artists as they share Easter through their crayons.
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Did you know that M&M’s can tell the Easter story? In Belong to Jesus, Mrs. Stallard taught the students how to turn the M&M’s different ways to tell the story.
Watch video here:
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Look at the creative artwork on these Easter Sun Catchers! |
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THREE CHEERS FOR OUR VOLUNTEERS! |
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How do you MAKE 145 Easter Baskets for sweet students? With LOTS of volunteers! SO grateful for these ladies from St Paul’s in Columbia, IL:
Nancy Radentz, Teresa Hancock,
Luci Washburn, Marilyn Snider,
Sandy Roessler, Kathy Stechmesser, and Nancy Stallard
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The next day we had Diane Hoerchler,
Marilyn Snider, Bev LeMaster,
Ruth Bush, Nancy Stallard
Front row: Mary Neher, Jackie Haberl, and Luci Washburn
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How to fill 145 Easter Baskets:
Step #1 – fill the 725 eggs with CANDY!
Step #2 - set out 145 baskets
Step #3 - Run around and fill each basket with 5 eggs, 2 chocolate crosses, a
“Jesus Saves” sun catcher, and a bouncy ball that lights up and says, “Jesus Lights the WAY!!” Thank you, ladies, for creating a fun Easter memory for our students!!
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We could use a volunteer for Thursday & Friday mornings to do temperature checks. Call me if you are able to volunteer. Nancy Stallard,
at 618-874-6605 or email: Nstallard@unityesl.org.
Like I always say … “Team-work makes the Dream-work” so thank you to
ALL our volunteers....... YOU ROCK!!!!
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Donors make the DIFFERENCE!!!
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Resurrection Eggs - David and Rhonda Leach bought a box of Resurrection Eggs for each of our Pre K-3 to 5th grade classes. Mrs. Stallard showed the students what item was in each egg and taught them how it related to the Easter Story. Back in their classrooms, the students got to tell the story again and again!
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Retelling the Resurrection Story in the classrooms.... |
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One of our wonderful volunteers, Teresa Hancock, and her husband Don bought enough “The Week Before Easter” Arch books for every Unity student! This book talks about Palm Sunday, The Last Supper, The Garden of Gethsemane, and Good Friday. |
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As Christians, all of these are very important events leading up to the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday! Thank you, Hancocks! |
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Donors make life fun! These friends donated the Easter baskets with sun catchers, bouncy balls, and these LOVELY Easter Books for each student. Other people donated the eggs & candy, while LOTS of ladies helped assemble the baskets! They also blessed the teachers and staff with boxes of delicious candy. A group effort! Look at this joy on the students' faces as they receive their Easter baskets. He is Risen indeed! Alleluia! |
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Easter Book by Paul Maier |
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Wish to donate?
LOTS of ways to help us!!!
You can donate online by
going to
www.unityesl.org
Or you can.....
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Do you have any STOCK you wish to donate to Unity??
We'll take it!!! We have several safe and easy ways to transfer your stock to us, so just call me, Nancy Stallard, at
618-874-6605 or email: Nstallard@unityesl.org
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Thrivent is here to HELP!!!
If you are a Thrivent member, you can help us in 2 ways!!!
1. Apply for an Action Team Grant
to apply for an Action Team Grant. Every Thrivent member has TWO grants a year. If you don’t use them, you will LOSE them! Some ideas would be: books for our library, bookshelves for teachers' rooms, more outdoor playtime equipment (jump ropes, skip ropes, soccer goals, sidewalk chalk), a plan to beautify our playground asphalt top and paint “games” on it like 4 square, hop scotch, etc., beautify our garden area with picnic benches and landscaping.
2. Thrivent Choice Dollars
Remember, you can apply your Thrivent Choice Dollars to Unity! To do that, simply go to www.thrivent.com and scroll down and click on “Generosity”
Click on “Direct Choice Dollars” and find us at “Unity Lutheran Christian Elementary School.”
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Join AmazonSmile
and get free money for Unity! Whoo-hooo!!!
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You can still shop Amazon, just log into your Amazon Smile account first and they give Unity .5% of every purchase you make! We can generate a LOT of money for Unity for FREE!!!
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Log onto Smile.Amazon.com.
- Click get started to create an account.
- Type in Unity Lutheran Christian Elementary School, East St. Louis. & we pop up.
- You then click on the link to save the charity.
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Just log into smile.amazon.com to make your purchases. It is the same as logging into Amazon.com, but if you don't log into smile first, your purchases won't count toward Unity.
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Our April Staff Spotlight falls on Ms. Mary Hamrick! She has been teaching since 1988, when she received her BA in Education from Concordia University Chicago. She received her MA in Instructional Technology from CUC in 2015. She came to Unity in the fall of 2007. What she loves best about teaching at Unity is the
students! She loves how they are so excited to learn about Jesus and the world around them! She enjoys how they become “family” over the years they are here and that families keep her posted on their progress as they move on to high school and beyond. Seeing her students grow and serve the community as they enter adulthood is thrilling!
Her favorite Bible verse is Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Ms. Hamrick knows Unity is important to this community
because there is not a lot of hope evident in the community surrounding Unity.
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Things seem very bleak out there, but inside our school, we offer our students and their families HOPE - the hope of a better future through getting a great education, the hope of a community of believers surrounding them with kindness, and the hope of an eternity in Heaven, through
faith in Jesus!
She is very thankful for our donors, saying that “WE could never do what we do here without our donors!” From school supplies the students use, to the small donation that goes toward utility bills, every cent is used to give our students the very best education we can offer! Nothing goes to waste! Each donation, be it time, prayer, or cash, gives our students the hope in knowing there are people out there who CARE about them. We thank Ms. Hamrick for her many WONDERFUL years of service here at Unity!
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To donate, please make checks out to "Unity Lutheran School"
and mail them to
Questions? Call us at 618-874-6605 or Email Nancy Stallard at Nstallard@unityesl.org
😊 All donations are TAX-DECUCTIBLE 😊
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We're Now on Facebook and Instagram!
For regular updates on activities at school.
Just click the links above for Instagram or Facebook.
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