--- Missions every Month every Sunday ---
| 1st Sunday -- | Free Exchange Coffee/Tea/Chocolate Sales |
| 2nd Sunday -- | Pick up Salvation Army recipe & pan for casseroles |
| 3rd Sunday -- | DMARC Food Pantry Collection & Bring your Salvation Army Casserole |
| 4th Sunday -- | Pass the Hat for Habitat Sunday – Collection for a Habitat House to be built this summer |
| 5th Sunday -- | Soap Sunday - Personal Hygiene item collection for CROSS Ministries |
Habitat for Humanity
--Help for Haiti --
-We are all anxious to help the victims of Haiti’s devastating earthquake. There are several ways to donate to the Red Cross. If you would like to make a donation through a telephone call to the American Red Cross call: 1-800 RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767). Another way to give is to log onto www.redcross.org There will be links provided to donate on-line. Even another way is to send a text message. Help Haiti Earthquake victims by instantly donating to the Red Cross using your cell phone. Text "Haiti" to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross. The $10 will be charged to your phone bill. The American Red Cross is reporting that over $22 million has been donated so far by Text Messaging. If you can afford to donate more please Text more than once. Much relief is needed for the Haiti Earthquake disaster.Please tell friends - when you Text "Haiti" to 90999 you donate $10 to the American Red Cross.
Another way to donate is through our Presbyterian Disaster Assistance program:
We pray for Haiti -The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is responding in Haiti. Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has already sent funds and is working in cooperation with our ecumenical partners on the ground to provide emergency food, water, shelter and medical supplies. Please pray for those affected and give to the ongoing relief through PDA account number DR000064. Gifts can also be made by phone at (800) 872-3283, and checks can be mailed to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, P.O. Box 643700, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700.
Magnificent Missions (M&M’s) - St. Paul Presbyterian is so fortunate to have those who contribute to our local and international mission projects! We continue to support the following charities on a monthly basis. Remember to put these on your calendar so we can keep up with the needs that are so great, especially in these tough economic times! Note: A “new” mission added on the 4th Sunday of the month. ---- Sue VanEssen, Mission Chair- svan4590@mchsi.com
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PJT Website Launched!
Shop and Learn Online! Partners for Just Trade has worked hard to bring you a website that makes shopping easy and fun, and that helps you learn about Fair Trade and the artisans who make our unique products. They work with over 20 artisan groups from Peru and have a wide variety of products that allows everyone to find something that fits their taste, style, and budget. Visit www.partnersforjusttrade.org today! Partners for Just Trade is a building a global partnership .Please remember the people that are affected by the flooding and severe weather. Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is currently working with several Presbyteries. You may find further information at 800-872-3283 or online at www.pcusa.org/pda/donate.htm
Permanent change in schedule/storage .... after the summer experiment with changing the casserole due dates, we realized that schedule fits better for many winter holidays as well. Unless otherwise announced, we will continue distributing pans on the 2nd Sunday of the month (though they are always available on the mission display in Fellowship Hall) and collecting them on the 3rd Sunday.
You are invited to take a pan, follow the simple recipe, bake/freeze a casserole and return it on the 3rd Sunday of the month. Instead of putting them in the kitchen freezer as we've been doing, please put them in our new refrigerator in the large, walk-in closet off Fellowship Hall. These casseroles are given to the Salvation Army and distributed to homeless folks in Des Moines.
A mission representative will take the casseroles to the downtown Salvation Army where they are distributed in vans to those in desperate need of food!
Questions? Contact Cathy or Sarah E. at dcseng@mchsi.com or 331-7709.
The first Sunday of each month coffee is ordered from Equal Exchange Coffee via it's Presbyterian Coffee project. We sell whole bean and ground coffee at our cost. Also available are tea, chocolate bars, and baking chocolate. Try some of this delicious coffee during our Fellowship hour after church each Sunday.
On the fifth Sunday, bathing soap, detergents, and cleaning products will be collected and donated to Cross Ministries for low income and indigent families in the Cottage Grove/ Drake neighborhood.
St. Paul Garden News
A Leaf From the Gardener’s Journal......
Editor’s note: The food grown in St. Paul’s garden is contributed to the local food pantry—providing fresh, high-quality produce for individuals and families who don’t have enough to eat. —The Garden Committee
Be a welcoming face!
M&E would like to remind everyone at St. Paul to please take a moment before and after church to introduce yourselves to anyone visiting our church. It is so very important for all of us to reach out to prospective members. They need to know we appreciate them visiting.
Note from Epistle editor: When interviewing new members as they join our church, I also include a question on why they chose St. Paul as their new church home. The #1 response is that it’s because, when they were visiting our congregation, St. Paul members (even if it was just one!) took time to introduce themselves, invite them to Fellowship time (and/or other activities) and generally make them feel welcome. In the same conversation, they usually mention visiting other congregations where not even one person said hello—and so they didn’t visit those places a second time. In sum, these little things matter a LOT!
