Save the Date For the Advent Fair
Join us after the second service on December 4th for our annual Advent Fair! There will be lunch and crafts for all ages!
We are currently looking for volunteers to help with set-up, clean-up, and crafts. If you are interested in volunteering with the crafts please contact Angie Rabbe (graceelcaapd@gmail.com).
If you are interested in helping with set-up and clean-up please contact Molly Rowen (yoohoomollysue@yahoo.com).
We will be taking a free will offering to help offset the cost of craft supplies.
Watch the Grace News for more information in the coming weeks!
Grace Book Group Update
The next Grace Book Group meeting is November 8 at 7:00 p.m. on Zoom. Please read a cozy mystery. In December we are reading Young Adult Fiction. Click here for a list of our award winning books! If you would like to join book group please email Brenda at bkhayasaka@gmail.com
Outreach
Winter Outerwear Items For Community Meal
We are collecting winter outerwear items for our community meal. This ministry has taken many different forms over the years. This year we will be putting together bags filled with winter outerwear and winter necessities for our community meal participants.
We would like to fill the bags with hats, scarves, gloves or mittens, socks, granola bars, lotion, lip balm, and hand sanitizer. Our goal is to create 100 bags. We will also be collecting feminine hygiene products to make bags for the folks who need them.
You are now able to take a card from the giving tree which is located on the bulletin board across from the donation station in the Nolt Auditorium. All items need to be donated by Sunday, October 30. We will pack the bags the week of November 7. The bags will be distributed at Community Meal on November 16. We will need volunteers to help organize donations, pack the bags, and distribute the bags.
If you are interested in volunteering or have any questions please email Angie Rabbe at graceelcaapd@gmail.com.
World Cup of Sharing Kickoff Event Tickets Now Available
Beginning this coming Sunday, October 23rd, and running through Sunday, November 6th, tickets will be available for Grace’s “God Work, Our Hands” World Cup of Sharing Kickoff Event on November 13th following the second worship service.
This event will give you the opportunity to savor the flavors of our four World Cup of Sharing team countries: Cameroon, Cuba, Mexico, and the United States. A tasting experience of these different cuisines will be prepared by our special guest chefs.
Plan to get your ticket(s) soon to join in this time of fun and delicious food. The ticket price is $10 for adults.
Children under twelve may attend at no cost. Take-outs will be available if you are unable to stay.
That Sunday will mark the official start of our ingathering of gifts in support of L-HANDS, some of whose residents are refugees, and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS). Our goal is to raise $10, 000 to be split equally between these two groups and thus, to reach out to our neighbors across the street and across the world. L-HANDS will direct their part of the money given to the current very much needed lead abatement project. LIRS will use our gifts in support of refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers.
Gifts may be given from November 13th through December 18th. Checks made out to Grace should have “World Cup of Sharing” on the memo line. Gifts may also be made online through Grace’s website’s GIVE button and then tapping “World Cup of Sharing.”
Thank you for your support!
Carol Main, World Cup of Sharing Team
L-Hands residents and our current ELL students are being invited to be our guests at the event. Come meet your neighbors on November 13th!
Baby Kits
You can help us put together BABY KITS to support new parents in our area who struggle to purchase needed supplies.
Through the Parish Resource Center’s work with social workers from Union Community Care, we routinely receive referrals of low-income new mothers who are struggling to purchase the many items needed for a new baby.
Lancaster is home to many pregnancy centers, the requirements for receiving supplies like diapers often leave gaps of access for many families who desperately need this service. To create a support system with the lowest possible barrier to access, PRC partnered with Union Community Care to provide baby kits to new parents. PRC volunteers assemble kits and deliver small batches of them to Union’s offices, so they’re quickly available to send home with new mothers. Each diaper bag is full of basics to get them started, with additional supplies available. We expect to need 25 kits each month, plus extra diapers and wipes to be available on follow-up appointments.
New Items
- Pacifier
- Wipes
- Size 1 diapers (disposable, no cloth)
- NoseFrida nasal aspirator plus pack of replacement filters
Gently Used or New
- Foldable changing pad
- 2 onesies (0-3M)
- Swaddling blanket
- Backpack
Donations of gently used items can be dropped off at PRC’s office, Mon-Fri 9am-5pm.
Creation Care
This Week’s Green Tip
Cover the pile or use an enclosed composter. The compost pile should be moist but not sodden. Any open compost pile should be covered with a tarp to shed excess rain. Read more here
Our Grace Family
Congratulations!
Congratulations to Chris & Molly Jackson Konrad at the birth of their son Bryce Thomas born October 12, 2022.
Bryce is the little bother of Jeremy, the grandson of Tom & Deb Jackson, and the great grandson of Phyllis Jackson.
In Sympathy
With his family, we give thanks for the life and witness of James Elder, who died Friday October 14, 2022. We extend our heartfelt sympathy to his daughter Kristin Douglas, his family and friends.
Please keep Kristin and her family in your prayers.
A Letter of Thanks…
It is with pleasure that I pick up my pen to shout a big “Thank You” to my Grace family! I am so happy for the support the congregation has given me. Being a single mother, working at night, then going to school, having my other children and husband so far away has not been a cup of tea.
Because of the love and support from all of you I am able to work toward making a life for myself and my family. I thank God for all of you!
I’m especially grateful for the peace, love and prayers that you have offered during the illness of my son, Christani, and the financial help for his medical care. In Cameroon we must pay cash for treatment, there is no insurance plan like here. The latest update from his doctors is that they are still unable to diagnose his infection exactly, but with the care he has received and the prayers you have offered he is doing well and has returned to school along with his younger sister. My oldest daughter, Meryline has passed her exams and I will hopefully be able to send her to University. By the grace of God we make our plans and wait in faith to see.
Again, thank you all so much! – from Ivine Tifang
Note from Pastor Steve: For those who don’t know, Ivine and her daughter Jeannette have been with us at the parsonage since May 2018. While waiting for her asylum hearing, she has earned her GED, successfully applied for her working papers, gotten a full-time job as a night-shift housekeeper at General Hospital, passed her driver’s exam, bought a used car, and is currently in the midst of her studies at Lancaster Cosmetology School!
gracelutheranchurch.com 