Dear friends,
The service leaflet for tomorrow is attached. It’s hard to believe that one week from tomorrow is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. I’ll be sending out a lot more information about that next week, but mark your calendars for the week’s special services — Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7 p.m.
Two of our vestry members have messages for you. First from our hospitality liaison, Andrea Patten-Weerakoon:
St. Dunstan’s hospitality – whether at coffee hour, the Flying Pig BBQ, or our pancake breakfast – is second to none. These events take many hands to set-up and put away. We are looking for volunteers to be part of a hospitality committee to help plan and coordinate these events. If you are interested and haven’t already done so, please let Andrea Patten-Weerakoon know.
The new Coffee Hour Sign-up is up and running, too. Short URL is https://bit.ly/StDunstanCoffee2024
And this from outreach chair, Vivian Siggers, about the refugee family we are sponsoring:
We are coming to the end of our six month commitment with New American Pathways (New AP) to be a “family friend” to a refugee couple from Myanmar (Burma). Our volunteers made their first visit to the family’s home on October 1, 2023. The commitment ends on May 31, 2024. The volunteers requested additional time to engage with the family because of delays in getting started due to the very strict requirements for clearance that each volunteer had to meet.
The volunteers met with the family twice weekly to teach them English. In addition, one volunteer supplemented these visits with remote English lessons. In addition to the direct service volunteers, support service volunteers from the congregation donated food, household items and furniture for the family. The family continually expresses their gratitude.
Predictably the family took advantage of this volunteer support and requested assistance in other areas including medical needs. Our volunteers spent many hours helping the family navigate healthcare systems and get the best available medical insurance coverage
To assist the family in transitioning from the hands on face to face support, our volunteers took the family to register with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to begin remote English lessons for 2 hours 3 time a week. They started these classes on March 12th. The couple works full time but the class schedule fits nicely within their work schedule.
Thanks to all who are involved in both of these ministries. Hope to see you tomorrow.
With love,
Tricia