Ash Wednesday Services
Holy Communion and the Imposition of Ashes
March 2, 2022
8:00am, 12:10pm, 5:00pm, & 7:00pm
(All services will be in the church. The 5:00pm service will include Taize. The 7pm service will be live streamed)
Today, Feb. 27th is the fourth Sunday of the month. The fourth Sunday offering will go to the Episcopal Technological and Vocational Training Center (ETVTC) in Ramallah in the West Bank, a program of the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. The ETVTC provides technological education to 420 students in grades 7 – 10 and hotel service and management skills for 11 and 12th graders. It runs summer camps, teaches dance, music and art and provides space for spiritual retreats. It tries to build intellectual understanding, confidence and hope in a part of the world where understanding and hope are badly needed. Through olive oil sales, we support a scholarship for Teya Awad, one of its students.
Special Request – Twin sheets, Blankets and Comforters Needed Craig’s Doors needs blankets and comforters – sizes twin, twin long, and queen – and twin sheets. If you have any clean, gently used blankets/comforters in any of these sizes and/or twin sheets that you can spare, you can drop them off at the church on Sunday mornings or during regular business hours Monday – Friday. For more information, please contact Kevyn Smith at kevynsmith09@gmail.com.
Conversations about Haiti, 7 p.m. on two Tuesdays in March, On Zoom. The first two meetings in this series have been very informative and fruitful. We hope you will join us in March for further conversations with leaders of organizations that work with education in Haiti. We’ll begin with brief presentations and will then open up the floor for questions, and for sharing experience, advice, and ideas. Each session should last about 90 minutes. Here is the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7028052390
March 1: The Rev. Rebecca Crosby, co-founder and Executive Director of the Crosby Fund for Haitian Education, Old Lyme, CT. The Crosby Fund provides full scholarships for students from pre-k through university and offers additional academic support at their Education Center in Haiti’s Artibonite Valley. They began fifteen years ago offering scholarships to 32 secondary (high school) students. Today they offer over 500 full scholarships to students at the primary, secondary, technical and university level. The Reverend Rebecca Crosby is one of the founders of the organization and remains deeply involved. For more information see https://crosbyfund.org/
March 8: Leslie Harrison, of Be Like Brit and more. Leslie Harrison has done extensive volunteer work in Haiti with three organizations. With Be Like Brit she has helped to build homes in Grand Goave, in Haiti’s southern peninsula, where this Worcester-based organization also built an orphanage and ensures access to potable water. She has worked with the Athol-based Christian organization Tree Of Hope Haiti, which also builds houses and is starting to develop a trade school. Having last year become an acquaintance of Dr. Paul Farmer, whose recent sudden death has stunned everyone who has known of his work, she now belongs to Friends of Zanmi Beni, a sister organization to Zanmi Lasante, the healthcare organization Farmer founded in Haiti. Incorporating her service as a member of the Northboro Rotary Club, she is helping Friends of Zanmi Beni to expand the resources of an education center for special needs children. For more information: https://www.belikebrit.org/home/.
Light, Warmth, & Joy: contribute to our Community Board in the Connector!
How do you experience winter? This month’s Community Conversation board invites you to lean into the places you find light, warmth, and joy in the midst of winter and share those with us! Feel free to grab an index card and write your thoughts on occasions of winter light, warmth, and joy…or to answer any of the questions provided!
Lenten Book Series: Witness at the Cross: A Beginner’s Guide to Holy Friday Sundays at 9:15am (in person) and Thursdays at 9:30am (via Zoom) We’ve ordered 12 copies of Amy-Jill Levine’s Witness at the Cross. If you are interested in attending this series and would like to purchase one of these copies ($16.25), please contact Terrie Korpita in the parish office. The first sessions will be held Sunday, March 6th and Thursday, March 10th.
Grace’s Closet With the cold weather upon us, particularly being another winter in this time of COVID, the Fireplace Room in the Parke House is a storage and distribution site for warm winter clothes for those in need. There are several ways you can help. Volunteers sort and organize clothes in the Fireplace Room, as well as deliver clothing to the Amherst Survival Center, Craig’s Doors, and Not Bread Alone as requests come in. Parishioners can also donate clean, usable coats and winter clothes for adults only by dropping off items on Sunday mornings or during regular business hours Monday – Friday. We hope you feel called to help, because we need your help.
Please check the pockets of clothing you bring. It is unpleasant for the volunteers to have to go through them to take out used tissues! Even more unpleasant for a homeless person to receive such clothing. Thanks.
All health and safety protocols will be maintained, including the need to wear a face mask at all times. For more information, please contact Kevyn Smith at kevynsmith09@gmail.com.
The Grace Church Stewardship campaign for 2022 To date 138 pledges have come in totaling $420,738 – most encouraging, we have 7 new pledges. To those who have pledged God Bless, to those who have yet to pledge please pray and pledge so our Vestry can budget for 2022. If you need a pledge card, they are available as you enter the church or you can contact the office (413) 256-6754 or Bruce Stebbins at (413) 549-5933.
Parish Directory It’s time for a new Grace Directory! The last one was done in 2018. We have new members, and some folks have moved. Please send your updated address and phone number(s) to Terrie Korpita at tkorpita@gracechurchamherst.org. We plan to use the same photos as the last directory; unless you wish to submit a new one. Thank you!
Save the Date
St. Nicholas Bazaar Important Notice! We do not accept upholstered furniture for the bazaar, so please do not put any in the undercroft. Donations of many other items in good, clean condition are gratefully accepted. If there is any question about an item, please contact Joan at jobrien82@gmail.com