THE GREETER
May 2016
FROM THE RECTOR
There are a couple of items I want the parish to know. First, Fr. Jack Kilby has faithfully served this church in many capacities over twenty odd years. He has consistently served as the priest who presides at the 7:00 am Eucharist each Wednesday morning. Fr. Jack recently informed me that due to health issues, he will no longer be able to preside at that service. In consultation with him, we have decided that his last Wednesday will be following Pentecost (May 18th). Afterwards, the 7:00 am Wednesday service will be cancelled. Please thank Fr. Jack for his many, many years of service and his faithfulness to St. Andrew’s in ministry.
Second, I want to update the parish on the status of our assistant priest search process. By now you may be aware that an offer was made to a person to come to St. Andrew’s, but that person, along with her spouse, decided to take other respective positions in St. Louis. I informed the diocese immediately, and we have been receiving new names to consider. My advisory search committee meets on April 30th to go over the list of names. We have some very promising candidates and hopefully we can have someone on board by the end of August. Please keep this process in your prayers!
There is a line in Eucharistic prayer “D” that I love and speaks to our role as a church. It goes like this: “And, that we might live no longer for ourselves, but for him who died and rose for us, he sent the Holy Spirit, his own first gift for those who believe, to complete his work in the world, and to bring to fulfillment the sanctification of all.” This one sentence packs a lot of meaning. It speaks to our need to live beyond just our own individual needs and desires. It speaks of us, who by the grace and infilling of the Holy Spirit, can be Christ to the world. I believe that a parish is at its best when it is able to look not only at its own needs but the needs of the world around it. This is reflected in the official corporate name of the Episcopal Church: “The Foreign and Domestic Missionary Society”, or DMFS in short hand.
At a recent meeting of Omaha area clergy, we were asked to bring a list of all the outreach activities that our respective parishes engage in. I am pleased to say that St. Andrew’s has a very long list! But I also feel at times that most of you are unaware of all the outreach projects that we are involved in. So, in this Greeter article, I want to list, as best I can, all the outreach that the parish is involved in, so that “we might live no longer for ourselves, but for him who died and rose for us”.
I think you will find we are very much involved in outreach. First, we have the Nearly New Shop, which has been in operation for over fifty years! It is a place where the community can come and buy good quality used items (mostly clothes but other items as well) at a cheap and reasonable price. Once a month we serve lunches for youth at the Omaha Street Schoolhttps://omahastreetschool.org/. We also take collections for and support Youth Emergency Serviceshttp://www.yesomaha.org/. We actively support the Dominican Development Group, mainly providing scholarship money for children in the Dominican Republic, but also engage in active participation with teams going to the DR. St. Andrew’s has seven youth going on the trip this year. We also have an Antique Show and Sale with those proceeds being used by the Episcopal Church Women to provide outreach to various organizations (usually around $5,000 a year). Our Odds and Ends Sale in August uses its proceeds to support Habitat for Humanity and our other outreach projects. We also support both with money and people, the local Dean Fricke food pantry. In addition, we support the work of St. Anne's in South Africa. We also have a Pine Ridge heating fund which we send to the Bishop of the Diocese of South Dakota to use as he sees fit for heating needs on the reservation. We also provide 25-30 Thanksgiving baskets rotating between local elementary schools each year. St. Monica’s guild also provides support to St. Monica’s behavioral health services for women http://www.stmonicas.com/. A group has also provided meals at the Rainbow House for families with children at the Children’s Hospital in Omaha. In December, we usually have a “mitten tree” project which collects items either for a local homeless shelter or families on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. I have probably missed something, please forgive me if I have!
I’m sure you can see we are active and I wonder if you are aware of all we do. Some might say we do too much, but I believe that different projects will appeal to different people. I also believe that a healthy church is a church that looks beyond itself into the wider community. I hope you can see that our outreach efforts help us all be a healthier parish. If any of these outreach projects appeals to you and you have not yet been involved, you are always welcome to be involved. Simply contact me and I will direct you to the right person with whom to speak.
Fr. John
MINISTRY NEWS
OMAHA GIVES
Omaha’s fourth annual 24-hour charitable giving challenge is set for Wednesday, May 25. St. Andrew’s has been approved as a participant. If you give to St. Andrew’s through this link https://www.omahagives24.org/ click on Non-profits, and search for St. Andrew’s on May 25, your donation (or payment of your pledge) will go further as additional funds will be added to every donation given this day. You can even schedule your gift to be given ahead of time to ensure you don’t forget on May 25
ALTAR GUILD
TheMay meeting of the Altar Guild is thisWednesday, May 4, at9:30in the chapel with the meeting to follow in the conference room.We will be signing up for altar duty through the summer into mid-September so please bring your calendars with you.
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL
Save the date. Vacation Bible School and Marketplace 29 AD will be held at St. Andrew’s Sunday, June 12-Tuesday, June 14. Supper is at 5:30 with programming from 6:00pm-8:00pm each evening. Please register with Sarah at or 402-660-7649. Cost is $15 per child with a maximum of $30 per family. We hope you join us for the fun and educational event.
Registration will be open for Camp Canterbury beginning May 1. Camp is for youth all across the diocese entering 4th-12th grade.
KARA MCINTIRE AND BEN EDDY
Dear Friends,
I am sad to announce that this May will be our final month with our current Handbell Director, Kara McIntire. Kara and her fiancée, Ben Eddy, will be relocating to Lincoln, Nebraska where they both have taken new positions. Ben is the new Administrator at Ambassador Health Nursing Home, overseeing all aspects of day-to-day operations. He has worked for the Ambassador for years at various locations and has moved his way up through the company. Congratulations Ben! Kara will be working at Harris Academy of the Arts teaching cello, piano, Kindermusik, Children's Music Academy and String Ensembles.
Kara came to us in 2011. She was a graduate of Hastings College where she studied music education. She chose Hastings College for their stellar music department, and in particular, because they had a Handbell Choir! She poked her head around my office door one summer Sunday and the rest is history! Kara has been an absolute delight. She breathed new life into our St. Andrew’s Handbell Choir, showing us the ropes of correct technique for handbell playing and guiding us every step of the way. She jazzed up our repertoire and pushed us to excel. She reorganized our music and updated our files. Kara was remarkable as a director and recruiter for both our Sr. Choir and Handbell Choir. Through her extended connections, we are fortunate to have gained two young talented individuals as members of our church and choirs, Kaitlan and Benji Pettiford, also graduates of Hastings College of Music; and enjoyed having Ben Eddy as a member of our Handbell Choir. As a musician, Kara is also a cellist and shared this talent many a Sunday at the 10:30 AM Service, where she also sang in the choir. If you would like to listen to the Handbell Choir, Kara and her group will play at the 10:30 Service on both May 15 and May 22, which will be her final Sunday at St. Andrew’s.
We wish Kara and Ben all the best in their new and future life together and look forward to staying in touch with these wonderful folks! Thank you Kara for everything. We so appreciate your service and sharing your many musical gifts with us. We will miss you and your lovely smile and tinkling laughter! Much love and Godspeed!
Susie Thorne-Bond and your St. Andrew’s Church Family
DIAPER SHOWER
St. Andrew's hosted a "Baby Shower" on Saturday, April 23rd to honor all the new mothers and mothers to be, with a party and gifts of diapers. We had 11 babies to shower with diapers for the year of 2016! Many thanks to Liz Bourne, Sue Manley and Beth Summers for helping to make this annual event happen at St. Andrew's. We are blessed to have so many new babies and young families attending St. Andrew's at all four services. We would love to continue this celebration and look forward to celebrating other activities in making our young families feel welcome and a part of our church. Thank you to all the people of St. Andrew's who donated diapers for our celebration.
OUTREACH NEWS
ODDS N ENDS NEWS ALERT
Sale Dates: Thursday, August 4, 9am-6pm, Friday, August 5 9am-5pm, Saturday, August 6, 9am-1pm. Pricing and Setup occurs Wednesday July 27-August 3. Merchandise pick-ups will begin the week of July 5th. Please mark your calendars are your help will be needed. Please contact the co-chairs Jim Schreiber at 402-614-3797 or Bebe Miller 402-391-6579 if you have any questions.
DEAN FRICKE FOOD PANTRY
Due to a rise in the cost of food and a substantial decrease in the monetary donations the pantry has received this year, the Dean Fricke Food Pantry needs your help to provide food for the poor and needy. The non-perishable food items that each church collects for the pantry is only a small portion of what is needed for this mission. The majority of the food we use to fill our sacks comes from the Food Bank for the Heartland. If food is collected and donated to the Food Bank of the Heartland, it can be purchased by us at 16 cents a pound. For example, a can of Progresso soup at a retail store could cost between $1.00 and $1.50. That same can could be purchased through the Food Bank of the Heartland for 16 cents. By making a financial donation to the Dean Fricke Food Pantry, it can purchase up to 5 times the amount of food.
Please consider making a financial donation today. This is a vital ministry here in Omaha. Most churches will have donation envelopes available but if not, please send your donation to the address below.
The Dean Fricke Memorial Episcopal Food Pantry
Trinity Cathedral
113 North 18th Street
Omaha, NE 68102
POP TABS FOR RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE
We are collecting the aluminum tabs from aluminum cans again. Please save these, bring them with you to church, and place them in the jar that will soon be in Engle Hall. These will be donated to the Ronald McDonald House in memory of Lou Gates.
BY REQUEST FUNDRAISER
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 is the date for our fourth annual By Request Only fundraiser with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Nebraska at Lauritzen Gardens.
Tickets will be on sale at church on Sunday, May 1s
$15 Student Ticket – General Admission only (18 & under)
$25 General Admission seats
$100 Premium Ticket (includes Pre-Concert Reception and VIP Seating for the concert)
Concert is INDOORS. No personal food or beverage allowed. Cash bar only.
Corporate Tables are now available, as are Event Sponsorships. If you would like to be an Event Underwriter, email Susie Thorne-Bond, or Ron Dunic, for more information.
Tickets will be on sale after church services the following Sundays:
Sunday, May 1
Sunday, June 5
Sundays in July beginning July 10
Sundays in August
Sunday, September 4 & 11
***General Admission Tickets will be available the night of the event for $35 at the door. Get your tickets now to take advantage of the savings!
FROM THE FINANCE OFFICE
One of the missions supported by St. Andrew’s is the Domestic & Foreign Missionary Society. Monies given at the Good Friday service are sent to be given in support of the Anglican Church in Jerusalem. This year the amount given was a little larger than in the past two years and we sent $667.00 to DMFS.
Recently, the first quarter of the year’s contribution statements were sent out either by email or by letter. If you have not received your statement yet, please let Ginny Winsor know and she will be sure she has your right address or email and get another one sent to you. If you have an email and you received one by snail mail, please let Ginny know your email address so you can receive future information saving the church the cost of a stamp.
If you are decluttering your home or office and discover you have a spare letter size 2, 3 or 4 drawer file cabinet, the finance office would welcome the opportunity to take it off your hands. The idea of putting more paper in proper files in systematic order and off her desk would be heaven on earth to our Financial Administrator.
If you have any questions about the financial reports posted on the bulletin board outside the office, please see Ginny and she will be happy to explain them to you. Who knows, you may even help her find an error in time to correct the information before the next reports are printed.