Good day siblings in Christ,
We have big news! The week of February 16, our new office administrator Sarah will begin work. This will be a very different set-up, though, as Sarah will work remotely most of the time. She is a teacher’s aide in Yorktown, a pastor’s spouse (Pastor Dave in Yorktown), a mom of three, and brings with her several years of church office administrator experience. She is a joy to talk to too.
It is an adjustment for us, but the feeling was this can work well for what we are asking in the position. She will come in at least once a week, after school, to prep the Sunday service, but all other work will be done from her home. This means I (Pastor) will be on the desk during the days I am in the office.
It is difficult to believe, but we are coming to the end of the Epiphany season and will be entering the season of Lent soon. On February 18 at 7:00 p.m. we will have our Ash Wednesday service with communion.
Finally, I mentioned during the worship service last week that we are beginning a new partnership with Croton Caring and the Croton houses of worship. There are people in Croton who need basic care items, such as shampoo, toothbrushes, deodorant, etc. Croton Caring will be putting kits together for those who need items and the houses of worship will help fill them. We are in charge of two things:
- Full sized shampoo (or shampoo and conditioner combo)
- Body lotion
It is a big ask, as they serve 75-80 families 4 times per year in March, July, November, and December. The hope is to have kits for each of those times. We will set up a box where items can be dropped off and we will bring them downstairs.
Here are a few quick things:
- We had Sunday School for the first time since 2019 last week! Thank you Jamie for your leadership.
- About 15-20 children and families visited Croton Caring last Sunday from Temple Israel and saw how they work.
- The girls empowerment group now meets on Monday for elementary school girls and Wednesday for middle school girls. They will now have a more permanent space downstairs, so they can store supplies. I visited on Monday and there were over 20 girls in the program.
- The last few Saturdays, we’ve hosted a group working on immigrants rights in NY state. They are meeting after our weekly Yoga group and are connected to Kellan, the instructor.
- I am working with the village to bring a holocaust survivor to come speak to our community. The tentative date is in March.
Pastor Johnson