Sunday, March 1, 2015

Hi all,

Due to the all church retreat, which many of you may be in the midst of at this very moment, there will be no Explorers or Youth Group this week. Thanks, and see you all next week!

Sarah

Youth Happening, Sunday, February 22, 2015 and Labyrinth Walk

Hi all,

This Sunday marks the first in Lent, and with it comes the rolling out of our brand new youth made labyrinth! Morning activities will go as usual, but youth group will be moved to directly after church for this week. We are asking that as the labyrinth is a gift from the youth to the church, the youth should be involved with its first day. We will need youth to pass out informational sheets, help guide people through the process of the labyrinth , and to really just be present to see all their hard work be put into action. Additionally, I will have some quiet, instrumental music put together for the labyrinth walk, but if any musical youth has a soft, meditative type repertoire up their sleeve and would want to take a shift playing, let me know ASAP.

So, to recap, here's a look at Sunday.

9:00am Early Worship
9:30am Explorers
10:45am Late Worship
12-1:30pm Labyrinth Walk for whole congregation. (Meet in the basement. Lunch will be provided for the youth.)

As always, if you have any questions, send them my way.

See you Sunday,
Sarah

Silent Auction and Scone Bake this Sunday

Hello all!

We have our fifth scone bake coming up this weekend. There are a few signed up already, but we need more!! We will need three more bakers and two more sellers. Bakers need to be at church from 8:30 to 11:00 and sellers are needed from 9:30 to 12:00. 

Also, this is a reminder that youth going on the mission trip MUST donate something to the silent auction. If you need ideas, feel free to shoot me an email. These must be submitted by February 22nd, which is THIS weekend! The form is on the link on the right side of the blog page. If you can't make it to church, you can email me what you would like to donate. 

Also, for those seeking local businesses, there is an attached letter. It may be too late to do reach out to local businesses, but it is still worth a try! In a previous email there was a link sent to sign up for what local businesses you have (or intend to) contacted...or at least I believe it was sent out. No one has filled it out, so here is the link again: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e1TgwIWKsnx0l3GewWe_ldKKRSd_eHsfZul0SBpazuI/edit?usp=sharing

We do not want to bother businesses twice, so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE fill this out if you have or intend to contact a local business.

If you have collected gift cards or items for a raffle basket, please bring them to church this weekend as well. We will start to put this all together.

As another reminder, each youth is required to help out with the actual silent auction. We have had a few help collect auction donations at church the past few weekends, and we will need help with bidding as well. There are a few signed up for bidding, however we will need more. Please watch for further emails regarding signing up for help with bidding.

Thanks!!

Erica and Avery

Youth Happenings, February 1, 2015

Hi all!

Here's what to expect this Sunday.

9:00am Early Worship
9:30am Explorers Class
10:45am Late Worship
12pm Chapel Choir
3:30-5:00pm Confirmation

There will be no youth group this Sunday, but it will return at its regularly scheduled time next week. If you didn't catch it on your way out the door last week, below is the awesome labyrinth the junior high knocked out last week. Just a bit of touching up, and we will be well on our way to opening up our creation to congregational use!

Silent Auction Forms

The forms to submit an item for the silent auction, and to use to solicit gift cards from local businesses can be found at the links on the right.
They will also be available after church for the next 4 Sundays.

Youth Happenings, Sunday, January 25, 2014

Hi all,

A lot of different things happening this Sunday.

9:30-12 Combined worship service and annual meeting
9:30 Explorers class
5-7pm Youth Group
6-7pm Mandatory mission trip meeting for all mission trip participants and their parents.

As many of you know, we have been working to create a labyrinth this year. After weeks of discussing the design and figuring out the measurements, we finally have the labyrinth drawn out and ready to paint. This Sunday, during youth group, anyone not participating in the mission trip meeting will be working on bringing the labyrinth to life. I will provide paint and some brushes, but if any of you have 1-1.5'' brushes you'd be willing to share with us (you will get them back), that would be really helpful in making sure everyone can paint at the same time (the labyrinth is plenty big to accommodate this!) Additionally, we could use empty shoe boxes (to hold brushes and paint cans during breaks, preventing drips) and any empty frosting cans, yogurt containers with lids or any other small, plastic lidded containers you'd otherwise throw out to help distribute the paint. Our goal is to complete the project in time for the Lenten season.

See you all Sunday!
Sarah

Mission Trip Update-Important!

Hi everyone!

We have our fourth scone bake approaching and we will need a few more volunteers this month because it is the annual meeting. We have enough bakers signed up, but we will need a few more volunteers to help set up everything for the annual meeting. Please let me know if you are available. You would be needed from 10:00 to 12:00 THIS Sunday, January 25th. 

We also have a fundraiser at Davanni's coming up. We will receive a percentage of the profit from anyone who purchases, with a flyer in hand. The fundraiser date is Monday, January 26th from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm. We are asking that youth distribute 10 flyers to friends and family so this fundraiser will be successful. We are not allowed to hand out the flyers outside the door, so please advertise! Avery and I will be in contact with youth and make sure everyone has flyers to hand out.

Also, this is a reminder that we have a mandatory mission trip meeting this Sunday, January 25th at 6:00 pm. Parents and youth are expected.

Thanks!!

Erica and Avery 

Youth Happenings, Sunday, January 18

Hi all,

We will not have youth group this week, but join us in the morning for worship and Explorers.

9am Early Worship
9:30am Explorers
10:45am Late worship

See you Sunday,
Sarah

Help Coodinate Silent Auction Meeting

Parents -
Please consider helping to coordinate part of the silent auction and coming to our kickoff meeting this coming Sunday (1/18). We will meet right after the service at 12:00 in the piano corner of the social hall. Look for Laura Donovan and me (Norm T.)

Welcome back and upcoming events

Hello all! I hope everyone had a nice holiday break!

We have quite a few important events coming up, so please mark them in your calendars!!

There will be a mandatory mission trip meeting at 6:00 pm on Sunday January 25th. Both parents and youth are expected at the meeting.

We also have our fourth scone bake on the morning of January 25th. If you have not participated in fundraising, please sign up! You can email me if you would like a shift. We will need 5 bakers (8:30 to 10:30) and 3 sellers (9:30 to 12:00).

We have our largest fundraiser coming up, the silent auction. It is mandatory for youth to participate. We will discuss details about this at the meeting on the 25th, but come with ideas for your donations to the silent auction.

There will be a few more smaller fundraisers throughout the spring, so if you have not participated in fundraising, please be proactive about signing up.

To parents: For those interested in learning more about how the silent auction is run, or for those with new ideas for this year's silent auction, there is an informational meeting on January 18th after the 10:45 service.

Thanks!

Erica and Avery

Silent Auction Preparation and Pre-Meeting

Request for Youth –

Think about what you can offer for the silent auction. Something that you think members of our church would purchase and use; A service (tutoring, babysitting, garden/yard work, cleaning, setting up something electronic, …) a Product (baked goods, dinner, …)

2 Requests for Parents -

The past few years, Laura Donovan has coordinated the silent auction and has promised to help again this year while training people to take over. Mary and I have agreed to take over coordination for this year and next, but we would like for a few other “younger” parents to be a part of this who can plan on taking it over in the future. If you are interested, or would simply like to know more about what it takes, please come to a planning meeting after the 10:45 service on January 18^th.

Secondly – we are always looking for new ways to enhance the silent auction income – we added some raffle items this past year, we hope to get more gift card donations as they are an easy way for youth to add income to the auction and members to bid on something. We are open to any ideas; one that came to mind for me is offering “daily specials” (like a raffle item or having an auction item with just one day for people to bid.)  If you can think of anything we could add, please email me or reply to this blog post and we can discuss it at the meeting on the 18^th.

Norm Tiedemann (normt@computer.org) and Laura Donovan

Update on Mission Trip Fund Raising

We have had 3 very successful Scone Sundays, baking and selling 25 dozen scones and selling over 10 pounds of coffee each month. Continuing in the spring, we are shifting our sales dates to avoid the holidays and will do sales on January 25^th (Annual Meeting), February 22^nd and March 22^nd and then back to the 3^rd Sunday for April 19^th and May 17^th.

Also we will kick off our biggest fund raiser, the silent auction. An informational meeting will be held at youth fellowship on January 25^th. We will accept auction items from then until February 22^nd. Bidding will take place March 1, 8, 15, and ending on March 22^nd.

As a reminder, to receive full credit for participation in fund raising, all youth must help with 2 scone bakes/sales, each must submit at least one personal auction item and assist at least one day with the silent auction bidding. (Additionally each youth must participate in one “other” activity. There have been a few of these and there will be more this spring. They are announced via the blog and youth facebook page.)
Signup for the known events will be available at the meeting on the 25^th. 
Thanks for your participation in past and future events. If you have any questions, please contact me, Norm Tiedemann (youth mission trip fund raising coordinator) at normt@computer.org

January 4th

Hi all,

Just as a reminder, there is no Explorers or youth group tomorrow, but there is still confirmation. We will be back to normal, next week, January 11th.

Hope you had an enjoyable break!

Thanks,
Sarah

Christmas Break

Hi all,

Hope you are all enjoying your holidays and the days leading up to it! In light of  Christmas and all the busyness that surrounds them, all youth activities will be on hold for awhile. 8th graders in confirmation should return January 4th at the normal 3:30pm time. Explorers and youth group will resume January 11th.

Merry Christmas and see you in the new year!
Sarah

Youth Happenings, December 7, 2014

Hi all,

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! There is no denying we are now in the thick of the holiday season and with it comes lots of activity around church. Here's what to expect this week:

9am Early Worship

9:30am Explorers

10:45am Late Worship

12-2pm In-house service project - Round the table carol sing set-up

Youth participating in the set-up should meet in the social hall following church. We should be done by 2pm and lunch will be provided. 

Looking ahead:

Our annual Christmas Party is on December 14 from 5-7pm. Our potluck worked well last year so we will be repeating it. Please sign-up to bring something with this Google form  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1OeMCMV3xah0OkaRkbgmj-8kfGhVdkqSer-C1xvNTq64/viewform?usp=send_form

Additionally, like last year, we will be bringing back white elephant. The holidays can become an expensive time, so we don't want you to spend a dime. Look around your house and find something you no longer use (and no one else in the house uses either), but someone else may be interested in, wrap it up all pretty and bring it along. 

Lastly, a party is just not a party without music. Bring along your favorite holiday music or any music that you feel represents the past year for you no matter how eclectic, just keep it clean.

See you Sunday!

Sarah

Youth Happenings, Sunday, November 23rd

Hi All!

No youth group this Sunday, but morning activities will continue as usual.

9:00am Early Worship

9:30am Explorers in Rex Knowles

10:45pm Late Worship

We will be taking a break for the Thanksgiving holiday, but will come back together in December. Enjoy the weekend "warm-up"!

Thanks,
Sarah

A Message from the Mission Trip Co-Chairs

To all youth and adults going on the youth mission trip to New Jersey in June 2015, please fill out the form below as soon as possible. Ocean County LTRG requires this information and we would like to send it to them sooner rather than later.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1EYHFTpIgDmQ-acBEWLi5BVM7xC1NZoNloOh-QqnecgY/viewform?usp=send_form

 

The fifty dollar deposit for youth participating in the mission trip is due to Tom by Sunday, November 23rd. 

Youth Happenings, Sunday, November 9th

Hi All,

Explorers Class 9:30-10:30am

Late Worship 10:45am

Youth Service Project 1-3pm

Confirmation class for 8th graders and their parents 3:30-5:00pm

For this month's service project, we will be headed to Minneapolis to serve the children and families of Mary's Place, a transitional family centered shelter. While there, we will supervise the playroom, a space that is otherwise closed without volunteer groups, but a very important area for kids to let off some steam during their stay at the shelter.  If you would like to go, please meet in the social hall at 12:30 to carpool over there.

See you Sunday!
Sarah

Youth Choir Starts Tonight! Our Youth Choir (a.k.a. “Chapel Choir”) starts tonight, Wednesday, November 5th at Macalester Plymouth from 5:00-6:00 p.m. Students grades 4-12 are welcome to join the choir. No prior experience or music education is necessary to participate—just a desire to learn and a love of singing. Rehearsals will take place in the sanctuary on Wednesday evenings from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. Students will sing a wide and diverse range of music. Plus they will learn the fundamentals of voice technique, sight-reading, music theory, history, literature, and discover how music is part of our church and the greater world around us. The Choir will take an active role in our Sunday worship services this year—starting in the upcoming Advent season—and will also  participate in community service work through singing. It’s going to be a wonderful adventure! Come join us for a fun and rewarding music experience! Come to rehearsal tonight for sign up or contact Brad at music@macalester-plymouth.org.   Looking forward to seeing you tonight! -- Dr. Brad Bradshaw, DMA Director of Music Macalester Plymouth United Church 1658 Lincoln Avenue Saint Paul, Minnesota 55105 U.S.A. 612-720-9271 (Mobile) 651-698-8871 (Main)

Time to make a commitment to the 2015 Mission Trip

Greetings

It is time to make a commitment to the 2015 Mission Trip to continue the work of recovery from Super storm Sandy in New Jersey. It may be early, but we need a way for the planners to be able to communicate to our hosts in New Jersey about how many to expect, and make other arrangements.

We need to collect the $50 deposit by November 23, a Sunday. This is technically a nonrefundable deposit, as no refunds ever come from the programs where we participate, but every reasonable effort has been made in the past to refund any deposit in the event the youth is unable to go.

The deposit money will go to securing our spots.

Hope everyone can go, this looks to be a very challenging and interesting week in New Jersey.

Lee