HONDURAS MISSION TRIP UPDATE
Due to the current political unrest in Honduras, our Blaine team has decided not to go to Honduras. They are now researching other possibilities for the same August week. The materials they have already purchased will be used for a future mission trip if something cannot be put together in time for this year or if a chosen project has a different need. More information to come.
MISSION TEAM INFORMATIONAL MEETING FOR RIVERTON PARK UMC HOUSE FIX UP – JULY 26
An informational meeting will be held on Sunday, July 26, 11:30 am in the Webb room to discuss a local mission call to help Riverton Park UMC. They have a house which will be used to house a few homeless people in their area that will need a team to help make the interior presentable for simple living. The dates for the mission will be Thurday – Saturday, August 13-15. If you are interested, please attend this short meeting. For more information contact Shig Nishida or Rev. Kathleen.
VBS – UPDATE
A huge thank you to all those who attended and participated in VBS this past week. More to come!
ATTENTION ALL POST HIGH SCHOOL THROUGH AGE 25
Blaine’s post high school through age 25 group will be meeting every Wednesday night throughout the summer. Please join us at 7:00 pm in the Youth Room as we gather for Faith, Fellowship and Community.
SPECIAL VISITOR FROM DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO AND FOODS RESOURCE BANK – TODAY
Today, July 19th, Blaine is hosting three special visitors: Ron DeWeerd from the Foods Resource Bank, who you may remember visited our church about a year ago when we decided to donate proceeds from the 2008 Bazaar to the Sustainable Agriculture project in Africa, will be back to share more information about the growing projects they are involved with here in Washington. We will also be hosting Mrs. Philomène (Philo) Bidimbu from Kikwit, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). She works as an extension specialist for ACDI Lusekele, one of the associate organizations of FRB’s Micro Devru program. Philo will have a translator with her,Timothy Chapman, who grew up in the interior of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is fluent in the Kikongo and Lingala languages, and understands French. This is Philo’s first visit to the US, so please join the Mission and Outreach Team in the Bob Webb Room for lunch and a brief presentation following worship service (from about 11:30 until 1:00 p.m.) and help her feel welcome. Come, meet, listen and enjoy the fellowship with our visitors.
YOUR HELP IS NEEDED!
Blaine Memorial is making every effort to be an environmentally friendly church as called by God to be good stewards of the earth. We are trying to accomplish this by reducing landfill garbage through recycle and compost options. Also, in terms of costs, for your information, our garbage rate has gone up 31% effective March 31, 2009 and is scheduled to increase again on January 1, 2010. If we continue using the same size dumpster, our annual costs between our old rate and the new rate will increase $990. If we make an effort to throw compostable items into the yellow compost cans and recyclables into the blue recycle cans instead of tossing everything into the landfill garbage cans, we could save money. If we could reduce our garbage by 25%, the increase would be $430, a savings of $660. If we could reduce our garbage by 50%, we would reduce our current cost by $130.
You can help by making an effort to throw items into the correct cans:
YELLOW CANS (compost): All plates, hot cups, waxed cold cups, utensils, napkins, paper towels supplied by Blaine are compostable along with food waste.
BLUE CANS (recycle): Newspaper, mixed paper, aluminum/metal cans, plastic bottles (no lids), glass bottles/jars, flattened cardboard boxes, juice boxes, round dairy tubs, paper or frozen food boxes, milk cartons and bagged plastic bags.
ALL OTHER COLOR CANS (landfill): Plastic wrap, soiled foil, cellophane bags, bottle lids/caps, styrofoam containers, packing peanuts, bathroom trash.
When bringing food items to church, use compostable and recyclable containers or containers that can be brought back home.
We are going to be very intentional in our waste management here at Blaine and we need everyone’s cooperation to see that this works….Thank you for your part in making this happen!!
2009 BENEFIT BAZAAR AND 2010 SUKIYAKI RECIPIENT REQUEST
The Mission and Outreach Team is in the process of selecting appropriate recipients to receive portions of the 2009 Benefit Bazaar and the 2010 Sukiyaki proceeds. In Oct 2008, 50% of the Benefit Bazaar proceeds went to the Katanga sustainable agriculture project in Africa. In March 2009, 50% of the Sukiyaki proceeds went to two local Food Banks. Remainder of the proceeds from both events goes into the Blaine General Fund. If you would like to submit a suggested organization or ministry as a recipient, please contact Pam Yorozu (206-870-8126) or Rev. Kathleen (206-723-1536) with the nomination along with the reasons why you think it would make a worthy Benefit Bazaar or Sukiyaki recipient. All suggestions should be turned in by TODAY!
TSUGUO IKEDA IS SEARCHING
Tsuguo loaned his Masters Thesis on the Duzzers to someone some time ago and would like to have it returned. Please call him if you have any information on its whereabouts, 206-725-4556. Thank you!