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 January 11, 2012
of Ridgefield Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church
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Annual Congregational Meeting Called
Session has called the annual congregational meeting for Sunday, January 22, 2012, at 9:30am. The purpose of the meeting shall be to receive the annual reports from the Pastors, the Session and Deacon Boards, the teams, and the Treasurer. An election shall be held for Elders for the Class of 2014, for the 2012 Nominating Committee, and for the 2012 Audit Committee. The 2012 annual budget will be reviewed and terms of call for the pastoral staff approved.
(Worship services will be at 8:30 & 11am only today.) | |
Wake Up with
Brewed Awakenings
Your Fellowship Committee had SO MUCH FUN providing cappuccinos, latte’s, smoothies and chai tea at our last “Brewed Awakenings” that we want to do it all again on January 15 between 9:30 and 11:00am in Fellowship Hall. You are also invited to participate in the “Wired Word” (adult discussion group) which will be occupying the sofas in Fellowship Hall. We promise to WAKE YOU UP!
 Book Sale!
Do you have books you don’t really need, taking up space on shelves, in stacks, or just lying around?
Do you ever wish you could just donate some books to a good cause?
Do you love browsing books and taking home something new and interesting?
Well do we have an opportunity for you!?!?!?!
Drop off your book donations in the Fellowship Hall near the Prayer Wall by Wednesday January 18th. Then, between January 22nd and 29th, browse all those awesome donations and buy a new book or two or ten! All the proceeds from this used book sale go to our youth ministry.
 Pancake Time!
Come to church hungry on January 22nd, because our youth group will be cooking up pancakes to satisfy your hunger and your desire to donate to their summer serving-and-learning trip to North Carolina.
Bible Study for Parents
If your kids live at home—whether they’re 3 months old or 20 years old—you’re invited to a Bible study with other parents! We’ll meet at 6:30pm on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month, beginning January 16th.
 Save the Date
Saturday, February 11 at 6:00pm
Chili Cook-Off and Game Night!
Here’s your chance to show off your award-winning chili recipe and have some winter family fun!! More details coming soon...
 Souper Bowl of Caring!
February 5
It’s time for the Super Bowl. . . which means it’s also time for the Souper Bowl, when we remember that as we have our parties and stuff ourselves with junk food and watch a game that costs millions of dollars to put on, there are people who have nowhere to go, little or nothing to eat, and need our help. Please bring your donations of canned food for the Crystal Lake Food Pantry on Sunday, February 5! Our youth will be collecting these donations DURING WORSHIP. Last year we raised $675 for the PADS lunch program as well as collecting 530 food items for the Crystal Lake Food Pantry. This year we hope to help feed 100 hungry families in our area. Don’t know what to bring? Check out the Food Pantry’s website for a list of their 20 most needed items. Thanks!
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Adult Education Opportunity: Wired Word
The Wired Word discussion group continues to meet at 9:30am in Fellowship Hall on the sofas. You can still sign up to receive future topics via email every Thursday by calling the church office or sending an email to admin@rclpc.org. Please feel free to join us at any time for great conversation and fellowship.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Interfaith Prayer Breakfast
Join us at D’Andrea’s at 7:30am on January 16 for a breakfast buffet, some great music, an opportunity to get to know our neighbors, and to hear this year’s speaker, Dr. Ronald Beauchamp. Tickets are available from the RCLPC office for $20 each, or $15 for teens.
People in Need Forum
Saturday, January 28, 2012
8:30am - 12:30pm
Registration and
Continental Breakfast at 8:00am
For more information, see flyer. (PDF)
Who Should Attend?
Human Service Agencies
Faith-Based Organizations
Civic Group Members
County, Township, Municipal elected officials and employees
Individuals interested in resources to help people in need
Youth News
High School, January 29th, noon:
PADwiches! We’re responsible for making lunches for those who stay in our local shelter. Please come help with this important mission—
at noon in the kitchen!
 SPIRIT Newsletter Deadlines
Please remember to get your Spirit news articles into the church office by the Friday before the Wednesday issue. Email your articles to Kim at admin@rclpc.org.
| Deadline | Issue Date |
| February 3 | February 8 |
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Valentine Bake Sale!
Need some goodies for yourself or your sweetheart?
The High School Youth can help!
Look for the Valentine Bake Sale on Sunday, February 12th. This is always a great selection of home-baked yumminess, from cookies to muffins to cupcakes to pies. Indulge your sweet tooth and support our youth ministry at the same time!
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WEAVE: spirit2Spirit
We’re all very busy—sometimes so busy we can barely think straight, let alone make time for traditional spiritual disciplines. But finding ways to connect with God is important! Maybe we use those practices that disciples have been using for thousands of years, or maybe we create new ways to nurture our spirituality. The important thing is that we connect our spirits to God’s.
Join us on Wednesday evenings after dinner (so, around 6:45pm) as Pastor Teri leads us in an exploration of spirituality, prayer, and practices old and new. Whether you’re far along your spiritual journey or new to the idea of spiritual practices other than folding your hands and bowing your head, come learn and share together as we seek to deepen our relationship with God. See you Wednesdays! |
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Thanks!
After many years of service on the Crystal Lake Food Pantry Board as well as coordinating our monthly volunteer efforts at the Food Pantry, Nancy Vazzano has decided it’s time to step down. We owe Nancy a great deal of appreciation for what she has done representing our church on behalf of people who are in crisis in our community. Nancy’s words and actions for God’s people in need are examples for all of us to follow. We know Nancy will continue to speak up on behalf of hungry and hurting people. Thank you, Nancy. And thank you, MJ Towne, for stepping up to succeed Nancy on the Board as our church representative as well as coordinate our service day at the Food Pantry each month. The Food Pantry continues to need our support with volunteers and donations of money and food items. ~ Mission Outreach Ministry Team
Mission Outreach Ministry
Care for Children Overseas
Student Sponsorship Program
Our church began providing financial support for three young women at Fairhaven School in Alexandria, Egypt, in 2008. Fairhaven is the special school for youth with disabilities that was started by our sister church, El Saray. Then last year we joined with Colegio Americano in Colombia to begin sponsoring children in their Presbyterian School. Our goal is to continue to sponsor the three
students at Fairhaven: Sara, Randa, and Safaa, and four students at Colegio Americano: Alvaro, Daniel, Wendy and Andres.
Monthly tuition, room and board per student is approximately $150 per month for the eleven-month school year at Fairhaven, and $56 per month for the ten-month school year at Colegio Americano. This is the only time in 2012 we will come to the congregation to ask for your financial support in sponsoring these young people. Our scholarship year runs January - December.
Thank you for helping us reach out in love and support to these young people in need at Fairhaven and Colegio Americano. Mission Outreach Ministry Team
If you would like to financially support the “Care for Children Overseas” program through a ___ One-Time contribution of $_________; ___ Monthly contribution of $________; or ___ Quarterly contribution of $__________ , please fill out pledge form that can be found in the church office.
Contributions will go into the general “Care for Children Overseas” fund,
unless you specify a preference. Please make checks payable to RCLPC and designate “student sponsorship” in the memo line. The completed form can be turned in to the church office.
Thank-you Letter from the Family Health Partnership Clinic
Dear Joy and the whole congregation of Presbyterian Ridgefield Crystal Lake Church:
Thank you so much for the donations of supplies and medications for our patients as well as supplies for the running of the Clinic. Since many of our patients are unable to purchase needed medical supplies themselves, we can do so with the generosity of groups such as yours.
We also appreciate the wonderful donation of food. We certainly do not want to take the place of the food pantries and the work of the food bank, but we often find patients who need emergency food assistance. Your generosity can help us fill that need.
Thank you for being such wonderful supporters of the Clinic and for continuing to keep us and the people we serve in your prayers. You have made a big difference in the lives of the people we serve, and we truly appreciate that.
May you have a blessed Christmas, and may the beauty of the season live in your hearts all year.
Sincerely,Suzanne Hoban, MPH
Executive Director
Year-End Report on Hunger Legislation in 2011
We at RCLPC write letters together once each year on behalf of hungry people, both near and far. Often we have little idea if we have any impact. Here are some of the successes achieved for hungry people in 2011:
- In August the Budget Control Act, which mandates over $2 trillion in deficit reduction, exempted many programs critical to poor people in the United States.
- In November Congress approved the fiscal year 2012 agriculture budget, maintaining funds for international food aid. Cuts proposed earlier in the year would have removed 14 million people from food aid rations.
- The remaining fiscal year 2012 funding made no drastic cuts for poverty-focused assistance -- $21.3 billion compared to $21.4 billion in 2011.
- The fiscal year 2012 budget ensures funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and for a program that provides food assistance to poor senior citizens.
- In December Congress granted a two-month extension of unemployment benefits for nearly two million Americans, preventing many from being pushed into hunger.
These are remarkable achievements, especially for the faith groups that formed a circle of protection around programs that help hungry and poor people. Our personal letters, e-mails, phone calls, and visits to legislators do matter. The next Offering of Letters will take place early this year on February 19. We thank God for the continuing commitment of people here to God’s people in need. ~ Mission Team
Please save the dates! March 23 for
Compassion Peace and Justice Training Day
“Presbyterians and Economic Justice”
New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, Washington, DC
Come join the Office of Public Witness and all the ministries of Compassion Peace and Justice in a training day in Washington, DC. Participants will have a full day of practical church based training and investigate the role Christians must play in today’s changing society - particularly on issues of economic justice. Topics for plenaries and workshops will include faith-based community organizing, practical tools for simple living, justice as discipleship making, social responsibility through investing, and many more! Stay tuned for more information. On-line registration coming soon!
March 23-26 – Ecumenical Advocacy Days
“Is this the Fast I Seek? – Economy, Livelihood, and Our National Priorities”
Come to the 10th annual EAD, March 23-26, 2012, in Washington, DC where we will explore economy, livelihood and our national priorities through the lens of Isaiah 58. Join other Christians in seeking a global economy and a national budget that break the yokes of injustice, poverty, hunger and unemployment throughout the world — heeding Isaiah's call to become "repairers of the breach and restorers of streets to live in." In a global economy based on scarcity, corporate greed, and individualism, we will seek God's alternative vision for global community: one that breaks the chains of injustice and creates the possibility of a sustainable livelihood with dignity for all, thus living into a reality of God's abundance. Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Come to "Is This the Fast I Seek?," EAD's Tenth Anniversary Celebration, March 23-26, 2012 in Washington, DC and help shape our national priorities! For more information go to www.advocacydays.org
Electronics Banned from Landfills - Jan. 1 2012
Beginning January 1, it will no longer be legal for individuals to dispose of unwanted electronics in their regular trash. Discarded electronics, including computers, monitors, electronic keyboards, scanners, fax machines and many other electronic devices, must now be taken to a registered recycler for proper management. It will be illegal for the consumer to dispose of them in the trash and it will be illegal for Illinois landfills to accept them.
This newest phase will include individual citizens in the effort to keep electronics, which contain a variety of potentially toxic contaminants, out of the state’s 48 active landfills. A 2007 report showed that electronic products were the fastest growing portion of the solid waste stream. That year, three million tons of electronic products became obsolete, yet only 14 percent of those products were recycled. During calendar year 2011, electronics manufacturers are being required to collect and recycle or refurbish more than 28 million pounds of products. The reuse of these products, including metals, plastics and glass, conserves natural resources and saves energy.
The law requires manufacturers of 17 electronic products, including televisions, computers, monitors, printers, keyboards, and DVRs, to recycle their percentage of a statewide recycling goal. Manufacturers typically hire local recyclers to help them meet their goal. The metals, which include gold, cadmium, lead and silver, if landfilled can threaten groundwater. When the metals are reused, it eliminates some of the need for mining for new supplies and can also be valuable resources when reclaimed.
The Illinois EPA maintains a web site at: http://www.epa.state.il.us/land/electronic-waste-recycling/index.html, which explains requirements for individuals and for manufacturers, a list of registered collectors, as well as a complete listing of all electronic items. Also, Electronics information can be found in the McHenry County Green Guide www.mchenry.edu/recycling
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