A pr `13 - United Presbyterian Church

Capital Campaign for Renovation
The vestry is most grateful for the
commitment shown in making the muchneeded repairs and enhancements to our
worship space and is pleased to report
that pledges met the campaign’s goal. The
renovation project is nearing completion,
with only a few minor improvements and
repairs still to come.
As of the end of February, we had received
almost 70% of capital campaign pledges. We
are still awaiting $273,000 in pledged support.
Stewardship 2013
To launch the 2013 stewardship drive last fall,
the Vestry carefully prepared a document,
“Sound Finance,” outlining the cost pressures
the parish is facing and showing the level of
giving needed to cover fundamental expenses.
It explained that pledging by far represents
the bulk of the parish’s revenue stream and
affords the strongest assurance that we will be
able to cover expenses and maintain crucial
programs. We calculated that we needed to
increase pledges by about 9% for 2013 in order
to limit withdrawals from our endowment
and thus preserve it for the future. The
report also noted that there are virtually no
discretionary expenses to cut should pledges
and income fall short.
To date, stewardship chairs Jeff and
Victoria Maggard are happy to report that
65 households increased their pledges from
2012 and that 25 new pledges were received,
including those from new families. Out of
total pledges, however, we received 26 fewer
from last year, which represents a nearly
$50,000 gap in expected pledge income.
Despite fiscal pressures we and so many
other institutions face, we are a blessed
community, and the vestry is deeply
appreciative of your continued support.
Although early pledging helps us to plan
responsibly for the coming year, know that it
is never too late to pledge, and we still hope to
hear from some of you who have yet to do so.
—Cynthia Taleb, Senior Warden
Rector’s Letter . . . . . . . . . . 2
Curate’s Column . . . . . . . . 4
Learning Differences
Expo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Progressive Dinner . . . . . . 7
ECW Trip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Amy Jaswal: Good News . 9
Afganistan Message . . . . 10
Youth Calendars . . . . . . . . 11
Scouts at San Andres . . . 14
…and more
Adult Forum
Please join us after coffee
hour in the Chapter
Room on Sunday, Apr. 21
for an Adult Forum
featuring Rick Hamlin,
the Guideposts executive
editor. Rick has just
published a book entitled
10 Prayers You Can’t Live
Without: How To Talk
To God About Anything.
He will be leading a
discussion regarding
prayer as an ongoing
conversation with God.
St. John's Church
D
uring its retreat in early February,
the vestry reflected thankfully on
the spirit of generosity that has been
evident in parishioner support in the past
year. Just over a year ago, St. John’s launched
the capital campaign that has resulted in the
splendid renovation of our worship space,
and this effort was followed by the annual
stewardship drive in November. We are
pleased with the overall response and think
you will appreciate knowing where we stand
as the year gets underway.
Inside—
4 Fountain Square
Larchmont, NY 10538
Phone (914) 834–2981
E-mail [email protected]
www.stjohnslarchmont.org
St. John’s Stewardship: How are we doing?
Apr ’13
ChimeS
PRSRT STD
US Postage
paid
White Plains, NY
Permit No. 4304
Message to the Parish
Dear Friends,
Is our church “life-affirming”? What do you
think?
Newsletter of
St. John’s Church
Editor/Designer
Bruce Baiter
Rector
Rev. Thomas E. Nicoll
Curate
Rev. N. Chase Danford
Priest Associate
Rev. Dorothy A. Greene
Director of Music
Dr. Paul-Martin Maki
Director of
Christian Education
Debra Quintana
Parish Administator
Laura Rawlings Parent
Parish Secretary
Joan Saunders
Sexton
Carlos Ortiz
Wardens
Cynthia Taleb
Dave Ingram
Vestry
Nelson Fitts
Sanjiv Jaswal
Victoria Maggard
Wendy McFee
Sally Noone
Dorothy Rainier
Stan Ramsay
James Sheker
Aaron Simpson
Scott Swanezy
Lucy Yocum
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| Chimes April 2013
It seems so to me. The words spoken in the
liturgy, preached in our pulpit and taught in
our classes proclaim that creation is good,
that life is a miraculous gift, that the love of
the Creator is deeper and more powerful
finally than human moral confusion and
self-absorption, that by the amazing gift of
God we are being called to share God’s eternal life, are being given
the capacity to know how we are obstructing and frustrating it, and
to desire and to choose to embrace mercy and forgiveness. We get
together to rejoice, as a community, in the whole creation, and to
remember in love all whose lives are diminished by physical, moral,
emotional or political corruption, pathology or dysfunction.
Our church sings of the incalculable worth of each human life and
calls us to recognize that worth even in the lives of those who do
us harm. It says that we are called to be a part of a project to bring
about a sharing in the divine life by all and that, regardless of the
past wrongs and mistakes of anyone, he or she need not be bound
by that past. The church teaches that to see ourselves as mere
“consumers” is to undervalue human life profoundly. It says that we
are capable of transcending selfishness by worshiping the One who
is love and the source of all, and by joining in his mission to bring
God’s love to bear on all human life.
The truth of all of this exploded into the world in the events
and experiences of Good Friday and the Resurrection. We are,
admittedly, still beginners in learning to take it all in. It gives
us reason to hope and to celebrate, even in the face of the most
difficult and dark stages in our life journeys. Happy Easter!
I am thinking about this because another poll just came out
showing more growth in the percentage of our population that
describes itself as indifferent to religion. Some news commentators
were explaining this trend by saying that most of these “nones”
were actually spiritual but not religious, and that they were
rejecting churches and other houses of worship because they were
not life-affirming, and that they were rejecting not God, but merely
religious institutions.
Mission Statement:
So, some questions: is the proclamation outlined in the first two
paragraphs above religious? Is it spiritual? Does it become religious
and less spiritual when a group of people decides to gather, sharing
this hope and vision, and to support one another in learning to live
by this vision of reality? Does it become problematically religious
when they agree to ways of celebrating it together and then do so?
When they own a building? Christians have always known and said
that religion can be good or bad. Is making that distinction too
much trouble for the “nones”? What are the characteristics of the
“God” or “power” that the “spiritual but not religious” believe in,
and how did they come by that knowledge?
As usual, I would be interested in your thoughts.
Here’s a thought from Christian Wiman from his book Ambition
and Survival: Becoming a Poet that seems relevant and that may
speak to some of you:
To have faith in a religion, any religion, is to accept at some
primary level that its particular language of words and symbols
says something true about reality. This doesn’t mean that the
words and symbols are reality (that’s fundamentalism), nor
that you will ever master those words and symbols well enough
to regard reality as some fixed thing. What it does mean,
though, is that you can “no more be religious in general than
[you] can speak language in general” (George Lindbeck), and
that the only way to deepen your knowledge and experience of
ultimate divinity is to deepen your knowledge and experience
of the all-too-temporal symbols and language of a particular
religion. Lindbeck would go so far as to say that your religion of
origin has such a bone-deep hold on you that, as with a native
language, it’s your only hope for true religious fluency. I wouldn’t
go that far, but I would say that one has to submit to symbols
and language that may be inadequate in order to have those
inadequacies transcended.
Yours, in the light of the Risen Christ, whose life-affirming spirit
leads us to transcend our inadequacies,
St. John's is a family called by Christ
to grow spiritually, to share our life
with others, and to make His love known
through word and deed.
St. John’s Church is a parish of
the Diocese of New York, a branch of the
Episcopal Church in the United States,
which is a member of the worldwide
Anglican Communion.
The Anglican Communion
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Most Rev. and Rt. Hon. Justin Welby
A global community of
70 million Anglicans in
64,000 congregations in
70 countries
The Episcopal Church
Presiding Bishop
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
A community of
2.4 million members in
113 dioceses in the Americas
and abroad
The Episcopal Diocese
of New York
Bishop of New York
The Rt. Rev. Andrew M. L. Dietsche
Assistant Bishop
The Rt. Rev. Andrew Smith
A community of 203
congregations covering
4,739 square miles, with
approximately 600 priests
and 72 deacons, and where
the Eucharist is celebrated
every week in 14 languages:
American Sign Language,
Bontoc, Chinese, Creole,
English, French, Ga, Igbo,
Japanese, Korean, Malayalan,
Spanish, Tagalog, and Tamil
Chimes April 2013 |
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April Birthdays
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Mary-Louise Baumbach
Cristin Ohlandt
Alec Steers
Jeffrey Hechler
Leon Schwendener
Maria Hastie
Lucy Yocum
Janet Schaefer
Kara Brennan
Erika Bucci
Gretchen Masssey
Barbara Gessler
Victor Odouard
Peter Braham
Tracey Brown
Shannon Simpson
John Campbell
Kenneth McCallion Jr.
Glenna Gray
Lucy Moore
Liz Albeck
John Wahrhaftig
Kiernan Gallaher
Ryan Thomson
Daniel Fuss
John Maggard
Grace Bogan
Adel Abadir
Blake Baucom
Colleen Baucom
Grace Matelich
Abigail Hall
Margy Sheker
Alexander Lubben
Luke Swanezy
Ann Hiden
Leigh Garry
Courtney Sawyer
Christopher Knowles
Alex Buly
Jack Holland
Marcel Merchant
Dave Wahrhaftig
Patricia Schulz-Heik
Morgan Robinson
Fred Northrup
Simon Cantwell
Rowan Hewson
Amy Jaswal
Bart George
Olivia Anne Crocker
Jordan Isidori
David Gill
Julia Blanchard
Evangeline Burckin
Charlotte Clapp
Evangeline Clapp
Abigail Bennitt
Juliette Kvernland
Johannes Albeck
Kaitlin Spiridellis
Blake James
| Chimes April 2013
Curate’s Column
Confirmation Service Trip
F
rom Friday, Mar. 15 through Saturday, Mar. 16, our six confirmation
students participated in the New York City-based Youth Service
Opportunities Project, an event that has been a component of the youth
confirmation program at St. John’s for many years. The participants were William
Larkin, Victor Odouard, Matthew Okay, Nathaniel Sheehan, Axel Steinmetz, and
Anthony Varbaro. Buff Kizer volunteered as our second adult sponsor.
We arrived at YSOP, housed near Union Square at the Friends (Quaker)
Meeting House and Friends Seminary complex, mid-afternoon and were given an
orientation to the program and to some issues surrounding homelessness by the
program’s associate director. Later in the evening, our students and participants
from the Friends Meeting of Poplar Ridge, NY (with whom we had served last
year as well) and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Montclair, NJ
prepared dinner for our groups and for the dozen or so homeless guests who were
invited to join us. While dinner cooked in the oven, the students and chaperones
played games and talked with the homeless men who had joined us from the
Doe Fund’s “Ready, Willing, and Able” program. The men ranged in age from
twenty-one to mid-fifties. I think our students were surprised at how similar
they were to the youngest men in the group from the Doe Fund, even though
most of the participants in the program had been incarcerated (many for drug
offenses) and are looking to turn their lives around. One gentleman, who had only
recently reentered society after many years, talked about having been made fun
of earlier in the day when he tried to learn how to use a computer. He came into
dinner distraught but had his spirits lifted by playing games with the St. John’s
contingent. He was so amazed at how his day had ended that he went and called
his mother on the simple cell phone that he had acquired and just learned to use.
After game time, students served dinner to our guests and then themselves.
Conversations continued over dinner and dessert, and then it was time for our
guests to depart. There is a homeless shelter housed at the Friends/YSOP complex,
but dinner guests do not stay overnight at that shelter so that they do not become
too familiar with the minors participating in the program. Shelter guests are
served meals by students participating in day-long programs.
A
fter dinner, we were presented with information on homelessness
in New York City by a dynamic young woman working for the Brooklynbased CAMBA organization. This was followed by a group reflection, led
by YSOP staff, about the evening’s events and an introduction to the next day’s
work. That night we slept on the floor in the building (girls in the Meeting House
itself and boys in an upstairs music classroom). It was not the best night’s sleep for
anyone!
Saturday morning, we woke up early, ate a simple cold breakfast, and were
broken up into groups to go to different social service sites in various boroughs
(none in Manhattan). The St. John’s group traveled nearly an hour on the L train
to New Lots Avenue in Brownsville, Brooklyn, near East Flatbush. Brownsville is
a terribly economically depressed neighborhood of nearly 120,000 people, only
28 percent of whom have a high school diploma. The median household income is
$16,000. During our fifteen minute walk from the subway to the site we would be
serving, I could see that our students were a little uncomfortable. I was actually a
little uncomfortable too, and I’ve been to a lot of “bad neighborhoods.” We arrived
at the Hope Center, a ministry of a Church of God congregation, where we were
given plastic aprons, gloves, and hairnets, and put into the serving rotation for
Parish Register
Births
lunch. The volunteers from the church had cooked a delicious Jamaican meal of
salmon, rice and lentils, and vegetables which was accompanied by a generous
amount of bread donated by grocery chains. Soup kitchens have come a long way
from serving, well, soup and not very tasty bread, and volunteers put a lot of care
into cooking nutritious, flavorful meals for their guests. We served almost two
hundred for lunch. Two of our students, along with me, were also taken across the
street the serve at the church’s food pantry.
After lunch had been served and we had cleaned up a bit, we trekked back to
YSOP. It had started snowing, and by the time we got to Union Square, the snow
was fairly heavy. We decided to head back before the final reflection because of the
weather, but we had a good discussion on the train ride back to Larchmont. We all
agreed that the trip was a great learning experience. Despite the inconveniences
of the weekend (sleeping on the floor, for example), the YSOP trip is one of the
highlights of the St. John’s program year for me, and I am grateful to Buff, Will,
Victor, Matt, Nattie, Axel, and Anthony for being a part of the experience.
Charles Michael Braham,
son of
Katherine and Geoffrey Braham,
grandson of Suzan and Tim Wood
Veronica Grace Quinn,
daughter of
Katharine and John Quinn,
granddaughter of Deirdre Corwin
Alexander Harvey Wood,
son of
Rebecca and Christopher Wood,
grandson of Tim and Suzan Wood
Deaths
Jacobo Ackermann,
father of Ruby Engel
Ortwin Meyer,
long time parishioner
Laura Rodgers,
grandmother of Dusty Gray
St. Cecilia’s
Children’s Choir
St. John’s Nursery School
The St. Cecilia’s choir, directed by Jmel
Wilson, is a special and easy way for our
children to enjoy a choir experience
without a large commitment. St. Cecilia’s
choir is open to students in kindergarten
through 2nd grade. Rehearsals are held
directly after the 10:00 am liturgy in the
nave, beginning on Apr. 7 (the Sunday
following Easter). Rehearsals continue
on Apr. 14, 21, 28 and May 5, 12, 19, 26. The
choir rehearses one selection which is
sung at the 10:00 am liturgy on June 2. For
more information, please contact Debra
Quintana ([email protected]) or
834–2981, ext 18).
Sunday Babysitting
Babysitting is offered for children up to
age 3 during the 10:00 am liturgy as well
as babysitting for infants. If you want
to attend the 10:00 am Sunday liturgy
but feel reluctant leaving your infant in
the regular babysitting room, we offer
a separate babysitting area especially
for infants. Please check in with the
nursery babysitting on the 2nd floor for
directions. For more information, contact
Debra Quintana, Director of Christian
Education (834–2981, ext 18 or
[email protected]).
Morning 3's enjoy bird watching with their binoculars as they
patiently wait for visitors to arrive at the window feeder!
Chimes April 2013 |
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Join Us!
April 13, 2013
Let It
Shine
Insights, Education and Exploration of
ADD/ADHD, LD, Aspergers, and Other
Learning Differences
An informative expo of seminars, kid activities and
guest speakers, designed to empower kids, help
families, faculty and community providers uncover and
identify the needs & unique capabilities of students
with learning differences, behavioral challenges, and
and the special gifts they have to give.
Walter Panas High School
Croton Avenue
Cortlandt Manor, NY
11AM to 3PM
Free and Open to the Public
Bring Your Kids!
Adult Speakers and Hands-On
Activities for the Kids!
For more information:
Melissa Smith
[email protected]
914-739-2306 ext 505
Your Local School Social Worker/
Psychologist/Guidance Department
Yorktown Houses of Worship
Design services provided by and © 2013, SJV | NY Design
[email protected]
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| Chimes April 2013
Guest Speakers:
Dr. Kristy Vanacore
An experienced and caring Clinical Child Psychologist and
Educational Advocate devoted to improving the quality of life
for children and families facing learning/educational, behavioral,
developmental, emotional, and social challenges. As an
Advocate, Dr. Vanacore facilitates partnerships between schools
and families to best support the needs of children and teens.
www.kmvgroup.org
Jesse A. Saperstein
A best-selling author, autism advocate and motivational speaker.
He is considered one of the most respected leaders in the
Anti-Bullying movement of his generation. Jesse also has a
form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome (AS) which impairs
individual by a profound lack of social skills, common sense,
and resistance to change in routine.
www.jessesaperstein.com
Dr. Martin Kutscher
Dr. Kutscher has more than 20 years of experience diagnosing
and treating families affected by ADHD, autistic spectrum,
learning tics, and other neurobehavioral disorders. He has
published five books including: Organizing the Disorganized
Child, ADHD: Living without Brakes, Kids in the Syndrome Mix of
ADHD, LD, Asperger’s, Tourette’s, and ADHD Book: Living Right
Now!. Dr. Kutscher is informative, empathetic, and humorous!
www.kidsbehavioralneurology.com.
Sponsored by:
Lakeland Central School District SEPTA,
Lakeland Pupil Personnel Department,
St. Mary’s Church,
Episcopal Charities All Our Children Community Grant
A Yorktown Interfaith Clergy Association “Save-A-Life” Event
Progressive Dinner
Please join us for the St. John’s biannual progressive
dinner on Saturday, Apr. 20. All participants will convene
at 6:00 for a social hour at the home of Lisa Young, 14 N.
Chatsworth Ave., Apt. 6E (entrance on Murray, park at the
railroad station deck). During this time, you will receive
your house assignment. Then you will “progress” to your
assigned house, where you will have a delicious dinner
with eight to ten other parishioners. Diners at every house
will eat the same meal, which ECW members will prepare
and deliver fully cooked before dinner.
If you want to volunteer or have
questions, please contact Janet O’Connell (834–1636 or
[email protected]).
To RSVP, please send your check for $45 per person, payable
to St. John’s Episcopal Church, and the names of those
attending to:
Diane Goodman
64 Grove Ave.
Larchmont, NY 10538
Names___________________________________________
___________________________________________
___________________________________________
___________________________________________
Phone___________________________________________
E-mail___________________________________________
Chimes April 2013 |
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Join us on the Annual ECW trip
to
Holy Innocents Church
in Highland Falls, NY
and
The West Point Chapel
Wednesday, April 10
9:15 am–2:00 pm
Visit with former curate, Judy Ferguson
RSVP [email protected] or 834–2981
$15 per person.
Please bring your lunch
and a driver’s license or government photo ID
Save the Date!
ECW Women’s Dinner will be June 26
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| Chimes April 2013
Good News
Teddy Bellis, co-captain of the Mamaroneck varsity hockey
team, received the prestigious Con Edison Athlete of the
Week award in January. Teddy was nominated by his coach,
Michael Chiapparelli. The award is given to a student who
excels athletically and academically, shows leadership and
citizenship and participates in school and community
activities. He is one of only 37 students in the combined
Westchester and Putnam County area to receive the award
this year.
In addition to being a key player and captain of the
hockey team, Teddy also is an accomplished violinist and
saxophonist. He has been named Area All State and All
County in both instruments four times by the New York
State School Music Association. He is a member of the
Mamaroneck High School Jazz Band, which recently was
honored for its 10th year of performing at the Berklee
College of Music High School Jazz Festival, one of the
largest jazz festivals in the U.S.
The Westchester Chapter of Room to Read hosted “An
Evening with John Wood” at the Emelin Theatre on Feb. 28
to celebrate the release of his book Creating Room to Read:
A Story of Hope in the Battle for Global Literacy. Broadcast
journalist and TV anchor Kiran Chetry interviewed John
on stage about his book, as well as how he began his nonprofit, Room to Read, and turned it into an award-winning
organization. Over 150 people attended this special event.
Carolyn Gallaher, who teaches at The Ursuline School
during the school year, will be spending July teaching in
Ghana through the organization Pro World. Pro World
places teachers and community volunteers in sites around
the world with which they have relationships. Carolyn
will live with a local family and teach English as a second
language in a local school or as a teacher’s assistant to help
with the large class sizes. Afterwards she plans to travel and
enjoy a week in Marrakesh. When she returns she is looking
forward to using her hands-on knowledge about Africa in
Ursuline’s Global 10 Honors curriculum.
On Mar. 2, Emily Jaswal, Rosa Sophia Kaminski, and
Katharina Plath-Nourry performed at Carnegie Hall in
the Larchmont Music Academy’s Honor Student Solo and
Ensemble Concert. Emily played viola with the Academy
Symphonia String Choir, and Rosa Sophia played flute
in the ensemble, Cocoa Crescendo, and also, along with
Katharina, performed with the Academy Flute Choir.
Last summer, Ilina Odouard spent a month in Rwanda
helping with the construction of a new disabled children’s
center in Nyamata and spent time with its members. It was
a very emotional experience because all of the children
were severely disabled and were not able to speak English
or Kinyarwanda (the official Rwandan language). However,
Ili found her time working with the children profoundly
inspiring and life-changing. She also traveled around
Rwanda, helped out in schools and visited with the locals.
Upon her return, she organized a club at Mamaroneck High
School called Muraho Rwanda (“Hello, Rwanda”) to help
raise funds for a group that aids widows and orphans who
were victimized in the Rwanda genocide which took place
in 1994. She hopes to continue to raise awareness about
Rwanda and aid in its progress following the genocide. Ili
was also featured on the cover of the summer issue of the
magazine, Putney Student Travel.
Ellie Sawyer was selected by US Rowing for its Junior
National team winter performance camp in California.
This invitation-only camp is limited to the 22–24 top junior
male and female rowers in the U.S. She made the A-finals at
the Youth National last year, where she and her teammates
advanced to the team final and placed sixth. Ellie hopes to
make the junior national team and compete at the Junior
World Rowing Championship in Lithuania this summer.
Congratulations to Elaine Viebranz, who is now a great
grandmother! On Jan. 14, Rachel Welch gave birth to baby
girl, Emerson Mary. The father is Elaine’s grandson, Conor
Welch, who is son of Rob Welch and Gayle Viebranz Welch.
Stan Ramsay will be running on Sunday, Mar. 17 in the
NYC Half Marathon. Stan will begin the 13.1 mile course on
Central Park’s East Drive and run a clockwise loop around
the park. From there, the race takes the field along Seventh
Ave. toward Times Square and then along 42nd St. and the
West Side Highway toward the Hudson River waterfront
and into lower Manhattan, finishing just past Chambers St.
near Battery Park. Last year, over 10,000 participants ran in
the half marathon.
Sixth grader Chloe Best competed and placed in a Junior
Olympic regional diving meet at West Point on Mar. 3.
The top 6 divers on 1M and 3M springboards qualify for
USA Diving East Nationals to be held at Purdue University
Apr. 12–14. Chloe got 3rd place on 3M and 4th place on
1M, so she will compete at Purdue on both boards.
Congratulations to everyone on their wonderful news!
If you have good news about a family member or friend
at St. John’s you would like to share in the next issue of
Chimes, please email the details to Amy Jaswal
([email protected]).
Chimes April 2013 |
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Students put their artistic talents to paper and created cheerful Valentines for U.S. soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
With sincere messages of thanks and appreciation, the children spread joy half a world away. The decorated hearts
were sent to the nephew of one of our office staff who is the father of 4 little girls and serving his third overseas tour.
Message from Afghanistan
I got the package this morning and have started passing them out to some of the Soldiers I work with. I really
wanted to thank you and the kids for their time and effort in making all of those cards. They are very unique and
original. The soldiers and I really appreciated them and it definitely has brought a smile to our faces. It is always
nice and interesting to see the perspective of a child.
Thanks again for your kindness and all of your support.
Respectfully,
Edward Allen
MAJ Edward M. Allen III
XO, 864th EN BN
FOB Sharana, Afghanistan
CENTCOM Material Recovery Element
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| Chimes April 2013
—Upcoming Events—
Sunday School
Apr. 7
Apr. 14
Apr. 21
Apr. 28
May 5
May 12
May 19
May 26
June 2
June 9
Family Liturgy
Sunday School
Sunday School
Sunday School
Family Liturgy: Final Junior
Choir performance
Sunday School
Sunday School
No Sunday School:
Memorial Day Weekend
Family Liturgy: St. Cecilia’s
Choir performs
Final Day of Sunday School
and Parish Picnic
Voyagers
Apr. 3 & 17
May 1 & 15
May 22
End of year celebration dinner
Confirmation
Shannon Gallaher, Carly Brennan, Emma van den Dijssel creating
Valentines for US soldiers serving in Afganistan.
Apr. 7 5:30–6:30 pm, Sunday
parish office
Apr. 10 Wednesday, 7:15 to 8:00 pm
Undercroft
Meeting with 2014 confirmation
students and parents
Apr. 14 5:30–6:30 pm, Sunday
parish office
Apr. 21 Sunday, 5:30 to 6:30 pm
Church
Holy Eucharist for 2013 and
2014 confirmation students and
families
Apr. 21 Sunday, 6:30 to 8:00 pm
Undercroft
Dinner with 2013 confirmation
students and families (location
subject to change)
May 5 Sunday, 9:00 am
Thorne Room
Confirmation meeting with the
bishop
May 12 5:30–6:30 pm, Sunday
parish office
May 19 5:30–6:30 pm, Sunday
parish office
Jun. 2 5:30–6:30 pm, Sunday
parish office
Jun. 9 5:30–6:30 pm, Sunday
parish office
Chimes April 2013 |
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Alice Fitts, Rosalie Smith, Evelyn Fitts, Tate Simpson
Rosa Sofia Kaminski, Josephina Kaminski, Kiley Kountouras
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| Chimes April 2013
Voyagers-Eliza Crocker, Rita Edwards
Jr. Choir members Sofia & Emma Van den Dijssel celebrate after a terrific performance
at the Mar. 3 Evensong. Congratulations to them and to the other choir members: Carly
Brennan, Daisy Burckin, Lillyanne Donnelly, Isabel Mikheev, Ellen Sheker, Kiley Kountouras.
Chimes April 2013 |
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What to do during retirement?
How St. Andres Cub Scouts
became part of the answer
By Buff Kizer
T
hinking about retirement last spring, I asked Tom for the
contact information for the vicar at Iglesia San Andres, the Rev.
Yamily Bass-Choate, where St. John’s helped with a spring fix-up a
few years ago.
San Andres is a Hispanic Latino Episcopal congregation, one of many
the Episcopal Diocese of New York helps to support. San Andres is a busy,
vibrant church whose worship space
in Yonkers doubles as a community
center.
The building that occupied the
site of San Andres church was
destroyed by fire in 1981. San Andres
is now housed in a converted auto
garage—a single-story cinderblock
building with one large clean, bright
room, a kitchen, an office and a small
rotunda at the entrance. In addition
Tent setup, fall 2012
to its Episcopal liturgies conducted
in English and Spanish, outreach
ministries include a food pantry,
English classes, school-age after
school program, support group for
parents, Alcoholics Anonymous, etc.
When I inquired about a scouting
program at San Andres, the vicar
indicated that the after school
program had naturally fed a group of
scouts in the past, but there wasn’t a
After the Pledge of Allegiance—fall 2012
leader on the horizon for the fall of
2012. After visiting a few times and
speaking with the scout council, the
vicar enthusiastically endorsed our
moving ahead, so we prepared some
flyers and off we went.
The pictures accompanying this
article say it all. With the leadership
of the vicar, some great San Andres
parental and young adult support,
Classic science experiment
and a couple of San Andres’s teens
helping out, we had the critical mass to begin in September, 2012. You’ll
detect a lot of enthusiasm.
The meeting format is an opening ceremony including the scout oath,
promise, and law of the pack; American folklore or Bible story followed
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| Chimes April 2013
by scouting skills/advancement
such as compass use, knots, science
experiments (classic science
experiment: peeled hardboiled egg
drawn into a heated bottle due to a
change in pressure), “magic” tricks,
fire safety, skits (the scouts told
the Pocahontas story in costume);
games (“Steal the Bacon,” Duck/
Duck/Goose, “Simon Says,” etc.). We
Visit by the Yonkers Fire Department
conclude with scout, patriotic and
folk songs, the last two songs being
“Good Night, Cub Scouts” and the
“Scout Vesper Song”. The kids are 1st
through 5th graders coming directly
from the San Andres after-school
program to scouts, each Wednesday,
6:00 to 7:00 pm.
In February, 2013, there was a
visit by the Yonkers Fire Department
with fire safety and home/apartment
evacuation planning instruction.
Scouts learned to escape by
crawling beneath the smoke (in
the form of a sheet being waved
overhead) in the event of a fire.
Scouts and their families plus
other families came to the Ash
Wednesday liturgy conducted by
Crawling beneath the smoke
Fr. Yamily Bass-Choate following
the scout meeting.
As you can see, a great time is
had by all at our weekly gatherings.
While some of the scouts’ parents
are primarily Spanish-speaking,
all of the kids speak English very
well, and the scout meetings are
conducted in English with the
exception of some super Christmas
music we had, led by the kids in
Ash Wednesday liturgy
Spanish.
St. John’s visitors are always welcome as would be any adult or teen
volunteers who would like to assist with our San Andres dens.
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