Saint Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church

HONORING OUR VETS

Please join us for the annual Memorial Day Service on May 27th when we honor all those members of St. Paul who have or are currently serving in the military.  If you are a vet, please make sure to give your military information to our Church Secretary, Cathy Groelle, if you were not included last year or if the information has changed since last year.  Information may include your name, rank, years of service and unit.

ASCENSION DAY SERVICE 

 This year the Manitowoc County Cluster of ELCA churches will be holding the annual joint Ascension Day Service on Saturday, May 19.  In addition to the choirs from all the churches     performing for the service will be a dinner served at the church.  Each church is responsible for a different part of the dinner.  St. Paul is responsible for salads.  The event will take place on  Saturday, May 19 at Gloria Dei Church in New Holstein.  Dinner is at 5:00 pm with the  service beginning at 6:30 pm.  Please mark this on your calendar.  We need to know the number of people attending the dinner - a sign up sheet will be provided.  Even if you can't join us for dinner, come and support the choir and enjoy the beautiful worship service this day provides. 

RUMMAGE SALE

Mark your calendars now and start thinking about doing some spring cleaning!  If your drawers,  closets, basements, and garages need a clean out,  save your items for the St. Paul rummage sale which is being planned for Friday, May 18 (8:00-5:00) and Saturday, May 19 (8:00 until noon).   We will have a pre-sale on Thurs. May 17th after our  regular service. Items can be dropped off during the day from Monday to Thursday (May 14-17). Volunteers will be needed throughout the week beginning on Monday, May 14.  Please consider helping out.  There will be a sign-up sheet as we get closer to spring.

 The Altar Guild is very appreciative of people who sign up to sponsor altar flowers on any given Sunday or holiday and is urging people to continue this practice.  On the dates when no one has signed up, the Altar Guild sponsors them.  This is not necessarily bad, but is causing us to be low on funds.

At the present time the flower chart is located in the secretary’s office.  A new chart for 2012 will soon be available.  Please consider being a sponsor.

 If you do sponsor flowers on any given date, the Altar Guild will assume that you will pick them up after church or within a day or two.  If for some reason you won’t be picking them up, please notify the church office so that we can make other arrangements.

Thank you for supporting the Altar Guild.

Wendy Reed, Altar Guild President

Fair Trade Coffee For Sale:

The WOW Group is selling Fair Trade Coffee.  This is not a fundraiser, but a service     project through Lutheran World Relief.  The cost of the coffee for sale is $6.00 per 12 oz. bag and by making this purchase you are making a difference in someone’s life!  The WOW Group has been purchasing Fair Trade Coffee for the congregation to use at all church events.

Why Fair Trade Coffee?

Behind items that we consume every day (coffee, tea and chocolate to name a few) are farmers struggling to survive and support their families. Living in poor, rural regions of the world where paved roads and internet access are rare, small-scale farmers who produce these items do not have their pick of buyers.  In conventional trade, middlemen take        advantage of this and pay unfairly low prices—prices that do not even cover farmers’ costs and leave them no money for nutritious food, medicine, clothes or education. Children are forced to work instead of attending school.

Fair Trade is a way of doing business that acknowledges the worth and basic human rights of all people. When you buy Fair Trade items, more of the money you spend reaches the hands of the people who crafted them.