Newsletter
North Main Street United Methodist Church
316 North Main Street, Gloversville, New York 12078
“Love Grows Here”
Church Office 518-725-7323
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2023 NEWSLETTER
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GIVING AS AN ACT OF WORSHIP
How have you experienced giving in either your local church or other churches? For me, I’ve experienced the passing of the plate, a basket at the back of the sanctuary, online QR codes or, sometimes, nothing at all. Sometimes we just rely on people to contribute as they feel called to do.
Did you know that the original offering in churches was not about money? It was about offering of self. Why? Because churches were supported by the government or the local township where they were organized. Now things have changed and Pledge Sunday will be here soon.
When we talk about the offering, sometimes we feel a little guilty. Is coming to church all about money? No, it is not. Giving to the church is giving to God THROUGH the church. We are worshipping God through our offering.
In the United Methodist Church, when we become members of a local congregation, we promise “to support The United Methodist Church; and to uphold the local congregation with one's prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.” Giving is as important as music, scripture, the message and prayers. It is not a bill; it isn’t about obeying a law, but it is about needing to give back to God because of the grace we have received from God. Once we recognize the importance of giving, not the importance of the church to receive money because it has “needs”, but the need of the giver to give, we then have a better understanding of why we give. Our giving is to God; it’s not to the church. It is done through the church.
Our giving is an Act of Worship; OR maybe it’s the central part of worship. Throughout the Bible are stories of people coming to worship God with offerings in hand. Our giving is to be a Celebration. A celebration of our love for Him and His love for us. Gifts are being made to the Lord.
I encourage you to let giving and generosity be the cornerstone of your faith and a time of celebration of your giving to God in time of worship.
Pastor Joyce
Food Pantry Report - September
Well, it was a chilly day for our pantry this month. Guess we must accept the fall is here. We had planned for 96 families since we had had so many last month. We were busy from the time we started until closing at 1: 00. We ended up with 93 families! There were 115 adults, 59 children and 72 seniors. There seems to be a growing need in the area. We had 23 new visitors this month.
We gave out sausage patties, hot dogs beef stew, hot dogs, and waffles, along with the canned vegetables, fruit, and peanut butter. There were the choices of cold cereal, juice, and shelf stable milk. We will be restocking before the next pantry day. Our pet ministry is still doing well. We had food requests for 49 dogs and 50 cats. We have received monetary donations for pet food and will need to restock there also. Our thanks to all those who have contributed.
Thanks to all those who donate to the funding of our pantry and those who work so hard to make our pantry a success. We thank God that we have the chance to help those in our community who are in need. I am concentrating on keeping the costs down while getting enough food items for those in need.
Food Pantry Report – October
The weather was good this month. We had planned for 96 families we ended up with 90 families. There were 99 adults, 51 children and 71 seniors. There seems to be a growing need in the area. We had 11 new visitors.
We gave out nice pork chops, cheese and we had eggs this month as well. We had scalloped potato mix and pasta along with the canned vegetables, fruit, and peanut butter. There were the choices of cold cereal, juice, and shelf stable milk. I had been able to get some puddings for an extra gift. We will be restocking before the next pantry day. Our pet ministry is still doing well. We had food requests for 29 dogs and 48 cats. We have received monetary donations for pet food and will need to restock there also. Our thanks to all those who have contributed.
Thanks to all those who donate to the funding of our pantry and those who work so hard to make our pantry a success. We had a new helper this month to help people out with their bags. Thank you, Tim. We thank God that we have the chance to help those in our community who are in need. I am concentrating on keeping the costs down while getting enough food items for those in need.
The food bank is starting a new computerized accounting program that we will be looking into to allow for easier record keeping in the future. More information will follow.
Edna Bennett
WICS
Even though our group is small, we still manage to accomplish lots! We continue to support Haven of Hope and the Family Counseling Center with personal care bags and other donations. If you haven’t been to Haven’s bakery, you MUST check it out! It’s located right across from the entrance to the Fonda-Fultonville school. They have a great selection of breads, pies, cookies, muffins, etc. and fresh produce in season. This is a great way to help us to help the women who are learning skills and ways to navigate as they reenter the community. Other dates to be mindful of are Election Day as we hold our annual bake/craft sale and our annual Christmas luncheon date and location to be announced.
Nancy Marsh
Free Lunch
The need for meals in our neighborhood just keeps growing. So far, in the first ten months of this year, we have given out 2387 meals! We have spent over $2700 just on food and supplies. We’ve also donated $1000 toward the snowplowing for last winter. Thankfully, we had a nice cushion of money to start the year with and we received a little over $1400 in donations, but most of this money is now gone. We’ve cut back in ways that still allow us to offer a decent meal, but not spend money unnecessarily. If you are moved to help this worthwhile program out, we can always use:
Lunch bags. Mayonnaise
Sandwich baggies. Plastic spoons, fork
Peanut butter. Hot dogs
Juice boxes, bags. Pastas
Individually wrapped snacks
This is just a short list of items that we use often. We also like to give out personal care items when available. I can pick up items or they can be dropped off any Monday during lunch hours. (10:30-12:30). Thank you in advance.
Nancy Marsh
74th Interfaith Tea
In keeping with a tradition started at the Jewish Community Center over 70 years ago, the 74th Annual Interfaith Tea was held on October 17, 2023 at Foothills Worship Center in Johnstown. This year’s theme was “Positive Treatment”, focusing on providing support and comfort to those going through cancer treatment. There were 36 attendees, representing eleven different churches from the community. Seven different parishes supported this event. All attendees brought their own lunch in a decorated bag, and coffee, water and prepackaged cookies were provided by the host church. Several people won prizes for their decorated lunch bags. The tables were beautifully set with pink tablecloths and pretty paper teapots placed at each seat. Malcom Kugat added to the party atmosphere by providing background music.
Cindy VanAllen, the guest speaker, spoke to the attendees about Chemo Care bags. A local resident, Linda Renda Mendotta, spent twelve years collecting items, putting together bags and donating them to New York Oncology Hematology. She has since retired so Foothills plans to carry on that mission. The bags contain items for hygiene, comfort, hunger, thirst as well as diversions for the mind and hands while going through long and very uncomfortable treatments. Lists of items suitable for these bags were distributed. If you can contribute to this worthwhile cause, please contact the Foothills Worship Center in Johnstown.
Next year’s Interfaith Tea will be hosted by the Johnstown Reformed Church on October 15, 2024 with the Knesseth Israel Synagogue as co-host.
Cheryl Andrist from Trinity Anglican
Episcopal Church and Werner Paul
from NMSUMC
pouring tea from the silver antique
tea sets donated for display by North Main
FINAL REPORT – GUN VIOLENCE “How Close are you”
After receiving the grant for our program, we had great success with two seminars on Gun Violence. Werner, Joyce, Nancy and Abra, Penna and James attended this year’s Darling Field Neighborhood Engagement. The turnout due to the heat was light, but the Gloversville Police were on hand and about 20 vendors with Channel 13 present also to talk about Gun Violence. North Main handed out snack bags to all the kids and Abra was as usual the hit of our table as our Therapy Dog. We had puzzles and snack bags for everyone. The new cart that was purchased for us by the Mission team really came in handy as we had to carry things quite a way from our cars to the area to set up. We handed out our Gun Violence pamphlets to everyone and the Police Department talked with the attendees and us about Gun Violence
We started our Neighborhood Engagement Unit outreach on June 28 by going to the Public Library where we attended a public engagement with the Community Outreach and Gloversville Police Department and Chief Anthony Clay. During this event, we handed out 36 of our 50 brochures and spoke with people about them. They were asked to read and share the brochure with someone else. This was the second community Neighborhood Engagement. We are planning the third for July at the Family Counseling Center in Gloversville to reach more of the community and families. We held an in church program during the month of August with the Police Chief present as a guest speaker as well as the Gloversville Mayor and the head of the Homeless Teens “Captain Program”. This we did over a three week period. Many people publicly expressed their concern with the rising anger, foul language and threats in their neighborhoods. The brochure helped to show them warning signs, what to look for and who to contact in the event of a gun violence situation. The art on the front of the brochure caught people’s eye, impressed them, and therefore urged them to read it.
Our Last Outreach was held at our Church with the members of the Safety team for the Pine Tree Rifle Club as guest speakers talking about Gun Safety. Three members of the Education team at the club were the speakers and it was attended by members of the church and 14 community members. Gunlocks were purchased and handed out as well as student handbooks for overall safety.
On October 2, a group from North Main UMC walked in the Walk for Domestic Violence Awareness in Johnstown. We were joined by Abra, our therapy dog. We then stopped at the Tree of Hope and joined with the Johnstown Football Team. It is assuring to know that these young men recognize the need to be aware of this.
Albany District Conference
Nine churches joined North Main on Saturday, November 4, 2023 at 10;00 for the Annual Albany District Conference. Pastor Joyce was re-certified as Certified Lay Minister, and Sara Butler, James Medbury, Carol Johnson, Sally Kwak, Judy Antonucci and Penna Smith were Certified Lay Servants.
The minutes of last year’s meeting and the financial audits were approved. Sally Kwak was re-appointed Lay Leader and Don Williams, Robert Mabie, Sara Butler, Steve Wood, Joyce Royal, Marilyn Cornell, Ron Holly and Tom Kevlin elected to the Board of Trustees. Reports were received and North Main received a Certificate for paying all Ministry Shares to date.
Mums in Memory of Karen Holly
Given by Ron and Dorothy Holly
Birthdays
Sue Tyler – November 1 Sandra Mosconi – December 1
Molly Towne – November 1 Judy Antonucci – December 1
Shawn Seeley – November 14 Jack Sanford – December 2
Elaine Schrum – November 16 Justin Boles – December 5
Eric Davis – November 16 James Thomson – December 11
Ann Boles – November 29 Zachary Nikolov – December 13
No Anniversaries
Fundraising Team
Thanks to James Medbury and his team, the church netted $525.00 from the mum sale this Fall.
Our next fundraiser is the take-out only spaghetti dinner at Plaza Bistro as shown in the ad. Ticket
sales end November 30.
Beautiful wooden birdhouses are still available for purchase by contacting James or the church office.
Perfect gifts for Christmas!
*The newsletter may be accessed on-line at NMSUMC.ORG/newsletter