Rev Ken Heintzelman usually avoids greeting card holidays such as Pastor’s Appreciation Day, but he was totally blown away by the good people of Shadow Rock with their gifts and a drive by parade.
Kate’s Place Pet Rescue has been approved to use Encanto Community Church's parking lot on 12/12/2020 for a spay and neuter clinic using several buses. More info to come!
The response to Casas Adobes and Oro Valley UCC's second Drive-by/Drop-off in the parking lot to collect food and water bottles was outstanding! The I.C.S. Food Bank van left with 491 lbs. of food and Amphi High School picked up 259 refillable water bottles for their students, surpassing the goal of 250 bottles.
At a special congregational meeting, Rincon voted to approve two disbursements from a recently received bequest. Tucson Interfaith Community Services will receive $16,500 and the UCC Southwest Conference will receive $25,000. Thank you, Rincon, for your generosity!
Casas Adobes UCC expanded its ministry with Keeling Elementary School in the past few weeks as it and every school struggles to cope with the pandemic. Thanks to the stewardship of the congregation, they have provided for every classroom:
· Hand sanitizer in the form of hand-pump bottles and gallon-sized refills
· Foamy hand soap in the same quantities as above, plus
· Disinfecting wipes
· 400 lanyards that students will attach their masks to so they are not put down or lost
· Masks made by congregation members for 100 children and 75 adults
· Magazine racks as a more sanitary way for students to store their work folders.
Also this month they organized the school year's first food pantry by packing food bags for more than 100 families.
The Good Shepherd in Sahuarita is offering a virtual opportunity to see and hear one another. Folks are asked to record a brief video message using the sample script and send it in where it will be assembled into a video to share.
The script could look something like this: Good morning! This is ______________
_____________ (names) sending you greetings from __________________(place).
When we can get back together again, we / I am looking forward to______________.
Scottsdale UCC invites folks to put their creative juices to work and design their own mask for a spooktacular Halloween mask contest. Who will be naughty or nice? Ghoulish or angelic? The whole family is invited to a special Zoom Halloween party on Saturday, October 31, from 3 to 5 p.m. Folks can drop in for a few minutes or the whole two hours, but be sure and tune in at 4:30 when the winners are announced.
In anticipation of a yet-to-be scheduled outdoor worship experience at Church of the Beatitudes, Music Director, Stephen Schermitzler, along with Alison Cason have teamed up to teach everyone how to use American Sign Language to be able to sing (sign) a song together. It's a simple song that's easy to learn to sign and Alison created three videos to teach the process.
UCC at ASU has posted its second podcast.
S1E2 - Voting Part 1: Voting as Civil Disobedience and Defiance
Click on this link to listen
You know all those calendars and greeting cards you receive in the mail and don’t know what to do with? Well, Church of the Red Rocks has an answer for you! The church is now collecting those calendars and greeting cards to be put to a good use. In December, Manzanita Outreach will be delivering 240 “senior boxes” of food to the elderly in their community. They would love to put those calendars and greeting cards in the boxes as a holiday surprise for the seniors. (I know I'll be mailing a package of them to CRR!)
If you think your child, grandchild, or a young buddy would have an interest in participating in a kids book club (online), Personal Message the Shepherd of the Hills UCC Facebook page or send Pastor Rock an email at pastor@sohucc.org.
The Club is in the works for Sunday afternoons, 2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m., features age appropriate books on peace, justice, wholeness, friendship, problem solving, etc, and includes an age appropriate mindfulness practice each week. Adults, you’ve got to remain in the room, so you just might pick up something too!
Ethel Utter from Desert Palm has a message for all of us. She is the Manager of ICU Nurses at Banner Baywood.
"As our president continues to downplay this virus, it has been very disheartening to the medical community. It is very, very real and much worse than the flu. Banner Baywood had 10 patients in the hospital with COVID 2 weeks ago. Today we are nearing 50. Please, everyone, stay safe. It is nowhere near the end. Requesting prayers for the staff who are very tired. ---- Love and prayers. Ethel"