The Easter Egg Hunt was a great success. We had 61 children who checked in for the Easter Egg Hunt. They enjoyed egg dying, coloring, and face painting. The Easter bunny, our own Erin McCune, greeted the children as they arrived, and they excitedly hunted for eggs. This event would not have been successful without the many volunteers who helped out in different capacities. The Discipleship Team thanks all the volunteers for their support.

The Sunrise Service was a beautiful start to the Easter day with the sun showing forth with perfect timing .

At the 10AM Easter Service, Pastor Kathy read an Easter Story to the children. The cross that Brad Robie made was resplendent with all the beautiful flowers. The floral cross is currently outside the church for all to enjoy.

The Food Truck Festival Needs Your Help

The vendors and the entertainment are all set for our 2nd Annual Hampstead Eats Food Truck Festival. If you can help in any way on Saturday, 4/30, it would be greatly appreciated.

Things you can do on April 30:

Help with Setup starting at 10AM

Help with Ticket Sales - multiple timeslots starting at 11:30AM

Help with Parking - multiple timeslots starting at 11:30AM

Help with the HCC Table - multiple timeslots starting at 11:30AM

Help with Cleanup starting at 5:00PM

You can sign up here or you can contact the office at 603-329-6985 and we will help get you signed up.

Let’s make this event a huge success! As always, thank you for your support,

Your Fundraising Team

Barbara Wallack, Ellen McCune, Roxanne McGaffigan, Lora Manning, Nancy Cheyne

If you are attending Hampstead Eats Food Truck event on 4/30, please consider bringing items from the list below to support the NH Food Bank and YOU will get a FREE frozen treat upgrade from the KONA ICE TRUCK.

Scammers are at it again and are upping their game by texting phishing scams to your cell phone.

Recently, one of our members received this cell phone text presumably from Pastor Kathy. The text was personalized by using the member's first name and was signed "Pastor Kathy Youzwak".

Almost looks legitimate, doesn't it?

A couple of things that stand out making this text an obvious phishing scam: 1) is the improper grammar used because we all know Pastor Kathy is very good with her grammar! 2) the phone number the text came from is NOT Pastor Kathy's cell phone number.

We are positive that the individual would next text that "Pastor Kathy needs some gift cards/ money".

Please know that Pastor will never ask you for money/gift cards via a text nor via an email.

If you receive an email or text and are in doubt, please call the church or send an email to pastorkathyucc@gmail.com.

Please join us in the sanctuary

or online at 10am for the

Second Sunday of Easter Service

and Sunday School

Please join us for coffee hour after the service.

The service will be live streamed through Facebook Live here or on 3CX here.

You can participate by clicking here OR you can call the office and we will provide you with a hard copy of the survey.

We have copies of the May/June Upper Room devotional available in the foyer to Hadley Hall. If you need a copy mailed to you, please contact the main office.

On Thursday, 4/7 we sent out the 2022 Q1 Donation Statements.

Where we had an email address, we emailed your statement. If we didn't have an email address, we USPS mailed your statement.

If you didn't get your statement, please contact the office and we will work on getting your copy to you.

Fellow gardeners, now that the spring weather is upon us, it is time to dig up and divide those perennials!

We will be having the plant sale at the Strawberry Festival and perennials are always a good seller.

If you dig your perennials now while the tops are small and the roots are strong, pot them up and care for them, you can avoid the stress and wilt that digging just before the event can cause. By doing this now, we will have nice, full, healthy-looking plants for the Strawberry Festival!

Please label your plants with as much information as you know: Name, variety, and color.

Thank you, from the plant table team!

Terri Malcolm shared information about how to help a Ukrainian family that has fled the war.

The family is moving to the Hampstead area because of a longstanding connection to the Suyematsu and Field Families who both live/lived here in Hampstead.

The wife and mother, Luiza, lived with the Suyematsu family as an exchange student around 1994 during her fifth grade year. Luiza was in Tim Malcolm’s class.

Now, after all these years, Lauryn Suyematsu Field is leading an effort to help Luiza’s family get settled in the US. The family is expected to arrive in the area in early May after traveling through Mexico and waiting at the US border to be allowed entry.

Meet Sasha & Luiza and their three sons Serafim, Alex, and Serhii. The picture on the left is when Luiza was with the Suyematsu family in Hampstead around 1994 when she was 10 and the picture on the right is Luiza and her family.

The family needs everything to begin their new life here as they will arrive with nothing but the clothes on their back.

Homeland Heroes Foundation is assisting by collecting new or gently used clothing, food cards, and monetary donations.

Clothing sizes:

Mom: likes exercise clothes best, shirts size sm – med, pants size 6, shoes size 8

Dad: pants size 38x32, shirt size XL – XXL, shoes size 10

Age 5: clothing size 6 – 7, shoe kid size 12

Age 9: clothing size 9 – 10, shoe size 3.5 – 4

Age 11: clothing size 12 – 14, shoe size 5

Donations can be dropped off at:

There will be a drop box in the Homeland Heroes foyer in Salem and drop off times are: Monday thru Friday, 9-4 and Saturday, 9-Noon

Questions? Send an email to Julie@homelandheroesfoundation.org or call them at 603.458.1275

There is also a GoFundMe page to help Luiza and her family: https://www.gofundme.com/f/please-help-luiza-her-sons

I participated in the Black Heritage Trail’s in-person Stations of the Cross last Wednesday. It was a perfect day for the 44 participants to walk to 14 BHT sites in Portsmouth.

The stations started in Prescott Park at the old ship landing where the first black enslaved person arrived in 1645. We traveled through Strawberry Bank to historic houses and stopped by various churches and ended at the black burial ground memorial. Our guide described the situations that the slaves in Portsmouth were in, none brutal but they were still clearly considered property to be sold or willed to family members. During most of the time the black women had a network that assisted newly arrived slaves adjust and returning war veterans. They also provided education to the slaves and their children as well as a supportive community. Slaves were in the homes of the moderately wealthy as well as the leading citizens of Portsmouth, including ministers. In fact, part of the compensation package for ministers included use of a parsonage and the gift of a slave. Sadly, it had become common practice that when a slave was too old or weak to work they were given their freedom only to find themselves in poverty and taken care of by the city. The alms house for Portsmouth was on the site of the current fire station on Court St. It was very interesting to hear the stories of the slaves and their owners. At the end of each story the group recited Isaiah 61:3.

The Sankofa symbol in the photo is from the Akan people of Ghana. From a plaque: “For those Africans forcibly removed from their homeland to the enslaved in America, and for those of us reflecting on that history now, we take the Sankofa and its timeless meaning to heart: Return and Get It – Learn From The Past” The burial site acknowledges the humanity of the forgotten slaves and ours.

Blessings,

Debra

Happy Birthday to:

Debra Sawyer 4/8

Peggy Favorat 4/11

Ken Gilson 4/24

Linda Tilden 4/29

Ellen McCune 4/29

canned ravioli (or similar)

coffee

salad dressings

cans of grated cheese

pasta sauce

flour

sugar

Please drop off any donations in the foyer of Hadley Hall

We located a national organization that has local chapters called Project Linus (https://www.facebook.com/projectlinussouthwestnewhampshire/). This organization's mission is "to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans". Blankets are given to children in need through NH.

*We accept all sizes of blankets. We donate to children, infants through teen years, so any size is appropriate. Baby blankets are typically 36”X36” or 36”X42”, toddler-pre-teen are typically about 40”X60”, and teen blankets are at least 60"X72".

If in doubt, please call the church or send an email to pastorkathyucc@gmail.com.