As you scroll through this Weekly Word, notice how many wonderful ways our congregation has been active and vibrant in our community and world recently.

I'm in awe of the passion, dedication, and commitment of congregation to live out our mission. The number of hours you give and myriad ways you volunteer humble me.

It is worth taking a moment to recognize and rejoice in the ways we are making a real difference in our community and world!

Thank you for being a part this faith community and living out the gospel. May God's Spirit continue to enliven and inspire us--

Once again, thanks to everyone’s support, our annual Strawberry Festival was a tremendous success.

As a matter of fact, the festival was record breaking both financially and in community participation! Once the doors opened, there was a steady flow of people enjoying this greatly anticipated community event.

Thanks to all who volunteered whether you were setup/cleanup, baked goodies, donated a raffle, donated plants or assisted at different stations during the day. The fundraising team greatly appreciates your continued support. (And many thanks to our fundraising team!!)

Enjoy these pictures from the event.

Please join us in the sanctuary

or online at 10am.

We will celebrate a baptism as well!

Please join us for coffee hour after the service.

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

Please plan to join us for a special outdoor worship service on Sunday, June 26th at 10am.

We will meet in the back parking lot and gather together to celebrate God in the beauty of the natural world.

The service will also be livestreamed on Facebook and 3CX if you are not able to join us in person.

The Discipleship Team would like to recognize the following students in honor of their achievements:

Evan Kuhl graduated from Pinkerton Academy and will attend Bentley University in the fall.

Vincent McGravey graduated from Timberlane Middle School and will attend Timberlane High School in the fall.

Peter Tinker graduated from the University of Washington.

Mackenzie Finocchiaro graduated from Boston University

Bible study has a new day, time, and venue. Meetings are Wednesday morning at 9:30 AM.

We are now meeting at Jane Conradsen's home. If you need the address, you can contact Jane or the church office.

The group study is the gospel of John. All are invited!

All we can say is "WOW, WOW, WOW" and "THANK YOU!". Once again, we asked our congregation to help those in need and you all outdid yourselves! Our “No Child Wet Behind” Diaper Pantry Drive was again a wonderful success.

We collected and delivered:

2,460 Wipes (960 more than last year)

2,433 Diapers in sizes 2, 3, 4 and 6 (683 more than last year)

Gabi Teed, who runs the Manchester Diaper Pantry, was so grateful for our continued generosity. This donation will help support so many families in need of this basic item. Check out their Facebook page here for more information and to see their thank you post to our church.

Thank you so much for supporting this wonderful cause and for continuing to answer our missions call!

Last week, I referenced Rev. Yasenka’s reflection at the Vigil for Uvalde in which he illustrated the power of people of faith coming together to help people in need. Here are two articles about the recent effort at Westgate Arms Apartments in Salem. The first was from late May and the second is a report on the results of people coming together to help the tenants.

We are again having to talk about housing insecurity and shortages of apartments. The Westgate Arms complex of 12 building of 24 apartments each is beginning a complex-wide renovation project in August. That sounds good, right? But none of the residents has a lease – they are renting month-to-month. That means there is no guarantee of a predictable rent or guarantee of a reliable place to live.

As a result, the residents of the first 24 apartments for renovation have been given eviction notices. This starts a 90-day timeframe for them to move. And there are 264 units remaining for a rolling schedule of renovations that are expected to be complete in late 2024.

With a statewide 2-bedroom vacancy rate of 0.6% (5% is considered a balanced market) they are facing a huge challenge. In addition, the median gross rent for 2-bedroom apartments is $1500, 6% higher than last year. This data is from the New Hampshire Housing annual report from June 2021 which also estimated that about 20,000 more housing units were needed to meet demand and stabilize the housing market at that time.

An article in the Eagle-Tribune shares the stories of three families that face serious consequences of the pending eviction. Read the full article here.

Upon hearing about the evictions of so many families that the renovation project would cause, Isaiah 58 hosted a community forum at St. David’s Episcopal Church in Salem on May 31. About 50 tenants and their school-aged children, local and state political leaders, school counselors, area church leaders, and local builder Steven Lewis attended. Andrea Brown, senior vice-president of the company that owns Westgate Arms also was present to listen. As a result of listening to the concerns of the community the owners have extended the eviction deadline from 90 days to seven months - Jan. 15 of 2023 for the first group affected. The renovation project is still on a rolling schedule until each of the 12 buildings is complete. Along with financial incentives to vacate early, current tenants will have the ability to apply before the units are open to the public for rental with the application fee waived. They will also have the option to sign a year-long lease if they choose.

Read the full article here.

Debra

Office summer hours will start on Monday, June 27th and continue through Thursday, August 25th.

The office will be open from 9AM to Noon Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

In Memory of Rev. Bob Dobson By His Loving Family

Thank you to those who came out to give our church a good spring cleaning last month. The church interior and grounds sparkled from your efforts.

Those who assisted in cleaning up from our church included; Donna Hanson, Al and Marion Lake, Maria, Evan and Lester Kuhl, Ellen McCune, Linda Tilden, Joann Klawitter, Nancy Pratt, Ing Goenawan, Dave Daniels, Dave Chin and Bill Cheyne.

In addition, our local Boy Scout Troop provided a boost in manpower. The scouts included Nolan Kimbark, Michael Glavin, Evan Bencinengor, and Alex, Brooke and Brian Berthelothe. One other scout Dad helped out, however, we are not sure of his name.

Thank you from the Operations Team and all of HCC

Thanks to Marion and Al Lake for planting the beautiful sunpatiens in front of the church. The "pollinator" garden plants donated by the McCunes and planted by Alan and Kari last year are also blooming nicely.

Dave Chin

Johann Sebastian Bach was truly a phenomenal composer and performer. He managed to write music for every Sunday and traveled to three churches the same day. Each of his compositions was very different from any others and they often depended on available musicians.

One of his most revered compositions is the “Prelude and Fugue in D minor” for organ. If you want to hear a rather ambitious arrangement of this piece, google Youtube “Canadian Brass Quintet plays Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in D minor.”

We thought you might enjoy reading the NH Conference UCC weekly newsletter. You can read it with this link.

Each week, we will update this section of our Weekly Word with the new link for the current newsletter.

rice/rice pilaf, ketchup, mustard, Raisin Bran, Cheerios, Special K, salad dressings, coffee.

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.