Joyce West
On March 1 seven United Church Women (UCW) met in the church hall to plan for up and coming events. President Reta Robertson welcomed everyone, and we repeated together the UCW purpose.
Joyce Freeman led the devotional, with a reading from the book There is a Season by Betty Radford Turcott. The theme was “surprised by joy”, and the Scripture was from Psalm 16: 5–11 and Isaiah 40:31: “Do not despair, spend time in prayer and be open to the presence of God.” She closed with a prayer.
Everyone at the meeting brought three Easter cards to give to the residents of Jackson House (long term care) at the hospital for their use. Pamphlets for the World Day of Prayer were handed out to the readers; the Day of Prayer was scheduled for March 5 at 7:00pm at the Anglican Church.
We also finalized plans for our 70th annual Bean Supper on March 14 in the United Church hall. The first seating is 5:00 to 6:00pm, and the second seating is from 6:00 to 7:00. This dinner takes a lot of planning, and we would not be able to do it without the help of our friends in the community. This is definitely a community event, which began in 1945 in our old Sunday School hall, which had at one time been a Methodist Church. It was moved down on rollers from its location at 3rd and Bancroft Streets.
Several pieces of correspondence were dealt with. We received news from the B.C. Conference about the United Church Women’s annual meeting, a newsletter from the Centre for Christian Studies, an e-mail update from Carmen Salacsacan about her ministry work, and a fall/winter Perspective magazine from the Vancouver School of Theology.
Reports were next, and Shirley Dobson, our Treasurer, handed out her written report, which was voted on and accepted. Dorothy Pears read her Sunshine report, and Phyllis Gray gave her report on publicity. Reta Robertson reported for Hilda Drinkwater in her absence about archives.
Then Reta reported about outreach; she’s received many Campbell’s soup labels and many used stamps, which she sends elsewhere to help with Christian work.
Our church will be hosting Soup’s On in Ashcroft on March 18 in the Anglican Church hall. A big “thank you” to those who give us Campbell’s labels and used stamps.
We then paused for refreshments and fellowship. When we reconvened we planned for the April 24 worship service, and two new ladies will lead it.
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, April 5 at 2:00pm, and names were noted for devotional and refreshment duties. We closed with the UCW Benediction. We have an open invitation to any ladies who are interested in coming as a visitor or to join us for our meetings; they would be most welcome. See you at the Bean Supper on the 14th!