Greetings Friends!
 

• Following Sunday Worship this week we will have a potluck lunch. As you are able, please bring a dish to share - dessert is spoken for! We will take time to break bread together prior to conducting the business of the congregation. 
• We will call the meeting to order at 11:30.
• Updated membership numbers indicate that we need 24 members present to reach a quorum. Members attending in person or on zoom will be counted in the quorum.
• One does not need to be a member to attend the meeting, one only needs to a member to vote on decisions.
• Many of you received hard copies of the annual report and the audit report last Sunday; they were also included in an email sent Friday with details about Annual Meeting. Please take time to review them and bring any questions or concerns for our large group discussion. 

Congregation Work Days

With the winter finally subsiding and spring in the air, it's time to get our Hope Community Garden ready for the coming growing season. But to do so, we'll need your help. Here are a few opportunities for you to help the GTF team out:

Saturday, April 29th @ 8 am (TODAY)
We'll be building raised bed boxes and filling them with topsoil. Please plan on bringing your wheelbarrows, shovels, gloves, etc. and getting dirty. We have 30 to build.

Saturday, May 6th @ 8 am
We'll be finishing up what we don't get done on April 29th. We'll also connect up the drip lines to each of the raised beds. Goal is to have these beds ready for planting by Mother's Day!

If you are unable to work any of those days, or even if you can, we need cardboard. Lots of cardboard. Thought is that we'll put that down inside the boxes, between the existing ground and our new topsoil, to hopefully keep the existing weeds and grasses from growing up through the topsoil. Please share what you can.

ANYONE
Can Support the Hope Community Garden
 

Think you don’t have the time or the physical strength to garden, or the know-how to keep plants alive? We need your involvement in other ways. Here’s 10 ways to support Hope Community Garden at Prince of Peace:

1.      Pray for every aspect of the garden: for favorable weather, for healthy relationships, for compassionate communication, for development of community, for everyone to feel that they belong.

2.      Tell all the people in your circle about Hope Community Garden, which is our effort to address hunger for food and connection in the community. The more we spread the word, the more people may join in.

3.      Keep bringing your plant-based kitchen scraps for composting. We are going to need to compost in perpetuity and throughout the year to improve our soil quality. If you’re not already composting, grab an orange bucket and a sheet of guidelines.

4.      Talk to someone in the garden that you don’t know yet. Build relationships, one small conversation at a time.

5.      Offer to fill the water bottle of someone who is working in the garden.

6.      Provide lunch or snacks when we have workdays.

7.      Pick up litter around the church property anytime you see it.

8.      Check your garage or shed to see if there’s tools you can donate.

9.      Take pictures of what is happening in the garden, then share with the congregation and/or on social media.

10.   Start educating yourself about gardening. USU Extension has an enormous amount of information and offers countless classes. Website https://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/

 

It takes all of us to do ministry together; every person's positive attitude, unique skills, and relevant knowledge are needed. You don't need to wait to be asked -- consider yourself asked! Thank you for choosing how you want to be involved in and support Hope Community Garden.

Coming Summer 2023

Are you making plans for summer? Check out the many summer opportunities for all ages at our nearest ELCA camp: Luther Heights in the beautiful Sawtooth Mountains of central Idaho. Registration is now open. Check out the Luther Heights website below for dates. Camp is not just for kids and teens - there's women's retreats, men's retreats, family camp, grand camp, and more. If you know of a child that needs financial support to go to camp, please discuss with Pastor Emily (confidentially, of course). Also, if you'd like to serve camp in the kitchen or as a medical volunteer for a few days / weeks, your skills and time are needed!