Youth Group will resume activities for the year with a brief planning and organizing meeting following the worship service on Sunday, September 22nd.
 On February 26th our Youth Group will be cooking and serving dinner for the guests at the REACH Home in Rochester. The REACH Home provides temporary shelter to the chronically homeless in our community. CLICK HERE to find out more information on the REACH Home and ways you can help. At our Christmas Eve worship service, our youth shared a poem and a prayer to express the meaning of Christmas. They also sang 2 verses of "The First Noel." The text, pictures and video of their presentation can be found below. They did a wonderful job! The Meaning of Christmas Author Unknown Far away in Bethlehem, a baby boy was born, Born with neither riches, nor with fame, Yet wise men came from all around to bring him their gifts And peace was felt by all who heard his name. Angels watched him as he slept, and gently rocked his bed, Their voices singing softly in his ear, His mother and his father both gave thanks to God above For the greatest gift of all, their Son, so dear. They knew his life upon this earth would not be filled with wealth, They also knew he would encounter strife. But most of all, they knew that he would be a loving child, And teach the love of God throughout his life. At Christmas we celebrate this birth of Jesus Christ, Let’s keep in mind the truth of Christmas Day. For it’s not the Christmas wrappings, nor the gifts that lie within But our gift of love to others in every way. A Christmas Prayer By Robert Louis Stevenson Loving Father, help us to remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the wise men. Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world. Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting. Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clear hearts. May Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children, and Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake. AMEN 
What a great event we had on Friday, hosted by our Youth Group! First everyone gathered inside to make "ornaments" to hang on trees outside, providing food for the birds and animals on our property. Then we gathered in the church and the youth took turns reading the book, "Night Tree" by Eve Bunting, aloud to everyone. Then we all went outdoors to hang our "ornaments" on the big pine tree. Back inside we enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies! Everyone had a wonderful time together!  OUTDOOR HOLIDAY TREE TRIMMING PARTY
Friday, December 7th 6:30 - 8:00 PM The Youth Group will be hosting an Outdoor Holiday Tree Trimming Party on Friday, Dec. 7th, from 6:30 to 8:00 PM. All are invited to join in the fun. We'll make our own outdoor ornaments, listen to a reading of The Night Tree, by Eve Bunting, decorate our outdoor trees and enjoy Christmas cookies and cocoa to end the evening. We hope to see you there!  Our Youth Group was busy on Saturday, hosting a baked food sale during our Annual Craft Fair and delivering the soup they made previously to shut-in families. This was our first formal event of the year. We've added new members to our group so we did some icebreaker and team building games to strengthen the group. We played Word Shout, Common Thread, and the Human Knot. Following these games, the group made 2 kinds of soup - split pea with ham and chicken noodle. The Youth Group will deliver the soup and a card to our parishioners who have not been able to get to church. It will also be used by Barbara Perry in her at-home communion ministry this fall. Here are some pictures from the day.  Our service project for October is actually 2-part, but we will begin on October 21st after church. We are going to be in the kitchen making soup starting at 11:30am. We'll freeze the soup and then in November, we'll pick a day when we can deliver it to our members that have a hard time making it to church regularly. It's a nice way to connect, brighten someone's day while leaving them a nourishing homemade meal.
 Some of our Youth Group kids are students at Merton Williams Middle School in Hilton, NY. Their school is raising funds to help support the Ugandan Water Project. They made a presentation and a display shared in church today and have shared ways that people in the congregation can make a donation, if they wish to. Below is a copy of the presentation they made today: Did you know that drinking unclean water can lead to many diseases? Did you know that 3.4 million people die each year from water, sanitation, and hygiene related causes? Did you know that women and children in Uganda carry 40-50 pound containers of water over a mile from their water source each day? Merton Williams Middle School wants to do something about it and you can help too! Here is how! The Ugandan Water Project was founded in 2008 by 3 friends who were talking about the problems of everyday life in Uganda at a neighbor's BBQ. It has grown from just a small side project for the Isaiah 6 Ministries to a humanitarian non-profit organization. The Ugandan Water Project identifies communities in need of help in Uganda. They help organizations plan fundraisers, and then use that money to install the life saving water projects. They provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene resources to communities in Uganda. Our school is trying to raise enough money for the rain water collection system that will last around 30 years. They also repair wells and provide tools for their maintenance. The Sawyer Filters are used to clean the water and build hand washing stations in the schools. So far this year 62 projects have been funded and 12,234 people have been helped. We are collecting money and returnable bottles to help raise funds for our school to donate. We will be collecting here until October 14th. Thank you for helping our school raise money to help the people of Uganda!  During the month of May, our Youth Group hosted a donation drive to do some fundraising for "Maggie's Kids," and organization that raises funds to support underprivileged kids in Rochester, NY. After doing this fund raising, the Youth Group used some of the money to do some shopping for the Maggie's Kids Summer Camp. |
Youth GroupOur youth, in Grade 6 and above, participate in a Youth Group in addition to Sunday School. This group has social time together as well as participating in a variety of mission and outreach projects. Archives
August 2019
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