50 Years of Plymouth Drop In

 

You are cordially invited to a celebration of 50 years of Plymouth Drop In.

Sunday March 19, 12:30-2 p.m. in Jones Commons

Reception includes hor d’oeuvres, reflections, art, and Bingo! Please Join us as we acknowledge and applaud the significance of Drop In’s Ministry.

Every Meal

The Board of Outreach is excited to announce a brand new opportunity for Plymouth members and friends to help support children who live with food insecurity on weekends, summers, and extended school breaks.

Every Meal is a full-service MN nonprofit specializing in equipping the community to implement weekend food programs in their local school. Every Meal provides the tools, resources, expertise, and food required to make an effective and significant impact on child hunger. We need volunteers to distribute the food at the end of each week.

There are available slots left yet in November and many in December. Please contact Mary Jordan at maryjordan13@gmail.com, or 612-308-6170 if you are interested and want to learn more!

Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity Build Week

Please join with other Plymouth members and friends in our Habitat For Humanity Build Week, September 26–30. We will be working on a new house located at 917 31st Ave. N. in Minneapolis. We will mainly do interior finish work and need 12 to 15 volunteers daily. To volunteer, click on the Habitat volunteer website at:

http://plymouthcongregational.tchabitat.volunteerhub.com/

Should you have questions or if you would be interested in helping by assisting in providing lunch at the site for the volunteers, please contact Jim Christenson (christensonjim@msn.com or 651-895-0644, phone or text).

Ways you can get involved with the kids and teens of Plymouth:

  • Donate candy, prizes or empty plastic eggs (we reuse them!) for the Easter Egg hunt! I am also looking for $5 Gift Cards to any of the following places–Target, Sebastian Joes, Dairy Queen, Caribou, Wild Rumpus, Red Balloon, Chipotle, 5 Below. Candy, eggs and gift cards can be left outside my office (room 201, top of the stairs, education wing).
  • Read a story to be uploaded to our Nighttime with Nina (and friends!) youtube channel.
  • Be a classroom friend, substitute classroom teacher, or volunteer with any of our summer programming.
  • Share your skills for our Life Skills Fair May 21st!

 

Here are some updated requests from our teens:

  • Bike Care
  • Basic Automotive Info
  • Taxes for Teens
  • Apartment Living on a Budget
  • Basic Home Repair (including what to do if you set off smoke alarm or CO detector while cooking!)
  • College Tuition–Where to Find Scholarships
  • The benefits of trade school
  • Finding the right college for what you want to do!
  • Credit Card info
  • Being a savvy online shopper (is this website real or a phishing scam, is this an ethical brand or company, what is a good price for shipping, etc.)

If you can help teach any of these–email Nina!

Plymouth Campus Task Force

The Deacons have chartered a new task force focused on aligning Plymouth’s substantial physical assets (building and land) with the church’s mission and its Purposes of the Church. The task force will:

  • Make recommendations for the future use of the current church building.
  • Help Plymouth become more welcoming to all and more connected to the community.
  • Assess the adjacent properties and their potential to further Plymouth’s mission.

This work will also incorporate the recommendations established in the 2020 Plymouth Growth Plan.

The work of this task force work will occur from January through June 2022, and we are currently recruiting people to serve on the team. The work of the task force is a continuation of the work done to date on the history of the land upon which the church resides and the history of the church in Minneapolis since its inception in 1857.

If you feel a commitment to this important work of helping understand how our building and property can meaningfully contribute to the future of Plymouth and are willing to spend several hours a month on this work through June 2022, please email one of the team members below.

We are especially interested in people with experience and knowledge about church finances, community outreach, real estate, architecture, and social, economic, racial, and environmental justice.

Jeff Hall (jeffthall1@aol.com)
Claire Colliander (Claire.colliander@gmail.com)
Brian Siska (bdsiska@gmail.com)

Advent In a Box

It’s hard to believe, but advent is around the corner, 18 days away to be exact! On Sunday, November 28th, we kick off the holiday season, and just like last year, we are doing Advent in a Box!
If you are interested in signing your household up for the entire kit (or new this year, just the ornaments that you can make at home and bring to Plymouth on December 18th to decorate our community Christmas tree!) sign up here!

Sign-ups are only available through November 22!

Nicollet Square Holiday Party

Nicollet Square Holiday Party, will be different again this year . There will be no tree, no dinner, no gift room, no cookie platters to take home. BUT with your help, we can give a boxed dinner and a gift card to our 42 youth residents. Please send gift cards in any amount for Target to Penny Bond, 101 Promenade Ave. Apt. #243 W, Wayzata, MN 55391 by 12/13. Call 612-710-2421 with questions. Let’s try to make it a Happy Holiday for these young people. And a Happy Holiday to you.

Volunteer With Meals On Wheels

Make a Difference – Volunteers Needed!
Taking an hour out of your Thursday around 11 a.m. on a weekly or monthly basis to deliver meals is a very satisfying experience. You may meet some fascinating people. On my first day of delivering meals, I picked up the Star Tribune on the doorstep of an apartment. The headline read, “Gordon Parks Dies”. Barbara answered my knock at her door, and I gave her the meal and her paper. I asked her if she knew Gordon Parks, and Barbara told me, “You know he asked me to marry him one day, and I should have taken him up on it”. After that introduction, it was always a delight to deliver a meal to Barbara.
Plymouth Church was one of the founding members of Loring-Nicollet Meals on Wheels and has supported it continually with yearly financial support and volunteers. There are currently six Plymouth members who volunteer, down from a total of 30 a few years ago. COVID has had a lot to do with this decline.
Meals on Wheels is now re-gearing up to serve the downtown community with meals and is soliciting new volunteers. Please contact Fran Neir, the Plymouth Coordinator for Meals on Wheels, if you are interested in volunteering. He can be reached at 612-240-8091 or by email at feneir@gmail.com. He will be happy to answer any questions you may have about Meals on Wheels.

We need your assistance, and it is so simple!

We are in need of volunteer hosts for our Plymouth Welcome Table at our live ‘under the tent’ 9 a.m. service.

This need will continue as we eventually move indoors and begin to have two live services, 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. We use a website and app (signup.com) that makes it easy to schedule your hosting AND to change or cancel a commitment if necessary. The ONLY qualification for hosting is to simply be a ‘welcoming presence.’ Please contact me to add your name to our list of hosts at wtresq@icloud.com or 651-769-7511.

The more we can share the hosting opportunities, the less we need to depend on ‘the few’ to provide this important welcoming service to our visitors.

Thank you, Bill Read, Welcome Table Volunteer Host Coordinator

100 Hands Donation Drive

On Rally Sunday, September 12, the Board of Community Life will be collecting feminine hygiene products for Groveland Food Shelf.

Sadly, hygiene items aren’t eligible for SNAP benefits, and we all know these items are expensive but NECESSARY!

Please look for a donation box under the portico. All donated items will be divided up/repackaged at a later 100 Hands project.

Next time you’re at Target or Costco, consider picking up:

• Tampons
• Pads
• Depends

This matters so much to women! Thank you for opening your hearts to this need.