CONNECTION

News for Presbyterian Women in the Twin Cities Area – Spring 2011

Invite you to our Spring Gathering

“Reaching out to the poorest of

the poor with God’s Love”
Saturday, April 9, 2011
9 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Registration and coffee – 8:30 a.m.
Presbyterian Home at Boutwells Landing
Gables Auditorium
13575 58th St N
Oak Park Heights, MN

“Walking Alongside One Another in Sudan”

Pastor Heidi McGinness
Minister of Word and Sacrament of the PC(USA), serves as Outreach Director of
Christian Solidarity International’s, U.S. affilitate

“Exploring the Challenges of the Poorest Countries in the World”

Afternoon Panel Discussion
Tina Brown, volunteer in Haiti
Ruth Jones, volunteer with “Remember Niger” in Niger, Africa

You will find the registration form on the last page.

Registrations must be received by Monday, March 28th.
Registering after this date may necessitate making
your own arrangements for lunch.
Directions to Boutwells Landing
On Highway 36, east from 694; west from Stillwater. Turn south on Norell, go past WalMart to 58th St.
Notice the water tower of Oak Park Heights. Turn left on 58th St. to Boutwells Landing, south entrance. It's
a very large building seen from a distance. Park in either parking lot near the building or across the street
from building.

Keynote Speaker:

Pastor Heidi McGinness is Outreach Director for Christian Solidarity International (CSI)-USA. A
Presbyterian minister, she speaks in the United States and Switzerland reaching out to churches,
synagogues, universities,
schools, and civic groups retelling
her gripping eyewitness account
of the suffering of the Sudanese
people. Through her speaking,
preaching and advocacy for
persecuted Christians and Black
Muslims, she raises much
needed funds to aid CSI in
carrying out its life giving
mission. On several trips into
Sudan, she has been personally
present to document the
liberation of over 1,000 men,
women, and children from
slavery, delivering tons of
medicine and grain, thousands of
survival kits, spiritual support and hope. She is the recipient of Denver, Colorado’s 2010 Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award and the Business & Social Responsibility Award honoring her
work freeing those held captive in Sudan.

Afternoon Panelists:

Tina Brown, member of First Presbyterian Church, Rochester, has traveled to Haiti three times with
her husband who is a physician. Their ministry has provided health care services to people
desperately in need of assistance.

Ruth Jones, a volunteer and member of the Board of Directors of "Remember Niger" recently
returned from her second trip to Niger, Africa. The nonprofit group partners with The Evangelical
Church of Niger (EERN), to build, equip and maintain schools, provide scholarships, food for boarding
students and other necessities.
 Blue Bowl offering
April 9, 2011, we will be gathering at Boutwell’s Landing in Stillwater. We are anticipating to be
surrounded with vivid stories of life in the Sudan as well as life in Haiti and Niger. As we prepare
ourselves to “show up, listen, interact and return to our own worlds” we are also encouraged to
prepare for the Blue Bowl.

Lillias Anna Joy in the 1950’s wanted to thank God in a special way, and so she began dropping extra
money into a Blue Vase on her kitchen counter. She brought this collection to the Gathering and
started the Blue Bowl tradition. Each spring our Blue Bowl contributions go to the Barbara Tilton
Memorial Scholarship fund. These scholarships encourage and support women seminarians from
our Presbytery, women for whom new worlds are opening through their seminary studies, women
who will help to open new worlds to others through their ministries in the year to come.

In 2010 our two seminary recipients were Tara Parrish from Kwanzaa enrolled at United Seminary
and Megan Cochran from Westminster, Minneapolis, enrolled at McCormick Seminary. Each
received $1200 for help with tuition and books. It seems as if a miracle was begun in October 1987
when $2500 was put into a memorial scholarship fund to honor Barbara Tilton. Through our
continued donations and contributions from the Presbytery we continue our work year after year.

When Megan was at Westminster she was asked to participate in worship reading scripture and
writing and leading the prayers for the people. Then, she was asked to go to Cameroon, Africa to
work at a Presbyterian Health Center as the Psychosocial Activities Coordinator for people living with
HIV/AIDS for one year.
“Through this experience I was able to gain real world experience living out
my ministry and also represent my congregation and denomination in a
cross-cultural setting. Now, I am actively engaged in the worship
community at McCormick Theological Seminary and am looking forward to
finishing school and dedicating my life to living out ministry in the
Presbyterian Church USA.” Megan Cochran

Kerri Allen, a past recipient has graduated and she is now at 4th Presbyterian in Chicago serving with
a Lily Grant. She gave the invocation at Gov. Dayton’s Inaugural. It is our time now to continue the
work of the Blue Bowl as our young women continue to work with and for us.

Mini PW Mission Experience to South Dakota

Because many women in our Synod expressed an interest, the Synod CT is making plans for a
second PW mission experience to visit our Dakota Presbyterian sisters.

This opportunity will be offered to all members of the PW Synod Coordinating Team . In addition,
each of the 16 presbyteries in our synod will be invited to select an additional woman at the cost of
about $200. The selection process will be determined by each presbytery's PW-CT. Stairs, walking,
and very long days will be the norm. The tentative dates are August 11-14.

If you are interested, please submit your name to Donna Barlass, co-moderator. (9411 Newgate
Avenue N, Stillwater 55802 or barlassflower@aol.com)
 PROMOTING JUSTICE AND PEACE

Focus on Youth Homelessness

Were you aware that those 21 and younger, who are on their own, are the
fastest growing homeless population in Minnesota? This is according to a
recent Wilder Foundation report.

To decrease homelessness among youth has become an initiative of

Leadership Greater Rochester, an annual leadership program of the
Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce. According to LGR’s website,
www.aplacetocallhomemn.org, their “mission is to address the
homelessness crisis facing our youth by increasing public awareness and
encouraging community collaboration.”

To this end, the group sponsored a forum in February inviting collaboration

with the Olmsted County Youth Commission, the Transitional Housing
Program, Workforce Development, a Y-program called LINK and other
community programs dealing with youth and including youth input. There
will be a follow-up forum on April 28.

Goals of the initiative, named “A Place to Call Home,” are to create a Youth
Resource Center and a Youth Clothing Closet, so youths have access to job
searching, homework assistance, mentorship and professional clothing,
according to a February 12 article in the Post-Bulletin, Rochester’s daily
newspaper. There are also plans to assist Lutheran Social Services in
finding families who are interested in becoming foster parents to youth and
raising funds to help support the above collaborators.

The group has found that family problems and economic problems are two
main causes of youth homelessness. Some families simply kick the youth
out when they can no longer deal with them. Others cannot afford to
support them financially any longer.

If you have initiatives in your community such as this, it would be good for
us to hear about them. Please send your information to: mgdoller@aol.com.
Marcia Dollerschell (mgdoller@aol.com)
Justice and Peace Coordinator

Dates to remember:
Justice and Peace emphasis dates:
April, 2011 June, 2011
10 Self Development of People 26 Disability Inclusion
22 Earth Day (Good Friday)
24 One Great Hour of Sharing August, 2011
7 Homelessness/Affordable Housing

May, 2011 September, 2011

1 Holocaust remembrance Day 21 International day of Peace
15 Multicultural Church/Immigration 23 Native American Day
 Baby Care and Hygiene Kits Desperately Needed

Church World Service Kits are small packages of supplies assembled by volunteers and shipped to
people in need around the world.
At this time the warehouse in Maryland is empty and the needs are great.
Producing these kits would be a very worthwhile project for individuals or groups.
There will be more information on these kits at the Spring Gathering. But between now and then lets
see if we can construct at least 50 kits.
For more information go to: http://www.churchworldservice.org

The contents of each Kit have been selected with care based on years of experience to make them
as useful as possible, wherever and whenever they are sent.

Hygiene Kits should include:

• One hand towel measuring approximately 16" x 28" (no fingertip or bath towels)
• One washcloth
• One wide-tooth comb (please look at the beauty supply stores and find a comb suitable for
heavier, coarser hair)
• One nail clipper
• One bar of soap (bath size in wrapper, not the ones you get at a hotel. Those can be donated
to a local homeless shelter, along with the travel size shampoo.)
• One toothbrush (in original packaging)
• Six standard size Band-Aids®
Place all items in a one-gallon plastic bag with a zipper closure; remove excess air from bag, and
seal. Because these kits may sit in a hot warehouse until they are needed, please do not add
toothpaste to the Hygiene Kit. Cartons of toothpaste that have an extended expiration date will be
added to Hygiene Kit shipments just prior to shipment.

Baby Care Kits should include (sizes up to 12 months):

• Six cloth diapers (flat, not pre-folded diapers, are preferred)
• Two T-shirts or undershirts (no onesies because t-shirts can grow with the baby)
• Two washcloths
• Two gowns or sleepers
• Two diaper pins (You can order diaper pins through Bed, Bath and Beyond. I’ve ordered a
supply that I will be glad to share)
• One sweater or sweatshirt (Can be hand knitted or crocheted)
• Two receiving blankets (one can be a hand-knitted or crocheted baby blanket)
Items must be new (or look new) and under 12 months in size. Wrap items inside one of the receiving
blankets and secure with both diaper pins.
If you have trouble completing the baby kits for lack of something, bring what you have (mark it as
incomplete) and we’ll finish the kits.

Please include a check for $5 made out to PW/PTCA with each kit to pay for the shipping from here
to the Maryland warehouse and to the areas where aid is so desperately needed.
 NEW or VERY GOOD CONDITION SHEETS NEEDED
At our Spring Gathering, we will once again be collecting sheets for PC (USA) supported hospitals.
Sheets need to be:

• Flat (solid or patterned)

• Twin-sized (you can cut and hem larger-sized sheets into twin-sizes
• New or very good condition (it is not worth the postage to send sheets that
quickly wear out!). Check out the Goodwill Stores, garage sales and estate sales
for bargains. The top price I’ll pay is $2 for used ones.

We encourage that all sheets, including new ones, be washed prior to mailing. Absolutely no pet hair!

LITTLE DRESSES FOR AFRICA

This a new project, not necessarily part of Church World Service, but one that some people have
expressed an interest in. Their website.(www.littledressesforafrica.org) has some cute pictures of
sweet little orphans for whom people have made darling little dresses. The original concept of the
program was that people would make these little dresses out of pillowcases, although any simple little
dress will be just fine. There is even a Simplicity pattern for the pillowcase style.

If your group would be interested in making these dresses or donating fabric for them, we can see
that they get where they need to be. We may not have time to accomplish this for the Spring
Gathering but I think it would be fun to have a little display of dresses for the Fall Gathering.

Summary of Giving from Fall Gathering 2010

During the Fall Gathering in Kasson, the following items were collected for mission efforts worldwide.

• 17 Twin sheets
• 57 baby caps
• 10 crib size sheets
• 4 receiving blankets and crib blankets
• 10 baby gowns

If your PW sends their Mission donations directly and you’d like to be included in our total giving
summary, send me an email with your counts and it will be included in the next Gathering newsletter.

Any questions-send an email to Belinda.breit@wellsfargo.com or call 612-306-5961

 Synod School
Synod School is an Educational Ministry of the Synod of Lakes and Prairies.
Date: July 24th – 29th 2011
Place: Buena Vista University, Storm Lake, IA
Theme: ALL My Relatives

Daily morning and Evening Worship for all ages with spirited music and singing. Daily convocation
focusing on the theme of the School. Morning and afternoon programs for children of all ages.

Oppurtunity for adults to participate in from 1-4 classes on a wide range of topics including:
Something for everyone Theological Study and Reflection, Ukrainian Egg Decorating , History of
Rock and Roll and many more.

Registration will opened March 1st. This has become very popular with 700 people attending last
summer
Synod Coordinating Team report
November 4-6 2010
Albert Lea, Minnesota

I attended my first PW Synod of Lakes and Prairies Coordinating Team meeting as your new
Presbytery representative, replacing Ann Rock, who served you so well for the past three years. All
sixteen presbyteries in the five state Synod(MN, IA, ND,SD, NE, plus a Native American presbytery,
the Dakota Presbytery, which has twenty churches) were represented. I enjoy meeting the women
who represent these presbyteries and reading the reports of what women in their churches are doing.
Bev Raske, Renville, MN is the new Synod moderator.

I was appointed to the Mission Committee. The Moringa tree project has been a great success.
Money for the project should now be sent to the Medical Benevolence Foundation. A new project is
Little Dresses for Africa, made from pillowcases (can also use other fabrics). Watch the next SOWER
for details.

Because only one person from each Synod was able to go on the Dakota Experience trip this year,
our Synod is planning a trip for next year. SLAP-CT members will be eligible plus one other person
from each Presbytery. The women Dakota Presbytery would like us to come August 12-14, 2011
because we would then be present for their Mission Fair. We would need to come up with a method
for selecting the extra Presbytery women. Watch for a story about the 2010 Dakota Experience in the
March/April issue of Horizons.

There was a Leadership Training Session on Friday, and Margie Petersen of Community
Presbyterian, Rochester, was the other person representing out Presbytery for this training. We need
to tell the good story of PW and make sure that the women of our congregations know about PW.
Find new ways to do things, if necessary.

The next Churchwide Gathering, “The River of Hope”, will be held in Orlando, FL July 18-22, 2012.
The next Synod Gathering will be June 12-15, 2013.
--- Sylvia Swede
 A NOTE FROM YOUR CO-MODERATORS OF THE PW/PTCA

PW PURPOSE
Forgiven and freed by God in Jesus Christ, and empowered
by the Holy Spirit, we commit ourselves

• to nurture our faith through prayer and Bible study,

• to support the mission of the church worldwide,
• to work for justice and peace, and
• to build an inclusive, caring community of women that
strengthens the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and
witnesses to the promise of God’s kingdom.

I feel that all of us need to be reminded of OUR PURPOSE frequently.

According to the secretary’s report of the PW/PTCA Coordinating team meeting minutes on January
15th, ’11, Jane Boss, Treasurer, reported that the contributing churches made no operating expenses
donations during the fourth quarter. It was discussed about getting more Presbyterian women
involved financially. It does cost money to run any organization, a home or PW. Let’s all try to
encourage our congregation’s PW to stretch a bit more to add a percentage for the operating
expenses along with the quarterly pledges.

Notices: Visit PW and Horizons online

Presbyterian Women---www.presbyterianwomen.org
Horizons---http://horizons.pcusa.org

2011 Dates to Remember:

March 10 1st Quarter Pledges due to Jane Boss, Treasurer

March 28 Reports for Annual Report due to Jane Hallman, Secretary
April 9 SPRING GATHERING at Boutwell’s Landing
June 11 PW/PTCA Coordinating Team Meeting (Location to be determined)

See you at the Gathering!

Continue to pray for Ann Rock who has undergone serious major surgery. Ann has been involved in
PW in many positions for many years.

Peace and Love,

Donna Barlass & Rosey Peterson Co-Moderators
Send registration form (one per person if possible) and check for $15 per person
to:
Jane Boss, 14795 Ostlund Trail North, Marine-on-St. Croix, MN 55047.
Check payable to PW/PTCA.
Registrations must be received by Monday, March 28th

Registering after this date may necessitate making your own arrangements for lunch.

Name _____________________________________________ Phone ( ) ______________

Address ________________________________ City _________________ State________ Zip_______

E-mail address ______________________________________________________________

Home Congregation__________________________

Is this the first PW-PTCA Gathering you've attended? ____

Please include your e-mail address if you have one.

Send registration form (one per person if possible) and check for $15 per person
to:
Jane Boss, 14795 Ostlund Trail North, Marine-on-St. Croix, MN 55047.
Check payable to PW/PTCA.
Registrations must be received by Monday, March 28th

Registering after this date may necessitate making your own arrangements for lunch.

Name _____________________________________________ Phone ( ) ______________

Address ________________________________ City _________________ State________ Zip_______

E-mail address ______________________________________________________________

Home Congregation__________________________

Is this the first PW-PTCA Gathering you've attended? ____

Please include your e-mail address if you have one.