Welcome to the First Presbyterian Church of Monroe, NY

What's Happening

Here's what's happening at FPC:

  • We will be collecting donations for the victims of the Haiti disaster through the Hudson River Presbytery.
  • 2010 Offertory Envelopes are now available at the back of the sanctuary. If you do not see your name, we have boxes available in the office. Please see Sandy.
  • Lunch Bunch has begun again. Their new book: CALVIN for Armchair Theologians by Christopher Elwood. Call the church office to reserver your copy.
  • PLEASE NOTE: Lunch Bunch will not meet this Tuesday, February 9.
  • PW NOTE: The scheduled PW Luncheon for this coming Wednesday, February 10, has been postponed. Stayed tuned for further details.
  • DINNER NOTE: The Ham Dinner, originally scheduled for next Sunday, February 14, following the 10:00am worship service, has been postponed until later this month. Stay tuned for more information.
  • See the new information below about an upcoming workshop in February - the Loving Hands Workshop - as well as two PW spiritual retreats - Leaving FOOTPRINTS and 2010 Healing Women's Healing Retreat - April and May.
  • A short report on the activities of the Pastoral Nominating Committee is available below.
  • Check out the outline summary of the Property Committee below.

Haiti Donations

Through the Hudson River Presbytery, we will be collecting donations for the victims of the Haiti disaster.

If you would like to contribute to this, please send your donation to the church at 142 Stage Rd., Monroe, NY 10950 and write in the memo line "Haiti". Thank you.

Financial Secretary Needed

Effective January 1, 2010 the church is in need of a Financial Secretary.

Financial Secretary responsibilities include:

  • Weekly: tally and post offerings to individual accounts, take deposits to bank
  • Quarterly: print and mail statements
  • Yearly: create new pledge report, assign envelope numbers and distribute envelopes, start new pledge sheets
  • Knowledge of Excel is very helpful
  • Weekly time commitment is approximately one hour

Anyone interested in this position, please see Ada Hoenninger or Linda Mayer.

What is Per Capita?

$26.51 / member. Per Capita is the administrative cost of our higher governing bodies. It is based on the number of active members in each congregation. Every congregation is expected to pay the Per Capita for the entire year. Our church will pay $7,634.88 for 2010, and the total is due in January.

Thankfully many of you use the Per Capita envelope in your offering envelopes to help us meet that cost. If you do not have the Per Capital envelope but would like to contribute your portion, you can send a check to the church office with Per Capita written in the memo line. The amount is figure as follows:

  1. 2 adult members: 2 X $26.51 = $53.02
  2. 2 adult members + 1 confirmed youth member: 3 X $26.51 = $79.26
  3. 1 adult member + 1 confirmed youth member + 1 baptized child in Church School but not yet confirmed (often at end of 8th grade): 2 X $26.51 = $53.02

Going Green

We are working on “GOING GREEN” and trimming our expenses. Therefore we are moving toward Total Electronic Communication.

If you are not receiving our emails, Consider signing up for our FPC Yahoogroup. You have the option of receiving emails or you may request not to receive them automatically but rather at your convenience you may check the postings. Please contact Judy Wason and/or the church office for further details.

To stay abreast with daily happenings in the church, click the link for Yahoo Group: fpcmonroe (just above the Contact Us link to the right) to sign up.

PW News

We were snowed out of our planned December meeting, so our next one will be a combination Christmas / Valentine’s Day event. It will be Wednesday, February 10, beginning at noon. UPDATE: THIS HAS BEEN POSTPONED. UPDATED DETAILS WILL BE ANNOUNCED ASAP.

I would like to thank Lisa Schneider for her most valuable contribution to Monroe Presbyterian Women as treasurer. This is a big job, since it includes Cottage finances as well as those of the PW.

Many of our members have had health issues recently … we send our love, thoughts and prayers to them all.

Below are a couple of additional items of interest.

Think warm thoughts,

Marcy Brechtold - President, Presbyterian Women

PW Spring Spiritual Retreats

Two Spring spiritual retreats have been scheduled by the Presbyterian Women.

Leaving FOOTPRINTS in the Sand is scheduled for April 23-25, 2010, at Christ the King Retreat House, in Syracuse, NY.

The 2010 Women's Healing Retreat is scheduled for Friday, April 30 - Monday May 3, 2010, at St. Joseph by the Sea, in South Mantoloking, NJ. This retreat is sponsored by the Presbyterian Women in the Synod of the Northeast.

Download information for both retreats, or speak to Judy Wason about more details.

Request for Calendars

We have another request from Prison Project Coordinator Shepp. Along with Bibles, the prisoners he works with would really appreciate calendars, as it is very difficult to keep track of the passage of days while in prison.

So, if you receive 2010 calendars you do not want or need, please drop them off in the office. Shepp will find people who will make good use of them. Ones with spiral bindings are usable when the spirals are removed and replaced with a staple.

PW Monthly Bible Study Materials

Each year, the national PW organization publishes materials for a monthly Bible Study. For 2010-2011 (i.e., starting next September), the theme is the Book of Revelations. The author spoke at last summer's Churchwide Gathering, and she was excellent!

Let Judy Wason know if you are interested.

LOGOS

Logos (our mid-week miracle youth program) is in it's second half. Our Logos Family consists of 26 youth and 23 adults. We have celebrated with a few of our "favorite" themes, Camping, M&M's, Baby Night, Wild-Wild West. We are all looking forward to Beach Night, Talent Night, Pajama Night, Backward Night and Mardi Gras. We have also had 2 of our 3 Exciting Contests. (Airplane Flying and Cup Stomp).

Last weekend, Martha and Tim invited our Middle School and High School youth into their home for a Overnight/Lock-in. 13 youth and 6 adults (including Martha, Tim and Tina) participated. We all had an awesome time. We enjoyed friendship, ate and played and ate and played and watched a movie and ate..... (we also got a little bit of sleep). Thank you again, Tim and Martha. We are truly Blessed with your love and kindness.

It is not too late to join us, if you are interested please see Sandy or Linda. VISITORS are WELCOME (let the office know if you are interested).

Logos in a nutshell: Every Wednesday until March 24th from 4:15 until 7:15 for youth in Grades K-12.

Pastoral Nominating Committee

The Pastoral Nominating Committee has been hard at work. We completed the Church Information Form, and sent it off to Louisville for posting on the PCUSA’s system. So far, we are very encouraged by the strength and number of the responses we have received from ministers looking for their next call.

The next step in the process will be to sift through all of the resumes, and begin to narrow down our search. Once that is complete, we can start to contact prospective ministers and begin interviews.

We thank all of you for your support, and ask that you continue to vigilantly pray for our new minister, whoever he or she may be.

Helping Out in the Food Pantry

We are open the 1st & 3rd Saturdays from 10:00am - 12:00pm Noon; and the 2nd & 4th Wednesday from 11:30am - 1:30pm.

We've had quite the year at the Food Pantry. The number of clients using our services has increased dramatically. Just for illustration in January 2009 we served 33 Families with 53 adults, 50 children and 11 seniors. In December we served 72 Families, 145 Adults 97 Children and 8 seniors. That we have been able to provide food for such a number of people increases our faith in God's goodness. The more our need increased, the greater the response from the Congregation and the Community. Scout groups, Schools, Community Service organizations and private individuals all supported us this year. We ended the year in the black and we trust that as the numbers of those in need increases so will our ability to help with this most basic need. In our Community of relative affluence no one should be hungry.

Thanks to our dedicated volunteers, Bev Doty; Frank and Jean Eppinger, Danielle and Alex Santini, Amanda and Carol, the Pre-School parents, who have taken over the stocking chore for us during the week, Travis Chambers who does our bread pickups twice a week and to all those in the Congregation who remember us with cash and when they shop.

As always, we need additional help on Saturday mornings, and people to come in on Tuesday & Friday mornings for an hour or so (sorting, put donations away, and straightening things up. We also need regular volunteers for a Tuesday evening, say from 6:30 - 8:00pm. We would consider eliminating the 2nd Saturday in favor of the evening. If any of this fits your schedule please let me know. Thank you.

The Cottage Thrift Shop

In this economy we have your clothing and accessories solution: BARGAINS GALORE.. Must shop store. First Presbyterian "Thrift Store" located on Mill Pond Parkway just a few doors down from the movie theater. We are open to the public Tuesday 6pm-8pm / Thursday 10am-Noon / Saturday 10am-Noon.

Al-Anon

Al-Anon Family Groups is a 12 Step Program for the Family and Friends of Alcoholics. Help is available whether the Alcoholic/Addict is still drinking/using or living with sobriety. Al-Anon is an Anonymous fellowship.

NEW AL-ANON MEETING: MONDAY MORNINGS - 10:45AM, at First Presbyterian Church, 142 Stage Road, Monroe.

CHAPTER 9 - Couples in Recovery Anonymous

CHAPTER 9 - Couples in Recovery Anonymous meet Mondays, 7:30-8:30pm in FPC Room #10. Couples and Individuals are welcome. One partner needs be in a 12-step fellowship.

Property Committee Summary

Here is a quick summary to the 2009 accomplishments of the Property Committee and their goals for 2010.

Accomplishments for 2009:

  1. FURNACES - Replacement of two 20+year old furnaces completed
  2. PARKING LOT - Additional pot holes repaired and seams sealed
  3. HANDICAP RAMP - Temporary concrete patched where settled
  4. REAR COLUMNS SOCIAL HALL & DOORS NORTH END REPAIRED

Goals for 2010:

  1. GUTTERS & LEADERS - Repair/replace where needed, add gutter guards
  2. MEN'S ROOM (older section) - Countertop needs replacing as a result of water leak.
  3. SIDING - Repair/replace where needed
  4. FRONT COLUMNS - Scrape, repair & paint
  5. FELLOWSHIP HALL - Correct poor sound issues
  6. SANCTUARY - Earmarked in Stewardship project
    1. Check condition of north wall (south wall was exposed & repaired)
    2. Scrape & paint of ceiling
    3. Replace 20+ year old ceiling fans and wire correctly
    4. Add Central Air Conditioning to make the space energy efficient
    5. Scrape & paint of walls, trim and balcony
    6. Electrical, add outlet near organ, add dedicated circuit for organ
    7. Lower organ into floor for better visibility for Director with choir & choir bells
    8. Doors - Front & interior - repair but not replace
    9. Carpeting - replace present worn-out carpet
  7. RAILING - Install railing along parking lot at north end of building
  8. MANSE - Repair, replace and paint siding. Repair & paint front porch.
  9. SHEDS - Paint two sheds in church parking lot.

Rentals

Rent our “New” Fellowship Hall. Great for Anniversary Parties, Sweet 16, Bridal and Baby Showers, Birthday parties, or for any celebration occasion. Make your occasion memorable in our Spacious fellowship hall with full kitchen accessories. Rent a meeting room… great for your group meetings and organization. Available one-time, weekly, monthly or yearly.

Rent a meeting room… great for your group meetings and organization. Available yearly, monthly, weekly or bi-weekly or one-time occasion.

For more information, call or visit with Linda in the church office.