News

The Carillon  (Our monthly newsletter)


S.I.C.M.'s New Name - And the Summer Meals Program

S.I.C.M. now has a new name.  Please find the info below about the summer meal program.  Thanks!  After speaking to many regular summer meal volunteers, you may know presently Collin's Park will not be on the list of Summer Meal sites this year. If you are open to participating at other sites, please let me know at church thanks! Susan--


Sycamore Collaborative’s Summer Meals program is coming up!

The program is scheduled to run from July 1st to August 30th, with a kick-off event planned for June 28th at

Jerry Burrell Park from noon to 3 pm. Sycamore Collaborative will have approximately 10 different sites across

Schenectady. We are looking for volunteers to help at 6 of those sites and will need a site supervisor and 4-5 volunteers for support.

Volunteers needed for Summer Meals sites:

 

The program will most likely run between the hours of 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. The service and distribution of meals will be about 1 hour and 15 minutes, but we ask that volunteers be at the site for about 2.5/3 hours to help prep the site and clean up. Partnered with the Schenectady School District, we will be able to provide hot meals, which is a change from previous years when we only provided cold meals. Due to this change, there will be additional

food handling training required, which we plan to schedule in the coming weeks. We are currently working on finalizing the dates and times for some of our Summer Meals sites. That being said…Could you let me know what dates and times work best for your group, along with the number of volunteers you could potentially bring to the Summer Meal’s site? Volunteer groups can either volunteer at a site for just one day, a week or secure the site for the whole summer! You can also let me know if there is a specific site you’d like to volunteer at but there are no guarantees. I will then take note of this information and when I know more about the specifics for each site, I will reach out to coordinate this volunteer opportunity. Additionally, we have created an email address, summermeals@sycamorecollab.org, for any questions regarding the summer meals program. This email will be monitored regularly, and we encourage you to reach out if you have any inquiries. Of course, you can always email me directly at cali@sycamorecollab.org.

 

We’ll be in touch when we have more information about volunteering for Summer Meals!


Thank you,

Cali Buxton-Pham,Resource Development Coordinator

518-374-2683 x 103


Sunday School Director Retiring

After many years of heading Sunday School, Mary Connors is retiring! She has dedicated years of her life and made a huge impact on the young Scotia United Methodist Church disciples. Although we are sad to see her step down she has promised to run some special activities for the children. We are looking for someone to officially take over the Sunday School program. If you are interested in teaching our young church members or have an idea to keep this wonderful program running, please email Karen DeSorbo at karendesorbo@yahoo.com. 


Scholarship Drive 

The Capital District Council of Churches coordinates Martin Luther King Day. A scholarship drive has started to give five college-bound high school students a chance of a better life. The goal is $4000.00 for each student. If you are able to, please donate something, any amount will help and will be appreciated. You may place in the offering and mark "scholarships" in the memo line.  – Meredith Van Vorst 


Registration Open for Skye Farm Camp Summer Camp!

In the summer months we host a resident Christian summer camp where all youth from ages 6 to 18 are invited to spend a week or more at one of our exciting summer camp programs.  Click here to view the program offerings to view the program offerings and to register. Skye Farm site director Robyn Vernon would be happy to visit your church to talk about Skye Farm programs and opportunities to support the camp and how to provide scholarships to campers. Contact her at robynvernon@unyumc.org or (518) 494-7170 to arrange a visit.


Reminders for All


Altar Flower Sign-ups

Sign-ups are needed for altar flowers. Debbie and Holly have been taking care of providing flowers for the altar for January and February.  We can use some volunteers to help keep our altar looking nice with a flower arrangement.  Your flowers can be an artificial arrangement you have at home, artificial flowers can be put in a vase, a green plant, flowering plant, or fresh flowers. Bring them in and put them on the altar on Sunday morning before service. Sign up on the bulletin board in the hallway to help us keep our altar looking nice.  You can let Cyndy in the office know if you want them in honor of someone or in memory of someone.  Otherwise the bulletin will say they are being provided by the donor.  Thank you for your help!  Jan and Debbie 


Volunteers Needed...

to take out the recycling and trash to the curb on Tuesday and retrieve it on Wednesday. There is a signup sheet for people to volunteer on the hall bulletin board. Please sign up and help us to share the responsibility. Thank you-Erik


Prayer Request

For Clarence Mosher, Carol Deiulio and Darlene St. Amour, recovering from surgery. 


June Pelham

June is presently living with her daughter, Linda Tucci, at 710 Man of War Ct., Inman, SC 29349.  Cards and/or notes would be most welcome!


Building Updates

Please be sure to check the doors going in and out of the church to be sure they are closed and locked. In temperature changes, they may stick and not close as well. Also, remember to turn out all the lights when you leave, thank you!


Garage Sale Notice

The Garage sale committee has asked all of us to PLEASE keep our treasures at HOME until the week of the sale in June.  Your church does not have the space to store the items until June. Thank you for your understanding and support. 


From the Finance Committee

Please ask God to provide a direction as to how you and your family should financially support your church in 2024. You can either mail in the pledge card or place in the offering plate. Our goal for this year’s Stewardship drive is $100,000. Please help us reach this goal. Thank you! 


Heating Fund Memorial

Heating Fund Memorial inserts are available on the small table in the hall and also in the workroom.


Prayer Request

There's a girl named Leslie Griffiths who is in the ICU at Ellis. Went in with covid and now pneumonia. She was put on a ventilator and on dialysis. It's not looking good for her. Please pray for her. -Jill


Thank You

To all those who purchased my Aging Fabulously devotional. I truly appreciate all the support and hope you are inspired by our words. If you get a chance, please leave a short review on Amazon. Somehow, it helps our rankings. Everyone should have received your books by now; if not, please let me know. And if anyone else would like to buy a book, just send me an email. - Cyndy


Thank You for Your Sympathy

The Lavery, Rogerson, and Pfisterer families wish to extend their appreciation for all the prayers, words of encouragement and sympathy through texts, emails, phone calls, hugs and cards throughout Erica’s 2-year battle with cancer. It is with my church family’s support that we maintained our strength and commitment to her final journey in life. With deep appreciation and love, RoyAnn.


New cleaning service

We have a new cleaning service, Legacy Upstate Cleaning, thanks to Mark, saving us >$5K/year. The one duty they don't perform is taking the recycling and trash to the curb on Tues. and retrieving it on Wed. There is a signup sheet I made for people to volunteer, on the hall bulletin board. We have been doing this since Aug 19th. I would appreciate it if folks would sign up and help us to share the responsibility. Thank you-Erik


Scotia/Glenville Senior Center

If anyone would like information on activities and programs for the Scotia/Glenville Senior Center, check with the office. 


Garage and Bake Sale Follow Up

Thanks to everyone who supported (via donations) or worked our 45th annual garage and bake sale.

It was a busy 2 days at your church, setting up, selling and the "dreaded" clean up.

 

When the dust finally settled, we made $320.00 from the bake sale and $1,777.00 on the garage sale.

Once again, thanks to everyone for your support. 

Ok, on to our next fund-raising adventure this fall… 


Chicken Dinner

Our 2nd Annual Chicken Dinner is in the books. Many thanks to everyone that supported the dinner by either working or stopping by. Thanks to Stewarts (via Sean O’Sullivan) for the gift card and Ruggiero’s pizza (via Brian Cieslak) for the donation of butter pads. We made over $900 for the church. Plan on doing it again this fall with another Chicken dinner or perhaps a Kielbasa & Cabbage night.


Coffee Hour

Volunteers needed for the Coffee Hour Fellowship on Sundays. Please sign up on the list on the bulletin board in the hall.  Thank you! 

Offering Envelopes

The Offering Envelopes for those who requested or received them last year are in the back of the church. If you would like envelopes, please contact Pat Knapp.


Smile as you shop Amazon

If shopping via Amazon during this Advent season, please use “Smile Amazon”. “Smile Amazon” will donate a portion of your purchase toward Scotia Methodist. This is the same as normal Amazon, no additional charge to you. It’s an easy way to for your church to receive additional funds. Go to” Smile.Amazon.com”, click on “Supporting “then select Scotia Methodist and you are all set to shop. So far this year we have received over $100 in donations from Smile Amazon.

Letter from Our New Pastor: Intro to Pastor Doug


Humanitarian Aid to Ukraine 

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is in communication with partners in the region and actively exploring the coordination of humanitarian response in Ukraine. If you'd like to support the relief efforts, you can write your check payable to SUMC and write "Ukraine" on the memo line. The church will then send the donations to UMCOR. Thank you. 


From the Staff Pastor Parish Relations Committee

We are pleased to announce that Rev. Doug Mackey was appointed by the  Upper NY Conference to serve part time for Scotia UMC and part time for Faith UMC commencing on July 1, 2022. For more info contact SPPRC members:  Steve Wesley, Wendy Liebl, Judy Dudley, Sean Flansburg, Holly Russo, Clarence Mosher, and Deb Elliott.


Building Update

If you know of any groups meeting during the week in classrooms 2 & 3 or downstairs (besides AA) please email the office with that info and the days/time. Thank you! And in the future, pencil it in on the wall calendar in the workroom. This helps us to keep track of who is in the building and also for cleaning purposes. 


Ellis Medicine will be housing a clinic weekly in the SICM Community Hub

Every Friday, from 9 am-11 am, all are welcome to walk in for any basic medical care. Please share with your faith communities and anyone you see fit. If you have any questions, contact Georgia Davis at 518.374.2683 x109.

Food pantry request:

"I am reaching out to you today with an urgent request for our pantry. Many of our guests have requested personal care items such as toothpaste and deodorant. These items can be expensive and are often the most requested by our food pantry guests when they visit. We try to care for each family the best we can when it comes to these requested items. If you can help, please drop donations at the loading dock behind the Rev Phil Food Pantry at 837 Albany Street on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays between 8AM – 2PM. Thank you for your help. For any questions, please contact me."   - Laura Pinckney  518-374-2683 x 103, Relations Coordinator, Schenectady Community Ministries


The Scotia UMC has a long history of providing and serving lunches at the Salvation Army location in Schenectady.  This history was interrupted in March 2020 by Covid 19 when the Salvation Army closed their kitchen to all indoor meals. Our church has been advised that the Salvation Army is serving lunches and would like to know if we will come back and do what we did before, serving every other month. Before we can answer we need to know that we will have at least 8 volunteers to serve and clean up. It will be better if there are 10 to 12 volunteers. Volunteers will:

*Arrive at the Salvation Army, 222 Lafayette St., Schenectady by 9AM with a MASK, hat, apron and a smile. (There is a parking lot in the back by the service area.)

*Be sure all surface areas are clean (Clorox wipes will be provided)

*Prepare the lunch (everything will be provided)

*Lunch is at noon ending at 1:00

*Clean up

*Eat lunch

*Go home and be very tired but HAPPY

If you have any questions call me or we can meet in the Work Room after church.

-Dick Knapp  (518) 810-6569 (C)

                     (518) 393-5737 (H)

Food Pantry - Always in need of plastic bags if you have any you are recycling.


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If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us. I John 4:12 KJV