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Upcoming Church & Community Service Projects

  • WED, May 9: CUTTING PARTY for
    PEASE GREETERS CHRISTMAS STOCKING PROJECT
    * 10-Noon • Parish Hall, Jackson Community Church

    Mission Committee is holding a Cutting Party to prepare the materials for veterans’ Christmas Stockings after Laurie McAleer’s 9am Tune Up fitness class. Bring sharp scissors and common pins if you have them. Expect to cut out 60 stockings.  Once completed (they’re taken home to be assembled by the organizers), these stockings go to the Pease Greeters group and are distributed to incoming and outgoing military personnel at Pease Air Force Base.

  • SAT, May 5: Community Event – VALLEY PRIDE DAY Litter Pick Up
    * 8:30-10am •  Whitney Community Center (other registration sites in different valley communities, see link below)
    * 10am-Noon • Pick up litter along local roads; sites to be assigned during registration
    * Noon-2pm • Celebrate @ Hampton Inn, No Conway
    JCC friends and members can volunteer along with JCC’s team leader Fred Tompkins to help clean local roads by registering (same day  registration) at the Whitney Community Center (other communities have different registration locations) to get gloves and bags and cleanup assignments, and then go out to pick up trash until noon. For more information on the entire event, and other locations to register and clean up, see the Conway Sun article.
  • SAT • May 12 – Community Event: HABITAT for HUMANITY’s WOMEN BUILD DAY
    5 Burgdorf Drive,
    Madison, NH
    Please RSVP for this event to  cheryletoneill@gmail.com, Cheryle O’Neill, MWV Habitat for Humanity Family Support Committee Member and Women Build 2018 Coordinator. No construction skills or knowledge are necessary; just your presence and enthusiasm.
  • FRI, May 25: SET UP for Estate Sale , Jackson Community Church
    Afternoon/evening. Church and old library. RSVP to Rev Gail if able to help.
  • SAT, May 26: PLANT SALE, Outside Jackson Grammar School
    * 7:30-9am • Set up tables and plants for sale outside Jackson Grammar School (near library book sale at Whitney Community Center)
    * 9am-Noon • Plant Sale. Money earned from the plant sale will go to the emerging Homeless Teen Initiative c/o North Country Cares (also the umbrella organization for the Revolving Closet)
  • SAT, May 26: ESTATE SALE, Jackson Community Church
    * 7-8am • Set up
    * 8am-2pm • Jackson Community Church. The church “estate sale” will take place the same day as the plant sale, outsie of weather permits, indoors if necessary. Donated items (household goods, sports equipment, collectibles, kitchen items, tools) will be sold to benefit the church building and operations. RSVP to Rev Gail if able to help.
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SPRING SCHEDULE for Youth & Families with Jackson Community Church

APRIL

  • Fri, April 27 — 5:30-7:30pm • Friday Fun Night

    Spring Fling with Pizza & Games at JCC. RSVP by email if planning to attend or call/text Rev Gail (978.273.0308)
  • Sat, April 28 — 9am-Noon • Spring Cleaning at JCC

    Come prepared to work inside (or outside if you don’t mind the rain). We’re organizing closets, cleaning windows and hard-to-reach areas, touching up spots inside and outside the church, changing light bulbs, and sprucing up the church grounds. Wear old clothes, sensible shoes, and bring work gloves. We’ll add more info about any tools or equipment you should bring from home, such as buckets or rakes or brooms.
  • Sun, April 29 – 10:30am • Worship includes traditional Sunday School. Parents may attend worship and children will have interactive lesson during portion  of service.

Continue reading “SPRING SCHEDULE for Youth & Families with Jackson Community Church”

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Church service projects & community causes seeking volunteers

Highlights: spring cleaning at church, cutting party for Pease Greeters Christmas stockings, plant sale to address teen homelessness, estate sale to benefit for church, plus help Valley Pride road clean up, women build with Habitat for Humanity and learn more about volunteering for Starting Point. Some RSVPs requested for planning purposes.

FRI, April 27

  • OUTDOOR CLEANUP
    3-5pm • Outdoors at Jackson Community Church. Come prepared to work outside. Wear old clothes, sensible shoes, and bring work gloves. If possible, bring rakes or brooms. We’ll remove sand and leaves from driveway, lawn, and playground, and generally doing a first pass at cleaning up outside. Park across the street if possible; we’re cleaning up the parking lot.

SAT, April 28

  • SPRING CLEANUP DAY
    (mostly indoors due to rainy weather forecast)

    9am-Noon. Come prepared to work inside or outside, depending on your preference. Rain is expected, so we anticipate most projects will be indoors. We’re organizing closets, cleaning windows and hard-to-reach areas, touching up spots inside and outside the church, changing lightbulbs, and sprucing up the church grounds. Wear old clothes, sensible shoes, and bring work gloves. If possible, bring sponges, rags, buckets, rakes or brooms. RSVP to Rev Gail if able to help.

WED, May 9

  • CUTTING PARTY for PEASE GREETERS CHRISTMAS STOCKING PROJECT
    10-Noon • Parish Hall, Jackson Community Church
    Mission Committee is holding a Cutting Party to prepare the materials for veterans’ Christmas Stockings after Laurie McAleer’s 9am Tune Up fitness class. Bring sharp scissors and common pins if you have them. Expect to cut out 60 stockings.  Once completed (they’re taken home to be assembled by the organizers), these stockings go to the Pease Greeters group and are distributed to incoming and outgoing military personnel at Pease Air Force Base.

FRI, MAY 25

SAT, MAY 26

  • PLANT SALE • Outside Jackson Grammar School
    7:30-9am • Set up tables and plants for sale outside Jackson Grammar School (near library book sale at Whitney Community Center)
    9am-Noon • Plant Sale.
    Money earned from the plant sale will go to the emerging Homeless Teen Initiative c/o North Country Cares (also the umbrella organization for the Revolving Closet).
  • ESTATE SALE
    7-8am • Set up
    8am-2pm • Jackson Community Church
    The church “estate sale” will take place the same day as the plant sale, outsie of weather permits, indoors if necessary. Donated items (household goods, sports equipment, collectibles, kitchen items, tools) will be sold to benefit the church building and operations. RSVP to Rev Gail if able to help.

Community Causes

Continue reading “Church service projects & community causes seeking volunteers”

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Volunteer with Jackson Community Church

Highlights:

  • Spring cleaning at church on Saturday, April 28
  • Plant sale to benefit church missions on Saturday, May 26,
  • Yard sale to fundraise for church building care and overall operations on Saturday, May 26,
  • Train in April to volunteer with Starting Point to resist and respond to domestic violence
  • Help Habitat for Humanity on Saturday, May 12 (Mother’s Day Weekend)

Continue reading “Volunteer with Jackson Community Church”

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LENTEN RESOURCES

Acts of Kindness & Giving for Lent
(guides and calendars sourced from several organizations)

Reflections and Meditations

  • Coloring the Psalms Devotional Guide and Coloring Pages.
    *Already printed and available* at front of church, which is always open. Or accessible as downloadable multi-page PDF files from Jackson Community Church’s website. Due to licensing, the link will be sent by email to all church friends and members … if you want to participate, and didn’t receive this email already, sign up on this site to receive our email and we will forward the links to download the PDF files. Or email us directly for the link.
  • UCC (United Church of Christ)’s Still Speaking Daily Devotional messages. Sign up to receive these.
  • UCC (United Church of Christ)’s Still Speaking Podcast. Sign up for podcast
  • Mindfulness Applications for computers and mobile devices from Thich Nhat Hahn’s Plum Village (in the engaged Buddhist tradition)
  • Jan Richardson’s Painted Prayerbook blog entries
  • Maren Tirabassi’s Gifts in Open Hands blog with daily Lenten posts
  • Daily Meditations by Fr Richard Rohr, sign up to receive these
  • Living Lent Daily: Ignatian Spirituality daily meditations for Lent . Sign up to receive daily email meditations and devotional activities.
  • Social Justice Lectionary: Downloadable guide to readings and activities surrounding social justice issues. Extension of MLK Day initiatives.
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Christmas-y Acts of Kindness

DROP OFF 2018 CALENDARS for GIBSON CENTER

These calendars are collected and distributed to seniors through the Gibson Center, including delivery out to people receiving Meals on Wheels in their homes. Bring them to church and add them to the cardboard collection box in Parish Hall at the church.
SIGN UP to PROVIDE MEALS for MURPHY FAMILY

Due to the recent death of Mike Murphy, the community has resumed the Meal Train coordination again to help Amiee Murphy and her children through this time of transition and loss.

You can sign up to deliver meals using MealTrain link below; it keeps a calendar so that you can choose a date when the family isn’t covered for a meal. You can also watch this site for additional needs that the family might identify.

Open the Meal Train Plus

For more details, please contact Amanda Murphy 603-733-6132, or Susan Ross-Parent 603- 383-6861 (work phone at Jackson Grammar School) or 603-730-7572 (home).

COME CAROL to NEIGHBORS
(or connect a neighbor to receive carolers)

On Sunday, Dec 17 we plan to leave around NOON from the church for the second annual caroling outing to Jackson Village and Glen area. We sing for those who can’t get out or who might enjoy a little caroling cheer. We also leave them with a small poinsettia as a remembrance of the season.

If you have a neighbor to include on the caroling route, please send Jeanette Heidmannyour suggestions by mid-week with contact information; we’ll add them if possible. We contact folks ahead of time to make sure they will be home.

Note: we plan to carol in two groups on two routes. Please RSVP if you plan to carol, although we’ll welcome last-minute additions, too. Children, families, and adults all welcome to come sing!

Spread the word. For those who sang last year, it was one of the most memorable experiences of the season, if not the year.
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Outreach: Recent Initiatives

Recent initiatives:

  • Preparation of Christmas stockings to be delivered to veterans and families by Pease Greeters
  • Collection of gifts for children supported by Agels & Elves program
  • ‘Reverse Advent’ calendar bags for families: collection of food pantry items for 25 days of Advent to mark the season
  • Meals, fundraising & communal care for local family living with cancer
  • 260 sandbags filled by church team along with other community volunteers to preserve a home endangered by riverside erosion after recent floods
  • Assistance to a family forced to choose between medical bills and groceries
  • Support for a local family whose home was destroyed by hurricane flooding
  • Moved family to new home
  • Hosted Advanced Care Planning Directive workshop and embedded trained facilitator within congregation to assist with ongoing preparation of these documentsSent care packages to students and young adults living away from home
  • Soups delivered during home visits to people living in isolation or recovering from illness
  • Collected and assembled 14 hurricane recovery buckets used in flood zones and sent matching funds to areas such as Puerto Rico, worked with UCC grant program to
  • Roof funds raised and sent for partner Chikanga Church in Mutare, Zimbabwe
  • Walked and raised funds for Alzheimers Research
  • Climbed, danced and raised funds for Cancer Research
  • Helped support conservation and educational organizations such as Tin Mountain Conservation Center and Saco Valley Land Trust
  • Hosted acapella concert for Mountaintop Music
  • Walked to support Recovery
  • Donations to several local organizations (see below)

See our HOME page for the most recent responses to specific local and international events, such as hurricanes, floods, fires, earthquakes and other emergencies. We believe in immediates responses to disasters, but also in sustainable support for organizations such as the ones below, which address long-term support for different issues.

The Jackson Community Church has an active Mission Committee and strongly supports many local, regional,  national and global programs.

Local programs include

  • ​Jen’s Friends
  • MWV Habitat for Humanity
  • Angels and Elves
  • Northern Human Services
  • Children Unlimited
  • Local food pantry (Bartlett/Jackson)
  • Gibson Center
  • Starting Point
  • White Mountain Community Health Center
  • 68 Hours of Hunger
  • Katy Murphy Foundation

Regional, National and Global programs include

  • American Cancer Society – Race to Beat Cancer
  • Horton Center
  • Star Island
  • One Great Hour of Sharing
  • Neighbors in Need
  • Christmas Fund
  • Haitian Health Foundation
  • Zimbabwe – Chikanga Church
  • ABAN
  • Andover Newton Seminary
  • Honduras Hope
  • Pease Greeters – Knitted caps for our soldiers click here for the pattern or more information at

www.peasegreeters.org

For more information on what the Mission Committee is up to this month please check out the monthly newsletter.

Scholarships Available…

Bushee Thorn    – click here for a 2017 application to for assistance in attending a summer camp

Olive Godfrey     – click here for a 2017 application for Jackson residence attending higher education

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Barbershop Quartet Downtown Crossing @ Jackson Community Church

BARBERSHOP QUARTET
Downtown Crossing @ Jackson Community Church
Saturday, March 18, 7:30pm
Mountain Top Music brings award-winning Barbershop Quartet to Jackson

From the embers of The Vocal Revolution Chorus, a community of male singers from around the Boston areas, a youthful quartet dedicated to bringing fun and energy to barbershop music was born – called “Downtown Crossing”.  Mountain Top Music is pleased to bring this award-winning vocal quartet to the Mt Washington Valley on Saturday evening, March 18th, 7:30pm at the Jackson Community Church.

Downtown Crossing, also known as DTX, is comprised of the talents of Dan Costello, Ben Orenstein, Joey Constantine, and Seth Orenstein.  They join together in song singing traditional barbershop harmony but sometimes mesh it with the likes of spiritual numbers, stage musical favorites, and Motown chart toppers.  They have won or placed in the Northeastern District Quartet and Chorus Championships for many years and will again be competing in the International event in Las Vegas this summer.

Seth Orenstein was first introduced to barbershop music when he was ten years old by his “barbershopping” grandfather.  He has become a front-row member of the chorus, member of the music team and is the tenor, which means he sings the high notes.

Joey Constantine is the Lead singer.  After one year of playing the clarinet in middle school, Joey quickly realized that the only instrument he needed was his voice.  You’ll understand why when you hear this man sing!  Joey can be found in his spare time functioning as the Assistant Conductor of the Vocal Revolution.

Baritone Dan Costello has been singing barbershop for 16 years thanks to his Grandfather John.  Dan is a certified Director of the Barbershop Harmony Society and currently directs the Vocal Revolution Chorus (formerly “Sounds of Concord”).

And if you like the low notes, then Ben Orenstein is your man.  He stands next to Joey and fills out the bottom of DTX’s sound.  Like his brother Seth, he was introduced to the sound of barbershop by his grandfather and sings mostly roots and fifths!

Seats are first-come, first serve, at the Jackson Community Church, 127 Main St, Jackson, NH.  Cost is $17/person prepay at  or $20/person at the door; children and students are free.  Come join Mountain Top Music in welcoming these talented individuals as they bring the sounds of close harmonies and barbershop tunes back to our area.

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Simplifying Church Structure: March 4

Facilitator Rev. Doug Bixby will lead a workshop for our church. Everyone is welcome to attend.

With his permission, we’ll provide brief excerpts from his book in downloadable PDF form (and printed copies). We also have a limited number of the complete volume for use before and after the workshop (these are available for immediate pickup).

This will kick-start the elimination of redundant and unnecessary committees, revitalize the teams that have a specific reason for being in existence, and focus our work on the mission and action of the church, minimizing administrative overload and freeing up energy and resources for the “why” that really moves us and gives us joy.