Planning for the “Family Fun & Ministry Day” is well underway. Next week’s bulletin will feature a full page cover and internal advertisement for this amazing event which will take place on Sunday, March 10 from noon until 3:00 p.m. As part of the festivities, we will introduce our new car magnet (see attached picture) to be given out to all attendees at the event. We encourage you to display your magnet on the back of your vehicle so t
hat everyone in Naples and beyond may see that you are a proud parishioner at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church. These are magnets and not stickers and may be removed or moved at any time. As an easy way to register for this event, we will include in the bulletin a simple form to be completed and dropped in the collection basket. I will also send out an email blast to the 1,300+ included in our email database. Please remember that there is absolutely NO COST to attend this event.
Another 24 Miniature replicas of the “Lest we Forget” statue have arrived and are available in the Divine Gift Boutique. Please stop by and pick up yours.
In the next several weeks, you will see a dramatic change adjacent to the “Lest we Forget” Veteran’s Memorial. We will begin demolition on the single parking spot that infringes on the memorial. After removing the asphalt, we will landscape and plant a continuation of the Cocoplum hedge which will wrap around the new landscaping to the front edge of the memorial. In addition, we will install up lights to illuminate the statue and the flags as well as another to illuminate the carillon. We feel that this will be a great enhancement to what is a truly beautiful memorial to those who serve and have served our country.
The 15th Annual Super Bowl Party was a tremendous success this past Sunday. We had over 250 in attendance to witness what turned out to be a great game. By game time, we filled nine boards of squares and made winners out of 36 of those in attendance. Cappelli’s did an outstanding job of preparing a traditional Super Bowl fare complete with chicken wings, pork loin sandwiches, sausage and more. We were also able to introduce the brand new popcorn machine purchased by the Men’s Club and Knights of Columbus. This was a much needed addition to our banquet facility. Twelve members of our Youth Ministry program attended and were a valuable asset in seating guests, clearing tables and selling 50/50 raffle tickets. They were so efficient that we ended up splitting nearly $800.00 for the raffle. Everyone attending the event was very complimentary and had nothing but nice things to say about the party.
Did you take a glance at the collection report for this past weekend? Thanks to your extreme generosity, the collection for Jamaica Outreach was a staggering $33,027.00. This is an increase of 43.54% over the same week last year. Having the Jamaica choir and Fr. Steve in attendance was a great treat and a wonderful example of what your funds are being used to support. Thanks again for going above and beyond for the Jamaica Outreach Program.
The St. Patrick’s Day party to be held on March 17 is picking up momentum. After working with several caterers, we have settled on an all-inclusive price for this event. For only $25 per person, you will be treated to an amazing night of entertainment, a meal complete with corned beef and cabbage, green beer and wine. We want this event to include everyone in the parish who wishes to attend and at this price point, I believe that no one will be excluded. The proceeds from this event will benefit the St. Vincent de Paul Society. Please see the flyer in next week’s bulletin. Tickets for this event will be available in the parish office.
There will be no Scott’s Corner next week as I will be traveling and unable to submit in time for the deadline.
Upon my return, I will publish a profit and loss statement (budget -vs- actual) for the first six months of our fiscal year (July 1 – December 31.) Due to space constraints in the bulletin, I was unable to include it in this week’s bulletin. I think you all will be pleasantly surprised at our performance for the first six months.
In His work together,
Scott Schlossberg, MBA
General Manager