We have worked very hard to transform the Memorial Garden into a beautiful and spiritual space. After three rounds of landscape renovations, the garden is now looking better than ever. Over the holiday season, many families came to visit loved ones in the memorial garden. Along with these visits came large bouquets of flowers and other items placed on the graves to honor or memorialize loved ones. When re-landscaping the Memorial Garden, we installed countless flowering bushes and annuals. The idea is that rather than placing an obtrusive bouquet of flowers on the grave, visitors would instead pick one of these flowers and place it on the grave. By doing so, we keep the garden looking nice and don’t have to deal with cleaning up dead arrangements or bouquets on a weekly basis. On your next trip to the memorial garden, please consider picking a Hibiscus or a Penta and placing it on the grave of your loved one. Let’s keep our Memorial Garden looking nice for everyone. Thank you for your consideration.
As of this past Wednesday there were already 150 tickets sold for the 14th Annual Super Bowl party to be held on Sunday, February 5. Considering we do not yet know who will be playing in the big game, this is a great turnout. Although the Packers squandered any opportunity of a team from the Midwest playing in the Super Bowl, there is a good chance that we will have a Northeast duo which would be a bonus considering we have a large contingent of seasonal parishioners who spend their summer in this region. We do have a limit of 300 attendees for the party so if you are planning on attending, I suggest that you pick up your ticket very soon.
Thus far we have 35 ministries participating on January 28 and 29 at the second annual Ministry Fair to be held in the PLC ballroom from 4:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. on Saturday and from 7:45 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. on Sunday. This will be your opportunity to come down and meet representatives from all of our ministries and sign up to join. There will be giveaways and raffles at the fair so make sure to attend. We will serve refreshments during the fair on both days. Our goal is to create 100% participation by our parishioners in ministries at St. John the Evangelist. With so many choices, we invite you to join us for this magnificent event.
Annual Contribution Statements will be mailed out this coming week to all parishioners who contributed at least $1.00 during the 2011 calendar year. The statements will be mailed out first class in order to eliminate any problems with the bulk rate mailing process. As you know, we have made great strides in the past several years to ensure that your statement is accurate. If there is an error on your statement, please contact me as soon as possible so that I may research and rectify the situation. The following are examples of contributions that will NOT appear on your annual statement from St. John the Evangelist: 1)If you have been contributing to the Catholic Faith Appeal in the 2011 calendar year and have exceeded the IRS $250.00 threshold, you will receive an acknowledgement directly from the Diocese of Venice. If you did not meet the $250.00 threshold for CFA contributions in 2011, you will need to use cancelled checks for tax purposes. 2)If you made a contribution directly to the Jamaica Outreach Program (JOP), your gift will be recognized by JOP. 3)If you made a contribution directly to the St. Vincent De Paul Society, your gift will be recognized by the St. Vincent De Paul Society. 4)If you deposited loose cash in the offertory and did not use an envelope, we have no record of the gift. 5)If you are not a registered parishioner, you will not receive a statement. Thank you very much to all of our parishioners for your generous support in 2011. We would not be able to efficiently operate without you.
Last week I made a request for your email address so that we may enhance communication within the parish through our new email module. I was very disappointed with the number of responses I received on Monday. In order for this to be a success, we must have your email address. I promise not to badger you with unwanted emails. I will only send out newsletters and pertinent emails relating to upcoming events which you may want to be involved.
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In His work together,
Scott Schlossberg, MBA
General Manager