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Thank You to Community Meal Helpers Thank you to all the Emmaus members who pitched in to make casseroles, salads, and desserts for the April 1 Community Meal at St. Patrick’s.Our next turn to serve the Community Meal will be on June 3. Look for a sign-up sheet in the narthex. Recipes for the casseroles are near the sign-up sheet, and below. 9"x13" pans are available in the kitchen off the Sunset Room. Please tape your name to the pans (whether they are yours or were borrowed from the church) so they can be returned. Casserole ingredients:
Brown the beef, onion, salt and pepper and put them in the bottom of a 9"x13" pan. Sprinkle the green beans over the beef. Pour both cans of soup over the beans. Spread the tater tots over the top of the casserole.
Bake at 350F for 45 minutes.
Bread for World Urges Letters to Congress by Melissa Lemke
On Sunday, May 23, Emmaus will participate in the Bread for the World offering of letters after church. In an offering of letters, Emmaus members would write personal letters to their senators and representatives in Congress to advocate for an issue that is important to hungry people. The offering simply requires a few minutes of your time. Example letters will be provided.
Are Racine Residents Ready to Recycle?
by Lila Berge
The City of Racine has issued large blue bins for residents to use for recycling all sorts of household trash. Apparently, even some well-educated people can have difficulty these first few weeks following the directions distributed by the city.
The every-other-week collection schedule and zone map were published in the Racine Journal Times, mailed to every resident who is eligible for trash collection -- complete with a refrigerator magnet showing the schedule. The schedule is also available on the City’s website. The city is divided into two zones, green generally on the east side and gold on the west, for the alternate week pickups.
The bins have ID numbers on them because they are city property and, if lost or stolen, the numbers will aid return to the proper residence. You can co-mingle all your recyclables according to the very complete listing on the top of each bin.
To keep down odors and not attract pests, it is recommended to rinse food containers before placing them in the bin. If you tend to fill the bin too quickly, you might consider flattening tin cans, milk bottles, soft drink and beer containers. This not only saves space, but can be a great way to release any violent urges.
Recycling is required by state law; it is against the law to place a long list of recyclables into landfills. Recycling will make our landfills last longer, save money for municipalities and taxpayers, and make our finite natural resources, including energy and fossil fuels, last longer. Recycling materials is generally much more fuel efficient than using virgin material. Recycling saves money and resources and is the right thing to do.
Green Teams Present Eric Lindberg
by Betty Brennemann
The Green Congregations invite you to a special event Saturday, June 5 11:00 a.m. in Perkins back room, 4915 Washington Ave. Eric Lindberg of Transitions Milwaukee will talk about a movement taking place in over 500 cities in the U.S. How we can make a positive and healthy transition to a more resilient community as we: live with less oil, live with dramatic changes in the weather, live with a changing economic world? Join the Green Congregations group as they begin planning how we can help this transition to a healthy and resilient Racine. Contact Betty Brenneman, 637-3119 e_bren@sbcglobal.net.
Recycle Tech Products at Church We now recycle used computer ink cartridges. Look for the container on the table in the narthex. We also recycle batteries, cell phones and CFL light bulbs. Containers for these items are also in the narthex. By the back door is a receptacle for plastic bags which are used by the Northside Food Pantry.
Please save your aluminum cans. Next to the back door is a huge container for cans. The cans are taken to the recycling center on High Street for cash. The cash from recycled cans goes for designated projects at the church. Please, no tin foil. Remove cans from plastic bags and put the cans in the large trash bags in the cans. Thank you. Note: the green container by the back door is for plastic bags which are used by the Northside Food Pantry.
Trinity United Methodist Church, 3825 Erie Street, 1:30 to 4:00 p.m.
Northside Food Pantry Says Thanks by Cindi Larsen The Northside Food Pantry extends its continued thanks to the Emmaus family for its support in funds and food donations as the Pantry strives to meet the needs of the hungry within our community. Here is an update on items that the Pantry is often short of or must purchase each month.
In addition to the financial and donation of food items, we have a hard-working crew of Emmaus volunteers that assist us when deliveries are received twice a month. Special thanks are extended to Ron and Pat Jensen, Deby Albright, Kathy and Rich Christensen, Cheryl Dexter, Diane Haug, Marge Zielke, Karen Sedgwick, and Dianne Melander.
Coffee Project Appreciates Support via Diane Melander During the tenth year of the Mt. Meru Coffee Project your support has helped to maintain their sales volume so that is nearly equal to that of last year. While many organizations are experiencing large declines in their activity, the Mt. Meru Coffee Project continues to be blessed with the support of members of the many congregations that are associated with it. The Project has been helping to increase the standard of living for the small coffee growers of the Meru Diocese in Tanzania. The families of these coffee growers live on plots of land that are often as small as three to five acres. Most of the crops grown are for their own sustenance and in most cases coffee is the only cash crop. Before the Mt. Meru Coffee Project began shipping coffee to the USA, the coffee was purchased by international coffee buyers. The low prices they paid made it impossible for many of the coffee growers to send their children to school or to afford adequate health care. The standard of living has improved in the Meru Diocese because of the Mt Meru Coffee Project. The story is told on the back label of every package. Purchasing packages of Mt. Meru Coffee at your congregation allows the Mt. Meru Coffee Project to import more coffee from the coffee farmers of the Meru Diocese. This person to person project allows us to have a relationship with the growers of the coffee we drink while helping to support their families.
If you have questions or want to special order coffee, gift packs or land, please stop by the Sunset Room on Sunday or call Diane Melander at 262-681-2796.
Green Congregations Compare Notes
by Betty Brenneman
Representatives from eight Racine Green Congregations plus one from Muskego met at Holy Communion Lutheran Church April 10 to share their efforts to help the environment.
St. Andrew Lutheran Church reported that Emmaus’s Hispanic congregation is now part of their garden team. Produce from their garden goes to the Northside Food Pantry. St. Andrew is also working with Caledonia to start a North side Farmer’s Market.
Last year, Holy Communion Lutheran Church began employing
up to fifteen local youth to work three hours a day, three times a week to weed out and plant perennials on their hill, thus saving the pesticides used by the city.
Olympia Brown Unitarian Universalist Church reported that May is their “alternative transportation” month. Congre-gants are encouraged to get to church in ways that reduce the amount of carbon used. In the past, Olympia Brown members have checked the tires of the cars in the parking lot and inflated the low tires.
Lutheran Church of the Resurrection has been holding a discussion group on Sunday mornings – Voluntary Simplicity, has redone one room for HALO and is starting another, is now enjoying paperless Sundays – no bulletins – use email for newsletters and project the bulletin on a screen during services. They will be doing a discussion group using “Menu for the Future”. They created a presentation on the dangers of plastic for the Green Revival event on April 10.
Atonement L.C. of Muskego is planning to start a garden, need some soil enrichment – cow manure better than horse for gardens unless it has been composted - They have created a logo for Creation Care Ministry- May is Wetland month since Muskego is in a wetland area. They will have a Christian Care Sunday and the Sunday School will focus on care of the earth. They plan a field trip to the Eco-Justice Center in Racine, They use Fair Trade coffee and have a garden share in other countries.
Trinity United Methodist reported that it is in the church contract with groups that the church china must be used; they sponsored a field trip to Growing Power in Milwaukee – 20 people from 5 congregations went,
Growing Power delivers weekly boxes to D.P.Wigley. Helped plan the Green Revival – created a display for Discussion groups, one for Green Congregations, one of Trinity UMC and activities Green Team has done, and helped create a presentation on Transistion Cities. The Trinity garden was established 10-15 years ago as a children’s project and included some neighborhood children. The produce now goes to the Northside Food Pantry; a load of cow manure has been delivered and is ready to spread. A member of the Green team prepared a list of refernces and some home-made cleaning recipes for the church Eco-Fair last year.
Lynn Leithleiter then shared information about the Racine Urban Garden Network. After drawing up a detailed plan and paying the $200.00 for a license fee, and getting approval from the city council for space on Marquette , they are now ready for people/groups to sign up for a garden plot.
Other Racine groups that have developed recently: Eat Right Racine meets on the first Thursday of the month at 6:30 a.m.; and Sustainable Business Network.
Our next meeting till be Oct. 9 at First Presbyterian Church, from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m.
from HALO Newsletter Shelters Needs
THP Needs
For questions on the THP needs, please contact Rachel Burmm (633-3235, ext. 105) or Mark Weitkum (633-3235, ext. 109).
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