ECHO news for June

ST. Mark’s is asked to bring bags of food to church each sunday in June for echo’s food drive!!!

ECHO needs our help! 

Since ECHO has moved to the “food choice” mode, which allows clients to select the food they will actually use, the food room has had to purchase many items not normally donated. We can help! Starting Sunday, June 8, there will be bags in the narthex with lists of needed food attached. Please take a bag and return it with any of the listed items. 

Please note that ECHO cannot use expired items, nor perishable ones. If you desire to donate perishable items, please take them directly to ECHO. Click HERE for their most needed items.

ECHO Needs Help With School Backpacks This Summer … Click HERE for info on how you can help!

Request info at ECHOBACKPACKS@GMAIL.COM.

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Click HERE to see a compilation of ECHO’s current needs … and CLICK HERE FOR ECHO’S AMAZING DISTRIBUTIONS FROM 2024!!!

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Donations that cost ZERO … click HERE for info …

Click HERE to see how Target shoppers can help raise funds for ECHO …

Click HERE to find out what to do for a “Food Donation Option When You Can’t Come to ECHO”

ECHO desperately needs your help to help fill the shelves of their Food Pantry … Need info on donating? Call 703-569-7972 or go to https://www.echo-inc.org/needed-right-now for their current needs.

Need help? Call 703-569-9160 … To find out what ECHO has to offer its clients, click HERE for English and HERE for Spanish.

Donation Hours
M, Tu, W, Th, F - 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM
Tu, W, Th - 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Funerals and Memorials Info

St. Mark’s website now have a separate informational webpage for upcoming funerals and memorials. See it at https://www.stmarks-elca.org/funerals-memorials-info.

Don’t Let Your Giant Reward Points Expire!

Do you know you can use your points for other products besides gas? Right now you can get a dozen eggs for 200 points. If you don’t need them, or only need a half dozen, please consider donating them to Food For Others. Just mark the container as FFO and leave in the kitchen refrigerator. Thank you!

Pull POP tabs from Soda Cans!

… and place them in the narthex in the container shown at the left! Cindy Hausch-Booth is collecting pop tabs for Ronald McDonald House Charities, Greater Washington, DC! It's just so simple! Pop tabs are easy to collect and store and are less messy than collecting entire cans, and there is more concentrated aluminum in these tabs than in the cans, so we can get more money for something a lot smaller! 100% of the money we earn is used to offset the cost between the amount families are able to donate for their stay and our actual operating costs—a difference of about $197 a night. You can easily see that the little pull tab you used to throw away is very valuable to the guest families at our Houses.

Thank you for helping RMHCDC by “Pulling for the House!” Your pop tabs make a difference!

Third Quarter Benevolence:
ELCA World Hunger

3rd Quarter Benevolence 

From July through September, we will be collecting benevolence donations for ELCA World Hunger. 

ELCA World Hunger addresses food insecurity in the United States and abroad by providing immediate relief to the hungry and addressing long-term needs to access sustainable food supplies and fresh water. ELCA World Hunger works in over 60 countries, partnering with local churches and organizations.

See also “the latest info” on our Q3 benevolence on our Quarterly Benevolence webpage.

As a reminder, our quarterly benevolences are not covered through the regular offerings to the St. Mark’s operating budget. If you donate online, there is a Quarterly Benevolence button on our Vanco e-giving portal. If you make your donation at the offering plate or mail in a check, please make out the check to St. Mark’s Lutheran Church and annotate the check with "Quarterly Benevolence."

ESOL Classes at St. Mark's

Classes in the fall began Tuesday, September 12, 2023. Classes are Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7:00 PM-8:30 PM; cost of books is $45. There is a need for ESOL teachers as well as volunteers to provide childcare (perhaps high school students who need community service hours).

For more information, contact Yvette Moy at at ymoy@stmarks-elca.org.

YOU ARE INVITED …

** The Prayer Ministry invites anyone who is interested in committing to a renewed prayer life at St. Mark's to join us on Sundays after the service at 11:00 AM in the Fellowship Hall. Learn more HERE!!!

** Also, the "Watch and Pray" Lunch Bunch is scheduled for Tuesdays at NOON in the Fellowship Hall. Bring a bag lunch and come to share in prayer, food, and fellowship. All are welcome. Contact Ken Anderson for information.

** Everyone is invited to join the on-going Wednesday morning (10:00) “Watch and Pray” meeting via Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/894781064 (password 5800) 

For questions or more information contact Raelene Long (llong41@verizon.net) or Cherry Moser (clmoser@cox.net).

“Sacred Ground”

Vacation Bible School
June 14, July 12, August 9

9:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Connecting with Students at Lynbrook Elementary School

Please Sign Up to Help
at the Health Fair!

Our Annual Community Health Fair will be 
Saturday, August 16
10:00 AM-2:00 PM. 

Please pray for good weather! We hope to serve several hundred neighbors, as we did last year. This year, we have added more: health and social services information providers, health screenings, school backpack giveaways, food, plus some new family activities. See more information on our HOME page.

The Health Fair will take place from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, plus setup and cleanup periods. The two-hour time slots are:

8:00 AM-10:00 AM: Setup
10:00 AM-12:00 NOON: Morning Shift
12:00 NOON-2:00 PM: Afternoon Shift
2:00 PM-4:00 PM: Cleanup

You can sign up for a time slot in the Narthex on the signup sheets provided there or on a SignUp Genius page, which you can find HERE or using this QR Code at the right ➡️ ➡️ ➡️ …

An invitation from
Deacon Kathy Garrison:

"Sacred Ground" is a 12-session program on racism in the US. As a reluctant and skeptical participant, I quickly became impressed with the depth and breadth of this program. I learned more than I could have ever imagined. It was surprising how much I had to learn. For the curious and those who are interested in going deeper, it is a compelling program.

Click HERE for more information—Join Kathy at church on July 20 and 27 to ask questions and learn more about it.

Vacation Bible School

June 14, July 12, August 9

9:30 AM – 12:00 PM

All Aboard the Spirit Express! 
Where God is the Engineer of our Lives

Our Vacation Bible Saturdays will be June 14, July 12, and August 9 for children from age 3 through rising 7th graders. Each independent session will be 9:30 AM–12:00 PM with a snack provided. This summer the Fellowship Hall will be transformed into a train depot for our journey through Bible stories about the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Registration is now open at https://forms.gle/EHV6tnhuyWzJuG5w6.

Bilingual Service, Community Meal, and Ministry Fair

Mark your calendars for our next bilingual liturgy on September 7, 2025. We will have one bilingual liturgy at 11:00 AM followed by a meal and ministry fair. This will also be our final monthly community meal. Beginning September 14, we will have weekly sandwich lunches, see Pr. Albert’s article for more information.

Community Meals Are Back!

We have resumed our Community Meals, only on the first Sunday of the month at 1:30 PM, immediately following the Spanish service. EXCEPT for June!

What do we need? To start, (1) we need volunteers; and (2) we need prayers that God will (a) give us strength and wisdom as we recommence this effort, and (b) bless our efforts to satisfy not only physical hunger but real spiritual need.

Military Packages: No Collection in July, Resumes at the End of August

You loyal contributors might be wondering why there's been no end-of-July update—the reason is that the group we're sending to is on the move. We will collect and send your wonderful items to them at the end of August, so there will be no lost packages while they are on the move. We'll let you know more when they are able to communicate with us—and you know that if they are on the move now, they will be even more grateful to hear from us later! Thanks a million, from them and from us.

Flower Committee

The Flower Committee needs new members. If you are interested in joining the flower committee to help “dress” the altar on Sundays, please contact Trudy Stellar. We will be happy to train you. Click HERE for more information!

2024 Flower Deditations: Click HERE for the form to dedicate flowers or one or more Sundays in 2024!

Flower Ministry

On Mondays and Tuesdays the Flower Ministry team delivers small arrangements made from the altar flowers to St. Mark's members who are sick or housebound. We are in need of more volunteers to deliver. Please contact Lance Quesenberry lques48@gmail.com or call 703-401-1500 if you would like to volunteer or would like to ask questions.

Food for Others Teams
Need Summer Help!

Summer is the perfect time to try something new in your routine. Please let Nan Ackerman or Debbie Brown know if you will be willing to help on a Tuesday evening from 5:00 PM-6:30 PM. The teams will be happy to train you. These teams are short-handed due to members with illness, and some with travel plans. Families are welcome to come work together. This is a great experience for teaching children to help others.

St. Mark’s continues to receive blessings of opportunities to help serve our neighbors. Our renewed outreach to the community is reaping benefits in new and renewed connections with the county, non-profits, and area churches —geared toward meeting the needs of our neighbors. Fairfax County Neighborhood and Community Services has reached out to St. Mark’s about connecting with children at Lynbrook through the GrandInvolve program, and twelve of our members responded!

Seniors who register through this program sign up for an hour or two per week to spend at the school tutoring and mentoring. Please see Pastor Triolo if you are interested.