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).

Vacation Bible School
June 14, July 12, August 9

9:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Connecting with Students at Lynbrook Elementary School

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.

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 Care Packages Collection:
”A Sincere Thank you!!!”

We know the packages we send are appreciated—this recently-received thank you note is especially touching as well as timely during the week of July 4th, and soon after the recent Israel-Iran situation. This is from the recipients of the end-of-May/early June collections of wonderful items from you.

My coworkers at the Combined Joint Operations Center for Operation INHERENT RESOLVE cannot thank your congregation enough! Your generosity, love, and prayers overflowed as much as your care packages did. Your packages were split into two deliveries here, coincidentally sandwiching the exchange of missiles between Israel and Iran. As you can imagine, the last couple of weeks were especially stressful. We were eating MREs, so your snacks and coffee from the care packages were DEEPLY appreciated. You literally fueled the 24-hour operations that we found ourselves in.

Our operations center is unique—we have every US branch of service sitting shifts, along with many nations. I work a lot with the Brits, Canadians, and French. The idea that a "random" church from the States would send so much to us overseas was a surprise to them. It speaks volumes to your congregation and the community. I imagine many of you think "I didn't do that much" or "it's nothing," but please know that each individual item (handmade, homemade, or bought) was appreciated. It is difficult being away from our families; the last two weeks were especially hard. From military partners literally across the world—THANK YOU! God bless you all, and your missions. Words cannot describe the very specific and lasting impact that you made on us over here.

-Major Kameron Kantor, USAF
Camp Arifjan, Kuwait

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.