The Shell Newsletter – May 6, 2021

From the Rector

Leadership Transitions Update

As previously announced, our longtime Nursery School Business Manager, Sharon Hansen, is retiring at the end of the month after 40 years of service to St. James’ Nursery School. Several months ago, in anticipation of Sharon leaving, the vestry began exploring the possibility of expanding the business manager role to include the church and Thrift Shop along with the school. Earlier this year the vestry voted to proceed with this plan, and Senior Warden Dave Rak and Treasurer Jane Barger worked with me to create a new position description.

I am excited to share that we have hired Mechelle Cascardo to our new position as St. James’ Business Manager. Mechelle has been our bookkeeper for the last nine years, working closely with Jane and other staff members, so she already knows a fair bit about our community – and we know what a great fit she is for us! Please join me in welcoming Mechelle as she steps into this new role.

We have two other upcoming leadership changes I can update you on as well. Last month we announced that our Nursery School Director, Pat Castle, will be retiring at the end of July. Nursery School Board members Sarah Brown, Terri Demosky-Tippett, and Marc Argoud have joined me on our Director Transition Team. We are finalizing this position description and will be opening the search within the next few days. If you know someone who might be interested in being our next Director please encourage them to apply.

Finally, our longtime Treasurer Jane Barger will be stepping down from this role in June. We are working to identify who in our community will be raised up into this position – with significantly reduced responsibilities as Mechelle assumes many of the Treasurer’s current administrative tasks. If you are interested or feel the Spirit stirring you to learn more, please reach out to either Jane or myself.

Over the next few months we are going to be saying goodbye to people we love dearly who have been faithful and dedicated to our community. It is a bittersweet time, and yet I feel the profound presence of God in the opportunities all these changes are spurring. Please keep Sharon, Jane, and Pat in prayer – and offer prayers for Mechelle and the other leaders who will soon be joining us in ministry.

Yours in God’s peace,
Kristin+

Meet Mechelle!

My name is Mechelle Cascardo and I’m the owner of Simply Bookkeeping for over 15 years.  I’m a QuickBooks ProAdvisor with a strong accounting background.  I pride myself on being honest (sometimes “overly”), detailed, efficient and accurate in all that I do.  I’m passionate about increasing efficiency and productivity to reduce costs for my clients.  I’ve been married for 29 years to my high school sweetheart, Neil Cascardo and have two handsome sons Shaun (29) and Alec (24).  My faith is my foundation that leads me in all aspects of my life.

Fire Update

It’s been a whirlwind two and a half weeks, but we are so pleased we were able to welcome children back into the Nursery School classrooms beginning yesterday! Heaps of gratitude go out to everyone who made this possible, especially Jim Bullington who oversaw the rebuild process, Nursery School Director Pat Castle who jumped through numerous hoops to make sure we were able to pass all inspections to reopen safely, and our amazing teachers who cleaned up and reset their classrooms after this major disruption. More work will continue over the summer to get everything back to normal, but it is good to once again hear the sound of happy little voices in our building.

Sunday Worship Information

Join us on the Fifth Sunday of Easter for Liturgy of the Word at 10:30 am followed by Zoom Coffee Hour, or watch the service livestreamed on Facebook.

A printable bulletin is available here.

We will “open the doors” beginning at 10:15 am for folks to greet each other and say good morning.  Kristin+ will give instructions at 10:25 am and we will begin recording and livestreaming the service promptly at 10:30 am.  Don’t worry if you’re late – you can still attend via Zoom if you “get to church” at 10:40!

Join Zoom Meeting

Sunday School classes will be held this coming Sunday on Zoom for preschool-5^th.

The middle-high Sunday School classes will be at 9:30 am this Sunday in the sanctuary following masks/distancing/sanitizing guidelines.  Once the nicer weather arrives, we will return to holding class in the outside Memorial Garden.

Formation

SUNDAY SCHOOL NEWS

We want to offer a blessing and gift to all of this year’s college graduates! Please contact the office (office@stjamesmtairy.org) ASAP so we can add you to our list and reach out to connect with you in June. Congratulations to everyone who is marking this achievement this year!

Youth Group

In March, Youth Group finished reading and discussing the graphic novel, March Book 1, a first hand account of Congressman John Lewis’ lifelong struggle for civil and human rights. The third and final graphic novel that we will be reading this year is Marked, which is a graphic novel retelling of the Gospel According to Mark. During our April meeting, we prepared for our discussion of Marked by watching THIS VIDEO.  Since Mother’s Day is on the 2nd Sunday in May, Youth will be meeting on the 3rd Sunday (5/16) to discuss this final graphic novel.

Unfortunately, our March fellowship activity of campfire and games was rained out; however, we were able to gather virtually for fellowship in April and Kate Riley joined us. Kate led the group in a scavenger hunt on Zoom and there was a lot of racing around to find the items which resulted in three winners and one runner up! Kate mailed a box to the church so that the winners and runner up could pick up prizes: their favorite candy! Congratulations to the winners and thank you Kate! We are hopeful that the weather cooperates for our final fellowship activity before breaking for the summer – can’t wait to see everyone and have some fun!

ANNOUNCEMENTS