VOTING RESULTS!!!!

More than 50 people cast their votes concerning the name of the brick building that is currently called the Parish House. The goal was to narrow the options down from dozens of possibilities to the biggest vote-getters to be in Round Two. Listening to the advice of others, our committee combined names that had the same core word to be one option for Round Two of voting. The four names are all understandable and aren’t repeating a name of another organization.

These are the four names that are the choices for Round Two:

Meeting Place, Parish House, Outreach Center, and Community House

Round Two voting will take place on Sundays May 12^th and May 19^th at Coffee Hour. If you won’t be voting in person either of those times, please feel free to send your vote to Diane at tinkhams@metrocast.net. Each person will get to cast ONE VOTE so pick your favorite!! It will be very similar to the process we used for Round One but each person will cast one vote on the voting board. The top two vote getters will be in the FINALS at a Special Meeting of the Congregation at a date still to be determined.

Thanks for the many thoughtful discussions, ideas for physical improvements and signage, suggestions for names, and the many interesting conversations about what’s happening for our church and community. We may have different ideas for names but we share the commitment to supporting our local community.

-The Ad-hoc Committee:

Kathy Giovanni, Bob Harrington, Carolyn Jorgenson, Beth Shehadi, Diane Tinkham

Here are the tallies for names with the most votes:

Outreach Center- 30 and Outreach Place- 10 TOTAL=40

Parish House- TOTAL=23

The Meeting House- 8 and The Meeting Place- 7 TOTAL=15

Community House- 6 and Community House- 4 TOTAL-10

The Gathering Place- 8

The House of Hope- 7

Faith in Action- 6

Mission in Motion- 6

Connections on the Square- 6

Outreach Committee is requesting donations for Church World Service Mother's Day Blanket project.

We will be set up in the Narthex on Sunday, May 5th and 12th accepting cash or checks for $10.00 per blanket.

Thank you, Outreach Committee

MAY 5- HORTON CENTER SUNDAY

Don’t miss our 9:30 service- Tivvi Pare, Executive Director of Horton Center, will join Pastor Eliza leading the service and encouraging new and returning campers. Tivvi will share her boundless enthusiasm for the New Hampshire Conference’s Summer Camp in Gorham, NH. Feel free to wear the clothes that you’d wear to camp- especially your Horton Center shirts, hats, and sweatshirts and get in the spirit of Horton Center!

SAVE THE DATE

Caring Connections Annual Training Event

June 13, 2024 from 10-2 pm.

CC Pew Cards for new volunteers- place in the offering basket.

Want to know more before you volunteer? Come to our training event!

SAVE THE DATE AND SPREAD THE WORD!

ORGAN RECITAL

Marshall Joos

Sunday – May 19^th 4:00 P.M.

 FREE – ALL WELCOME

    A native of New Hampshire and a Junior at Rice University, Marshall Joos is a fabulous young organist and musician.

    This recital is being co-sponsored by the Congregational Church Of Laconia and the New Hampshire Chapter Of The American Guild Of Organists.

Help with Refreshments

We will be providing refreshments for after the Organ Recital on May 19th.

Finger sandwiches, chips, fruit and veggies, cheese and crackers.

We are truly hoping for a great turnout for this event from both church members and other music lovers in the community.

Please contact Hollis Thompson at hollisandgreg@yahoo.com if you wish to donate any item.

I will have a list at Coffee Hour this week with the items we will need.

Thank you 

HANDS ACROSS THE TABLE

Sunday the Hands will be out at church for items we need donated For example spaghetti sauce and tomato sauce, eggs, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese and a gallon of milk. Lettuce and cabbage and bottles of Italian dressing sheath cakes for dessert 

All these items can be brought to the church on Sunday May 5th and put in the church kitchen

Hollis Thompson is the contact person in case you have questions.  Hollisandgreg@yahoo.com or 512-970-6592

We will also need a total of 14 people for serving food and serving and clearing tables and clean up. We usually arrive at 4:30 and are completely done no later than 7:00 

Thank you 

Got Lunch! Laconia Has Been Selected

We are so excited to share that, for the entire month of May, Got Lunch! Laconia has

been selected by store leadership at Hannaford’s Gilford at 1425 Lakeshore Road, to

receive a $1 donation from every purchase of the $2.50 Fight Hunger Bag. This is a

great way to broaden awareness and help our cause.

The Fight Hunger Bag Program facilitates community support with the goal of making a

difference where shoppers live and work. Almost $2 million has been donated to nearly

1,500 hunger organizations since the program launched in April 2014.

Let’s get started! Share the news with friends and family. Call, send emails and post on

social media. The more people who purchase the Fight Hunger Bag in May, the greater

the donation we will receive from Hannaford!

Thank you for your continued support as GLL starts its 14th year of feeding children,

who normally receive lunch at school during the school year, this summer.

Donations to Got Lunch! Laconia are welcome at any time. Simply send your check to

the church office with Got Lunch! Laconia written in the memo line.

Thank you for your support.

The Got Lunch Board

SAVE THE DATES:

LUNCH AND LEARN- May 23- Noon- Sam Evans Brown “The Energy Transition- What Does it Mean for the Granite State?”

LUNCH AND LEARN- May 30- Noon- Warren Huse- Honoring the 200^th Anniversary of the Congregational Church of Laconia. A discussion with the well-regarded local historian about these past 200 years!

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL- August 6-8, 9:00-1:00- Faith, Food, and Fun!

Help! Fund-Raising Help Needed!!

Greetings friends. As we all know, our fund-raising efforts are very important to our

budget. We have 3 or 4 per year, depending on whether or not we decide to have a

2nd Rummage Sale in the Fall.

Council feels that we need to have a Chair or point-person for each. Hollis and Kathy

G. have taken Pumpkinfest, and Nancy Smath and Hollis are taking the Christmas Fair.

We are still seeking 1 or 2 folks for a potential fall rummage sale.

If interested, please contact any Church Officer with your willingness.

Wayne Domin, Kathy Giovanni, Hollis, or John Walker. Or let Carmen know in the Office.

PLEASE consider. Our fund-Rising efforts are very important. Thank You.

Greetings friends and fellow Congregants.

Greetings friends

Our Mini-Food-Pantry continues to need help. We have been blessed with

several donations since we began this appeal, but money or food donations will be needed as long as we have the pantry.

Please consider a cash donation. Food donations are good, but cash gives Brad the flexibility to buy what is really preferred by our “customers”. Food insecurity is real. It is all around us.

Can you help?

Thank you, and blessings,

Your Mini Pantry Team,

Brad, John, John, Gran, Diane, Joe.

Rev. Dr. Deborah Roof is the pastor of the First Parish Congregational Church of East Derry, and the author of "Words, Wonder, and the Divine in You" which had been one of our book discussion books. She has also been offering a personal labyrinth walk via Zoom two Tuesday evenings a month at 6:00 pm. It consists of a prayer/mediation,10 silent minutes to 'walk' the labyrinth, and another few minutes to debrief the experience. The labyrinths are printed representations and your fingers follow within the lines and curves. If you are interested in participating in this experience, talk to Martha Clement and get the details. 603 520-8219 or marthapclement@gmail.com

Help Grow the Future at Pine Ridge!

The Outreach Committee is collecting seeds to send out to our partners at Re-Member in South Dakota. If you didn’t know, the name Re-member was chosen by its founders because it conjures an ancient Lakota term for “fixing that which is broken”. Generations of systematic injustices designed to break Lakota family and cultural traditions have left ugly legacies and Re-member hopes to by the catalyst for healing and restoring the community. The seeds are one way to help in that effort by promoting a large community garden and individual gardens. The best seeds for this purpose are Heirloom or Heritage seeds, because after harvest, seeds can be separated and used to grow the following year’s crops. Pine Ridge is generally in Hardiness Zone 4. Bring your seed packets into the church and we will send them out all at once in a few weeks. If it is easier, financial donations are always welcome so that seeds or tools can be purchased. Please write Re-member on your envelope or memo line so we can track those gifts. Thanks!

The Altar Guild is responsible for the lovely flowers on the altar every Sunday. Following is a list of each month and the member to contact if you would like to donate flowers for one Sunday:

May - Cindy Carter, (910) 685-3495

June - Carolyn Hunt, (603) 524-5779

July- Margie Kreitler, (603) 260-3673

August - Mary Ellen Azem, (603) 455-0972

September - Catherine Tokarz, (603) 998-3811

October - Diane Lockwood, (603) 524-3076

November - John Gill, (603) 520-4248

December - Claudia Wright, (603) 387-5275

Women's Breakfast May 15th, 8:30am at the Water Street Cafe

please RSVP to bettobergstrom@gmail.com



Men's Breakfast May 17th, 31st

8:00am at the Water Street Cafe

Sunday, May 5, 2024

Altar Flowers

Congratulations to Dawn and Peter Dupak for 50th Anniversary

Congratulations all those with Birthdays today from Claudia Wright

Come and Worship

We welcome and invite you to worship with us in any of these ways. 

!!! In Person !!! at 9:30 AM, or via Livestream

●      Via livestream through YouTube Sundays starting at 9:20 AM:

Go to YouTube and search for Congregational Church of Laconia

●      On our website www.laconiaucc.org any day and any time.

●      On Public Access TV Channel 25 Sundays at 4pm and 9:30pm

or Mondays at 5am.

If you are new to the church, please introduce yourself! Let the Church Office know if we can help you in any way! 603-524-0668. Seeking to be the church God desires for us to be.

Congregational Church of Laconia, UCC | 18 Veterans Square, Laconia, NH | 603.524.0668