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Save the Date
Saturday, September 27, 2025
Sunday, October 5, 2025
- Locally Haiti Discussion after service
- Blessing of the Animals after service
In This Issue
- News from the Pews: Spaghetti Dinner
- Vestry Profiles: Amy Boatright
- Coffee Hour: Team A is up
- St. Francis Center: Male Volunteers Needed
- Chapman Foundation Opportunities
- Episcopal Insider: Sacraments
- LifeSpark Gala
- Office space available
| | Our annual Spaghetti Dinner will be held on Saturday, September 27, 2025, in the great hall. We need volunteers to make this event a success. Please click the button below to volunteer using Sign Up Genius. | | This new feature is a way for the congregation to stay connected and know what is going on in one another's lives. Send prayer requests or submissions about anything going on in your life (new job, vacation, kids accomplishments, hobbies, etc.) to srwarden@saintthomasdenver.org | | |
The blessing of the animals is a joyful event, often held around the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi (October 4th), where Episcopal churches celebrate and give thanks for their animal companions and all of God's creation. Clergy offer blessings, sometimes with holy water or oil, to pets of all kinds, as well as photos or stuffed animals for those who can't attend. The service is a reminder of the human responsibility to care for all creatures and connects people with the wonder of the natural world.
This year St. Thomas will hold the blessing of the animals on Sunday, October 5, 2025, immediately following the service.
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Amy Boatright is St. Thomas’s creative heart. Whether it’s beautifully decorating the Great Hall for our festive meal celebrations, making signs for our various activities or laying footprints she designed from the church to the Great Hall during our 2023 Lead with Love annual giving campaign, Amy is always stepping forward wowing us with her creativity and skill. The most special example of her gifts is the Lead with Love stole she designed and made for Rev Terri for her installation as Rector of St. Thomas (see below).
In addition to her creative activities on behalf of St. Thomas, Amy serves as clerk of the vestry, recording the discussions and actions of the vestry. She has played central roles in our Annual Spaghetti suppers the past 4 years. Amy has also been the informal leader of our Cinco De Mayo lunches and on Easter Sunday, you can find her planting eggs in and around the church with Liz Sunderland, St. Thomas’ other Easter Bunny.
Amy has lived in Colorado since 1996 after having lived around the country and England with her Air Force dad. Amy was introduced to the Episcopal Church in Hawaii as a child, when her parents selected the Episcopal Church as a compromise between her parents’ religious traditions (her dad a Presbyterian and her mom a Catholic). Amy lives in Park Hill and came to St. Thomas, initially through a book group St. Thomas was hosting and shortly after Rev Terri joined St. Thomas. She loves the rituals of the Episcopal Church, the pause Sundays give her to reflect on her spiritual life, seeing and connecting with people on Sundays and watching the children participate in services.
2000 was a momentous year for Amy. She married Joel Wojcik, a lightening designer and director for musicians, including touring with the musical group, Train. In 2000, Amy began her career as a nurse midwife after her education at Brown and then Columbia Universities in biology and nursing following her interest in women’s health. For 10 years she was a “stay at home” mom raising their 2 sons, Edwin and Miles. She loved her time with her boys and decided to explore teaching as more compatible with time she would like to spend with them. She became an AmeriCorps Fellow teaching math in math in middle school. Amy currently teaches 8h grade math at the Denver School for Science and Technology Montview. Amy loves teaching and work with children of all ages.
Stop by and say hi to Amy Saturday night at the Spaghetti supper.
Written by Georgina Lucas
| Locally Haiti Presentation on October 5th | | St. Thomas has a long history with the Locally Haiti organization. Their Executive Director Wynn Walent will speak after service on Sunday, October 5, 2025, about the organization's current projects in Haiti. | | The A Team is responsible for coffee hour this Sunday. If you'd like to volunteer for a coffee hour team or wish to know what team you are on, contact Emma Jurado Hillenburg at emma.jurado@gmail.com | | St. Francis Center - Male Volunteers Needed | | |
I am reaching out from St. Francis Center, a refuge for those experiencing homelessness in Denver. Each day, we open our doors to hundreds of neighbors in need, offering basic services such as showers, laundry, clothing, mail, and storage. These simple acts of hospitality allow our guests, many of whom are older men, to maintain dignity and hope in very difficult circumstances.
At this time, our greatest need is for adult male volunteers to help with our men’s showers. This role involves passing out towels and hygiene supplies to men who come to shower at our facility- on average, more than 300 each day. Because most of our current volunteers are women and unable to staff the men’s showers, this need is especially pressing.
We are open 7 days a week, and we welcome volunteers to serve on a schedule that works for them. We understand the idea of serving as a shower attendant may sound a little intimidating at first, but again and again our volunteers share that it becomes one of the most meaningful and rewarding parts of their service. In the Shower Stations, volunteers provide far more than hygiene items—they offer dignity, care, and a fresh start. For many guests, a shower can be a grounding and rejuvenating moment that helps them feel human again.
We would be deeply grateful if you might invite the men of your congregation to consider this call to serve their brothers in a very tangible way. Even a few hours a month can make a profound difference in the lives of our guests.
Volunteers can sign up directly here: https://www.volgistics.com/appform/2145380031
I would also be glad to speak further, provide tours of our facility for your members, visit your church, or provide more details if that would be helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you for your faithful leadership and for encouraging your members to be in service to their neighbors in need.
Sarah Taylor
| | Chapman Foundation Opportunities | | |
You're invited: the Chapman Foundation is back for another special Our Community Listens class in Denver!
Our Community Listens
October 21st to 23rd
455 S Colorado Blvd, Denver, CO 80246
Register here!
As a special offer, please use the code LEAD for complimentary registration. The deadline to register is Monday, September 22nd.
Our Community Listens is designed to help participants learn to listen effectively, express themselves clearly, and build better relationships. These skills are essential for success in both personal and professional contexts. Our Community Listens provides opportunities for self-reflection, personal practice, and tangible takeaways to bring back to your organization to better team member interpersonal communication. Taking this class will equip you with practical communication and leadership skills to build stronger relationships, resolve conflicts effectively, and enhance team engagement. You will gain self-awareness, understand behavioral tendencies, and learn how to adapt your communication to foster trust and collaboration. By applying these principles, you will improve both personal and professional interactions, creating lasting impact in your leadership and everyday life.
Please contact Emma Jurado Hillenburg at emma.hillenburg@chapmancommunities.org with any questions. We hope you can join us!
| | Episcopal Insider: The Sacrements | | The sacraments are outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace, given by Christ as sure and certain means for receiving God’s grace. Baptism and Eucharist are the two great sacraments given by Christ to his church. (BCP, pp. 857-858). The Episcopal Church recognizes that five other sacramental rites evolved in the church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, including Confirmation, Ordination, Holy Matrimony, Reconciliation of a Penitent, and Unction (the anointing of the sick with oil, or the laying on of hands) (BCP, pp. 860-861). | | |
LifeSpark provides Reiki and Healing Touch wellness sessions at no charge during and after cancer. We partner with hospitals, massage studios, spas, and churches. We offer in-person sessions along the Colorado front range and remote sessions across the country.
20th Anniversary Gala, A Carnival of Light
Saturday, October 25, 6 pm
DU Campus, Denver
LifeSpark’s 20th Anniversary Gala will be an unforgettable evening filled with joy, community, and inspiration. Reserve your spot today and help bring healing to those who need it most.
Click Here for tickets
| | Office / Studio Space Available | | St. Thomas has one office available to lease. If you know of anyone who is looking for affordable office or studio space, please ask them to call us. | | |
Faith Communities Against
White Christian Nationalism
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