Eco-Palms for Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday commemorates the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1–9), when palm branches were placed in his path, before his arrest on Holy Thursday and his crucifixion on Good Friday. It thus marks the beginning of Holy Week, and the final week of Lent.

This Palm Sunday, Westminster will be celebrating with palms in a much different way than we usually do! The palms that were to be used for our in-house Palm Sunday Service were ordered long before Governor DeWine's order to "stay-at-home". So, with that said, anyone interested in incorporating palms into your own Palm Sunday Service, may come to the church house to pick up palms. The palms will be located in the church parking lot, to the left side of the handicap parking space. Please help yourself!

To celebrate Palm Sunday, Westminster partners with the Presbyterian Hunger Program to use Eco-Palms–branches truly worthy of celebration. Usually, palms are harvested in rainforests that are critical habitats for migrating birds. The more fronds harvesters cut, the more income they generate, which results in over-harvesting and threatens the rainforest. Middlemen transport the palms out of communities for processing where more than half of the palms are discarded because of poor quality.

Eco-Palm harvesters, however, gather only quality palm fronds in a way that allows the plant to keep growing. The communities process and package the palms instead of selling to middlemen, allowing them to capture more of the profits. With this money, impoverished harvesters are able to buy shoes and school uniforms for their children and can pay for basic healthcare. These jobs also mean youth stay in their communities instead of migrating for work. In addition, five cents of every Eco-Palm sold for Palm Sunday directly funds projects that improve the lives of all community members. This money provides scholarships for students, pays a teacher's salary and supports elderly members of the community.

Flower Fund

In lieu of ordering Easter Lilies this year, we instead will receive memorial contributions to put towards a "flower fund" to be used at a later time. In the coming weeks, the Congregational Care Committee will begin sending flowers to our homebound members/attendees.

If you are interested in participating in the "flower fund", please mail your contributions to the church office at 353 East Pine Street, Wooster, OH. 44691, specifying "flower fund". If you have any questions, please call the church office at 330-263-2398. Thank you!