Small Groups

►  The St. John’s Gardening Group will meet on Tuesday, June 12, at 6:00 pm at St. Paul’s Episcopal Rain Garden (815 High Street). John Doherty will tell us about the rain garden behind their church. We will then move on to The Asian and Character Gardens by the Riverfront. The 2012 summer schedule is available online  or there are some printed schedules in the hospitality center in the Fireside Lounge. Questions? Contact Darla at darlastiles@stjohnsdsm.org or 515-243-7691.
►  All-Congregational Historic Baseball Game & Picnic at Living History Farms: We were able to bring price down a bit by changing the menu! Please join us on Saturday, June 16, for St. John’s tailgate picnic (includes sub-sandwiches, chips and beverage—all provided) in the east end of the parking lot at Living History Farms at 12 noon and then enjoy an historic baseball game by the Walnut Hill Blue Stockings—played by 1870’s rules—at 1:30 pm. Sign up in the lounge or online at St. John’s website. Cost for adults (for both the picnic and the ticket to get into Living History Farms) is $15, group rates; cost for children (ages 3-12 is $10 and children under 3 are free. You may spend the entire day (hours: 9 am to 5 pm) if you’d like (we’ll provide your tickets ahead of time) or just come for the picnic and baseball game. There will also be a new exhibit—Lipstick and Line Drives: Women in Baseball—opening that day. Feel free to bring lawn chairs, especially for the picnic (or you may sit on the bleachers provided for the baseball game). Sign up by June 3 (tickets will be handed out June 10). 
►  The EAGLES are planning a day trip to Ames on Friday, June 22, meeting at the church at 9:00 am to carpool. They will tour Reiman Gardens with a private tour guide and see everything from the butterfly gardens to the 14 garden sculptures made out of legos. Cost for seniors admission is $10.  The group will then enjoy lunch at Hickory Park.  Contact Ginny Pauling, rg.paul@att.net or call 285-4709 to make reservations.
►  WIRED Zumba will meet Wednesday, May 30, 5:30 pm in the Fireside Lounge. It’s a very informal group open to anyone interested. There is no cost since the group follows a DVD.
►  WIRED Yoga  meets Thursdays at 5:45 pm in the Fireside Lounge. The current session is through June 7. Questions, contact Corinne Lambert, callingwisdom1@hotmail.com, or 515-556-3679. Cost: $10 per class or $60 for 8 sessions.  

Hunger Doesn’t Take a Summer Vacation

School will soon be out for the summer, but many school children from low income families know hunger year-round. Backpack Buddies fills children’s backpacks with child-friendly food before they leave school for the weekend. Your donations to the Food Bank of Iowa’s Backpack Buddies will fill backpacks at schools where the program already exists & will fund program startups at additional schools for the 2012-2013 school year. Donations will also fund the Backpack Buddies program this summer at year-round elementary schools. You can thank your child’s teachers for a good school year by honoring them through an alternate gift to Backpack Buddies. Donations are also ideal gifts for people who don’t need more “stuff”; donate in their honor to stuff a backpack! Donation forms are available the narthex. Visit stjohnsdsm.org for download a printable form.

Youth Fund Raising Opportunity

Do you have any old, small, electronic devices (cell phones, MP3’S, IPods, GPS devices, palm pilots, ) or even empty ink cartridges from your home printer that you would like to get rid of but aren”t sure how to properly dispose of them? The St. John’s Youth Ministry is here to help! Please bring your old cell phones, ink cartridges and the rest of these items to us and we’ll box them up and send them out, to an organization that will reimburse our program for these recyclable objects. A plastic container will be made available beginning the week of Sunday, May 13th, outside the Neumann Hospitality Center for your donations. Please see, or call, Pastor Bob or Megan Clausen (243-7691), for further information regarding this fund raising opportunity.

The Rainbow Ministry Team . . .

. . .of St. John’s will again march in the Des Moines Gay Pride Parade on Sunday June 10th, at 1:00 pm. This is a great opportunity for us to represent St. John’s as a “Church for All People.” St. John’s members and friends are invited to join us in the march. Meeting time is 12:30pm and the location is on the east side of the Capitol near Capitol Avenue in the large parking lot. The parade ends on Robert D. Ray Drive near the river. Shirts are also available to be ordered, if interested. The sign-up for the parade and shirts is located in the reception area. Shirts will need to be ordered by May 1st and should be paid for at the time of arrival. If you have any questions call Bruce Remmey @ 515.669.3861.

COME JOIN US FOR THIS COMMUNITY EVENT!

Women of the ELCA update

►  The women of the ELCA have the Harbor of Hope as their outreach project for May. The congregation is invited to participate in supplying men’s socks, large T-shirts, deodorant, shaving cream, razors, bus tokens, cleaning supplies such as Windex, Lysol for the Kitchen, and toilet bowl cleaners. These items can be placed in the boxes that will be marked in the narthex and near the office.
►  The Annual General Meeting will be held at Scottish Rite Park at noon on June 7th. Karen Zaabel will be presenting a program on Healing Touch. Reservations will be required for the $6.50 meal. Leave a message at the church office (243-7691) if you wish to attend. 
 

May 2012 Artist of the Month

Ann Mowery, our May Artist of the Month, says her love for trees goes way back but only recently has she taken a close up look.   Her unique perspective of trees, coupled with a recent trip to France, bookend her show of varying subjects and materials on display in Weertz Fellowship Hall.  Don’t miss seeing them.