Category: Adults

New Members Received October 15th

Cheri Simonet
Welcome New Members
Kris & Mike Melton
Kris & Mike Melton

On Sunday, October 15th in our service of worship at 10am, we will officially receive four new members who are already blessing our congregation.

Our coffee fellowship time following worship will be another opportunity to welcome them and express our gratitude for their presence among us in the body of Christ.

Brief biographies were shared in our September Newsletter last month for Carole Biddick, Kris and Mike Melton, and Barbara Perret (not pictured).

Carole Biddick
Carole Biddick

Please make an effort to reach out and draw them into our family of faith!

Break Every Chain Anti-Human Trafficking Awareness Program

Cheri Simonet
Human Trafficking Awareness Zoom Event

Covenant Community Presbyterian Church (CCPC) is inviting the churches in Winnebago Presbytery to watch the Anti-Human Trafficking Awareness Program on Oct. 21, 2023 at First United Presbyterian Church of DePere located at 605 N Webster Avenue in DePere from 9:30am till 11:30am.

Human Trafficking happens in every county in Wisconsin and involves the exploitation of children, women, and men for the purpose of commercial sex or compelled labor. We believe that knowledge of the trafficking Red Flags and how children and adults are groomed and deceived can make our communities safer. We believe that awareness of this crime may save a life and prevent a child, women, or man from becoming a victim of the horrific crime of Human Trafficking.

The Program includes: Awareness, Prevention and Local Professionals speaking about what is happening in our area.

More details are below – please join us!

End Human Trafficking Awareness Program

October 2023 Fourth Sunday Faith Forum

Cheri Simonet
New Community Shelter Logo

A new opportunity for adult enrichment and connection from the Christian Education Committee, the Fourth Sunday Faith Forum featured International Peacemaker Noemi Sanchez from El Salvador last month and will feature a representative from New Community Shelter this month.

Please join us on Sunday, October 22nd in the Fellowship Room from 9:00 to 9:45am for a presentation about the ministry and outreach of this social service organization just down the street from our church.

At our Advent Festival last year, we stuffed socks with personal care products for unsheltered people and our youth group delivered them to the shelter and got to tour the facility and hear a little more about what they do. Now they are coming to us to share their ministry!

Don’t miss this chance to learn about a ministry in our community.

Outdoor Worship and Ice Cream Social

Cheri Simonet
Outdoor Worship

September 10, 2023

“Back to school” sales are in full force and that means it is time for us all to come back to church after summer vacations and breaks! We celebrate the beginning of this new program year with a fun and casual outdoor worship on Sunday, September 10th at 10:00 am (weather permitting) on the front lawn. Bring your own chair or sit in one we’ve set up on the sidewalk—please don’t let navigating the grass keep you away.

Our worship service will feature a playful re-telling of the creation story and a special blessing of backpacks for all those headed back to school. If you are a student of any age, a teacher or administrator or helper in a school setting of any kind, please bring your backpack or other school bag on this day to receive a blessing including a special keychain to add to your bag. Let’s see how many backpacks and bags we can bless this year!

Following worship, we welcome everyone into the Fellowship Room for an ice cream social featuring dipped ice cream with all the toppings—plan to build your own sundae. This is a perfect day to bring a friend or neighbor or grandchild to worship, so please join us!

Fourth Sunday Forum to Begin

Cheri Simonet
El Salvador Flag

September 24, 2023

Our Christian Education Committee is excited to announce the launch of a new program for adults that we’re calling Fourth Sunday Faith Forum. This is a direct result of input received on our congregational survey last spring, which indicated a desire for more adult education opportunities. This gathering will feature a special speaker or a special topic led by a member of our congregation. On the fourth Sunday of each month, the committee intends to offer a forum from 9:00 to 9:45 am in the Fellowship Room. We hope to welcome lots of participants to this new opportunity for growth in faith and knowledge.

We kick off this new program with a speaker all the way from El Salvador, Noemi Sanchez. Noemi works for the Calvinist Reformed Church of El Salvador and is with us as part of the International Peacemakers program of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Her denomination works closely with the PC(USA) in sustainable agriculture and innovative farming practices, school and community support, and migration issues in her country, which is the most densely populated country in Central America. We are honored to host her for the first part of her visit to Winnebago Presbytery and hope to have a big turn-out on September 24 to hear her presentation about ministry in El Salvador.

Noemi Sanchez
Noemí Sánchez

More about Noemí

Abdias Noemí Iglesias Sánchez has been a member of the Calvinist Reformed Church of El Salvador (IRCES) for approximately 30 years, as part of the youth group and now as a member of the IRCES Board of Directors. Through the IRCES Board of Directors, Noemí is the primary representative, ensuring the implementation of General Assembly agreements as well as the community and pastoral work of the IRCES’s strategic plan.

In youth ministry, she attended various youth camps as well as workshops on building a culture of peace. She studied Business Administration from the University of El Salvador, and has put her faith and skills into practice by assisting IRCES colleagues in coordinating youth workshops and community activities promoting peace and teaching peaceful inter-personal skills.

Married 16 years with 2 children, family is one of the most important parts of Noemí’s life.

Watch this short introduction video and hear Noemí’s story in her own words

Welcome New Members!

Cheri Simonet
Welcome New Members

We are pleased to welcome four new members into the life and ministry of First Presbyterian this month!

Please reach out and make them feel at home in our family of faith.

Carole Biddick lives in Kewaunee and is a retired oncology nurse. She is widowed and has two adult daughters who live in Mercer and Mequon.

Besides being with family and friends, Carole loves to travel, read, and watch old movies. She is involved in the Order of the Eastern Star. She has been participating in the Bible study group since she started attending here and has already served as host of coffee fellowship several times as well. She loves the feeling of welcome and friendship here.

Kris & Mike Melton live in Pulaski and are transferring from Peace Lutheran Church of Green Bay. They have three adult children who live in Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

Kris is retired from clerical and church musician careers, and Mike from a career in nuclear engineering. They spend their time with family—especially grandkids! They like to read, travel, camp, garden, and watch football.

Kris has shared her gifts of music leadership in worship already, and Mike was one of our storytellers at Vacation Bible School this summer. They appreciate the friendly and welcoming people they’ve met here and are encouraged by our worship services and sermons.

Barbara Perret actually spent some of her growing up years here but has been away for a long time and is happy to be back. She works as a mental health nurse and has a schedule that only allows her to come to church every other weekend.

Barbara lives in Green Bay and she is looking forward to connecting with people and programs in this church again.

Gestures of Generosity, September 2023

Cheri Simonet
Gestures of Generosity

Thank you for your Gesture!

We have struggled for years over the challenge of cooling the Fellowship Room during the hottest summer months, and in an amazing gesture of generosity an anonymous donor has done the research, arranged for the electrical work, and installed a room air conditioner in the window for us! If you haven’t been in the Fellowship Room much in the last month, be sure to stop by and see for yourself just how cool and comfortable it can now be. Deep gratitude to the donor for caring for our physical as well as spiritual health.

St. John Shelter Donations

Also, in early August we were blessed to have so many members who answered the call for blankets and backpacks for donation to St. John’s Shelter.

It didn’t take long after asking before people opened their hearts and generously donated to this great cause! Stephanie Fahringer’s car was overloaded with all the donations that were received.

A special thanks to Elliot Stensen who spent that morning helping out at the Pantry and the afternoon helping load up the blankets and backpacks that were given. Susan at St. John’s helped unload the car and it was just amazing how guests lined up immediately and asked for a blanket. Within just a few minutes all the blankets were passed out.

A BIG THANK YOU to all who contributed, especially Lisa and Dave Solper’s friends who donated MANY! God has blessed us so we could in turn bless many folks truly in need.

If you have a Gestures of Generosity story to share, please contact Cheri at communications@firstpresgreenbay.org and tell us your story.

Gestures of Generosity, August 2023

Cheri Simonet
Gestures of Generosity

Thank you for your Gesture!

How does the Presbyterian Pantry get all the food we give away?

Some of it is given directly by church members, some is purchased through various discount programs available to food shelves around the city, and some just seems to fall into our laps (or into Stephanie Fahringer’s car!).

In the last two weeks we’ve received two cars full of food from Treehouse Foods, and we are so grateful for their generosity. This recent gift included orange immunity drink mix, energy bars, instant oatmeal, pasta, honey mustard sauce, ranch dressing, pickles, graham crackers and cookies. This came about because Stephanie swims at the YMCA with the head of Treehouse Foods, and her granddaughter’s husband also works there. Good connections makes for great generosity!

The Pantry also recently received a large quantity of yogurt and cheese from Schreiber Foods…we weren’t sure if we could take the generous offer, as our refrigerator has been struggling to remain chilled, but Gene Stenson was able to fix it and we’re now stocked with lots of yogurt and cheese for our families.

Thank you to Gene, to Schreiber Foods, and to Treehouse Foods for all this generosity!

If you have a Gestures of Generosity story to share, please contact Cheri at communications@firstpresgreenbay.org and tell us your story.

August 2023 Brat Fry

Cheri Simonet
Brat Fry

Thank you to everyone for supporting our July Brat Fry when we raised $645.40!

We need your help to make our August Brat Fry just as successful!

Please consider volunteering to serve or cashier on Sunday, August 13th at Festival in Bellevue which will be hosted by the Outreach Committee. Proceeds from the August brat fry will benefit the Pantry.

There are two volunteer shifts to choose from:

9am to 1pm and 1pm to 5pm

If you can help out as a volunteer sign up sheets are on the bulletin board or contact Kevin Kabacinski at 920-619-4458.

And, as a thank you bonus, all volunteers receive a FREE brat. Now, there’s nothing better than that!

We’re hoping for good weather, hungry customers and outstanding volunteers to feed them.

Thanks in advance for considering to help!

Gestures of Generosity, July 2023

Cheri Simonet
Gestures of Generosity

Thank you for your Gesture!

We are blessed with so much generosity in our family of faith that it is hard to recognize it all!

In the past month the church has received special gifts from members to help pay for the new softball jerseys our team wears, a very generous contribution to help cover the cost of the new server for the computer system in the office, and several very helpful gifts to the Emergency Assistance fund that allows us to purchase gas cards and provide rent assistance to those in need.

The Outreach Committee reports that our response to the Pentecost offering, one of the four annual special offerings we receive for the PC(USA), was the largest in recent years by a huge margin!

This offering is divided, with 60% going to denominational programs that support children and youth especially, and 40% remaining in our local community to be given to a program or agency that also supports young people in our midst. The committee decided to divide this portion of the offering between a new YMCA program for children on the autism spectrum and sponsorship of Fly A Kite Fest 2023 with Family and Childcare Resources of N.E.W. That event was held on Saturday, June 24 and celebrated its tenth year. Our church name was included in advertising and flew on a flag at the event grounds. Your generosity to the Pentecost offering allowed us to be generous with both these excellent programs in our community.

Presbyterian Pantry & Brown County United Way
Presbyterian Pantry & Brown County United Way

Also, the Presbyterian Pantry was given thirteen cases of canned veggies from Brown County United Way. This is a gift of their annual campaign to help all the pantries in the area. A special thanks to Sierra who serves as the co-coordinator for this event.

If you have a Gestures of Generosity story to share, please contact Cheri at communications@firstpresgreenbay.org and tell us your story.