The Rev. Bill Jones honored with community leadership award

The Rev. Bill Jones and his wife, Lynn

The Rev. Bill Jones retired as our diocesan Archdeacon, but he's still busy in ministry, and last Thursday received the Ann and Don King Community Leadership Award from HomeAgain, a Richmond organization devoted to helping families and individuals experiencing homelessness secure and maintain a Home, Again. Deacon Bill has served on the HomeAgain board for 11 years, and was honored and humbled to receive this award. Deacon Bill continues to serve every Sunday at St. David's, Richmond.

April is UTO Ingathering month

April is here and you know what that means - it is time for the semiannual United Thank Offering Ingathering.

The United Thank Offering is an outreach ministry of the Episcopal Church that was founded in 1889. It is a personal and family devotional program of the Episcopal Church encouraging men, women, and children to share their thankfulness to God through daily prayer and offerings. By embracing this devotional program, we are reminded to be prayer oriented first and then we are encouraged to give tangible thanks for our blessings as an offering or thanksgiving to God. Each year, the offerings collected are given away in the form of grants. These grants focus on meeting compelling human needs and on expanding the mission and ministry of the church at home and throughout the world. Through these grants, those less fortunate can come to know the love of God.

Where does the money go? Every penny goes to grants. The 2016 UTO grant cycle awarded 32 grants totaling $1,161,314.62. These grants were awarded to projects in 32 dioceses, which included 25 dioceses located in the United States, five non-domestic dioceses, six companion dioceses, one grant to the Episcopal Migration Ministries, and one Presiding Bishop grant.

Please give generously to the 2017 UTO Spring Ingathering. Even the smallest donations, when added together, can make a huge difference in the lives of others.

Contact Ronda Toll, ECW Diocesan UTO Coordinator, rtoll@cox.net or 757-869-8873 for UTO literature, materials, supplies, or for more information.

Register now for May Weekend, May 19-21

May Weekend is a weekend retreat May 19-21 for all teens in grades 6-12 at Camp Chanco sponsored by the Episcopal Youth Community (EYC) Board. Click here for details and registration. This year's retreat schedule includes:

• Friday Night- Icebreakers, Music and Social, Opening Assembly, First Small Group Meeting, Compline
• Saturday- Morning Prayer, Large and Small Group times throughout the day, EYC Board Candidate Speeches, Noonday Prayer, Free Time with Ropes and Zips, Eucharist, Dance
• Sunday Morning- EYC Board Elections, Warm Fuzzies, Senior Moment, Closing Prayers

Rising 10th-12th graders are invited to run for the EYC Board. If you are interested, please bring the application with you to the weekend. You can find it here. 

 

Now is the time to register VBS volunteers for Safe Church training

Registration is now open for all of this year's Safe Church training classes. Now is the time to have your Vacation Bible School volunteers register for training:

• April 8 - St. Michael's, Colonial Heights. Click here to register. Registration closes on Apr. 4.
• April 29 - Christ Church, Smithfield. Click here to register. Registration closes on Apr. 25.
• May 13 - Epiphany, Danville. Click here to register. Registration closes on May 9.
• May 20 - St. George's, Pungoteague. Click here to register. Registration closes on May 16.
• June 10, 2017  - St. Michael's, Bon Air. Register here. Registration closes on June 6.
• September 16, 2017 - St. Cyprian's, Hampton. Register here. Registration closes on Sep. 12.
• September 30, 2017 - Emmanuel, Virginia Beach. Register here. Registration closes on Sep. 26.
• November 4, 2017 - Good Shepherd, Richmond.  Register here. Registration closes on Oct. 31.

Click here for more information about Safe Church Training, and about the availability of online training.

 

Easter invitation video available

The Acts 8 Movement is once again offering a video Episcopal churches may use for free to advertise their Easter liturgies. The video is available in English and Spanish. You can download the videos here to post to your church's Facebook page or you can just link to the video on YouTube here.

Click here for more information about the videos and how to use them.

If you have questions or need assistance, please contact Communications Officer Ann Turner, aturner@diosova.org or 757-213-3388.

Soles for Soul: Donate shoes, save lives

Each day in the United States 144 people die from fatal drug overdoses; the majority are opioid related.  In Virginia, fatal drug overdoses are the number one cause of unnatural death. During 2016 drug overdose deaths in Virginia increased by 25%. In response to the worsening drug addiction epidemic, the Virginia Department of Health declared the opioid addiction crisis a public health emergency in November 2016.

One way to prevent overdose deaths is to make Naloxone more available to first responders. Naloxone temporarily reverses the effect of opiates by counteracting the life-threatening depression of the central nervous system and respiratory system, thereby allowing an overdose victim to breathe normally.   In Virginia, the first people to arrive on the scene in a suspected overdose emergency are law enforcement officers. Currently fewer than 10% of law enforcement departments are equipped with Naloxone.

SpiritWorks Foundation has chosen to become part of the solution by teaching others how to respond to opioid overdose. After becoming trainers through REVIVE!, the Opioid Overdose & Naloxone Education Program, we have begun training law enforcement officers, probation & parole officers, family members, community members and individuals on how to use the life-saving reversal drug to prevent fatal drug overdose.

Through June 15, SpiritWorks is holding a fundraiser, Soles for the Soul, to collect shoes to raise money to purchase Naloxone (Narcan) for law enforcement officers. Through Soles for the Soul, SpiritWorks is hoping to raise awareness of the opioid epidemic in our area and to raise funds to help prevent it. Save lives. Donate shoes.

For more information call the Rev. Jan M. Brown or the Rev. Lauren McDonald at 757-903-0000 or leave your gently used shoes in the drop box at the SpiritWorks Foundation Center at 5800 Mooretown Rd. in Williamsburg at any time.

Help GraceInside provide full-time chaplain at Nottoway Correctional Center

GraceInside provides 12 full-time and 19 part-time chaplains to serve over 30,000 incarcerated men and women in Virginia. With your help, they can do even more. Chaplain Robert Ball at Nottoway Correctional Center needs your help to serve full time. If GraceInside can raise $5,000 earmarked for Chaplain Ball at Nottoway, they can increase his paid time to 40 hours per week.

Go to www.graceinside.org and click the "Donate" button at the top right of the screen. Fill out the form and click "yes" in the "Designated Giving" section. A drop down menu will then appear where you can select "Nottoway CC."  You can choose to receive a receipt via mail or email.

Those who would like to know more about GraceInside can contact the Rev. Lynn Litchfield, Director of Development, at lynnlitchfield@graceinside.org.