Threads

Threads needs clothes and volunteers and we want to help.

Last Sunday, the church celebrated 5 years of this wonderful ministry. I spoke briefly on Sunday with coordinator, Lori Guarisco, about our desire to help. She says that she welcomes parents to come and volunteer with their children. She has children's toys and space for them to play. My thought was that we could arrange a day for our group to volunteer. During our time there, some of us could act as volunteers to help directly with Threads and others could volunteer to help keep the children busy. Then, we could rotate these roles as appropriate, giving everyone an opportunity to lend a hand.

Right now, I am thinking specifically about those in our group who could volunteer time during the week, but need there to be childcare. Please let me know if you are interested in this opportunity and are interested in making this a seasonal commitment or more frequently depending on people's schedules.

Threads always welcomes donations of clothing items for children, which can be brought to the Parish life table on Sunday morning or contact Lori at 404-267-4317 or lguarisco@allsaintsatlanta.org.

Hope everyone is well and I look forward to seeing many of you on September 12th in the courtyard for Popsicles and Playground.

Best,
Beth

Some reminders

Hope all is well for everybody. It was great to see so many familiar faces yesterday at All Saints. Beth and I are always happy to chat with you all between services, especially while the kids are transfixed by the Juju bean magician guy.

The cooler temperatures and low humidity got me thinking about fall this past weekend. Growing up I used to hate late summer. In Florida things just stayed hot with less rain to cool down the afternoons. The start of a new school year didn't help me like the fall any more.

Now, I really enjoy these times of transitions. Routines can be broken and new routines made. A lot is made of the transition from Winter to Spring, but I really like Summer to Fall as well. Savoring those last fresh tomatoes from the garden, but looking forward to warm soups (and really needing them to keep yourself warm.) Being able to linger outside in the evening without worrying about insects attacking.

I wonder how many seasons you have to experience before you can recognize the differences. Do our young children get a sense of the change that is coming? or is it only after several years that they can notice.

This Sunday, make sure you get to All Saints for an orientation to the nursery and children's formation with Fr. Chuck. This is a great opportunity to ask questions and learn about what goes on on a typical Sunday. It would be a good time to volunteer to help throughout the year as well.

I also want to remind you to take some time and fill out a survey for our strategic thinking group. If you need a password contact Emily Peterson at 404-267-4266 or at epeterson@allsaintsatlanta.org. These surveys are important and it seems that they have had few responses from our demographic.

Remember our next get-together is September 12 from 11AM-1PM at the All Saints' playground. Please let us know if you plan to make it.

Have a great week and we look forward to seeing you all this Sunday.

Is Summer Over?

For those of us whose kids are still too young to be starting elementary school,we might not realize that summer break is already over for metro Atlanta. I have noticed it on my morning commute. The bus runs a little bit slower than it had been the last few months.

With the start of school it is only a matter of time before All Saints gets back in the swing of things as well. In fact there are some great opportunities coming up in the next few weeks. The first is this Sunday's blessing of the backpacks. Of course this is for older kids, but we are going to let Paul bring his new "Cars" lunchbox he just got for pre-school. This is going to happen at the 9AM service.

On August 30 there will be an introduction to Children's Church and all that goes on in the Pritchett Center on a typical Sunday. There will be a special focus on parents and kids in our age group (infant to pre-K). Plan on being there.

On September 13, All Saints will have its annual Celebration of Ministries. An awe-inspiring event that displays all there is to do at All Saints. I challenge all of you who have not gotten more involved at All Saints to use this opportunity to find a ministry to become a part of. There are a lot of leadership opportunities available for people who are interested. In fact as a Vestry member I would love to hear from you about different areas you would like to get involved with. I would be delighted to introduce you to the right person.

The day before Celebration of Ministries we will have our next get-together at the church in the playground. It will "Popsicles on the Playground" from 11AM to 1PM. Bring something for lunch if you would like. We will be trying out the new water feature so an extra pair of clothes for the kids might be good. Please send us an e-mail if you plan on coming: bluefrilingos@juno.com .

Kanuga is also coming up the first week of October. If you haven't considered it before please think about it for this year. It has always been a great trip and a great way to spend time with your All Saints family.

Finally, many of you received an e-mail earlier this summer about filling out a church wide survey. PLEASE fill these surveys out as soon as you can. I have been informed that they have received almost no feedback from parents with young children. If you don't have the e-mail anymore or you didn't get one to begin with please contact Emily Peterson at EPeterson@allsaintsatlanta.org to get the survey information. You can also stop by the information desk on Sunday mornings. This survey is an important part of the Stragetic Thinking Group and the Vestry and All Saints staff is taking the responses very seriously. PLEASE don't forget to do this for our church.

Thank you for making it all the way through. I look forward to seeing you all very soon.

Peace,

Timothy Frilingos