The Provincial Women’s Board presents:
Serving
and Sharing Newsletter
August 2023
From Our
President:
Dear Sisters,
As Fall
approaches we are making preparations for the Fall Celebration which will take
place on October 7 at Hope Moravian Church.
Please put this on your calendar, and you will be getting more
information soon. We will also be
hosting our luncheon for the female pastors on November 13 at Christ Moravian
Church. Some of us will be traveling to
West Virginia on September 30 for our annual meeting with the representatives
from the Northern Province.
The Conference
Committee is working hard to pull together the plans for the Women’s Conference
to be held in June 2025. We are grateful
for these ladies who are volunteering their time to planning this event.
I want to take
this opportunity to encourage each church and each Women’s Fellowship to please
share with us what you are doing. I love
having the opportunity to go to different events at our Moravian churches. You do not have to write a long article, but
we would love to be able to publish more of what is going on at your
church. Especially, if you have events
(fundraisers) happening, let us help you get the word out in advance of your
activity. Are you doing Bible studies
that you might open up to others? Are
you having special speakers that might interest other Moravians? Please send us an announcement so that this
newsletter can be a way to invite others to your church.
I hope you all
have had a great summer. I cannot help
but to look forward to fall and winter and the end of heat for a while.
Blessings to
you all.
Pam Prevatte
PWB president
Fundraiser for the Provincial Women’s Board
Every year New Hope Moravian’s Women’s Fellowship makes a beautiful
quilt with cross stitched squares that are thematic of the Moravian
traditions. Many of the women of the
church participate in this project. The
quilt is different each year, and it is raffled at the Candle Tea and Bazaar in
December.
In 2006 the winner of the raffle happened to be the mother of Pat
deBlois, the talented lady that organizes this project and puts the quilt
together. Since Pat’s mother has passed
away, she has graciously donated the quilt to the Provincial Women’s Board with
the intention of raising money for the board.
This quilt looks new and is beautiful.
If you want to see it in person, it is on display at Cedarhyrst. The board members will be selling tickets
until The Fall Celebration. We will sell
tickets at the event and draw the winning ticket before the end of the
program. Each ticket is $2.00, and if
you buy 10 tickets, you will get one free.
We would love to help you sell a few tickets for us. If you do not know a board member, you can
get tickets at Cedarhyrst from Cindy (336-72-4911 or pwbmcsp@gmail.com). If Cindy is not there, Heather also has
tickets. If this is not convenient for
you, leave a message for Cindy at the office and we will call you back and try
and get tickets to you.
Many thanks to Pat deBlois for the quilt and the Women’s Fellowship at
New Hope for making it.
Pam Prevatte
Grace Moravian Church Craft and Vendor Fair
1401 N. Main Street, Mount Airy Fellowship Hall
Saturday,
November 4, 2023
10:00 AM to
4:00 PM
Indoors and
Outdoors
Featuring
many different handmade crafts as well as direct sale vendors
(Moravian
Art & Crafts, Crocheted items, Embroidery, Kitchen stuff with bling, Fabric
crafts, and many more)
Hot Dogs
lunches are available for purchase
Dessert
choices are available for purchase
Sausage
biscuits are available for purchase at 9 AM
Interested vendors, please contact the
church office M – F between 9:00 AM and 1:30 PM for an application. Application
deadline is October 23rd, 2023. Call 336-786-5627 or e-mail office@gracemoravianchurch.org.
Palm Beach
Moravian Women’s Fellowship
Report
To God be the
glory! The women of the Palm Beach Moravian Women’s Fellowship have planned and executed several activities
that are noteworthy. During our March
meeting we planned our Father’s Day celebration. We then came up with the idea
of a Sacrificial Offering during the Lenten season. We are pleased to report
that both activities were very successful.
At our July
meeting we were invited by the men of the congregation to participate in a
church picnic, which we planned for, on August 9, 2023. This took place in a
park in Royal Palm. At this event, we played games, served hamburgers, hotdogs,
jerk chicken, corn, ice cream, fruits, drinks, and other delicious foods.
We also donated
school supplies to the children. This was very satisfying, and we hope to make
it an annual event.
Currently, the
Palm Beach Moravian Women are planning to replace the windows in the Palm Beach
Moravian Church. We are waiting for the estimate to move forward. We are
confident that the same God who has led us to successes in previous ventures is
willing and able to see us through with this one also. So, we continue to give
Him praise, honor and glory.
Macedonia
Moravian Women
In March 2022, the Women's Fellowship donated $2,000 to the church general
budget to help pay for a water leak problem in our fellowship hall.
In the summer of 2022, Dorcas Circle led our women to support Ray of Hope
mission and school located in Kenya. In September, Dorcas Circle and Lola
Douthit Circle met jointly to hear Michael Tesh's presentation and news
concerning Ray of Hope and his family's work there. We were happy to
collect about $400 to support Ray of Hope, and glad that Michael's mother,
Donna Tesh, was able to be with us.
In October 2022, Dorcas Circle collected warm winter clothing items for City
with Dwellings of Winston-Salem. Eileen Dunn made two trips with her car
filled with scarves, gloves, socks, hats, etc.
The November 2022 project consisted of joint efforts with the preschool
families to provide food items and paper products for Our Daily Bread food
pantry at Fork Episcopal Church of the Ascension.
In April of 2023, the Dorcas Circle assembled lunch bag donations for City with
Dwellings. Eileen Dunn delivered 20 lunch bags to Augsburg Lutheran
Church, and coffee and sugar donations.
Ongoing support for Davie County Family Promise include collecting clothing,
food, gas gift cards, and providing meals for homeless families. In May
2023, we donated cleaning supplies, clothing, gift cards, over the counter
medications, and diapers size 1-3 for Family Promise.
Current plans include making hygiene kits for City with Dwellings and making
blankets for Cancer Services of Davidson County.
The Women's Fellowship has a Holbert food chopper and several freezers for
sale. We are also planning to make soup to sell this fall as a
fundraiser.
We support the ongoing work of our Prayers and Squares quilt ministry with
prayers and donations.
Last, but not least, we support our church Meal Mission ministry. This ministry
provides home cooked meals to shut-ins and sick in our church and community on
two Thursdays each month. Members of the church volunteer to cook and
deliver meals.
Macedonia celebrated its 167th Anniversary on May 24, 2023. Of the
forty-four Moravian churches in North Carolina, only nine are older than Macedonia.
Thanks to Salem churches for sending ministers across the Yadkin River many
years ago!
Submitted by Sharon Boger
Contact: Eileen Dunn
Friedberg
Moravian Women’s Fellowship
The Circles
continue during the summer providing meals, gift cards and visits to sick and
shut-ins.
On August 17,
18 and 19 the 10th Annual Tag Sale was held in the Family Life Center. Items
from the sale were donated to Sunnyside, Shepard’s Center and Habitat of
Forsyth and Yadkin Counties. Distribution of the funds will be decided in
October.
Circle 4 will
be sponsoring the Fall Children’s Consignment Sale on September 21-23.
Folks are
invited on September 23rd to another250th Anniversary Events from 1:00-3:00
including the Historical Room open to the visitors, a guide will be located in
God’s Acre, a tour of the facility, photo slideshows in the Youth room and in
the Fellowship Hall and our Art Gallery in the Youth Room. At 3:00 a Communion
Service will start in the Fellowship Hall and for those wishing to walk to Adam
and Maria Spach’s Rock House Site a Communion Service will start at the site at
4:00.
FAIRVIEW
Fairview has
four active circles. Each circle has assigned shut-ins and service men that are
remembered on their birthdays, holidays, and other special occasions with cards
or gifts. Each circle and the Women’s Executive Board also remember four
special young men during the year.
On the second
Saturday of each month, we sponsor a Food Drive for the Pantry at Bethabara. Each
month we have a have a special project for Community Outreach that we invite
the congregation to join us. They have been:
May
– a food drive for Sunnyside Ministries
June
– Christmas in July for Senior Services
July
– school supplies for Speas Elementary School which is in our neighborhood
August
– Salem Pregnancy Care Center
FOOD seems to
describe a lot of what we do at Fairview. In addition to making chicken pies,
we have been busy in the kitchen cooking up other treats. On May 9th,
we had our first Soup and Salad Luncheon
since before the pandemic. On June 4th, we served a catered meal for the
Mission Awareness Dinner.
On June 17th,
we were honored to recognize nine of our 90+ year old members and their guests
with a birthday party and Holy Communion. On October 7th, we will serve dinner
to guests from the Shepherd’s Center. We also offer a meal to bereaved families
within our congregation.
On two mornings
in July, we met to make candles for this year’s Christmas Lovefeasts. They are
waiting to be trimmed in November. We are currently sponsoring the packing of
100 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.
Our big
upcoming project for the fall is our Fairview Fare on November 11th from 8am
until noon. It will feature vendors, homemade baked goods, a country store, an
odds ‘n’ ends table, country ham and sausage biscuits for breakfast, hot dogs
and pinto beans for lunch, AND Chicken pies and Moravian slaw. We still have
space for vendors. If you are interested, contact the church office at (336)
768-5629.
Submitted by
Melinda Yarbrough
Christ
Moravian
Summer will
soon be slipping away –with this will come many events. Fall Bazaars at
many churches. Our church will be no different.
Our ladies have
been loyal as we continue to prepare chicken pies to sell all throughout the year,
plus stocking up for our Fall
Event.
Due to the
generosity of our ladies, we have been able to keep our prices down as all
items are donated. Price remains: 5” $5.00; 10” $10.00.
The third
quarterly general meeting of 2023 was held Sunday July 16 with lunch prior to
the meeting.
Our Fall Event
date has gone back to the last Saturday in October 28, 2023 8AM to 1 PM. with a
big focus on our basement sale, bake sale, light breakfast food, chicken pies
and spaghetti casseroles (frozen).
Unfortunately
our special friends list of our members continues to increase. One of our
primary concerns is that we never forget these people who were an active
working part of our church until health denied them this.
Have marked our
calendars for Sat., October 7, Fall Celebration at Hope Moravian Church.
Jo Brown, President
New Philadelphia will be having its HOLIDAY TREASURES SALE ON Saturday, November 5th from 8-12.
CHICKEN PIES and BAKE SALE goods will also be available at
that time.
From Rev. Jeff Carter at Forsyth Jail and Prison Ministry:
Annual Prayer Circle – Friday, September 15, 5:30pm
Construction around the jail has been completed
which opens all streets surrounding the jail for prayer partners. Our annual
prayer circle will be Friday, September 15th at 5:30pm, at 201 N.
Church Street. The estimated number of adults and children needed to cover the
four streets is 500 people. Please advertise at your church this community
opportunity to pray for inmates and staff inside the jail. Contact brooke@forsythjpm.org with
the number of people from your church who will be participating on this special
Friday. This year, inmates at the jail will receive a copy of A Genesis
to Revelation Guide to Prayer. Those who would like to give
toward the cost to providing this book for distribution to inmates can visit
the ministry’s website, please visit the ministry’s website, https://forsythjpm.org/donate/.
For years, the Provincial Women’s’ Board has been a major contributor to
providing cakes, cupcakes and cookies for the Thursday evening Yokefellows ministry
at the Cherry Street Prison of which I supervise. If you are not familiar with
this particular ministry, it is one of the largest weekly gatherings of
offenders and volunteers besides our Sunday afternoon worship services at the
prison. In a nutshell, it is a listening, sharing ministry for the men at
Cherry Street in which we have approximately anywhere between 8 to 14volunteers
along with about 70 men from the prison. Individual tables are set in place in
the downstairs and upstairs portion of the chapel and a couple volunteers sit
at each table. As the men enter the building they line up to receive their
goodie, a cup of coffee or cold cup of water and sit at a table of their choosing.
After everyone has been served, our theme song is played which alerts everyone
we will now begin our time. There is a welcome, announcements and an icebreaker
to get conversations going. Once conversations begin, you can hear the
multitudes of voices talking and sharing; some laughter, some serious
conversations about life. After about 35 minutes, I ask if anyone is leaving
the prison camp, “legally” this week. There is always a chuckle and one, two,
maybe three men will raise their hands. We set chairs out for them to sit in as
volunteers pray over them. We finish with general prayer requests and a
benediction. Your contribution to feed the men sweet snacks is one of the
highlights of our Yokefellows Ministry and keeps them coming back each week. In
nourishing their bodies with a goodie or two, you are nourishing their souls. I
thank you for your weekly contributions and steadfast commitment to this
ministry. You are impacting lives for Christ!
May
God bless you. Chaplain R. Jeff Carter
[We
don’t normally share thankyou notes that are sent to us, but the Women’s Fellowships
of the Southern Province are the ones that make the Cake Ministry happen. Thank
you to all who participate. The Provincial Women’s Board is only the
communication and scheduling end of this. With that said, thank you Sister
Linda Worley of Hope Moravian and Sister Faye Bricca of Bethania who do all the
foot work for the PWB.]
From Ardmore:
Unity Women's Desk needs volunteers in the Winston-Salem
area to help us assemble paper Moravian Stars for our October 14 celebration.
We are meeting Thursdays from 2-5 pm at Home Moravian Church - 2nd floor in the
Christian Education Building. You will find more details on the registration
form here: https://forms.gle/zyz8PYwxgZb1CmYx9!
Please register
so we know how many people to expect. We have space for about 8 volunteers at a
time. If you can't access the registration form, email Sandra Dorr sorie4e@gmail.com
We can schedule
alternate times for small groups! Just let us know what works for you!
We assembled 12
last week - 130 to go!!!
Thank you Home Moravian Church for hosting our project!
South Branch
Ukranian Supper
Advent
Moravian, Community Fellowship, Hope Moravian, Hopewell Moravian and Konnoak
Hills Moravian Churches want to thank
all who shared our South Branch Conference Supper Supporting Ukraine on August
2nd. We were very pleased to forward to our Board of World Mission a
$4,850 check to increase the Board’s outreach to the New Generation School in
Kiev.
Following a band prelude, a very nice hotdog supper, and a time of singing,
Bishop Chris Geisler from the Mission Board offered an overview of the Board’s
work in various Moravian mission areas. He then focused on the inspiring
service teachers at the New Generation School are giving under the duress of
war. We were especially moved by letters Chris shared from the two
teachers our donations will support.
Brother Geisler came to us by way of Zoom, having tested positive for the
Coronavirus earlier in the day. The technology miraculously worked
beautifully with no hiccups. We are no less grateful for Chris traveling
to Winston-Salem from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
The evening ended with our collective prayer for the peace of Ukraine.
Thank you once again to all who planned, prepared, and participated in
wonderful and inspiring evening.
Submitted by
Martha Johnson\Konnoak Hills
Meet the
Provincial Women’s Board Members
We plan to
respond to questions that some of you have asked about the members of the
Provincial Women’s Board (PWB), what they do on the Board and how they ended up
here: First of all, any woman who is a member of the Moravian Church in the
Southern Province is eligible to serve on the Provincial Women’s Board.
Generally speaking, they serve a four-year term and may be re-elected for
another four-year term
In their own
words:
Diane Clifton
My husband,
Don, and I have been members of Kernersville Moravian Church since 2015. We
both grew up in the Methodist church. We retired from the corporate
world in 2014. I joined the Provincial Women's Board in 2018 and served
as the Financial Chair for several years now. I have really enjoyed being part
of such a great group of ladies and have learned so much.
I stay very
busy at church, but in my spare time, I enjoy gardening,
reading, quilting, watching British mysteries on TV and listening to
eclectic music. We have granddogs and that takes up quite a bit of time.
Vicki Stanfield
Vicki Stanfield
has been a member of the PWB (Provincial Women’s Board) since 2016. She is a
lifelong Moravian. She was baptized as an infant at Mizpah Moravian, grew up at
Friedland Moravian, married into the Trinity congregation, and has been a
member of Friedberg Moravian for the last 30 years.
Vicki is a
product of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth Schools. She graduated from the University
of North Carolina at Greensboro with a degree in elementary education and a
masters in library science. She spent
most of her career as an elementary school librarian. She served as a member of
the NC Children’s Book Award Committee and was awarded School librarian of the
Year for the state of North Carolina by the NC School Library Media
Association.
After
retirement Vicki became the book buyer for the Moravian book and gift shop in
old Salem, and after that, was as a teaching assistant and storyteller for the
preschool at Friedberg Moravian. She recently completed a stint with the
Forsyth county schools working with a preschool literacy grant.
Vicki was
appointed to the PWB in 2016. She has worked with the Prison Cake Ministry and
served 2 terms as vice president coordinating the Days of Prayer during the
pandemic. She will complete her term on
the board in April 2024. Serving on the board has been a blessing.
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