Life of the Church: Joy’s and Concerns (February 2023)

Here is what our members had to share with us this month. To learn more about this please go here.

To share something with us, please send an email to: prayers@mcdunited.com

February News

• Messy Church has been rebranded as “Open Table”, you can learn about the change here.

• Merle Heise passed away peacefully surrounded by family and love, on Thursday, February 2, 2023 at the age of 81. You can see her Candle Memorial here.

• Volunteer Appreciation sent in by Eleanor & Bob A: McDougall United Church has many special Blessings and Rudy R is one of them.  Rudy quietly looks after many maintenance problems of our church and keeps things running smoothly with his expertise and talents, saving us mega money.   He is indeed a very talented person.  Rudy is a very personable person and can call upon his friends when needed.  McDougall United Church is a big building  and requires a lot of maintenance. We truly thank Rudy  for all your dedicated volunteering over the past several years.

• Update on February 7: Larry and Marilyn C would like to let people know that Larry is recovering at home now and that they thank everyone for offering rides, bringing food, and their messages of support.

• Anonymous Congregation Member Thank You: McDougall United Church has been extremely fortunate over the years to have such EXPERTISE VOLUNTEERS managing our church council.  They work very hard with the staff to make big decisions in guiding our church thru difficult times. The last few years have been more difficult than usual with Covid and recession problems among other things.  They attend many meetings thru the year and many countless hours to keep McDougall United Church running smoothly.  We are humbled  by your dedication and the professional job done. 

  Not only  do they do their duties with extreme  diligence, but they prepared and served and cleaned up a delicious Chile and Bun luncheon for us to enjoy while attending the last council meeting, Jan. 22, 2023. They also made several different kinds of Chili to accommodate all the different likes and dislikes. Wow, could it get any better.  We are indeed Blessed to have such a dedicated  group volunteering for us. We sincerely THANK YOU from and the bottom of our hearts.    

  Council members  and volunteers  that  we know of, and other who helped in any way.  

  Norma May                               

  Peggy Jorgensen.                        

  Phil Edwards 

  Ken Turnbull.                                

  Marilyn Bates

  Marjorie MacRae.                        

  Joanne Pritchard

  Barrie and Carol Clayton            

  Nick and JoAnn Perrin

  Bob and Katie Mutlow                

  Daren and Denise Patterson

  Bruce and Dianne Munro.          

  Pat White

• In January we held a town hall where we asked attendees what made McDougall great, here are the answers we got.

• On February 5th we had our Affirming Service. Highlights of the service include a performance by the choir, an interview with Bobin (Centre of Newcomers), reading our affirming prayers and an interesting twist on communion among other things. Following the service we were treated to a lunch put on by the Affirming team. If you missed the service, you can watch it here. Below are a few pictures.

• It is with sadness we announce the passing of Marg MacKenzie on February 10th at the age of 92.  You can view her candle memorial here.

• On Feb 11th, we hosted a Mask Making & King Cake Party to celebrate Mardi Gras. See pictures of the event here.

• On February 14th Indigenous participants were invited to McDougall United for Reclaiming Our Spirits - MMIWG Workshop. This workshop was hosted by the Urban Indigenous Circle and McDougall United Church. Funding was provided by the United Church of Canada, Embracing the Spirit Innovation Grant. This workshop was a huge success and filled up very quickly, highlighting a need for more of these types of workshops. Below are a couple photos that were taken by Shauna Kennedy. You can learn more about this event here.

• During the February 19, 2023 service we were thrilled to baptize Karina Harris and welcome her to our faith community. Karina is a relatively new member of our congregation that has jumped in with both feet and can be found in our choir and at many events. If you want to watch the baptism, you can view the service here.

• Do you participate in our gift card fundraiser? A blog was recently written with more information about this program. You can read it here.

• In preparation for the AGM, the 2023 draft budget was made available. You can learn more here.

• The 2022 Annual Report was made available. You can view it here.

• The Acadia Pantry published their Annual Report. You can read it here.

• On Feb 22 the United Church responded to Phase One findings at the Alberni Residential Insitution. You can see the response here.

• 2022 Financial Statements are now available. You can see them here.

• The Ladies of Literature did a beautiful tribute to Claire Branner, you can read it here.

• The office recently received the below thank you from one of our Christmas Hamper recipients. Thank you to all of our volunteers and those who donated this year for making this possible. Enjoy the thank you below.

• We had a very special book added to the McDougall Library from congregation member Theodore Chavez. Learn more about it here.

• Family Camp is happening June 9 - 11, 2023. Registration is now open.

This list will continue to be updated as they are provided. It will be shared with the congregation at the beginning of March.

See what happened in January here.