Fat Tuesday is Over But the Fun is Just Beginning

Fat Tuesday is over, but the party is just beginning for 8 Youth and their Chaperones.

If you joined us for our Mardi Gras party, you know what a great time we had.

If you missed it, you missed a REALLY terrific party.  Really...

91 people joined us at St. Andrew on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012 to help raise funds to send 8 of our “Youts” and their 2 chaperones (Pastor Fred and the Youth Advisor) to the 2012 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans this summer.  The kids raised a total of $3555 with your support.  THANK YOU!

Those 91 people (plus there were many who made donations but did not attend) enjoyed an evening of terrific New Orleans-style food (jambalaya, red beans & rice, gumbo, and of course, King Cake).  We had karaoke with some very good voices (and some not so good but good-spirited), masquerade mask crafting, Guitar Hero and Dance-Dance Revolution games, and a very fun Crazy Hat contest.

But the big fundraiser of the evening was the Silent Auction.  56 items were up for bid, and there was indeed some very competitive bidding going on for a few of the items.   Thank you to some of our local businesses for their support and the items donated for this event:  (So please patronize their business and say “thanks” for supporting St. Andrew’s Youth Group).

Moe’s Southwest Grill in Parsippany

Lia Sophia Jewelry (Terri Corigliano)

ShopRite of Parsippany

Billy & Madeline Haircutters of Whippany

Jersey Mikes Sandwiches of Parsippany

Pro Haricutters of Parsippany

Olive Garden of Rockaway

Gourmet Café of Parsippany

Sweet Expressions of Denville

Delizia Pizza Kitchen of Boonton

Denville Dairy

Joy Nails of Parsippany

Boonton Lanes

Clearview Theaters of Parsippany

Anthony FrancoItalian Restaurant (Parsippany)

Karma Salon &Spa (Lake Hiawatha)

Mary Kay (LindaPerna)

Flowers by Rene of Parsippany

Trainer’s Edge (Denville)

Dangerfield’s Comedy Club

Hot Rods Restaurant (Wharton)

Sogo Sushi House Restaurant (Denville)

Look out New Orleans!…. 36,000 Lutheran Youth are coming to your town in July and things will never be the same… for them … or for you!

Come and see what all the excitement is about:
Worship: Sundays at 8:30 and 10:45 am
St. Andrew Lutheran Church
335 Reynolds Ave., Parsippany, NJ  07054
(973) 887-6713
www.elcaAndy.org

We're Having a Party!

We’re having a party!

Of course we are… we’re St.  Andrew.

Join us tomorrow, Sat. , Feb. 11 at 6 pm (the snow is supposed to be long over by then) for a Mardi Gras FUNdraising party to support the Senior High Youth Group.  Your admission ticket (a heart-felt donation of your choice) will help send 8 youth and 2 chaperones to New Orleans this summer for the 2012 ELCA Youth Gathering. Tickets are available at the door.

There will be delicious New Orleans style foods and King Cake for dessert.  There will be karaoke and dancing, a Mardi Gras craft and trivia contest, a crazy hat contest …

And….

A FANTASTIC Silent Auction with almost 50 items available for your bidding pleasure.  Your ticket number is your bidding number.

Why trudge out on a cold February evening? 

First … you need to get out… we are not bears and we don’t hibernate… we are social beings and we always have fun together at St. Andrew.

Second … this is a great way to treat your Valentine to an evening out and help out the Youth at the same time.

Third… you don’t get King Cake every day.

Fourth… your winning bid on that oh-so-special-item would make a great and unique Valentine’s gift, while support the Youth at the same time.

Are you sensing a trend here?

FUN and FUNdraising in dreary February….

It’s time to get out of the house.

Join us for Mardi Gras!

Tomorrow, Sat., Feb. 11 from 6-10 pm

St.  Andrew Lutheran Church

335 Reynolds Ave., Parsippany, NJ  07054

(973) 887-6713

www.elcaAndy.org

One Man's Junk will send a Youth to New Orleans

In just a few days, thousands (and I do literally mean thousands) of items of one person’s junk will become another person’s treasure.
 Rain or shine.

Yes, it’s a yard sale.

But not just ANY yard sale.  This is the every 3 years St. Andrew Youth Group Yard Sale.

On Saturday, May 7 from 8 am until 3 pm, you can peruse thousands of items that are in need of recycling…. From one person’s home to another.

How fitting that so briefly following Easter, new life will be given to items that one person felt were junk.  Another person will find that less than shiny bauble and with a little elbow grease make new what once was old. 

Less stuff in landfills.  Fewer dollars spent from budgets that are already tight.  Less $ on the credit card this month. 

You kid has outgrown that stroller?  Well maybe a new mom-to-be who is struggling to make ends meet in this less than stellar economy would like to take it around the block a few more times.

Personally, I find holding a Yard Sale to usually be more pain than it’s worth.  But THIS Yard Sale is an exception.

First of all, I get to clean out my house of some of those items no longer being used by my family.

Second, the proceeds from this sale will benefit the Youth of St. Andrew, which includes my son at this time.  In July 2012, several of our Youth Group will travel to New Orleans for the ELCA National Youth Gathering.   My daughter went a few years ago.  It is one of those life experiences that shapes the hearts and minds of a young person for his/her entire life.  She will never forget the experience and the things she learned there.

Third, this activity is a bonding event for our Youth.  Working together to begin to earn some dough, they begin to really get to know each other.  They begin to feel a common purpose and common goal.

Fourth, this activity brings the faces of our Youth into the fore of the minds of the members of our congregation.  Their upcoming trip will be front and center in the activities of the church for the next year. 

Fifth, by working this activity, our Youth take responsibility for their own commitment to get themselves and their chaperones to New Orleans with as little financial pain to their parents as possible.

And lastly,  the work they do to get there will make the event that much more sweet when they worship together with 35,000 other Lutheran Youth in the Super Dome in New Orleans and when they head out to work together on any one of the hundreds of service projects that these youth will undertake.

So come find a new treasure! 

Help send a Youth to New Orleans for the experience of a lifetime!

Whatever your motivation, COME SHOP!

May 7 @ St. Andrew, 8 am - 3 pm
www.elcaAndy.org  for directions

What they learned in New Orleans

Happy Fat Tuesday!

This got me reflecting on the experience my daughter had with the 2009 ELCA National Youth Gathering in New Orleans. Several youth from St. Andrew, Pastor Fred and our Youth Advisor, Karin, a.k.a. KTB (Karin the Beautiful), traveled to New Orleans in July 2009 to join 35,000 other youth and their chaperones for five days of worship, service and fellowship. It was an experience that they will never forget.

I called her at school and asked her to tell me what she remembers as her most cherished memories and what she learned. She told me:

The worship experience (in the Superdome, a place of prior misery and suffering) was phenomenal. All the music, every speaker, touched their lives and connected them to each other and the city of New Orleans and why they were there.

The welcome was humbling. The people of New Orleans greeted them with “thank you’s” and “God bless you’s” everywhere they went.

The service was uplifting and empowering. When 35,000 youth tackle over 158 service projects an amazing amount of work can get done. Our group of kids painted colorful murals to brighten the gray block hallways of the schools to which they were assigned.

My daughter told me today that the most important thing she learned was that no matter how small a thing you do, you can make a difference in people’s lives.

Now there’s something to consider as we head in to the season of Lent. If we each woke up everyday with the intent to do one small thing to make a diffence in someone else’s life, imagine what a change you could effect by the Day of Resurrection, Easter Sunday.

Amen! St. Andrew's Youth are going back to New Orleans in 2012. They’re going to have a great time that they’ll remember forever. They’ll make a difference in people’s lives.

What are you going to do?

Don’t forget to get your ashes tomorrow. Noon and 7:30 pm at St. Andrew.