Volunteer Found to Carry on with our Grocery Receipt Program

Over the years, we've raised thousands of dollars in "free" money for the church through our Grocery Receipt Program.

Here’s how the program works: We've made arrangements with two local grocery stores (West Vancouver IGA and City Market at Park Royal).  For every $5,000 in grocery receipts from their stores, they give us a $25 (or $50) gift card -- which we sell at face value to someone in the church who shops there, and the money from the sale is donated to the church.  In other words: for every $5,000 in receipts, the church gets $25 (or $50) of "free" money.  

Marie Bensley was originally in charge of our Grocery Receipt program -- and then she handed it over to Nora Coates for many years. When Nora retired from this role, she handed it over to our church custodian (Tom), who did it for a short time before Linda Pratt agreed to take it on in 2024. Linda sorts donated receipts for the two stores, add them up (so they are in bundles of roughly $5,000), send the packets to the store manager, and "sell" the donated gift cards.

If you shop at either of these two stores, please save your receipts! Bring them to the church and place them in the folder on the bulletin board in the stairwell. This is a great way to earn “free” money for the church!

May's Outreach Recipient: Wild Bird Trust of BC

Each month, 100% of our offering plate (unless otherwise marked) is donated to a non-profit organization whose mission is in line with our values. We call this “Outreach”.

During the month of May, we collected $1,081.95 for the Wild Bird Trust of BC.

Many of us have enjoyed leisurely walks through Maplewood Flats, bird watching and learning about the many wild birds that call this beautiful part of the North Shore their home. Maplewood Flats is managed by the Wild Bird Trust of BC. The Trust’s mission is to provide wild birds with sanctuary through ecological protection and restoration, as well as to support communities with education, culture, and reconciliation programs.

Thanks to all who contributed to this collection.

Confronting Wildfires in an Era of Climate Emergency

Our Environmental Action Team invites you to a Free Public Panel discussion on wildfires and the climate crisis. The panel will explore how to balance investments in emergency response and climate preparedness with spending on climate action that drives down emissions, so that we can reduce extreme weather events, ensure our communities and workers are safe, and ensure a liveable world for future generations.

Talk over what you learned from the panel at an Environmental Action Team workshop in the Sanctuary, 1pm Monday, May 13th.

Monday, May 6 at 7pm

at UBC Robson Square
(800 Robson Street, Vancouver)
and online

In-person attendance is encouraged, but the event will also be live-streamed. Masks are welcome.  Register: Please register for either in-person or online attendance HERE.

 Speakers:

  • John Vaillant (best-selling writer, journalist, and author of the award-winning book Fire Weather)

  • Joe Gilchrist (Salish Fire Keeper and People of the Land)

  • Byron Cruz (organizer & outreach coordinator for the BC Federation of Labour’s Occupational Health & Safety Centre’s Migrant Worker Program)

  • Dr. Maura Brown (Clinical Assistant Professor in Diagnostic Radiology at UBC & member of Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment)

  • with Seth Klein as moderator (team lead at the Climate Emergency Unit and author of A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency)

Butterfly Garden Work Party May 4th

Butterfly Garden Work Party
10am to noon Saturday, May 4th

Our Butterfly Garden at NSUC is regrowing nicely after a long winter! Many of our native plants are looking strong and healthy.  However, some maintenance is needed to give our garden a boost. 

We need helpers to weed, clip, turn soil, replant, rake and bag.  Our table centrepieces (which were used for NSUC’s sandwich lunch on April 21st) will be used in our Butterfly Garden to attract pollinators with their wonderful fragrance, as well as some other plantings.

Please dress for the weather and bring your own coffee mug plus these tools if possible:

  • Trowels

  • Clippers

  • Gloves

  • Knee pads

  • Lawn rakes

  • Spades (pointed shovel)

Please RSVP Jean Prescott at jihana@shaw.ca if you are coming.  (Jasha has offered tea and snacks, but needs a head count).

Annual Reports due April 30th

Annual Reports are due April 30, 2024 from the following people:

  • The Chair, Co-Chair, Leader, or Co-Leader of a group, committee, team, task force or program at the church  

  • The Board Liaison for a group, committee, team or task force that doesn't currently have a Chair or Leader

  • On the Nominating Committee

  • A Staff person responsible for the areas under your direction

If you are in any of those categories, please send your Annual Report to Janni by then as a Word document or in the body of an email (not as a PDF).

The Annual Report covers the time period of May 1, 2023 through April 30, 2024, so your report should include activities that took place in your area(s) during that 12-month period.

Your report should cover these three main things:

  • Who is involved and what are their roles?

  • What happened this year?  (Include accomplishments, challenges, on-going tasks, and anything else you would like to share).

  • Looking forward, what’s high priority?  What else are you thinking about?

If you have questions or would like to see last year’s Annual Report for your area, please reach out to Janni. 

Flip the Script Info Session for parents and grandparents: 7-9pm Thursday, May 2nd

Our Social Justice Team wants to direct your attention to is an information session at the North Shore  Women’s Centre called “Flip The Script Community Info Session”. This interactive session helps adults learn about an evidence-based sexual assault prevention training for high-school aged girls. It takes place 7-9pm on Thursday, May 2nd at the North Shore Women’s Centre (131 East 2nd Street in North Vancouver).

 If you have children or grandchildren who are teenage girls, this is a game changer!!!

 The Flip the Script with EAAA™ program is a sexual assault resistance education program for young women that has been researched* and shown to decrease the likelihood of experiencing sexual assault in the future.  Learn more about the program HERE. This program is about resistance not prevention. Women can’t prevent someone from trying to harm them, but the research shows that women can fight back when given the right tools. 

Prevention is a goal that requires active involvement from the community and social change. We know that social change takes time. But we also need short term solutions that can make an immediate difference in the lives of women on campus - and that’s the goal of resistance education. 

It’s time to Flip the Script. You can make a difference in the lives of young women you care about!

Register to attend this adult session to learn more about Flip the Script HERE.

*NOTE: The Flip the Script with EAAA™  program was evaluated with a randomized controlled trial (the SARE Trial) and the results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Research showed that women who took the Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) program experienced a 46% reduction in completed rape and a 63% reduction in attempted rape in the following year compared to those in the control group. Other forms of sexual violence such as non-consensual sexual contact were also significantly reduced.