Save The Date – Craig’s Doors 15th Anniversary Celebration
From 2013-2025 alone, Craig’s Doors has provided more than 150,000 nights of emergency shelter, 300,000 hot meals, and 1,300 unique individuals with emergency shelter. This milestone belongs to everyone who has been part of Craig’s Doors; our staff, volunteers, donors, partners, and supporters. We look forward to celebrating with our community and will be sharing more details soon about our 15th Anniversary Celebration on September 23, 4pm-6pm (with a rain date of September 30). We hope you’ll join us!
To support this milestone as a sponsor, please contact Karissa at karissa@craigsdoors.org.
Autumnal Giving Tree – Book Nook Donations
This fall as part of our celebration of 20 years in our new church building, we would like to remember the many blessings this space has afforded us. One of the most precious is our library nook for young people. This nook is used so often, and the books have been read so lovingly, that many of them urgently need to be replaced or updated. We would love to have your help with this project. You will find an Autumnal Giving Tree in our Gathering place filled with “leaves” that are ready to fall off. Each leaf contains a title that we would like to add to the collection and a suggested donation. Please select a leaf from our Giving Tree with a title you would like to see included in our library nook. Place this leaf along with your donation in one of the envelopes provided and place it in the basket by the tree. If you would like to make a donation without choosing a book, please feel free to place it in the envelope and put it in the basket. We will continue to collect these throughout the fall. Thank you for prayerfully considering this wonderful project for our children!
To donate online, click HERE.
Bible Stories for Adults
Most Christians first encounter the Bible as children in Sunday school, learning Bible stories and coloring pictures. Too
often, students put their Bibles down during their teens and never pick them up again. This is a missed opportunity,
as the Bible contains engaging and powerful stories that it uses to offer mature insights into human failings and
virtues which can be used to help make us better people and more effective children of God. If you are an adult
seeking a deeper, more mature understanding of the Bible, you are invited to join “Bible Stories For Adults.”
Details: Day/Time: Monday evenings at 7:00 PM, beginning September 14th / Format: Online via Zoom
Together, we will read and discuss these stories from an adult perspective to enrich our understanding of what makes
a good life possible. For more information and to receive the Zoom link, please contact me at
jimharvey293@gmail.com or 413-259-5102.
Reflecting on Loss & Grief
Many of us in the Wesley Church congregation have experienced great personal loss of a beloved family member or personal friend in recent years. Often alone, we struggle with our grief privately and in silence. I am offering a time together to share our grief experience, hear each other’s journey and share things that have been helpful – or reflect on what has not been helpful. This will not be a class or presentation by any expert, just a chance to be together in a gentle and open gathering, including prayer. I will have a signup notebook available in the Great Hall, but attendance is flexible. You can come at the last minute! Please bring a personal notebook with you and any reading materials you would like to share. Car pools are encouraged. I will be in touch with very easy directions to my house in North
Leverett on the road to Lake Wyola, about 20 min. from North Amherst.
DATE/TIME: Saturday, October 3rd, 10-Noon with light snacks provided.
Lay Servant Louise Minks, 413-367-2800 / Louise@LouiseMinks.com
Multicultural Buffet
In celebration of World Communion Sunday, we will hold a multicultural buffet following the worship service on Sunday, October 4th. Please bring a dish to share from a different region of the United States or country in the world. This is a fun opportunity to share our traditions and heritage with others, and we encourage you to invite a friend to worship. Please sign up in the Great Hall to bring food or volunteer with set up, serving food, or clean up. We will also be collecting a free-will donation to support UMCOR’s International Disaster Response & Recovery, including the flooding in Nepal.
WUMC 20th Anniversary Reflections
Dear Church Family,
This Fall we will celebrate the 20th anniversary of our church family’s move to this wonderful church on the hill in Hadley. We are compiling a booklet of devotional reflections written by our own members, those who were present at the move and those who have joined our family since. We would be blessed if you would contribute a short devotion (about 250-300 words) based on the theme of “Growing where we are Planted.” This could be a recollection or memory of the move to the new building or a reflection on how our church family continues to grow and expand our ministries in Hadley and the world. We would love to have some of these ready for our kickoff in September, so submit them at any time HERE or by submitting them to me Ted Blaisdell directly at hagrid417@gmail.com. Please note that we will continue to collect them through our formal celebration at the October 25th service, so, if you want to take your time, that is fine. I will select some of these to be read in worship during the Fall. Thank you for prayerfully considering this devotional task.
Warmly,
Ted Blaisdell
Wesley Church Anniversary Celebration Working Group
WUMC Book Group
Please join the Wesley Book Group on October 19th at 9:30am to discuss North Woods by Daniel Mason.
Contact Gerry Harvey for the Zoom link. The Wesley Book Club reads a wide range of titles and meets monthly to discuss what we have read. Join us for one meeting or come regularly. If you have a favorite book, share it with us!
Fall Fair News
Summer is the perfect time to begin getting ready for the fall fair. How can you help?
★Save the Date! The Fall Fair will be held on Saturday, November 7th. Please mark your calendars and plan to participate.
★Forgotten Treasures: Don’t forget – our Silent Auction and Grandma’s Treasures are always looking for special items!
★Food: For those of you taking advantage of all the produce the Valley has to offer, please set aside a few jars of jams, jellies, relishes or sauces. These are always big sellers in our Country Store.
★Calling All Crafters: Do you like to create? Is there something that you might like to make over the summer or early fall that could be donated to the Fair? New ideas and goodies are always welcome.
★Join the Committee! Watch for the next meeting and join us! New volunteers and ideas are encouraged. Please contact Nicole Wetherell, Chair, at nwetherell@comcast.net for additional information.
Save the Date – Annual Church Conference
The annual Church Conference will be held on Sunday, November 15th at 5:00 PM, here at Wesley. This year all five churches of the Mount Holyoke Cooperative Parish will meet together in a joint church conference, and we are hosting. Please mark your calendar!
Boston University Donates Bedding to Craig’s Doors
Every year, students leave unwanted belongings at college. Instead of throwing everything in the landfill, Boston
University has committed to laundering bedding and donating it to people in need. This August, our Missions
Committee representative transported 35 sets of sheets, blankets, pillows and towels from Boston to Amherst. The
Craig’s Doors staff was very appreciative, as they will be able to replace many worn out sets on the beds at the
Immanuel Lutheran Church shelter and distribute to others in need as well.
Craig’s Doors
We continue to collect supplies for the local homeless population, and as the seasons change, so do the needs. The team at the Resource Center has shared they are most in need of: sunscreen, medicated lip balm and lip balm with sunscreen (i.e. Blistex or Carmex), lightly worn adult shoes (durable quality), adult socks, adult underwear (mens large/XL most needed sizes), umbrellas, and travel size hygiene products. Donations can be placed in the bin in the church entrance. Thank you!
Not Bread Alone
Each Saturday, Wesley volunteers help at CHD’s Not Bread Alone, Amherst’s soup kitchen. Our tasks are to pick up donated food from Whole Foods (some weeks), make fruit salad, make sandwiches (some weeks), and sort and display donated produce. It is a short time commitment (typically 9–10:30am), but our consistent help is always greatly appreciated. You can volunteer as little or often as you would like. If interested, please email Ruth Harms to be added to the monthly emails with the volunteer sign up.
In addition, more help is needed for volunteering in the kitchen, particularly in the summer when college students are not around, but also throughout the year. They serve three meals every week. On Wednesdays, they start setting up and cooking at 12 p.m., they serve the meal at 4 p.m., and they finish cleaning up by about 6:30 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays, they start at 9 a.m., serve at 12 p.m., and finish by about 2:30 p.m. If you have questions or would like to volunteer, please email Bob Stover, Program Supervisor, at rstover@chd.org.
Healing Prayer Group
Healing Prayer continues to be offered by the Healing Prayer Ministry. We meet each Thursday, but we pray all week long. If you have a prayer request of any kind at all, please contact Nancy or Richmond with your request and we will pray with you and for you. We promise you a 100% confidentiality and full respect and to be sensitive to your circumstances.
Wesley United Methodist Church 