Crossroads Notes:

Safe Child Program Review           The Safe Child Program has successfully been implemented over the past two years and the originators of the program, Ray Gabler, Sue McGilvray-Rivet and Linda Roscoe have trained over 30 volunteers in our congregation who work with our young children through teaching, nursery care, and youth leadership. The Christian Education Committee and the Session would like to conduct a systematic review of the program and documentation with your input. Any volunteers who went through the program or would like to participate in a formal review process are invited to give your comments and suggestions to Linda Roscoe. Thank you! Presbyterian Women           The Spring Gathering for Presbyterian Women in the Presbytery of Boston will be held on April 6, at 3:00 p.m., at Good Shepherd Church in Easton. The program will include a discussion on women's groups in churches, led by the Rev. Patricia Kepler, and the celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the merger between United Presbyterian Women in the north and Women of the Church in the south. Hospitality Committee (formerly “Membership”) Sponsors ‘Dinners of Eight’           On April 26 and 27th, (time to be determined) we are sponsoring ‘Dinners of Eight’. For this we are asking you to sign the sign-up sheet that is posted on the bulletin board. What is a ‘Dinners of Eight’ you may ask! You will be invited by some one in the congregation to come to their house for dinner; there will be no more than eight for dinner. The hosts/hostesses will prepare the entrée; the guests will provide other foods for the meal. It is a fun time and a chance to get to know each other better. Look for the sign-up sheet.           Is there someone out there that has a wheel chair accessible home that would be able to host a dinner? 2008 Annual Yard Sale           The yard sale will be held in June. The tentative date is June 14. In the meantime, when you are doing your Spring cleaning this year, please keep this in mind, and set aside any treasures you find for the yard sale. On Sunday, April 13th the Dot & Fran Team will hit the streets of Concord!           For the 13th year, members and friends of BPC will be walking to raise funds for Multiple Sclerosis research and support for people who live with the disease. This year’s team members so far are: Barb Anderson, David Anthony (Fran’s son), Niloo Hennings, Peggy Houghton, Allison, Christina, and Tiffany Liu, Jane Lothian, Sally Morrison, Linda Roscoe, Shirley Thornton and Millie Wiegand. We’d love to have more folks with us!           If you can’t walk with us, how about being a volunteer?           Our fundraising goal is $1,500 this year. Each walker is asked to raise funds and we’re asking church folks to pledge the team. There is a pledge sheet posted on the bulletin board outside the front classroom. Cash or checks are welcome and can be given to Linda Roscoe. Checks should be made payable to the National MS Society. If you prefer to pledge online, here’s how: Go to http://mam.nationalmssociety.org, scroll down the screen, click on Donate to a walker, cyclist or runner, search for a Team. Our team name is Dot & Fran. On the team page you will see a roster of the team members - Donate to Dot & Fran Team Historic 40th Walk for Hunger Sunday, May 4 Starts on the Boston Common, 7:00–9:00 a.m.           The Walk for Hunger began when members of a religious community decided to speak out about the unacknowledged tragedy of hunger in our midst. Now, 40 years later, the Walk includes teams from more than 1,000 religious and community groups. This is a special year. If you’ve ever participated in the Walk, or thought about doing so, this is the year to get involved. Dig out your Walk memorabilia and join the BPC team for Project Bread’s special 40th Walk for Hunger on Sunday, May 4. Some of us have been doing this for more than 20 years!           Whether you walk 2 miles, 10, or all 20 of the Walk, you’ll enjoy a festive day walking through Boston and surrounding neighborhoods while you help our hungry neighbors in Massachusetts. Both the Burlington Food Pantry and the Dwelling Place receive funds through Project Bread.           Your pledges feed people through emergency food programs throughout the state and through the many food programs in schools, after school programs, and pediatrician offices. There will be a pledge sheet for the BPC team posted on the bulletin board outside the front classroom.           For more information, call 617-723-5000, visit www.projectbread.org/walk, or speak with Linda Roscoe, BPC Team Captain

Deacons Corner           On March 16 we were able to send four packages to troops for whom we have current addresses. Thanks to everyone who donated items for these packages.           Thanks also to all of you who donated items, services and your time to help support the BPC Spring Auction 2008!! As we go to press it is one week until the auction and we anticipate a great turnout, high bids and more than enough revenue to support the Burlington Food Pantry and the BPC church mission programs, both within our congregation and in the wider community.           Members in need of your prayers include especially Jay David and Sue McGilvray-Rivet and their families. Jay will be receiving a much needed kidney from Sue in a surgical procedure scheduled for April 8. If you wish to help the families in other ways, please contact Betty Doubek, Lynda Graham-Meho or Jen Dewar to coordinate meals or other caring outreach.           We have received a request to publicize and support a Blood Drive to be held at the Doubletree Bedford Glen Hotel on April 18th from 12 – 6 p.m. Children’s Hospital will have a self-contained mobile unit on site at the hotel. The blood drive is for a young Woburn boy who is very sick. Donating blood is a way to help the family, by replacing the blood he has used. Networkers Mother’s Day Project Mosquito Nets for Africa and the Blankets and Tools Project           Each year in sub-Saharan Africa, malaria causes more than one million deaths, most of them children under five and pregnant women. Malaria is the number one killer of children under age five. Women are four times as likely to contract malaria during pregnancy and twice as likely to die from it. Using insecticide-treated mosquito nets, coupled with malaria prevention education, has been shown to significantly reduce these tragic statistics.           The Blankets and Tools project provide these badly needed items to disaster victims, refugees, and others in need of help.           Consider honoring a loved one with a donation to the networkers project or to the Blankets and Tools project. See Beth Denier for information on the networkers project and Mother’s Day cards and Whitey Graham for information on the Blankets and Tools project. M.A.T.E. Crew Taking Shape for this Year!           It’s timie to sign to be part of this year’s volunteer crew to work on renovations of homes of the rural elderly and poor in central Maine, through Mission At The Eastward. The week is July 27 – August 1, though you can come for just part of that time. Skilled and unskilled labor welcome. We stay in a dorm of the U. Maine, Farmington. We’ll be joing with a few folks from other churches in Boston Presbytery. Our crew will also welcome financial contributions, to help with our expenses, and donations of food items (to be specified later). See Rod MacDonald for more information, or to sign up! Missionaries Of The Month Jeff Koning, Perm, Russia           After being a member of two mission teams sent to Perm by his home church, Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, GA, Jeff Koning accepted the position of project coordinator for a long-term project benefiting orphans in Perm. Since moving to Perm in 2000, Jeff has worked on the development of projects creating opportunities for orphans. A partnership among three orphanages established a farm where the children can spend the summer learning life and work skills while growing crops which can be used in the orphanages.           The Worldwide Ministries Division of the PC(USA) appointed Jeff to serve as the primary liaison for developing relationships between Perm Baptist, Lutheran, and Russian Orthodox churches and orphanages in the Perm Region.           Perm is an industrial city about 600 miles northeast of Moscow and just west of the Ural Mountains. With a population of nearly one million residents, the city stretches for 40 miles along the Kama River. Perm has a sister-city relationship with Louisville, KY.           For more information about Jeff and his work go to: www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/profiles/koningj.htm