Children's Breakfast Club and Your Garden

Do you grow a garden during the summer and reap an abundance of produce? If you would like to donate any of your veggies to the Breakfast Club, the residents at the mobile home parks greatly appreciate receiving fresh produce. In the past years, a few folks from other churches have occasionally donated zucchini, peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes. Anything fresh from the garden would be great. So if you would like to share some of your abundance, we thank you in advance! (You may drop it off at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, 114 Bayard Rd.)

2016 Reading Camp South County - August 1-5

Reading Camp South County will be held once again at St. James' Parish on August 1-5! The camp is a week-long, tuition-free summer program for children who need a "boost" to help them improve their reading skills. Curriculum will include 15 hours of reading instruction alongside fun activities such as arts and crafts, games, and field trips. A nutritious breakfast, lunch and snacks will be served daily.

It is time to start assembling the team for this year's camp! Current or retired teachers are invited to contact Paula Davis, Camp Coordinator, for more information about how they can help to provide the reading instruction from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM each day. The program ends at 4 PM, so teachers (who are able) as well as other adult and youth volunteers will be needed to assist with the afternoon activities. Reading Camp South County also needs your donations to support field trips, supplies, food and snacks, and other special activities. Please make your check out to the Southern Maryland Regional Council, put it in the plate, or drop it by the Parish Office.

For more information about this exciting program, or to volunteer, please contact Bill Ticknor+ (410-867-2838 or ticknor@stjameslothian.com), Paula Davis (southcounty.md.readingcamp@gmail.com), or Nancy Horkan (nhorkan@comcast.net).

Come and take a tour of the National Shrine Grotto of Lourdes, July 10

We will be leaving St. James' Church after the 10 AM service to go to the National Shrine Grotto of Lourdes in Emmitsburg, MD on the campus of Mount St. Mary's University. If there is time and interest, we will try to end our day at the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton just three miles away. We are currently working on acquiring a school bus. The drive to Emmitsburg, MD, is about an hour and a half. Please bring a bag lunch. Everyone under the age of 18 years must be accompanied by a parent/guardian.

Please RSVP as soon as possible. To RSVP, or for more information, contact Bill+ 410-867-2838 or email ticknor@stjameslothian.com.

The Great St. James’ Parish Bake-Off, June 11

Open to all age groups, this fun baking competition needs you! Bring your home-made-from-scratch cookies, cakes, pies and bread items to St. James' Parish on Saturday June 11. Items will be judged by area chefs based on originality, appearance, and taste and auctioned at the annual Parish Picnic on June 12. For more information, please contact Lesa Eser at lesaeser@gmail.com.

Children's Breakfast Club

This will be the sixth summer for what has become a ministry of four churches in our community: Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Friendship United Methodist Church, and St. James' Episcopal Church. This year we will again be taking meals to Patuxent Mobile Estates (on Sands Road) and Lyons Creek Mobile Estates (off Route 4 on the way to Dunkirk).

We anticipate feeding 160 children Monday through Friday for 7 weeks June 27 - August 12. This year, in addition to bagged breakfast meals, on Fridays we will also be giving a weekend bag of extra food to families. Our desire is to make sure the families have sufficient food to carry them through the weekend. A breakfast bag will cost an estimated amount of $1.30 each, so that's $208 per day, 5 days a week, equalling $1,040 per week. Funding for the Breakfast Club Ministry comes from special church offerings, personal and business donations, and church monetary donations. A special offering will be taken on Sunday, June 5th for the Breakfast Club.

St. James' Parish volunteers will be packing breakfast bags at 6 PM on the following Wednesdays: June 29, July 6, July 13, July 20, July 27, August 3, August 10. For more information or to volunteer to help, please contact Nola Meyers at noreme@verizon.net.

Senior Recognition Sunday, June 5

On Sunday, June 5, at the 9 AM service, we will be recognizing all graduating High School, Trade School, and College students. If you have a graduating senior, please email Bill+ at ticknor@stjameslothian.com, and state whether the graduate would like to receive a Book of Common Prayer or a Bible as a gift. Please provide to the office the name of the institution, from which the individual is graduating, and a brief paragraph about the individual to secretary@stjameslothian.com, no later than May 20.

All-age Fellowship, May 15

We will be having an "all age fellowship" on May 15. The activity will be bowling at Lord Calvert Bowling following lunch in the Parish Hall. Any questions, please contact Sharon McGlaughlin at sharon.mcglaughlin1692@gmail.com.