Register now for the St. John's Parish Fellowship Retreat!  We will have activities for all ages at this parish-wide event.  There will be a ropes course, canoeing, labyrinth walk, and centering prayer, The day includes lunch and a closing worship service.   DaySpring is the Episcopal conference center just 30 minutes south of Tampa in Ellenton. There will be a $17 cost per person (does not include the ropes course or canopy walk). Scholarships are available, please contact Fr. Connelly if you would like to take advantage of that option. If you wish to contribute to the fund for scholarships, please send a check to the parish offices with "Retreat Scholarships" noted.

Each month, we make sandwiches and bag lunches for the needy patrons of Faith Café to take with them after they eat a hot meal at the Café. We are in need of monthly hosts for July 19, August 16, and December 20. Hosting means purchasing supplies (costs are reimbursed by St. John's), helping facilitate the assembly line, and delivering sandwiches to Faith Café. There is a family that would like to co-host on one of these dates, but is unable to deliver the sandwiches to the Café on Monday. If you are interesting in being their co-host, or in hosting yourselves on one of these dates, please contact Amanda Sansone at amanda.arnold.sansone@gmail.com.

St. John's 15th Annual Mother's Day In-Gathering for the Mothers and Babies of Alpha House

Alpha House is an accredited, not-for-profit, local organization that was founded in 1981. Its mission is "to offer homeless pregnant women and mothers with young children safe housing and the tools they need to become self-sufficient, effective and responsible parents". This mission is accomplished through the provision of "safe housing, education, counseling, parenting and life skills training, vocational assistance, and spiritual support." The women live in the 20-bed maternity home or in the post-birth transitional apartments. The agency serves about 200 pregnant or parenting women and children each year.
 

Please contact Ruth Giordano with any questions and thank you! 

The next Men's Ministry event will be entitled Writing about (Your) Inspiring Lives. St. John's parishioner Phil Leigh will share lessons learned as a biography ghostwriter and explain how you can write your own. As Tennessee Williams put it, "Life is all memories except for the one present moment that goes by so quickly you hardly catch it going." 

After finishing an investment career, Phil's first Civil War book was distributed by the University of Chicago Press in 2013 and followed by two more in 2014 and 2015. Additionally, Phil has written twenty-three Civil War articles for the New York Times. In 2013 he began ghostwriting the biographies of living Floridians in order to learn more about the challenges and accomplishments of others.
  

Please join us in the Parish Hall at 6:00 p.m. for wine and fellowship time, a fine meal catered by Holy Hog Barbecue at 6:30 p.m., and our speaker following dinner. RSVP to Dallas Coffield at dcoffield@gmail.com.