As we approach the Thanksgiving season we want to celebrate some volunteers who have stepped back from faithful service to Kamloops United Church recently.

Each of these people has been sent a thank you and will be celebrated in Worship at the Thanksgiving Worship service on October 10th.

Barb Hollingshead has been the Envelope Steward for many years. She has carefully tracked donations and sent financial statements to us all. Barb has learned three different database systems through the years (that is how long she has been carefully stewarding donations). It can’t be overstated the wonderful gift Barb has given to the church her intelligence is undeniable. There is a humility to her gift that warms the heart. She has been our point of contact for the PAR (pre authorised remittances) since the beginning. I am sure that many of us remember her calm explanation of the way donations can be set up to come automatically to the church each month. THANK YOU Barb for all your generous gifts of time, care, integrity, endurance, dedication and attention to detail. 

Jane Reed has been Barb’s back up for a long time. Jane has quietly and efficiently stepped in when Barb was away to do the Envelope Steward work. In our transition to the new system both Jane and Barb were exceptionally helpful. Jane was kind and helpful to Joanna when we had some challenges extracting some data to be moved. Jane’s patience and kindness was much appreciated. THANK YOU Jane!

Marnie Strong has stepped down from two roles that she has done for a long time.
As many of you know, we have a team of  three wonderful web women called Web Ministers. Marnie has been on this team since the beginning. The way it has worked is that each member of the team takes a week to monitor and post on the web page and facebook. So two weeks off then one week on. All events, history, staff pages, in memoriam, community connections, photos, celebrations, newsletters, worship bulletins, YouTube links and postings and not just put on the web. Marnie and the team support each other and conscientiously follow the ethos of the United Church and the priorities of KUC. Our website is a dynamic, informative and lovely place for us to find information and for new people to meet Kamloops United Church for the first time. Marnie brings an artistic sensibility for color, continuity and composition. The images and words she chooses are done so carefully. You will never see a double chin in ANY photo that Marnie has put on the web. Her work is done with love, respect and the elegance she walks with everyday. Marnie also stepped down from being a Projectionist where her choice of images was also a beautiful gift each Sunday she was on projection. THANK YOU Marnie for the wonderful gifts that you shared so generously much of it during your time as Council Circle Chair.

Patric McColl was there at the beginning of Broadcasting worship. She was on the Projection Team for years and when we moved to Broadcast she dove in feet first. With the rest of the team she learned new words like streamyard, Roland and PnP. Patric has a wonderful gift of understanding and wrote documents that were helpful to us all in the process of learning and transitioning. She mastered the system, learned to set camera angles and calm her nerves as we live streamed worship services to the world. It all sounds pretty nerve wracking and it was! But Patric has a way of tackling new challenges that is inspiring. She also sees the big picture (pun intended) and decided to make room for more people to dig in and learn the system. She knows what we all know that participating in church life makes a person’s whole life better. That digging in and doing something new, something maybe a little hard or scary is one way that bonds us to the church, to each other and to spirit. Patric wanted to make room for someone to have that experience in this exciting and new way. Kamloops United Church is bursting into the future on the internet and in our beautiful church.
THANK YOU Patric for your service and your wisdom.

Happy Thanksgiving Image:  Flickr.  Copyright: © Timothy Valentine, 2017