University United Methodist Church

2818 N. University

Peoria, IL 61604

Address Service Requested

The Link

Non-Profit Org U.S.

Postage Paid

Peoria, IL

Permit NO. 650

Reaching out and welcoming all people to the love of God and Jesus Christ as we worship together and grow in faith.

MAILING LABEL

Are you a marble or a grape? Author Anne Ortlund groups Christians into two categories—marbles and

grapes. Marbles are single units that don’t affect one other except when they collide. Grapes get crushed

together, mingling their juices, and together creating something new.

The early church was a force to be reckoned with in part because the life of their community so often

resembled the smashing together of grapes. They were willing to give up something of themselves in the making

of something different and vibrant. I am thankful that the people of University UMC are like first-century Chris-

tians in so many ways.

It was St. Augustine who said: “No one can have God for his father without having the Church as his

mother.” In other words, it’s unlikely that any of us is called to be a “pious particle.” We need each other.

Loving God is inseparable from loving our fellow travelers in the journey of faith, and from loving outreach to our

neighbors in the wider community.

The late Morris Venden told the story of a Texas town that was stricken with severe drought. The pastors

of that town asked all people of faith to come together at noon on a Saturday for an hour of prayer. People of

faith came in droves, with prayerful hands clutching holy books, crosses and rosaries.

When the hour ended, a soft rain miraculously began to fall. Cheers swept through the crowd, as they

held their holy objects in the air. From the middle of the crowd, one symbol of faith overshadowed all the others.

A young girl had brought an umbrella.

When we come together as the people of God, special things can happen. We are more than the sum of

our individual parts. You may not be “on fire” every single time you come to worship. But when we worship

together, we are linked with one another, and someone else may supply the “fire” that you are lacking on that

particular day. Someone may lift our souls with a beautiful piece of music. Somebody may lift up a powerful

prayer. Someone may bless us with a warm greeting. Somebody in our number—and it may be a little child—

may be led by the Holy Spirit to do something that blesses the whole group. Great is the significance of what we

do in this place!

Rev. Paul Arnold, Directing Pastor

E-mail: peoriauumc@sbcglobal.net

www.uumcpeoria.org 688-3486 Fax 688-4576

Worship & Sunday School Times

Sunday Services: 8:30 & 11:00 am

Adult & Youth Sunday School: 9:45 am

Newsletter Mailing Date: The July LINK will be mailed on Friday, July 2. All articles are due by Monday of that week.

Thank you!

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OFFERINGSOFFERINGS

MAY General Fund

7 $8,926.00

14 $11,302.00

21 $3,464.00

28 $8,896.00

Total $32,588.00

The Mt Calvary Lutheran Food Pantry needs our donations. The food pantry is

in need of canned tuna this month.

The donation box is located by the main doors. The pantry distribution day is on the first Tuesday

o of every month.

Thanks for your

continued support

of the pantry!

It is our turn to do the noon meal

at Neighborhood House on Sunday, June 25th. If you would like to help,

please contact Renee Kilduski.

Marilyn Fauser June Carlson

Larry Colbert Irene Sherman

Carole Hill Margaret Carlile

John & Shirley Lane Beth Ziegele

Faye & Warren Nelson Max Shelton

Jack & Betty Rhodes Bill & Barbara Rigley

Bill Sprick

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GARRETT-EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Summer is here, and another successful year of preparing seminary students for service to God has been completed!

Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary celebrated its 160th

Commencement in May. We are proud of our students and

alums!

Despite a challenging socio-political environment Garrett-

Evangelical celebrates the blessings and tremendous support

of our community. These accomplishments are the result of

the tireless dedication, careful planning, of the seminary

faculty, staff, students, trustees, alums and cherished friends.

Among our accomplishments this year is the surpassing of the

$100 million goal of the “Forging our Future” capital campaign!

This vitally important initiative will help

us stay viable into the future.

Gifts from our participating

congregations involved in scholarship

efforts will enable future students to

attend an institution with efficient and

supportive facilities. We are blessed!

June 7-10 Illinois Great Rivers Annual Church Conference – Peoria Civic Center June 21 Priscilla Circle will meet for dinner at Granite City at 6:00 PM

JUNE 2017

JUNE Anniversaries

4-H Junior Chef School

University Methodist Church

is hosting the 4-H Junior Chef

School offered through the

University of Illinois Extension

4-H and Nutrition Program as

we had done in years past.

They will make use of the

kitchen and dining room from 9:30 a.m. to

1:30 p.m., Monday thru Friday beginning the

week of June 12th and concluding the week of

July 24th.

FUNSTERS will meet for dinner at Los Cabos Restaurant at 7800 N. Sommer in Parkway Plaza on Sunday, June 25th, 5:30. Please RSVP to Kathy @ 243-8884 or singjoy4@yahoo.com if you can attend. They do have outdoor seating if weather permits. We have been there before, and food features great Mexican dishes. Thanks goes to Pat and Gary Emery for waiting on our table at The Lindenhoff Restaurant in full German attire. Summer is a busy time, but many still want to try to have a festivity! Ole Ole.

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The school is out for the summer and we have packed and delivered our last snack pack.

We packed 250 snack packs a week for Thomas Jefferson and that came to 8,750 snack packs for the school year. Every Sunday, we had church members help pack 4-5 items in

the bags each week. We alternated Ramen Noodles with Mac N Cheese, and other items that we put in the bags were oatmeal, cereal bars, granola bars, hot chocolate and pud-

ding cups. We received food items from Midwest Food Bank once a month which Tina

Junk picked up. Schnuck’s sold the church the Mac N Cheese at their cost. There is also a Kroger’s gift card given to the Snack Packs program several times a month anony-

mously. Additional items not donated were purchased at Sam’s Warehouse in bulk. Barb Quickstad wrote the messages we put in each bag. The messages always ended with

“Your friends at University United Methodist Church …” Julie Reed printed the inserts for us. Esra Friederich delivered 7-11 containers of snack packs to the school on Friday

mornings. Tom Dresden, Barb Gurtler, Tina Junk and Renee Kilduski each rotated weeks to set up the production line

for snack pack items, and there were at least 10 people who came and helped to do the actual packing of the bags. (Linda and Lora Hahn, Cari and Keith Borland, Marcy and Brian Wilson, Mary Kay and Dave Fauser, Jim Hutcheson, Les

Bergsten, Gordon Roskamp, Tom Dresden, Shirley Dresden, Bettie Meeks-Bennett, Sherry Emerick, Tina Junk, Barb and Homer Gurtler and Renee Kilduski)

I can’t thank our church enough for supporting this mission both financially and with the manpower to help feed 250

children at Thomas Jefferson each week during the school year. We are an AWESOME church. Renee Kiliduski

Spring Fling was a Huge Success!

April 30, amid the rain and thunder, University United Methodist Church had a Spring Fling (what’s more spring than

rain?) party. What was originally supposed to be an outdoor event for our members and the community turned into a

big indoor party in the dining room and a couple of rooms in Cartwright Hall. The laughter was genuine, the conversa-

tion wonderful, Julie K not only played music for the children, but we saw many adults tapping their feet along with the

songs. Doug Smith of the Unique Twist entertained with balloons and jokes nonstop – honoring Sherry Emerick’s birth-

day with appropriate balloons. Hotdogs, ice cream, chips, cookies and lemonade were enjoyed by all. We had a few

people from the neighborhood, others who saw the information in the paper and wanted to bring their children for an

afternoon of fun. One of the most heart-warming things was the number of you, the members, who came back to take

part in the festivities. A committee prepared 200 May baskets and a number of people helped deliver them to the

neighborhood. Many of us have a new understanding of the residents around our church. If we were to name every-

one who helped the list would be very long. What a successful way to begin working with our new Outreach Com-

mittee and supporting our Youth Leader, Jayme Belsley! Thanks to all! Linda Millen and Jan Deissler

Rising Stars Recognition June 11, 2017

As we celebrate our Sixth Year Adoption of Thomas Jefferson School and our Rising Stars Tutoring Program, we will

recognize those who give time every Wednesday afternoon to tutor students at Thomas Jefferson School on Sunday,

June 11.. Without their continued commitment it would be impossible to meet the needs of so many students at

Thomas Jefferson School each year. We can’t thank the members of University United Methodist Church enough for

your 100% support. Please join us at first service on June 11 to honor these amazing volunteers.

Pastor Paul Arnold Linda/Gary Millen Loretta Arnold Maxine Shelton Julie Cramer Jan Deisssler

Renee Kilduski Dale/Darlene Athey Lori Miller Mary Kay Fauser Melanie Anderson Cindy/Mike Vanek

Keith Borland Gordon Roskamp Barb Gurtler Phyllis Ackerman Jeanne Williamson Jayne Ferguson

Keith Borland Beverly Keller Jeanette Stevens

Once again thank you and please consider joining us next year. Linda Millen

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Cyndi Westerdale has had long-standing ties with UUMC over the years. Not only

have she and her husband Tod, been members of this church since May, 1989,

but all three daughters, Alyson, Erin and Becky attended Nursery School in the

late 1980’s-early 1990’s during its heyday. When her granddaughter, Phoenix,

began coming to UUMNS in 2008, Cyndi volunteered her time and talents to the

Nursery School staff. Her efforts were so appreciated that the following year, she

was hired as a teacher’s assistant and has been in that position for the past 8

years. She has become invaluable in helping in any way that was needed from

setting up snack-time, creatively displaying the children’s artwork to conceiving

and executing countless science and art projects. In recent years, her grandson,

Lincoln, and granddaughter, Clara both were students of the school. After his

birth in September 2015, one of her youngest grandkids, Mikey, has become a

regular participant in school celebrations and events even though he is not yet 2

years-old. When asked what was the best thing about working at UUMNS for the

past 8 years, she replied “the kids”, and she will sorely miss seeing the excitement

and wonder on their faces as they share their learning and growing experiences

with her day after day. Thanks, Cyndi, for your many years of dedication to the

students and this school and for being the kind of teacher envisioned by the

founders of UUMNS.

The Nursery School Director/Lead Teacher Pam Hanson has also had a very long

affiliation with both the church and school. She was confirmed and became a

member of our church in March 1967, and came to work at the Nursery School 24

years ago as a teacher for the two day 3 year-old class. The late Peggy Brehm ,

wife of church member Harry Brehm, was the Director at the time. Eventually

over the following years, Pam’s teaching duties expanded from working twice a

week to five days a week with the 3 year-olds. Finally, many students and two

directors later, she was asked to become the UUMNS Director in mid-2000.

Thankfully, Pam accepted the responsibility and over the next twelve years, added

many administrative chores to her repertoire - such as maintaining staff/student

files, conducting in-service meetings for staff members, coordinating and schedul-

ing Nursery School calendar of events, paying school employees, and staying in

touch with the parents through the school newsletter, conferences and communi-

cating on a one-on-one basis with each family - just to name a few. Around 2008

with the enrollment beginning to decline somewhat, Pam decided to return to the

classroom as lead teacher for the 3 year-old classes as she continued on being the

Director as well. Although the state-funded PreSchool For All program presented

a challenge for UUMNS in competition for students, Pam and her staff were able

to maintain high standards in offering quality learning and social experiences to

their children on a shoestring budget. The Nursery School was originally con-

ceived as being a self-sufficient unit , and Pam has been successful in retaining that independence and self-reliance to the present

day. However, she has been truly thankful over these many years to those individuals in the church who have been especially

encouraging and supportive of her and the school – the late Walt Ziegele and Ernie West, Wes Foster, Emil Deissler, Gary Millen, and

Pastor Bob Lawry came to mind. When asked what was the best thing about working at UUMNS, Pam said, “the kids” and getting to

do things with the students that she couldn’t or wouldn’t try with her own kids at home! What would she miss the most – the kids’

hugs and high fives (but not the “full moon” days!). Thanks, Pam, for being the kind of teacher who learned as much from your

students as they learned from you!

SAYING THANKS TO THE NURSERY SCHOOL STAFF