Love Your Mother Earth: a green awareness event

On May 10, 2008, Church of the New Covenant hosted Love Your Mother Earth Day, an event dedicated to green and sustainable living. Suzanne Mikalsen, who helped coordinate the event said, "I joined the team to help spread the eco-word: about water conservation, responsible stewardship, wildlife importance, etc. The event started as an outreach effort. I believe we went much farther, sponsoring and lifting up this message for children and adults and sharing Christ in this way with our neighbors."

Below is the report of this event as it appeared in the Church of the New Covenant newsletter.

A spectacular success!

Love Your Mother Earth Day — what a terrific day Saturday May 10 was! What a great turnout! Great food, interesting talks, informative displays, activities and demonstrations, and lots of fun! Most impressive of all, however, were the effort so many people gave to make this event a success and the excitement you generated in doing so. Curt S. and Suzanne H. are co-chairs of the Witness Committee, which sponsored the day; Curt and Suzanne did lots of the planning and structuring of the event. Suzanne M. met with tons of local merchants and obtained gift certificates, give-aways and the like — in addition to putting in hours of planning. Nancy M. obtained and prepared the food. Ann G. and James J. cooked tirelessly. Jeff D. did a heroic job of setting up and helping organize the church grounds — and he did some of the cooking, too. Richard R. helped out with setup. George T. lined up several presenters. Milly B. was very active in preparation activities. Bennie and Lucy, Kaitlyn and Jared J. were involved all day in setup and takedown. All our youth helped with flyer distribution on May 4, and Jared went out the day before with Suzanne H. Scott H. obtained canopies from several folks. Jason C. created the banner for the yard. Donna A. and Marty R. helped inflate 100 balloons and then greet everyone cheerfully. Many others gave presentations and demonstrations or led activities for children and adults.

Lots of neighbors from surrounding streets stopped by to enjoy a chicken leg, learn about composting or eco-friendly products, and to get to know some of our members. Everyone — participants, presenters, visitors — commented on how good it was to have an event like this out on our front lawn. Being visible in this way showed our neighborhood the wonderful spirit that makes Church of the New Covenant who we are: a congregation whose lives are anchored in prayer and praise, who practice God’s love in everything we do.

Many, many thanks to all of you. — Rick Neale, pastor