What's Happening at St. Francis this week

Thursday Announcements March 14, 2024

​Upcoming Events at St. Francis:

• Lenten Lunches, Tues. @ 12pm, with final gathering, at St. Francis, this Tuesday, March 19th
  
• Lectionary Study and Compline, Tuesday at 2pm, Library
  
• Soup and Stations, final gathering, this Wednesday at 5:30pm
  
• Men’s Bible Study, Thursday 8am, Library
  
• Sunday Eucharist at 9am

2024 Holy Week Service Schedule
 
Date & Time(s)                                                       Service

Sunday, March 24, 9am*                                         Palm Sunday

Wednesday, March 27, 7:30pm*                             Tenebrae        

Thursday, March 28, 6:30pm*                                  Maundy Thursday

Friday, March 29, 12pm & 6:30pm*                         Good Friday

Saturday, March 30, 10am                                       Holy Saturday (Day Service)

Saturday, March 30, 7:30pm*                                  Easter Vigil

Sunday, March 31, 9am* & 10:30am*                      Easter Sunday

*Services marked with an asterisk will be live streamed. 
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Pill bottle Donation Ministry:  

Our Daughters of the King chapter will be collecting clean, empty pill bottles on an ongoing basis.  We will periodically send shipments of the donated pill bottles to Matthew 25: Ministries.  The donation collection box is in the Narthex.  You may drop your pill bottles there anytime
you're in the church.  For your privacy, we ask that you remove labels from the pill bottles before depositing them in the collection box.

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Since 1991, Matthew 25: Ministries has grown from a small suitcase ministry into an international relief organization distributing more than 20 million pounds of products each year. In total, Matthew 25 has sent more than 300 million pounds of aid across the United States and into approximately 70 countries worldwide.
The work of Matthew 25: Ministries helps the poorest of the poor and disaster victims throughout the United States and around the world.
Matthew 25: Ministries accepts donations of empty plastic pill bottles for inclusion in shipments of medical supplies. The pill bottle program fulfills the dual needs of improving medical care in developing countries and caring for our environment.

Thank you for your generous support of this ministry.
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The Forward Day by Day’s for February-April are here in regular and large print. 

​If you’d like one of these mailed to you, please email or call the church.

From the office—Ann’s Announcements
 
Birthdays
Colleen Kelly              March 23
 
United Thank Offering
"The flap of a butterfly wing can change the weather hundreds of miles away.  Our voice, our hands, our coins can make the difference.  We can change the world."  Sue Casebeer
 
Thank you! Jenny Bohl
​ 
Joyful Noise:
The children have been collecting your spare change in their “Joyful Noise” buckets the first Sunday of each month. 
We would like to report that we have received $632.50.  After much discussion and prayer, they decided to:
1.  Donate to the Lakota Lutheran Center in Scottsbluff.  They help many in our community with meals, clothing, and religious services.
2.  They have decided to donate to Episcopal Relief and Development and pay for 1 goat, Fruit Trees, seeds, tools
and training to cultivate a sustainable food supply. Goats are hardy and reproduce quickly, and can be raised in a variety of climates. 
They provide milk, cheese, and manure for farming. Mango, banana, and avocado trees provide a long term sustainable source of nutrition and income
and can be planted on hillsides for erosion control.
3.  They want to help communities drill wells for clean water which prevents the spread of illness and disease.
4.  They want to provide a bicycle for healthcare workers in rural areas to cover greater distances and reach more homes.
5.  They would like to support Riverside Discovery Center and the new hyena that will be coming soon, and the education of the children in our area.
6.  Their final donation is to the Panhandle Humane Society, who care for area dogs and cats who are homeless, and try to find them homes.
Thank you to all who have helped them achieve their “Outreach” goal.
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Alena’s Polar Plunge—Team Thunder!!
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With generous support from St. Francis members Alena raised over $1400 and the total for the Plunge came to about $30,000.
​A great year for Special Olympics Nebraska! ​