August, 2016 - St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church

St. John The Baptist
Greek Orthodox Church
14485 SW Walker Road
Beaverton OR 97006
NONPROFIT ORG
US POSTAGE PAID
BEAVERTON, OR
PERMIT NO. 24
S t . J ohn the B aptist
G reek O rthodox C hurch
14485 SW Walker Road, Beaverton, Oregon 97006
Office: 503.644.7444 Fax: 503.296.2507
E-mail: churchoffice@stjohngoc.org * Parish Website: stjohngoc.org
change service requested
August 2016
VOL. X1X NO. 7
Witnessing the Truth of Apostolic Christianity
ONE THING NEEDFUL! AND 5 WAYS TO HELP
Register by Sept. 1st
Save $50!
Be a Host for visiting Clergy/Laity
www.stjohn.org
Bringing Orthodoxy to America
National Missions & Evangelism Conference
Fr. Luke Veronis
Fr. Theodore Dorrance
Fr. Evan Armatas
Fr. Barnabas Powell
Oct. 3-5, 2016 in Portland, Oregon
Presented by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Department of Stewardship,
Outreach & Evangelism, the Metropolis of San Francisco Commission for
Orthodox Missions & Evangelism (C.O.M.E.), and Leadership 100.
Register at www.come-sf.org or www.goarch.org
8
“Martha, Martha, you are
anxious and troubled about
many things; one thing is
needful. Mary has chosen
the good portion, which shall
not be taken away from her.”
(Lk.10:41-42) The one thing
that is most needful in our lives is Jesus Christ. We
need Him more than any other thing or person in the
universe. When Jesus is at the center of our lives and
first among our priorities, then we have everything!
This is why Jesus taught that we could gain the
whole world—all its riches, pleasures and glory—
but forfeit our souls for all eternity. (Mk.8:35-36)
While Jesus was certainly teaching Martha to put Him
first, the “one thing needful” may also refer to the fact
that we can really only be present at one moment in
time. We can only really do one thing at a time well, or
participate in one conversation attentively. Our task is
to be attentive and present in each moment—focused on
the one thing that God has placed in front of us. In this
way, with an awareness of Jesus’ presence in our life,
each moment has the potential to intersect with eternity.
We can literally participate in the Kingdom in a “now,
but not yet” manner through our communion with God
in the presence of each moment, attentive to the one
thing God has placed in front of us. This is vital for
our salvation, since the only time and place that we can
encounter God is in each moment, and only if we are
present in it. This is why the ceaseless remembrance of
God and watchfulness are held in such high esteem in
the teachings of the holy Fathers of our Church.
I would like to offer five helpful ways to keep Jesus
on the throne of our hearts and minds and remember
to be present and attentive to each moment and each
activity. First, each of us should have a prayer rule.
We refer to it as a rule of prayer, because we want it to
become a consistent habit in our life; we want it to be
foundational. Ideally, this rule of prayer would consist
of both morning and evening prayer routines. They
don’t need to be long periods of prayer; however, they
do need to be consistent. Most Orthodox prayer books
contain both morning and evening
prayers. Many people choose to
do the Small Compline as their
evening prayers instead of the
more generic evening prayers. An
important addition to the prayers
in a prayer book is the recitation
of the Jesus Prayer with a prayer rope. The exact
number or length of time should be worked out with
one’s spiritual father. By starting and ending each day
with a set routine of prayer, we show God and ourselves
that He is first in our life. We receive much grace from
this show of love and commitment. This also aids us
greatly in our cultivation of the remembrance of God
and watchfulness over our thoughts throughout the day.
Secondly, it is imperative to our spiritual health to spend
time daily reading the holy Bible. We should read the
daily readings that follow the church calendar, and we
should be regularly working our way through a book of
the Bible. Just listen to the emphatic teaching of St. John
Chrysostom regarding reading the Bible, and he lived
in the fourth century long before the invention of the
printing press.
I do not cease entreating you to persevere continually in
reading the divine Scriptures. Do not let anyone say to
me those vain words, worthy of heavy condemnation, ‘I
cannot leave the courthouse, I administer the business
of the city, I practice a craft, I have a wife, I am raising
children, I am in charge of a household, I am a man of
the world; reading the Scriptures is not for me, but for
those who have been set apart, who have settled on the
mountaintops, who keep this way of life continuously.’
What are you saying? That attending the Scriptures is
not for you, since you are surrounded by a multitude of
cares? Rather it is for you more than for them. They do
not need the help of the divine Scriptures as much as
those do who are involved in many occupations.
The Holy Scriptures are divinely inspired. They are
the most authoritative writings we have in our Holy
Tradition. We are on the front lines of spiritual warfare,
but without the protection of the monastery.
Father’s Message continued on Page 5
1
Many Years! XPONIA POLLA! MANY YEARS!
.....to those celebrating their Feastdays in August:
.....to
those celebraing their
namedays in August:
August 6 – Holy Transfiguration
Patti (Sotiria) Ross
August 15 - Dormition of the Theotokos
Colleen (Maria) Van Sickle
Diane (Despina) Cherry
Maria Daniels
Maria Hafez
Maria Souza
Athena Gonzalez
Maria Gonzalez
Panagiotis Poulos
Mia (Maria) Alex
August 20th – Prophet Samuel
Samuel Duchow-Pressley
August 26 – St. Adrian
Adrian Gonzales
August 28 - Apostle Titus
Titus Crosby
August 28 - Moses the Ethiopian
Clayton (Moses) Dale
August 30– St. Alesander, Patriarch of
Canstantinople
Alexander Davis
Alexander Hafez
August 31 – St. Aidan of Lindisfarne
Aidan Chiprout
...to
those celebrating Wedding
Anniversaries:
2016 Parish Council
Erik Chosvig
Robert Crosby
John Davis, President
Arthur “Ted” Deming
Karen Keese, Treasurer
Mark Lindgren
Demetri Mirras
Niko Poulos, Stewardship Chair
Steve Roth
Kent Taylor, Vice President
Gregory Walsh, Secretary
Joe Weick
Memory Eternal:
Jessie Crosby
John Wehlitz, Sr.-5 years on August 8th
George Mouskondis-22 years on August 8st
Mary Mouskondis-11 years on August 21st
Ann Davis-9 years on August 23rd
Ioanna Miller-15 years on August 23rd
Aly Hope Weiser-Lilly-1 year on August 23rd
You’re Invited to ASA’s 21st Annual
Greek Open
Golf Tournament & Dinner Fundraising Event
September 19, 2016
*
Rev. Fr. Theodore L. Dorrance, Priest
Rev. Fr. Timothy Pavlatos, Priest
Fr. Innocent Duchow-Pressley, Deacon
Cory & Tiffany Morgan-14 years on August 3rd
Steven & Janet Roth-43 years on August 4th
Brian & Shannon Rush-14 years on August 9th
Paul & Arielle Jungwirth-8 years on August 17th
Niko & Athanasia Poulos-3 years on August 18th
Charles & Helen Stinman-33 years on August 20th
Constantine & Adrienne Trumpower-5 yrs on Aug 21st
Fr. Edward & Judy Hillhouse-48 years on Aug 23rd
Seraphim & Rachel Daniels-13 years on August 24th
Richard & Paraskevi Whitton-38 years on Aug 27th
Philip & Jill Hudanish-19 years on August 31st
*Please notify the church office if your feast or anniversary was not listed
Open to the Public
St. John The Baptist
Greek Orthodox
Church
at Langdon Farms Golf Club
*
Scramble Format
Sunday School
Logos Bookstore
Agape Ketrenos - Director
Paraskevi Whitton - Co-Director
Philoptochos
Pres. Stacey Dorrance - Membership
Sandy Duchow-Pressley - Vice President
Eleni Goldman - President
Colleen Van Sickle - Treasurer
Hospitality
Stephanie Makarounis
Patricia Poulos
Moms & Tots
Athena Gonzales
Kendall Muzik
Church Music
Presvytera Stacey Dorrance
Altar Boys
Tobias Armstrong
Demetrius Van Sickle
Barry Ketrenos
Dn. Innocent Duchow-Pressley
Bookkeeping
Kathleen Ketrenos
Register Now:
www.greekopen.com
DON’T GOLF? dON’T WORRY!
Dinner tickets can be purchased separately.
2
STRATEGIC PLANNING UPDATE
As we said in the June/July newsletter,
we continue to be in the “Assessment,” or
information gathering stage, of our Strategic
Planning process. Our latest update is that we
received the results of the Orthodox Natural
Church Development (ONCD) survey, which
about 30 members of the Parish took on
May 15th. (See the May newsletter for more about how those
parishioners were selected.) Again, a sincere thank you to those
of you who took the survey!
The premise of the ONCD survey is that a Parish is a dynamic,
living organism whose health is constantly changing. This survey
assesses our Parish health at a point in time. And, no matter how
healthy our Parish is, there are always areas for improvement.
In fact, they describe areas with low scores as “not the worst but
the areas which we can improve on the most.”
The Strategic Planning leadership team has now had an
opportunity to review and discuss the results. The survey has
91 questions, with several questions getting at the same issue
from different perspectives. These are then analyzed within 8
“quality characteristics.” Our 8 quality characteristics, ranked
from highest score to lowest score are: Loving Relationships;
Empowering Leadership; Passionate Spirituality; Inspiring
Worship; Service Gift-based Ministry; Effective Structures;
Holistic Small Groups; and Need-oriented Evangelism. In
general, our Parish is a very healthy; one of the reviewers
outside of our Parish said our parish profile was a “very good
one,” but “with work to do.”
If we unpack our Loving Relationship score a bit, we find that
we scored very high in Atmosphere of Joy and Acceptance
with room to improve in Affirmation and Encouragement. The
lowest scoring question in this area was “the atmosphere of
Car and Bikes Show & BBQ
Proceeds to go towards Youth Ministries
Saturday, September 10, 2016
 Car Registration from 10:00 am – 11:45 am
 $5.00 per car/bike entry fee
 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
 Food will be available for purchase
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral parking lot ~ 3131 NE Glisan Street
NEWSLETTER
DEADLINE
Articles & Announcements
Due by the 2nd Friday
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Contact Kris Souza with questions: Kris.souza@gmail.com or 503-781-1742
our church is strongly influenced by praise and compliments.”
We had quite a bit of discussion about this-how do we reconcile
this result as we struggle with humility? This is just one of the
areas we would like to explore more.
The question with the lowest score in Need-oriented
Evangelism was “our church tries to help those in need (food,
clothing, education, counsel, etc.).” The Leadership team was
not surprised to see a low score in this area, as the Almsgiving
Committee has also noted this is an area we can improve on.
In fact, that ministry committee has been looking for ideas and
opportunities for us to reach out and help those in need within
our local community. Again, this is another area where we have
an opportunity to explore more with the Parish.
As noted above, this survey is the first stage of our Assessment
process that will continue into the fall. The Leadership Team
will use the results of this ONCD survey to focus our other
assessment tools (a parish-wide “homegrown” survey and a
parish-wide SWOT workshop). After reviewing the results,
we believe we have identified enough areas we would like to
further explore through a “homegrown” survey that will go to
the entire Parish. In this way, we can gather feedback on all
areas of the Parish that impact the development of our ‘Shared
Vision for the Future’.
Next steps will be to have a more detailed discussion around
the ONCD survey results to help develop the “homegrown”
survey. We will share the results of both surveys, prior to the
Parish-wide workshop (to be held this fall), so all Parishioners
have a common understanding of what we’ve learned so far.
Finally, we continue to update the Frequently Asked Questions
on the Strategic Plan website, so please remember to check
there for information.
7
6
5:30p Orthros & Divine
Liturgy followed by
fish, oil & wine potluck.
8:45a Orthros & Divine
Liturgy
NOTE: **CALENDAR SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
2
SEPTEMBER 1
Ecclesiastical New Year
7:00p Sunday School
Kick-Off Dinner at the
Dorrance Home
31
30
Beheading of St. John the Baptist
8:30a Orthros & Divine Liturgy
(Strict Fast Day)
29
Please visit Parish website at www.stjohngoc.org for the most up-to-date schedule of services and activities.
3
28
5:00p Great Vespers
5:00p Great Vespers
27
26
25
24
23
22
21
6:00 p Great Vespers
8:45a Orthros/Divine
Liturgy
Dormition Fast
8:30a Orthros & Divine Liturgy
15 Dormition of the Theotokos
14
8:45a Orthros/Divine
Liturgy
4:45p Memorial Ann Davis and
Aly (Hope) Weiser-Lilly
5:00p Teaching Vespers
20
19
18
17
6:00p Paraklesis
7:00p Baklava Packaging
6:00p Paraklesis
6:00p Paraklesis
7:00p Almsgiving Meeting
6:00p Paraklesis
7:00p Sts Mary & Martha Board
Mtg.
8:45a Orthros & Divine
Liturgy
Dormition Fast
11
10
9
8
7
GOYA Raft Trip
1:00p Senior Committee Mtg
6:45p Parish Council Meeting
Newsletter
Deadline
6:00p Paraklesis
13
12
6:00 p Paraklesis
6:00p Paraklesis
6:00p Paraklesis
9:00a Baklava Prep
6:00p Paraklesis
7:00p Strategic Planning Mtg.
6:00p Paraklesis
Dormition Fast begins
8:45a Orthros & Divine
Liturgy
16
1:00p Beaverton Mkt. Prep
4:45p Memorial John R. Wehlitz
& Ioanna Miller
5:00p Great Vespers
6:00p Beaverton Mkt. Booth
8:30a Orthros & Divine
Liturgy (bring grapes)
5:00p Great Vespers
7:00p Open House
6 Transfiguration
Saturday
Friday
5
4
Thursday
Wednesday
3
2
Tuesday
AUGUST 1
Jesus Christ began his 3-year ministry message by
saying, “The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is
at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel!” (Mark 1:1415). Repentance involved turning away from disobeying
God’s commandments and turning towards God by
becoming a disciple. After He was resurrected, Christ gave
the continuance of the task of teaching the gospel to His
disciples and the Church, “Go therefore and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
all that I have commanded you.” (Mt. 28:19-20) It can be
seen here that the mission involves two elements: (1) making
disciples of people who have not believed and (2) teaching
the disciples who believe about Christian observance that
they too may live a holy life and in turn be able to reach
other unbelievers. Both of these elements form the mission
of the St. John Missions and Evangelism (M&E) Committee.
The M&E committee has the following mission statement:
“We seek to fortify the faithful in the understanding of and
the participation in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Orthodox
teachings, improve the visibility of the Church, actively reach
out to non-Orthodox, encourage involvement in missionary
activities and greater mission-mindedness and support other
ministries in their work towards these goals.”
This mission statement reflects the two elements of teaching
the faithful and of reaching out to new people. The first part
involves adult education in the parish, and the second part
involves outreach to the community.
As a result, over the years the M&E Committee has made
efforts in both areas. M&E has organized annual Basics of
Orthodoxy classes, Church tours, liturgical arts displays
and adult classes on Holy Scripture and other topics. It has
also set up a website for outsiders to learn about the faith
as well as to fortify the Parishioners, created easy-to-read
facility signs and set up welcome banners, given support
to the greeter’s ministry and the Orthodox Reading Room,
brought in pamphlets for new inquirers and created a new
Parish brochure for visitors. For the upcoming events, the
Committee will be involved in hosting the National M&E
Conference that will take place at St. John in October.
We seek active participants whose desire is to reach out to
the internal and external communities with the Orthodox
Christian message of hope and love. We welcome such
participation even if only on a part-time basis. Please
contact the M&E Committee or the Church office for further
information and to volunteer.
By Lazarus Chiprout
Monday
MISSIONS & EVANGELISM
31
Philoptochos: The “Friends of the Poor”
What I’ve come to learn.
I’ve recently become aware of this word
PHILOPTOCHOS. One translation is
“friends of the poor.” It’s the name of
a women’s group that has traditionally
operated in the Greek Orthodox Church
since 1931. It seems that we are forming
one as we mature as a Parish.
As I’ve talked to different people about this new ministry of
our Church, I have received very different ideas about what
it is supposed to be. Some say, “It’s a Greek fundraising
thing.” Others say, “It’s a compulsory ladies group that every
Greek Church has, and you have to raise a certain amount of
money every year for the Diocese,” while still others say, “It’s
an opportunity for service.” Wow! With so many different
opinions, I decided to look it up and understand for myself
why we are establishing our own chapter.
As with many things in the Greek Orthodox Church, the
Philoptochos comes by way of tradition. I don’t know who
started the first chapter, but it has served for 90 years to focus
the women in any particular Greek Orthodox parish on the
needs of the community around them. The kinds of services
provided through the money that is raised are as varied as
the different communities. Another thing I noticed was that
these groups did not solely focus on the internal needs of
their individual members. In addition, each chapter invites its
membership to work side by side with each other to minister
to the local community and the larger community around the
country to follow the direction of the Holy Spirit. The results
are increased opportunities for fellowship among the sisters,
increased opportunities for service, and the opportunity to
receive an abundance of grace. Personally, I think the sky is
the limit for us. We’ve grown big enough to extend our hand
in philanthropy to others. I believe that the Philoptochos will
be a real gold mine of grace and a much-needed opportunity to
focus outward.
As St. John has grown in numbers, the opportunity to get to
know each other has become more difficult. I can see how
having a group of women working together in love to help
others will provide a great way to get to know each other better.
I’m all for furthering the sense of intimacy and fellowship
that I have come to associate with St. John. Left to my own
devices, frankly, I am overwhelmed. It’s not my being crippled
that makes it overwhelming, because many of you come to see
me. I feel it’s because everyone is so busy and so focused on
managing their own lives that it’s hard to find a reason to make
time to do things with others and for others. As Americans,
we often focus on managing our own stuff independently.
Somehow self-sufficiency and independence are equated with
virtue in our culture. I think we could learn a thing or two from
the Greek flavor of Philoptochos and practice how to band
together like a small village to work on a common goal. Who
knows, it could lead to dancing!
By Catherine Carlson
Sunday
Prayer attracts God’s Grace and all the members of the
family feel it . . . Pray always.”
-ELDER THADDEUS OF VITOVNICA
Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life
and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus
August 2016
STS. MARY & MARTHA
SNACK
--
--
--
--
--
--
--
--
Davis (2)
Duchow-Pressley (4)/Hailey (2)
Poulos (4)/Wehlitz (2)
Blankenstein (2)
Goldman (4)/Davis (2)
Becker (4)/Hailey (2)
Wehlitz (2)
PROSFORA Loaves
(delivered day before)
--
--
Keese/Walsh
Weick/Davis
--
Crosby/Chosvig
Lindgren/Poulos
--
PARISH COUNCIL
--
--
Benson
Reiter
--
Goldman
Chosvig
--
Greeters
--
--
Poulos/Braden
Mirras/Stinman
--
J. Hudanish/Muzik
Chosvig
--
CHURCH
FLOWERS
--
--
Team 3
Team 2
Team 1
Team 10
--
CLEANUP
--
--
Team C
Team B
Team A
Team E
--
ALTAR
BOYS
St. John the Baptist
August Schedule
Blankenstein (2)
Altar Boys
Team D: Demetrius Constantine, Athanasios, Basil, Wade, Owen, Simon
Team E: Alexander, Gabriel, Yoas, Pavlos, Noah, Peter
Clean up Team 6: Ketrenos J & K, Lubliner D & J, Lubliner N, Goldman, Thienes, Tesfamicael, Taylor, Hatch
Clean up Team 7: Gebrehiwot, Hailey, Jungwirth, Deming, Russo, Walters, Hall I, Stebner, Dale
Clean up Team 8: Patske, Rich, McKenzie, Reiter, Downs, Ionescu, Walker, Hafez
Clean up Team 9: Feyler, Jones/Kuchillis, Lindgren, Rush, Wehlitz, Solomon, Mansager, Crosby, Gebreeyseus
Clean up Team 10: Wilson, Blankenstein, Hudanish P & J, Hills, Braden, Perlmutter N & D, Stovea, Breen
St. Innocent Orphanage & Project Mexico
Building hope for boys without families and
families without homes. Over the past year
and a half, we have raised over $463 for this
beautiful Orthodox mission.
www.projectmexico.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DATE
Saturday, August 6th
Sunday, August 7th
Sunday, August 14th
Monday, August 15th
Sunday, August 21st
Sunday, August 28th
Monday, August 29th
Wednesday, August 31st
Team A: Samuel, Zacharias, Nathan, Elias, Gavin, Tasso
Team B: Anthony, Christos, Stathi, Nicholas, Makarios, Nicolas
Team C: Tobias, Kyle, Levi, Aiden, Thomas, Petros, Gabriel
Clean-up Team 1: Becker, Armstrong, Benson, Lowe, Whitton, Marine, Leslie, Mirras, Maletis
Clean up Team 2: Wood, Barnes, Morgan, Powell, Stinman, Gillespie, Muzik, Poulos N & A
Clean up Team 3: Cherry, Makarounis, Chiprout, Knight, Chosvig, Poulos J & P, Contes, Dorrance
Clean up Team 4: Corazza J, Trumpower, Buckley, Williams, Soot, Ketrenos B & A, Dunfield, Gonzales, Ramzi
Clean up Team 5: Walsh, Daniels, Hudanish T, Keese, Chan, Olson, Ntatsos, Kolpakov, Clary
Mochas for Missions
Since 2009, our parishioners have donated over
$28,000 to support Missions and Evangelism in
our Metropolis through the Mochas for Missions
campaign. May we always remember how
blessed we are to have this Church community
and show our thankfulness by giving generously
in order to spread Orthodoxy to others.
We are in the greatest need
of the full armor of God
and this includes the “sword of truth,” the Bible, and all
its aids and remedies. The entirety of the Bible points to
Jesus Christ, the “one thing needful.” When we study the
Scriptures daily, we cannot help but imprint His presence
and the powerful truths contained therein upon our minds
and our hearts as we go through our daily lives.
A third aid is to read the Saints of the day. Each day of the
year, there is at least one Saint we celebrate. We celebrate
their lives by remembering their biographies and applying
their virtues, their commitment and their faith to our lives.
Just as they imitated Jesus Christ, we too are called to
imitate them. The Saints come from every walk of life.
They each have their own unique personalities. This is
extremely helpful for us when trying to identify with their
examples and their situations.
Another way to keep Christ first in our lives is to be readers
of good, trustworthy spiritual books. By trustworthy, I
am referring to the writings of the holy Fathers, of the
Saints and of reputable elders and theologians. We should
always have a book of this sort on our nightstand. Each
day, we should devote at least a little time to this type
of reading. Also important is the practical application of
their teaching. We do not simply want to be hearers or
readers of the word; we also want to be doers of the word.
Orthodox theology and the expression of this theology into
everyday action are equally important and necessary. Just
as in prayer, it’s not the quantity that ultimately matters,
but the quality and consistency that matters most.
Finally, if we want Jesus to remain at the center of our lives,
we must keep the Church, His Body, also at the center of
our lives. This has always been important, but even more so
recently due to the explosion of new demands for our time.
Work, the gym, sports, entertainment, travel, hobbies, our
households, social media, and many other things are trying
to claw their way to the top of our priority list. As our
society becomes increasingly secular, its message to us is
to compartmentalize God and, therefore, His Church. The
Services, fasting, the holy sacraments and fellowship with
and service to our brothers and sisters all become optional.
The temptation is to no longer see God as our Father and
the Church as our mother. We forget that we are ill, and
that the Church, as a hospital, is our only hope. Under
secularism, we are urged to become so busy that we forget
the important for the urgent, resulting in our forgetfulness
of Christ as our Head and His Church as a part of our own
body, our own flesh and blood. In historically Orthodox
Christian villages, there was a reason why the Church
was at the center of the village square. The life of the
Church was at the center of the life of the village and all
its households. For us to keep the Church at the center of
our life, we have to fight against the current, go against
the flow and be intentional and resolute in this purpose. It
cannot be accidental.
The truth is, we have to say no to some pretty great things
in order to make room for the Church, but the same can
be said regarding our relationship with Jesus Christ. If He
is going to remain the “one needful thing” in our lives,
we are going to have to say no to the competition if there
is going to be enough room in our hearts for the One that
most belongs there.
Fr. Theodore Dorrance
Father’s Message continued
SENIORS
Please come to the first Fall Luncheon
Monday, September 19 from 11-1pm
Bring a favorite dish to share!
FIRST IMAGE: PRC
As you may remember, last year during the month of August
our parish held a diaper drive for First Image, the Pregnancy
Resource Center here in Beaverton. The drive was wildly
successful. We delivered 3,765 diapers and 3,600 wipes,
almost doubling our initial goal of 2,000 diapers! Thank you
for your faithfulness in this!
First Image offers a variety of services to expecting
mothers unsure of what to do after an unplanned pregnancy.
Although many of their services focus on women who are
already pregnant, they also present “The Reality Project,”
an abstinence-only education in the local high schools, and
HEART, a support group for those suffering after an abortion.
With four Portland area locations and a mobile ultrasound unit,
3,700 women visited First Image centers and First Image staff
performed 1,100 ultrasounds.
One of the key goals of First Image is to provide women with
a free ultrasound from a licensed medical professional. About
94% of women who see their babies through an ultrasound
decide against abortion. Once that life-affirming step is made,
First Image offers free counseling, free parenting classes, free
maternity clothes, and free baby supplies to the mothers in
need. First Image also offers referrals for housing, medical
care, education, legal consultation, adoption, and spiritual care
in local churches.
This year, we have an opportunity to support this wonderful
organization again. Currently, they are in need of maternity
bands, maternity belts, early stage baby bottle nipples,
personal care items, (shampoo, deodorant, lotion, etc) and
maternity tops (sizes L, XL, XXL). Throughout the month
of August, we will be collecting these items directly or checks
can be made out to St. John the Baptist with “First Image” in
the memo. Along with collecting goods, we will also have a
day of service spent cleaning and organizing the center. There
will be a sign-up sheet with more details in the Parish hall.
As we reflect on the Theotokos this month, let us also honor
her by supporting the Right to Life and mothers in need.
By Jillian Walsh
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