“Crossing the Bridge to Friendship” – There will be a joint Vacation Bible School with St. John’s Lutheran Church and Grace UCC, July 28th through August 1st from 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm. The location will be across the bridge at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 18 S. 3rd Street, Coplay, PA.  Ages 3 and up (children age 3 must have a parent present with them.) There is no cost.  Children may bring a canned or boxed food item(s), which will be divided between the Coplay and Northampton Food Banks.  To register a child, contact Grace UCC weekday mornings at 610-262-7186. Once the registration form is available, it will be posted on the website and in the back of the sanctuary, as well as in the hallway outside Fellowship Hall.  Click here for the registration form.

Save the Date: There will be a combined church service and picnic with St. John’s Lutheran Church on Sunday, August 3rd.  Registration starts at 10:00 and the Worship Service will begin at 11:00 am.  The closing ceremony of the VBS will also be included in the service.  Location is at the American Club of Coplay Pavilion, 300 Cherry Street, Coplay, PA.  Offering envelopes will go to each designated church, and monetary offering received will be divided.  There will not be a 10:30 Sunday Service at the church that day. Beverages and food will be provided (hot dogs, barbeque, potato salad, macaroni salad, perogies). There will be plenty of food. Bring a covered dish is optional.  There will be a cakewalk, if you want to participate, please bring a dessert. A magician will make an appearance to perform magic tricks. There will be games, including bingo and corn hole. It is preferred that the picnic tickets be purchased in advance, but tickets will also be available to purchase that day.  Picnic Ticket Prices (no cost for only attending the church service):

              Adults — $10
              Non-VBS Students — $5
              VBS Students—No Cost

Grace UCC is again collecting school supplies and miscellaneous items over the summer. The collections will be donated to the Siegfried Elementary School in Northampton. Please see the note from the administrators at Siegfried:

                                        “Thank you and your church from the bottom of our hearts for your generosity
                                         toward our students. Your congregation stocked us up so well last year, we actually
                                         have backpacks, glue sticks, crayons, etc. to start next year. But if they are able, the
                                         items most in need for the upcoming year are:”

                                                            Tissues
                                                            Hand sanitizer
                                                            Hand soap
                                                            Dry-erase white board markers

                                        “The school’s social worker has just implemented a program to send food home over
                                         the weekends for some of our needier families. We can always use items for that such as:”

                                                            Boxed macaroni and cheese
                                                            Microwave-ready Chef Boyardee Ravioli, Spaghetti O’s, etc. Pasta, rice
                                                            Granola bars or cereal bars
                                                            Peanut butter/jelly (plastic jars, not glass)
                                                            Ramen noodles/instant soups
                                                            Applesauce or fruit cups

College Students – If you have a family member who is a college student and would like them to receive a friendly card, please provide their address to the church office.

Northampton Street Fair – Grace UCC’s theme for the Northampton Street Fair on Saturday, September 13th will be “Your Friends at Grace”. The street fair will be held on Main Street from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm.  Grace will be giving away bottled water and other items to children and adults.  There will also be pamphlets available to anyone interested in learning more about the church.  If you would like to volunteer some time helping at the tent, see Jim Jandrisovits or Sharon Braker, or you can contact the church office.  We are also accepting donations of cases of water and monetary donations.