Update on Family Promise Ministry
West Emory is proud to become a part of Family Promise of Knoxville, a division of the Interfaith Network. Thousands of congregations across the country are working together to help low-income homeless families achieve independence by providing shelter and food while they search for employment.

We are assisting a nearby host church, Ebenezer United Methodist Church, volunteering our help one night four times a year by supplying dinner. Generally, there are 3 to 4 guest families that rotate in and out of the program for about 3 months time until they are able to find housing and employment. WEPC became part of the network in December when Cheryl and Katy Burton, Becky Reno, and Karen Cobb took dinner and did Christmas crafts with the children.

Our next week in the quarterly rotation is March 14-20, followed by weeks in June, August, and November. We have chosen Wednesday, March 17 as our night to help. Monetary donations are needed in order to purchase groceries. If you can help, please contact Becky Reno. Thank you! Karen Cobb

News from the
Child Enrichment Center
By Sheena Johanns, Director

May 2010

*Our Annual Stars Assessment visit was on Monday, April 19th. Everything went well! We will receive our scores in about 8 weeks.

*We will be ordering summer t-shirts for teachers, children and parents who are interested. Contact Sheena at 690-2422 if you would like a WECEC shirt!

*We are having a Pre-School Mother’s Day Breakfast on Friday, May 7th. We will be providing coffee or juice and some breakfast snacks for our WECEC Mom’s & children!

*Our summer session starts on Monday, May 24th. We are excited and prepared for a safe, fun summer at WECEC.

*We will be closed on Monday, May 31st in observance of Memorial Day.

The Women
of West Emory
invite your help in collecting office supplies and other needed items for the Family Promise Ministry. A list of items needed is located on the bulletin board in the side entrance hallway or see Sharon Carroll for more information.

Introducing Our New Elders

Belinda McCall has been a Presbyterian all of her life and joined West Emory with her husband, Bob, in May of 1984, before the birth of their daughter, Sarah. Over the years Belinda has served the church in many capacities including as an Elder (ordained in 1991) and Clerk of Session as well as a member of the choir. She is a Family Nurse Practitioner for Anderson County Health Department and enjoys cooking, UT sports, running, boating, and cheering on Sarah during her competitive swimming years. She is the daughter-in-law of Doug and Louise McCall and sister and sister-in-law of Deaton and Chong Smith.

Jon Michel joined West Emory in September of 2007 along with his wife, Julie. They have four children including Ashley, Sara, Heather and Ben. Jon is a retired Navy Nuclear Submarine Reactor Operator and currently is the Engineering and Maintenance Manager at Arcelormittal, the world’s largest steel manufacturer. Jon is member of the choir and has been involved in many work projects around the church, the Pumpkin Patch program, and youth activities. He is a motorcycle enthusiast, all around handyman and craftsman, enjoys building scale models and is a photographer and musician.

Jenny Porras has been a Presbyterian for over twenty years. She and her husband, Luis, are originally from Guatemala and lived in California for 29 years prior to moving to Knoxville in 2005. The family joined West Emory in March of 2006. They have four children, Ginny Borrego, Josh, Nathan and Marion Porras as well as son-in-law, Victor Borrego and granddaughters, Sydney and Elizabeth. While in California Jenny served on the staff of her Presbyterian Church as an Administrative Assistant to the Pastor and as Director of Children’s Ministries. She founded and led a tutoring program as part of her ministry. As a member of West Emory she has been involved in our Sunday School and Youth programs along with a variety of activities including the Pumpkin Patch program. Jenny currently works in the Insurance Department of Clayton Homes. She enjoys reading, dance, writing poems, and riding motorcycles.

IT’S BIG…
IT’S ORANGE …
AND IT’S DONE!!!

Musings on the 2009 Pumpkin Patch

The leaves are turning and there is a chill in the air, fall is upon us. As all of our lovely pumpkins have come and gone we have again opened our hearts, minds and doors to our neighbors around us. We met so many new friends and remember old faces coming back to see us once more. This year’s patch was a little cooler and wetter than years past, but just the same God has blessed us with a wonderful turn out. Things happen the way God needs them too.

In this year’s Pumpkin Patch, we were blessed with $2,700.00 for Living Waters for the World and we will able to feed 80 families with Knox Area Rescue Ministries (K.A.R.M.). Our total sales this year were $10, 977.50. We were able to maintain a 33.3% profit and were wonderfully blessing with $600.00 in pure donations. As some of our members head off for training with Living Waters, we will be starting to collect the items needed for the baskets we are going to build for K.A.R.M. Bread and water, how basic and such wonderful gift to be able to give.

My deepest thanks to everyone who helped with this mission. Members of our church have stepped up again this year and we have had an outstanding turn out. We had our own members, friends, and members of the Webb School football team, Maryville College football team, West Valley Student Counsel, and friends from K.A.R.M. to help us unload 1,385 pumpkins. For our festival we had new faces join our team and everyone enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the day. Little faces and smiles filled the fellowship hall and scarecrows greeted everyone on the hayride to the “pumpkin grave yard”. Who knew fellowship could be so much fun?

A special thanks to everyone who spent hours in the kitchen cooking for our bake sale. This year turned out so fantastic! Please continue to plan for next year. We would love to have all of the yummy gifts again. Also, next year we will be including a “craft” portion to our festival, so plan ahead. If you can do sewing, painting, crochet, woodwork, or share your special talent with us, start planning now.

To everyone on the Pumpkin Committee, Jim Whitehead, Linda Strachan, Rena McAlister, Miki Vanderbilt, Janice Priddy, Jon Michel, and Cheryl Burton, my thanks for hanging in there and all of your hard work. I look forward to working with all of you again next year.

Wishing everyone a joyful holiday season and many pumpkin blessing,

Julie Michel   

WHAT A GREAT PUMPKIN PATCH…
CHARLIE BROWN!!!

Julie Michel,
Pumpkin Patch Coordinator

Each year it just seems to get better and better. Soon after forty-five volunteers unloaded 1700 HUGE pumpkins and tons of little ones from the semi-trailer truck, our front lawn at the church was once again a sea of orange. Blessed with a picture-perfect and easily-accessible location, our church is ideal for hosting a Pumpkin Patch. Each year our friends and neighbors in the Knoxville community look forward to bringing their children to the patch to select the perfect pumpkin. This year we added the Pumpkin Festival and our grounds and Fellowship Hall were a buzz with all sort of activities and fun. Our annual Pumpkin Patch allows us to accomplish three worthwhile goals:

Who could have guessed that PUMPKINS could bring such abundant blessings and so many ministry opportunities?

I would like to offer heartfelt thanks to all who made the Pumpkin Patch and Festival a terrific success:

Members of the Pumpkin Patch committee including Linda Strachan (co-chair), the hardworking crew who helped unload three-quarters of a semi-tractor trailer, the youth who made signs, the many volunteers who sold pumpkins and tended the patch, the creative and energetic folk who decorated and staffed the Pumpkin Festival and all the hundreds of people who came and purchased pumpkins. This was a big project for a small membership church, and it would not have been such an amazing success without all of you.

Folow this link to see information on last years patch