(online edition)
From the desk of Pastor Dan:
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SESSION BRIEFS
- Approved a balanced budget for 2013 with expenditures of $158, 676. This is a decrease of $7,000 from 2012. Pledges are approximately $5,000 lower than last year.
- Tabled for now, the purchase of a new riding lawn mower.
- Tabled for now, the purchase of a new copier.
- Reminded the Pastor that use of facilities by outside organizations must receive prior approval by the Session
- The Pastor reported on the latest from the Fellowship of Presbyterians: an initial gathering of church leaders from 4 or 5 churches from the Mobile and Florida Panhandle area will gather in Pensacola, February 17th, for worship, shared study and fellowship, and a meal together.
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GREEN HILL GOOD NEWS DEADLINE
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MESSAGE FROM ILU
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TEAM AMANDA YARD SALE
A HUGE thank you goes out to everyone who helped with the “Team Amanda” yard sale. The Green Hill Family rallied together to make the sale a success. On that one day we were able to raise over $2000 for Amanda’s family. With the high cost of medical co-pays, and the high cost of gas for their travels back and forth to Atlanta, this money will be a great help in her recovery. Special thanks go out to Mellow Mushroom, AAA Storage, Sessions Cleaners, Wildcat Storage, Domino’s Pizza, Natasha Chalker Photography, Po Folks, Cutt’s Restaurant, Troy Bank & Trust, Enterprise Leger, and Pizza Hut.
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AMANDA HAS A BONE MARROW DONOR!
In case you missed the news, Amanda has a bone marrow donor! Because no one in her family was a match, her doctors had to turn to the national registry to find one for her. The night before the yard sale, we received word that a match has been found! If everything goes as planned, Amanda will travel to Atlanta in a couple of months to begin treatment. We need to keep both Amanda and the Donor in our prayers.
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BONE MARROW REGISTRY DRIVE
On Sunday, January 27, from Noon to 4pm, Green Hill will host a Bone Marrow Registry Drive in our Fellowship Hall. Originally we were going to hold this drive for Amanda, to find her a donor. Now we will be holding the drive in her honor, for all of the patients out there who are still searching for a match. To sign up to be a bone marrow donor, a person needs to be between the ages of 18 and 44, be willing to donate to any patient in need, and meet the heath guidelines (see www.marrow.org for the exact guidelines).
Signing up for the registry is as simple as filling out some paperwork and getting a cheek swab. If you are a match for someone who needs a bone marrow transplant, you will be called for further testing at a later date.
The technology of bone marrow transplants has seen massive improvements in recent years. For nearly 80% of the marrow collections today, the process is similar to donating blood or platelets. Don’t let what you may have seen on TV or in the movies scare you off. That’s not real. Get the real facts at www.marrow.org.
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BAKE SALE & HOTDOGS ON THE HILL
Along with the Bone Marrow Registry drive on the 27th, Green Hill will hold a bake sale to benefit the Be the Match Foundation. (See below to learn more about the foundation.) Our plan is to have both baked goods and more substantial lunch-type food available. If we can create good traffic on our hill, we can get lots of donors for the registry, support the Foundation, and increase the visibility of our church in the town. As we get closer to the sale, we will be asking our members to help out, with donations of food and time. Keep an eye out for these announcements.
If you have any questions, or if you would like to volunteer to help, please contact Sandi in the church office. Thank you!
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BE THE MATCH FOUNDATION
For people with life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma or other diseases, a cure exists. Be The Match connects patients with their donor match for a life-saving marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant.
It costs about $100 to add each potential donor to the registry. The more registry members, the greater the likelihood patients will find a marrow match. Your contribution could be someone’s cure.
A GIFT TO BE THE MATCH…
…delivers tangible relief to patients struggling with thousands in uninsured costs.
In 2011, more than 1,700 patients received assistance, and more than $2.2 million was paid to qualifying patients through the Be The Match Foundation Patient Assistance Program. Their lives were changed because of patient assistance funds and the support and generosity of people like you.
…ignites hope for searching patients by adding donors to the marrow registry.
Your gift helps add more members to our registry and makes life-saving transplants a reality for all patients.
…turns the impossible into the achievable by investing in research discoveries.
Be The Match Foundation supports the NMDP, a leader in global research to help transplant patients. Together with our research arm, the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research® (CIBMTR), we are at the forefront of marrow and cord blood research. We are engaged in more than 250 active research studies, have data on more than 300,000 marrow transplant recipients and have published more than 500 journal articles.
Merry Christmas
And
Happy New Year
To all of you
from the office staff…
Joel, Jim, Sandi, & Dan
