Good News this Easter at St Johns!
We wanted to share a couple good news stories with our St Johns Community.
The Early Childhood Education Center is completing its second week of operation (reopened . This is good news for two reasons – we are providing a much-needed service to essential personnel, and we are keeping our staff employed. Along those lines, our financial gurus have weighed through lots of guidance and regulations to apply for the Federal Paycheck Protection Program. This small business loan will convert to a grant if we keep all of our staff employed, which is our plan regardless of the federal support.
St. John’s is still supporting ESL classes as part of the Franconia Area Church Cooperative. Classes will soon be offered online. A great group of teachers figured out how to use an online app for English instruction and practice. They’ve been working to instruct other teachers in its use and to contact all the students offering this online option. Teachers will make both morning and evening classes available for most levels, Introductory to Level 4. The students are very eager to get back to work and improve their skills.
We are happy to report that no members of St Johns are currently hospitalized, and our Pastors and church staff are healthy. Please keep praying for continued good health. We’ve been working together to ensure our staff follows recommended guidance and have made contingency plans should anyone become ill. We are so blessed with their creativity -- bringing us the good news of Easter this week.
We are learning so much about how to communicate and support each other without having the opportunity to gather in person. Stand by for an online solution to our missed March 15th Congregational Meeting (you thought we forgot, didn’t you?). In all seriousness, we want to build on these grass roots connections we are making so that our congregation emerges from this crisis stronger than ever. Keep checking out www.sjlc.com as well as the church’s Facebook page for updates and links to services and other opportunities to connect.