Have you or your children benefited from the loving care of Birtukan Beyenssa in our church nursery? Birtukan is moving on from her role after nearly 30 years of faithfully nurturing the smallest, most precious folk in our community! You can say “thank you” in two ways:
- First, when a long-time staff member leaves our congregation, it is customary to invite members of the community to provide monetary recognition, called a “purse,” to express their love and gratitude and to support them in their time of transition. In order for this to be a true gift (not taxable compensation), the purse must come directly from the congregation. Matt Reed has agreed to collect contributions for presentation of the purse. (Please remember that your gift will not qualify as a charitable contribution to the church when you prepare your personal tax return.)
To contribute to the purse, you can use Venmo or PayPal to send money to Matt at [email protected], or you can write a check payable to Matt Reed and mail it to his address (listed in Realm) or available from the church office. Please send your check as soon as possible so that the purse can be given to Birtukan in late April.
- Second, we’re gathering thanks from you and your kids in the form of cards, notes, emails, pictures, kids’ art, etc. These will be collected by Julie Greer. Email “love notes” to Julie at [email protected] or mail them to Julie’s address in Realm. Especially precious would be notes/emails from your now-grown children whom Birtukan cared for over the years, with a current photo/selfie so that she can be reminded of the positive impact she’s had on so many people’s lives. Again, please get these to Julie Greer before April 24 so that they can be printed if necessary, compiled, and given to Birtukan’s along with the monetary gift.