For over 20 years, Sacred Heart Community Service has been offering layette kits to families who are either expecting a baby or have a newborn. Bethel is continuing its participation by holding a collection drive for 4 Sundays starting May 5. Donate one or more Sundays as you feel able. Read the details or contact Mark Evashenk for more information.

Out ‘n About invites you to enjoy a cruise off the Santa Cruz shoreline in Monterey Bay on Saturday, May 18. Read the details, sign up and join us!

Next up is a Monterey “Make Your Own Adventure” on June 22. Read the details.

Please join us for a discussion of the book The Bandit Queens by local author, Parini Shroff. Follow the fun and quirky adventures of a group of women in a village in rural India. It was nominated for the award in Goodreads category “Best Debut Novel” in 2023. We will meet Sunday, May 19, 1:30 pm in the library. All are welcome.

Bethel’s annual Vacation Bible School is July 8–12. This year’s theme is SCUBA—diving into friendship with God. Registration is now open! Read the details and register online. Traditional VBS is 9am–noon each day. SCUBA After Care from noon–5pm is provided for an additional cost. SCUBA VBS Sunday is July 14 at 11:45am. For more information please contact Amanda Laughlin.

Support our Youth going to the National Youth Gathering and BOOCT 3 (Bethel Out Of Covid Tour). Be sure to visit the Narthex on Sundays to check out the board of opportunities (shown in the middle of the above photo) that shows ways you may donate to help our 26 Youth, Young Adults, Adult Sponsors, and others, to attend the National Youth Gathering in New Orleans. For more information please contact Tom Hoegel.

Bethel Staff meet about once a month to record a brief presentation that you can view on our YouTube Channel. Look for the heading Bethel Staff Zooms.

The congregation voted to amend our articles of incorporation. The first change was to modernize the language describing Bethel's non-profit status. The second change was to include language recommended by the California Board of Equalization so that Bethel will meet the necessary standards to apply for a Welfare tax exemption on both the Sanctuary and the Parsonage.

Bethel's Wednesday Speaker Series concluded with a talk by Pamela Wu, Cupertino's new City Manager. She shared information about current and future developments in the city of Cupertino. You can watch a recording of this presentation on our YouTube channel. The Wednesday Speaker Series will resume in September.

Nine Bethelites teamed up with other volunteers at Bridges Community Church last Saturday to pack meals for malnourished children around the world. The shift packaged 45,360 meals that will feed 124 children for one year. The Feed My Starving Children organization reached 99.8% of their intended recipients with these meals, which is an amazing achievement. Thank you: Lorraine, Barb, Minnie, Sam, Marion, Dianne, hubby Mark, and Anita for helping provide food for the hungry. God’s work, our hands.

Bethel's 68^th spring Mission to Mexico worked with Esperanza to build homes and community in Mexico.

In this video, participants tell about their experiences in this mission trip
This video shows scenes from the project.

We are thrilled to announce that Bethel raised close to $10K for our Bethel Farm project during Lent!

ELCA Good Gifts will receive our “order form” for:

• 20 chickens
• 8 roosters
• 8 goats
• 8 piglets
• 2 cows
• 3 fish farms
• 13 honeybees
• 2 safe water wells
• 6 water filters
• 4 irrigation projects
• 2 latrines
• 5 microloans for women's businesses
• 12 fruit tree seedlings
• 1 community vegetable garden
• 2 sets of gardening tools and seeds

— a grand total of $9,895 changing lives where it is needed most. Thank you so much for your generosity!

On Apr 14, as part of Earth Day, Hella Bluhm-Stieber led a crew to clean up Calabazas Creek between Bollinger Rd. and Blaney Ave. They collected: 124 pounds of trash including glass, 2 pounds of recyclables and 80 pounds of metal scrap (a shopping cart, wheel, etc.). They were a small but mighty crew! Click a photo to see a larger view.

Thanks to Hella for the photos.

As of Mar 7, Bethel has relaxed our COVID recommendations. Masks and/or vaccination are not required, except for one seating area in our sanctuary that is designated as requiring masks. We still encourage you to be vaccinated if possible and we fully support anyone who wants to come masked. Please read Tom’s letter for more detail.