Lutheran World Relief (LWR) sends School Kits to places where even the few required school supplies may be more than a family can afford. The following items are being collected from JULY 15 to AUGUST 15, and then the kits will be assembled by our Quilters (in the school bags they have made) and sent to LWR (in October).

• Four 70–80 sheet SPIRAL notebooks (280–300 sheets total) of wide-or-college ruled paper approximately 8"x10 1/2". (No loose-leaf paper) — BIGGEST NEED
• One ruler with inches on one side and centimeters on the other side
• One pencil sharpener
• One pair of blunt scissors (safety scissors with embedded steel blades work well)
• Five black or blue ballpoint pens (no gel ink)
• One box of 16 or 24 CRAYOLA crayons
• One 2 1/2" eraser
• One package of 100 ft clothesline (polyester or cotton)

Our goal is to complete 200 school kits! Donations of any of these items are appreciated. Contact Joann Weberg for more information.

Thank you!

You can print a flyer with all these details.

Come join us for our Alameda Island Adventure to visit the Pacific Pinball Museum. Read the details and sign up.

And check out the other upcoming Out 'n About events.

Noon–1pm
Please attend the Congregation Meeting, to ensure that we have a quorum. The congregation meets each August to share program highlights, give updates, and approve the annual budget for FY27. Snacks will be provided after the 10:45 service.

And please review the minutes from the previous congregational meeting.

You are invited to join us at Mt Cross for our annual Labor Day Retreat! The theme this year is Masquerade. We have a full day of programming on Sunday, September 6 and a weekend option for those that want to spend more time at the camp. Look for the Labor Day Retreat table in the Welcome Zone before and after worship during July and August to learn more and register!
Check out the Labor Day Retreat handbook for details! You can print the registration form in advance. Read all the details on the Labor Day Retreat page.

On Sep 6, 8:45 Worship will be in Cupertino, as usual. Our second service will be held at Mt Cross instead of Cupertino.

Bee kind.
Bee Forgiving.
Bee Welcoming.

Bee sure to pick a Take-Out Church for summer buzzin' — available in the Narthex.

The Take-out Church includes a Bee Buddy Finger Puppet to take pictures with on your vacations or staycations. Please send the pictures to Amanda by Sep 9. She will be putting them together in a movie that she will show at the beginning of the school year.

And check out Matthew 5:3-10

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.

With the help of Bethel, our Vacation Bible School campers collected $1,022.23 that will go to World Vision to purchase fruit trees for families in Central America. This will help to provide nutrition for growing children and income for the families.

Bethel is blessed to have Chris Christensen often take the Sunday Worship Message role at Bethel. It is now our turn to recognize Chris' 1,000^th “Amateur Traveler” Podcast. His care for other cultures and ability to share adventures around the world is amazing and a true gift. Congratulations, Chris … here's to the next 1,000. Click any photo to see a larger image.

Chris in Botswana

Chris in Malta

Chris in Morocco

Thank you, members and VBS campers of Bethel Lutheran Church for sponsoring a summer food drive for WVCS. We received 349 pounds of dry goods today, enough for 291 meals, over a month of breakfast and lunch for a family of 4. This is especially crucial in the summer, as this family no longer has the school lunch program to help them. Thank you for blessing OUR community with your compassion and food.

Toni Concepcion
Manager of Market Operations
West Valley Community Services, Inc.

We had a great VBS and loved watching God’s Love Shine through each child who participated. Thank you for trusting us with your children and for having them join in on Bethel Lutheran’s VBS. Wel explored God’s Nature as we discovered that God is our Creator, knows everything, our safe place, is LOVE and is FOREVER. Wow God!

Watching your children participate in our two service projects was full of energy and God’s love. With the money your children brought in for our Operation Kid-to-Kid Service project, we collected $352. Wow God! This money will go towards purchasing fruit trees for families in Central America. The fruit from the trees provide the nutrition that children need as well as income for the families. We also filled four barrels with non-perishable food that you helped to purchase with a portion of your VBS tuition. Some of you also brought in extra food too. This food will help families in our community. Wow God!

Amanda Laughlin
VBS Coordinator

Tom announced the progress of multiple contractors this week working on projects around the campus. These included painting the sanctuary building, finishing up the parking lot by the playground, welding gates to improve safety and working on the kitchen and bathrooms (not pictured).
Thanks to Tom for these photos. Click any photo to see a larger image.

Bethel's Out 'n About visited Point Reyes National Seashore on June 6. They saw the KPH Maritime Radio Receiving Station, above, the Cypress Tunnel, below, and the lighthouse.

Thanks to Tom for these photos. Click any photo to see a larger image.