I hope everyone has been enjoying this fabulous summer! Now the kids are back in school and it’s time to begin planning our PWS year.

We’re beginning by organizing our fall Fundraiser. It will be called Hopefully Yours Flea. It will be a flea market in the parking lot of the church. We are also tentatively planning a mini bazaar/bakery sale along with a soup and sandwich lunch down in the Cana room. It is scheduled for September 20 and we hope you all will come out and join us. We may need additional volunteers to help us put this event together. More on that as our plans progress. It should be fun!

Our PWS Gatherings will begin again on September 3rd and our first program will be with TJ as he introduces us to this year’s bible study, which is: Finding Resilience, Joy, and Our Identity in Jesus Christ. We are looking forward to it and are hoping many will join us to start out our new year.

Mary Poston Moderator PWS

You have probably noticed the white trash receptacles around the church. There are six of them in various gathering places. They really ARE NOT for trash, but for recycling items marked in a triangle 4, 5, 6, and 7 on the bottom.

Then there are the blue bins for items marked in a triangle 1, 2, and 5. Of course last of all are waste baskets as in the olden days for all the other stuff that will go to the landfill.

Please try to be a responsible steward of our earth and area of it by checking the underside of plastic to put it in the proper bin. The bins should be clearly marked. All you have to do is pay attention.

Other items for the white bin with an orange bag (more orange bags are above the sink in the narthex):

• Clean and dry plastics labeled 4, 5, 6, and 7 on the bottom;
• plastic bags, wraps and films;
• Styrofoam;
• plastic cutlery and plastic straws.

Other items for the blue bins:

• Plastic bottles, jugs and jars marked 1 and 2.
• Plastic food tubs labeled 5.
• Office paper, magazines, envelopes, junk mail, newspapers and phone books.
• Clean cardboard without grease stains
• metal cans.

What about number 3? Trash it! Items such as children’s toys, PVC pipe and shower curtains = trash. Clamshell containers and boxes made to go in fridge or freezer = trash.

We are so fortunate to have a lovely environment in which to live. We need to be responsible for keeping it.

We hosted the Boise Presbytery PW Spring Gathering on April 26th. The theme of the Gathering was being good stewards to God’s creation which we correlated with Earth Day, We started with a light breakfast and fellowship. Our own Dena Duke presented the devotion and Deanna Watson did the meditation at the brief worship service. The speaker for the day was Catherine Chartudi, a retired member of the recycling services here in Boise, who spoke about recycling, and how to recycle, and the many changes that have happened, and will be happening in recycling in the Treasure Valley and surrounding areas. A very pertinent topic for today’s climate change environment and was thoroughly enjoyed by all. The attendance was good and included several attendees from local presbyterian churches.

I hope you were able to attend, either in person or online, our Gifts of Women service on June 1. We installed and commissioned new and returning officers to PWS. Helen Winkle was honored with the Presbyterian Women in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) Honorary Life Membership for her faithful service within the church. Congratulations, Helen!

We will be off for the summer, but will have a planning meeting to gather ideas for our pro- grams for the upcoming year. We will begin our gatherings again on September 3rd. A reminder that our gatherings are on the first Wednesday of each month from September through June. All women of Southminster are invited to attend. You do not need to be a member of the church to attend. We love to see new faces. Welcome!!

Mary Poston Moderator PWS

We are planning a Women’s Sunday service. It will be held on June 1, 2025. This will be a renewal of our annual “Gifts of Women Sunday”, but had to stop due to Covid. We will be scheduling this annual women’s service on a regular basis going forward. It will include the installation of Presbyterian Women of Southminster’s officers. We have always held our installation during our June gathering each year, but have decided that the congregation should know who our officers are and what they do for PWS, and the church. We hope you will attend this special service.

I will have an update on the Boise Presbytery Presbyterian Women’s spring Gathering, that we hosted on April 26, in the June Messenger. Stay tuned!

Our next PWS gathering will be May 7. Our program will be Nancy Ives, who will be speaking about her travel experiences. We hope to see you there.

Mary Poston – Moderator