On Campus This Week
Ever wonder what we do between Sundays? Outside of our regular operations, here’s what happened this week:
Landscaping
On Tuesday, our landscapers came and cut the grass. We hired Arizmendi Landscaping in May, and they’ve been doing a swell job. Despite their periodic presence on campus, there are many additional landscaping needs. If you love to trim bushes, chop branches, or pull/spray weeds, come on down any Friday morning to help Saint Jane! (Who is on vacation this week, so not today)
Brenda Lund has been pulling weeds in our community garden each morning before I get in at 8am! She’s been out there tirelessly cleaning out the beds to prepare for the upcoming planting season. If you’re ever interested in doing the same, you can come on down any time the spirit moves you!
Church Cats
Our feral cats have come back out in the cooler weather - one even let me pet him! Such a sweet precious angel.
Air conditioning?!?!?!
While Director of Music, Craig Westendorf was practicing in the Sanctuary on Wednesday, the power went out! Strangely, it only went out in that front building. It took some serious breaker-tripping by Nick Pegelow, and many calls to APS to get it straightened out and get the power back on. I’d like to extend a HUGE thank you to Nick for his assistance.
In what I can only describe as a cosmic prank, once the power had been restored, I discovered that the AC unit in the sanctuary just… wasn’t turning on! I’d like to thank Fred Johnson, John Johnstonbaugh, Nick Pegelow, and Dennis Hart for standing at the ready to help me figure out just what to do next to get it running again.
Ultimately, Mesa-based Peavler AC came out and saved the day. Unfortunately it was to the tune of an unexpected $200. If you would like to sponsor the cost of this repair, please indicate “AC Repair,” and the amount on the special designation line of your offering envelope!
Preschool
The preschool is severely understaffed, so Alma Cortes, Director and Deana Cortes, Assistant Director, have stepped up big time to man the classrooms and help mold the minds of our future generations. They need help! If you are, or you know anyone who is, looking for work in childcare and education, please submit your application, here.
Jan Kuenzli and Nancy Maxwell provided me with some absolutely wonderful pieces from the preschool’s history, which we will include in our History of Faith showcase in October. If you’d like to see them in advance, let me know!
Truly Nolen also popped by and sprayed the preschool and office perimeter for roaches and rats. (We had a termite treatment from Arrowhead in June)
Joe, a parent at the preschool whose last name I didn’t catch donated a ton of glossy card stock, which we’ll be able to use for event invitations. He also donated the playhouse and slide that are now in Faith’s courtyard! Don’t worry, this is a temporary fixture, which will soon be moved inside to augment our play space for the wee ones during worship. If you build it, they will come (we hope)!
Facility Use
As the world “reopens,” more and more groups are meandering onto Faith’s campus to make use of our beautiful and holy space. This week, three more 12-step groups, the Phoenix Women’s Choir, and EMC Shalom Internacional have selected Faith as their meeting space, and we are thrilled to have them.
In response to the current spike in covid-19 cases, Faith is recommending that all groups mask 100% of the time that they are meeting indoors, but we are not requiring masks for vaccinated individuals. We ask each group to self-monitor and adhere to this policy.
Please note that this does not change the mask policy at Faith’s Worship Services and events. All attendees are required to wear a mask in worship, regardless of vaccination status.