Mystic River Clean Up a Great Success

For where two or more are gathered together in My Name, I am there in the midst of them."
-- Matthew 18: 19-20

This morning way more than two gathered together in Jesus's name.  By the end of our cleanup we had a crew of 18 from Grace Church and friends in Medford cleaning along the Mystic River.  The kids were especially helpful at reaching under the brush to gather the trash where the adults could not reach.  John Rogers had made some pick-up sticks for us and our friend Joni and Cecilia brought a tiny rake which was perfect for fishing plastic bags and bottles out of the river as well as raking up the numerous broken glass bottles we found.

Check out some of the exciting things we found below in the slide show.  The count for balls, was 3 softballs, 2 lacrosse balls, 2 tennis balls and a couple golf balls.  Ironically, we pulled a receipt from a recycling yard from the river.

Come join us next Saturday, May 1st beginning at 10am at Cummings Park for our next GreenUp CleanUp community gathering and fun cleanup of the park.  We are still looking for some donations, so please let us know by filling out the form at GreenUp CleanUp if you will join us or want to help in another way.

Here are some images from our fun today:


May the Lord be with you!

Happy Earth Day!

Today we celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day.  I hope you will take a few minutes today to appreciate the wonderful gifts God has given us and think about what we can all do to help preserve and protect them for ourselves and future generations to come.

Last night's Earth Day Eve Movie Night was great.  We had a fun time learning and experiencing together over pizza, movies, popcorn and ice cream.

Be sure to sign up and join us for our GreenUp CleanUp project.  Our first clean up starts this Saturday at 10am in the Church Parking Lot when we will be helping to clean up the Mystic River.  Margaret is going to register us and get the supplies from the Friends of the Mystic River folks and then we'll head down as a group to the section of the Mystic River we overlook.  Advanced sign ups preferred, but don't let that stop you from coming over Saturday morning.

Happy Earth Day 2010!

Earth Day Eve Movie Night This Wednesday 6pm

Come join Al Gore or Eva & Wall-e at Grace Church for a night at the movies. Alicia and I will be hosting this environmentally focused movie night from 6-8pm on the evening before the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. We will be serving pizza and popcorn and start the movies shortly after 6pm in the Parish Hall and Common Room.

If you haven't let us know you are coming, please drop us a line so that we can plan the food, etc.  Email to jmhunt@mit.edu or iggy@mit.edu or call us at (781) 874-0493.  We'll plan on a little extra, so if you forget to let us know, come anyways.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010 from 6pm to 8pm at Grace Church

Featuring

Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth

Wall-E

We look forward to seeing you Wednesday!
Jon & Alicia

Find TerraCycle Products at Walmart During April

TerraCycle Kids Grow Kits

As a special promotion in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day this month, Walmart will be featuring over 60 TerraCycle product including some new ones in their stores across the country.  The promotion will only last through April 29th, so go check out the products at Walmart.

TerraCycle Kite made from Skittles Wrappers

If you decide to buy some, please save the receipts as there will be a chance to submit those to TerraCycle to get some additional donations to Grace Church's Juice Pouch Brigade which has already raised $13.10 with more to come.

Join Us Sunday 4/11 for GreenUp CleanUp Kick Off with Ice Cream

Grace Episcopal Church has embarked on an environmental stewardship program. This spring's "GreenUp CleanUp" effort aims to organize over 250 members of the community to clean up some of Medford's shared open spaces (such as parks and playgrounds).

The organizers will be holding an open information session about the spring "GreenUp CleanUp" at Grace Church at 160 High Street on Sunday, April 11th following the 10 o'clock service.
If you are interested in learning more, please come either to the 10 o'clock service or enter the church hall afterward at 11:30 to enjoy our special GREEN ice cream social!

Also, please visit our GreenUp CleanUp site to learn more about this project and to sign up in advance. One lucky person on the pre-sign-up list will be randomly drawn for a special prize!

Remember, get the '411' on 4/11!

Drip, Drip, Drip - Saving The Planet, One Faucet at a Time

Many of you have probably noticed the dripping faucet in the Parish Hall bathroom and realized that it is very difficult to turn the hot water completely off. I often found it trickling hot water because a kid or an adult didn't manage to turn it completely off.  Did you know that a dripping faucet typically wastes 1,000 gallons per year at the rate shown in the video below.  A slightly running toilet can waste even more.

The week before Easter we installed a new faucet that is easier to turn off and uses less water. We hope to see a noticable savings in the water bill, both by stopping the dripping and because it uses about 50% less water than the old faucet.

Some comments since the faucet was installed:

It is so easy to use.  I really like it.

I can't even tell the difference [in how the water feels].

Check out the new faucet with the easy to use handles:

The new faucet uses almost 50% less water when in use than the old faucet (1.2 gpm vs 2.2 gpm).

To save water, be sure to always turn off faucets all the way, especially when brushing your teeth. If you have a dripping faucet or toilet, be sure to get that fixed right away.  If you are replacing a faucet or toilet, be sure to look for the EPA WaterSense label (equivalent of EnergyStar). 

Happy Easter!  The Lord is Risen!
Jonathan

Great CleanUp at Grace

This past Saturday we had great weather and a great time cleaning up Grace Church inside and out. Many thanks to the volunteers that came out to help and especially to Steve Viggianni for coordinating the event. We had volunteers of all ages helping out. Enjoy the some photos of the day courtesy of John Rogers and be sure to join us for ice cream and more information about the GreenUp CleanUp project after the service on Sunday, April 11th.

More photos below the fold