Friends,
Tuesday, June 14 is Flag Day, the anniversary of making the American Flag the official flag in 1777.  Each year, the Gainesville-Haymarket Rotary Club presents the Flags for Heroes Walk and Dedication Ceremony.  You might have noticed the many American Flags waving proudly in Washington Park, right next to HBC.  These flags will be on display for about a week.  Individuals were invited to purchase a flag in honor or in memory of a friend or family member.
More information about the 2022 Flags for Heroes events can be found on the Gainesville-Haymarket Rotary website here – https://www.ghrotary.org/flags-for-heroes.php.  This year, kthe flags will be flown from Friday, June 10 – Saturday, June 10.
The walk is a 2.2 mile through Haymarket which took place at 6 PM on Saturday, June 11.  Following the walk, at 7 PM, the Gainesville-Haymarket Rotary Club hosted a touching dedication ceremony where each name to whom a flag had been dedicated was read aloud.
Of course, the 2022 Flags for Heroes event occurred just after many of us enjoyed a movie matinee of “Jonah” in the HBC Fellowship Hall, hosted by the Outreach Committee.  The movie “Jonah” was produced by Sight and Sound Theater and was a wonderful depiction of the story of Jonah, a prophet called by God to speak to the people of Ninevah.
I know many of you enjoy Sight and Sound productions, and the Outreach Committee is organizing a trip to Sight and Sound Theater to see “David” on Monday, October 10.  A few seats remain available on the bus if you would like to reserve a seat.  It is a Monday, but it is also Columbus Day so that might be a holiday for some of you.
The Town of Haymarket Police are organizing a Community Blood Drive.  It is scheduled for Tuesday, July 12, from 8 AM to 2 PM and will take place at the Hilton Garden Inn in Haymarket.  Here is a link to sign up to donate blood – https://www.redcrossblood.org/give.html/find-drive.  Please type in the Haymarket zip code (20169) and scroll to the blood drive on July 12 at the Hilton Garden Inn to sign up.  Also, I am coordinating with Chief Sibert to organize volunteers that day if you are able to help in that way.
I hope you enjoyed hearing from Sara Knight, founder of the Sweet Julia Grace Foundation on Sunday, June 5.  If you missed it, here is a link to the home page for Sweet Julia Grace Foundation – https://www.sweetjuliagrace.org/.  Sara contacted me last week to share about a family that SJGF is working with.  The family has a daughter, Maggie, who is fragile and on oxygen as a 9-year-old and is a raindancer with SJGF.  Though the family is being careful, they have recently caught COVID-19 in the home.  One thing that SJGF can do to support the family is offer meals while they are overwhelmed caring for one another around the clock.  Sara Knight set up a meal train site for the family.  The link to the Meal Train is here – https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/o0660n.  While there are not many openings currenlty, Sara is checking with teh family to see if there is a need to add dates.  Regardless, this is just one example of what the Sweet Julia Grace Foundation does to provide non-medical support to families whose children are ill.
A team is working together to plan children’s programming for the summer, similar to a Vacation Bible School.  The program is called “Jesus in July”.  Students will gather at HBC each Wednesday morning in July from 10 AM – 12:30 PM for a Bible story, crafts, games, food, and fun.  Please share with friends who have preschool and elementary age children!  Or, consider volunteering for one or more of the Wednesdays yourself!  Here is a link to the announcement on the HBC website – https://my-hbc.org/jesus-in-july/.
There continues to be much going on in the life of our church and in our community.  The Holy Spirit is active!  May the Lord bless you and keep you as you serve God in a variety of ways throughout the week.


Grace and Peace,

Allan Smith
Associate Pastor of Community Outreach
Haymarket Baptist Church