Grace UMC

Dear Youth & Parents,

I’m looking forward to next week’s lock-in and staying up all night long with dozens of hyper teenagers. Below is important information regarding the lock-in.

Entering & Exiting the Lock-In
The lock-in will begin at 7:30 pm and end at 6:00 am the following morning. It is important that youth have a ride home at 6:00 am in the morning as chaperones and the youth pastor will be cranky by this point. This year’s lock-in is a true lock-in where we will not be leaving church grounds all night. Youth will not be permitted to leave and come back, unless they their parents have spoken directly with me about it. Late arrivals are fine. Also, a release/medical form is required for all youth participants. I have a current copy of this for most of our regular youth on file – the form is good for one year. Forms are available on our church website and will be available at registration. All youth and chaperones will be required to sign in when they arrive at the lock-in. There is no cost to this year’s lock-in.

Adult Supervision
I need parents of regular Grace youth to provide at least one volunteer adult to chaperone one of the following shifts (see below) during the lock-in. This is considered to be a requirement of youth attendance at the lock-in. If your family can’t meet this requirement, please notify me in advance. Also, please let me know (email is preferable) which shift you plan on chaperoning at your earliest convenience so I can make sure we have enough adults for each shift

Early Bird Special – 7:30 to 10:30 pm

Midnight Shift – 10:30 pm to 1:00 am

Graveyard Shift – 1:00 to 6:00 am *restrictions apply (read below)

All of this is to ensure the safety of all youth – we expect to have many guests and visitors, which makes supervision even more important. If you plan on chaperoning during the “Graveyard Shift,” you must have completed Grace’s Safe Sanctuaries training. Joanne Weis is leading a Safe Sanctuaries training on Tuesday, January 12 at 6:30 pm. (originally scheduled for tonight, but rescheduled due to weather), so there is an opportunity for you to receive this training before the lock-in. Safe Sanctuaries training is recommended for all chaperones.

Additional note on adult supervision – I may not be present for the first hour of the lock-in pending the completion of the Grace Ministry Center due to Upward basketball games needing to be rescheduled for Friday night. If we have enough supervision for the graveyard shift and the building is finished, I may leave a few hours early to sleep a little before I will have to return to the church for basketball games all day on Saturday.

Food
We will provide soft drinks and water. All youth participants are asked to bring a snack or two to share. We will not be serving dinner, so if you want your child to have a well-balanced meal, please feed them at home before the lock-in. Orange juice and donuts will be available at 5:00 am. Adult chaperones are invited to eat food too!

What do I need to bring?
- Snack or two to share
- Release/Medical form (if you don’t have one on file)
- Adult chaperone
- Friends (youth who brings the most friends wins a digital camcorder)
- Plan on how to get home in the morning at 6:00 am

Other optional items you may want to think about
- Flashlight for flashlight tag
- Dark clothes for flashlight tag
- Sleeping bag/blanket/pillow
- Medicine/toiletries
- Video games (please no inappropriate video games) & Video game systems
- Anything you want to do all night (e.g., guitar, board games, cross stitch project, etc.)

What will the schedule be?
The schedule will be made after we know whether or not the Grace Ministry Center will be completed before the lock-in.

On May 23 at 5:00 p.m., Grace United Methodist Youth Group will host their second annual Stuff Auction. The Stuff Auction is a fundraiser sponsored by the youth group to help complete the Youth Room in the Grace Ministry Center.

There will be an opportunity to bid on some items via silent auction in the Grace ministry center two weeks before the auction. We are accepting donations from now to May 23, but prefer to receive items prior to May 8 so that we may give it full exposure during our Stuff Auction. If you would like to make a donation, please let Todd Noren-Hentz or Linda Morgan know.

This year’s Stuff Auction will also include a full service spaghetti dinner served by our youth group. Tickets may be purchased from a youth for $10 in honor of the 10th Anniversary of Grace UMC which is also being celebrated on May 23. The Stuff Auction and Dinner will immediately follow the Grace Ministry Center Open House at 5:00 pm. It is not necessary to come to the dinner to participate in the auction. The auction will start at approximately 5:30. All youth and children may eat free.

Here’s a partial list of things auctioned in the Stuff Auction last year to give you an idea of the kinds of things that were donated.

Please fill out the form below to commit your donation to the Stuff Auction.

All of the following items were sold and raised money for the youth group.

• A custom built Nerf gun – From master gunsmith, Graham Owen
• 5 Sessions of Baby Sitting – From Becca or Samantha Weir to be arranged at a mutually agreed upon time; Each session auctioned separately
• Giant Red Plush Lizzard – Perfect decoration for almost anywhere
• Grace Youth Group T-Shirt – Your choice of style and size
• Harley Davidson Blowout Vest for Dogs – Not for people, unless you wear your vests around your legs and your arms and you are really small; extra-small size
• Children’s Table – Great for Legos, Trains, Drawing
• Wired Fast Ethernet 10/100 5 Port Hub
• Pie & Pie Cover – From Valerie Murphree
• Session of Babysitting – Provided by Lauren Rosenthal
• Coca-Cola Lamp – Courtesy of Jeremy West
• 1 Free French Horn Lesson – From Melissa Kowerduck
• 4 different landscape prints, framed – from the Butler-Moore’s and Robertsons
• Barbie mp3 Player – Holds 1 GB
• Bionic-Eye Plug-in TV Microscope – New in Box
• Playskool Busy Ball-tivity Center – New in Box
• American Girl Doll (sells new for $95-100) – This one has been masterfully recrafted by Susan Brown.
• Stampin’ Up! Gift Basket – Contains between $50 – $75 in products
• Cricut Cartridge – “Happily Ever After” (Disney Princess design) – Cartridge for the Cricut die-cutting system. Sells for $89.99 new
• Barbie Dolls (new in box, Special Edition) range from $9.99 to $39.99 in value
• 4 Tickets to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center – Good until January 1, 2010, courtesy of Sondra Robertson
• Club Scrap Scrapbooking Kit – retails for $32.99
• Panasonic DVD Player In excellent condition.
• Pioneer Tuner Top of the line, in great condition.
• Professionally Decorated Cake – Decorated by Paula Harmon, see some great ideas and examples here. Design of your choosing, good for up to 12 months (not the cake, just the offer to make the cake).
• 4 Dog Training Lessons – From master Dog Trainer, Mary Graham
• Cross Pendant Necklace – New from fashionista Gina Barlow
• Faith Polatty – 2 Pecan Pies. Yum.
• Stampin’ Up! Product Gift Basket – Assembled by Joann Wiemer
• Caroline Nolen-Howe – Babysitting, arranged at a mutually agreed upon time
• Private 30 Minute Plane Ride – With stunt pilot, Michael Weis
• The Works of John Wesley, 14 volumes, bound in 7 – Published by Baker. Very Good condition. Identical to this set.
• A Dinner – Courtesy of the Stricklands
• Shrimp Boil – Get the full Cajun experience from the Stevisons
• Serenade – Given by Nick Morgan
• Rental of Star Trek Movie Collection – Pastor Steve’s personal Star Trek movie collection can be yours for one month (may unlock hidden meaning in Sunday sermons)
• Rental of Star Trek Voyager Series – Watch Pastor Steve’s personal Star Trek Voyager Series one season at a time (7 seasons available)
• Rental of Star Trek Enterprise Series – Watch Pastor Steve’s personal Star Trek Enterprise Series one season at a time (4 seasons available)
• Wall Hanging Pictures – Courtesy of Nylea Butler-Moore
• Automobile Heater/Fridge Console – Don’t drive around with luke-warm beverages, travel in style with this great auto accessory from the Van Valkenburgs
• Swiffer Gift Pack – Have a dirty house, get this Swiffer gift set complete with a WetJet mop, solution refills, pad refills, and extra scrubbers
• Lot of Men’s Sweaters – Large size, Get prepared for the winter now!
• Thomas Kinkade Puzzle – What’s better than a painting by Thomas Kinkade? A puzzle by the Painter of Light.
• Small Red Basket – Have loose things hanging around. Put them in this basket.
• Young Adult Book Lot – 10+ Young Adult Titles.
• Nautical Display Case – Love the sea? Mount this keepsake on your wall.