COMPASSION WEEKEND SUCCESS
We had a great turnout for the Napa UWF projects for Compassion weekend. Members sorted new men’s and women’s socks to be donated to the Napa Homeless Shelter. And members also created toiletry kits for the homeless shelter. They also boxed up all the shoes that had been donated and collected for the Soles4Souls organization. A big THANK YOU to Pat Parker for getting all the supplies for the toiletry kits! When we work together, we can do great things!
SPEAK UP FOR JUSTICE
Everyone is encouraged to attend the “Speak Up For Justice” forum on Friday, October 17th held in the Fellowship Hall from 6:00 – 7:45pm. Sponsored by our Napa UWF, we will hear from very informative speakers.
Rev. Wakoh Shannon Hickey, PHD, BBC is a board certified chaplain, an interfaith leader, Soto Zen Priest and a Certified Interplay Leader. Rev. Wakoh will address:
- why and how we are called to stand together for justice.
Yolanda Schonbrun, Linda Dietiker-Yolo and Iris Barrie, all from the League of Women Voters will address:
- How do we encourage informed voting?;
- Why is participation in elections vital to shaping transparent and fair government policies?;
- and how are informed choices on measures like Prop. 50 essential to strengthening democracy?
John Tuteur, from the Napa County Registrar of Voters, will also speak about:
- election integrity,
- voter registration & eligible citizens, and
- the statewide special election on November 4, 2025.
Complimentary pizza and salad will be served at 6:00 pm.
CIRCLE UPDATES
The Katherine Parker circle met on Thursday, Sept. 11th. They read scripture from Roman 8:1-8, “Walk not of the flesh, but of the Spirit”. Sally Hunter presented the program of the day using the program resource booklet themes for August and September and her own ideas. She posed the question, “Does anyone have a personal daily ritual that they observe”? Examples were lighting a candle, meditative time, or time with a pet. It was discussed that we should remember to appreciate not only what we have, but who we are with and appreciating others. The next activity was writing letters of appreciation to the tech and media team and the van drivers for our church community. At the end of their meeting, they celebrated the birthdays of Aletha Silcox, Karoline Hall, and Jan Amoroso.
The Sarah Crosby circle met on Saturday, Sept. 13th. Their discussion revolved around the earth-friendly way to dispose of soft plastics. Clean & dry stretchy plastic can be recycled if it’s dropped off at a separate plastic bag drop off location. Some grocery stores and Target have a plastic bag drop off bin near the front of their stores. You can also drop off your soft plastics in a plastic bag at the Napa Recycling Main office at 598 Lincoln Avenue, Mon. through Friday until 5:00 p.m. Here is a list of items you can collect and then recycle when you have a bag full:
Toilet paper/Paper towel wrap
Ziplock Bags
Bread Bags
Produce Bags
Dry Cleaning Bags
Diaper Packaging
Cereal Bags and Plastic Box Liners
Pallet or Stretch Wrap Plastic
Plastic Padded Envelopes
All Plastic shopping Bags.
All of these items cannot go in the Blue Recycle Bins as they tangle up in the recycling machinery. So the correct way to dispose of them is to save them up in a bag at home and take them to a soft plastics bin at the store or to their main office. Just remember, they need to be clean and dry. Let’s all continue to do our part to reduce what ends up in the landfills and be a little more earth friendly by disposing of our trash responsibly! For more information: https://naparecycling.com/guide/category/plastic-bag-drop-off/
* SAVE THE DATE *
The Christmas Tea will be on Saturday, December 13th, from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Tickets will be available starting on Sunday November 9th after worship and will continue each Sunday until they are sold out. For more info, contact Cheryl Casciani. It’s always so much fun to enjoy each other’s company over festive sandwiches and desserts and bidding for silent auction items! This year’s event will benefit the non-profit youth center, VOICES. They will provide a short presentation about the work they do for youth 12-26 years old.
AND…speaking of the silent auction at the Christmas tea, we are now accepting donations for the silent auction. Please contact Holly Zaccone or bring your donations to the church office. Gift Baskets, Wine, Family Fun, Experiences, tea sets, jewelry, …all accepted!!
LOS RIOS CELEBRATION
The UWF Los Rios District celebration meeting was on September 20th at Wayside Methodist Church in Vallejo. Rev. Laurie Bayen spoke about her Otocast of Sacred Ground in California.
Rev. Laurie has collected 70 plus sites that connect visitors to outdoor spaces that highlight indigenous or natural history of these places. Rev Laurie invites us to experience these places with a mindful spiritual practice and suggests a faithful action to help preserve these fragile ecosystems. In Sacred Ground on the Otocast app, you can experience outdoor spaces of God’s creation and share our love for God by caring for and protecting our physical world. You can download the Otocast app for free wherever you get your apps on your phone. For help, contact Susan Quintana. The celebration meeting was also their business meeting of the year and installation of their next year’s officers. Both Connie Matthew-Warren and Susan Quintana attended this year’s celebration meeting in Vallejo.
Member Spotlight
MARGARET VAN ZANDT
The Napa UWF Exec Team is so happy to have Margaret as our Treasurer. She works hard to keep all of our accounting up-to-date in a precise and timely manner. She is definitely giving her business degree a ride with this volunteer treasurer position. But did you know that she also studied anatomy, Bio Chemistry and Bio Dynamics and also has a degree in Exercise Science?
Margaret was born in Yokohama, Japan. Her dad was in the Navy and met her mother there. She has a brother who is 3 years younger. They moved for a short stint in Hawaii and then back to Japan living there until Margaret was 8 years old until her dad was transferred to Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Margaret went to school in Vallejo and graduated from Vallejo High School.
Margaret met her husband the summer before she started high school. His way of flirting with her was to pick her up while she and friends were sunbathing at Dan Foley park and throw her in the swimming pool. She was not happy! They met again when his locker ended up right above her’s in high school. He eventually asked her to a high school dance and they became high school sweethearts. They married after high school and he went through the apprentice program at Mare Island and Margaret went to Solano Community College. She was part of their first graduating class with a Business degree. She worked as a legal secretary in Vallejo for four years. They eventually had two kids, 1 daughter and 1 son.
Margaret eventually went back to school at Napa Valley College and studied Anatomy and Biochemistry. She then transferred to California State University, Sacramento and took classes in Biodynamics and received an Exercise Science degree in 1994. Since then she has worked in the physical fitness field as a Cardiac Rehabilitation Coach, a High Impact Aerobics Instructor and a Fitness Coach. She worked at Healthquest from 1991 – 2019 where she managed the personal training program and where she taught stretch and tone classes, Core Fitness and Pilates. She has been a Pilates Purist Instructor and also had her own Personal Training Business. She has her own exercise studio at her house. Margaret was also the manager for 11 years at the Napa Gymnastics Zone and eventually owner and manager there for 3 years.
Margaret and her husband, Richard, have been married for 55 years.
Favorite Holiday: Thanksgiving
Favorite Hobby: Gardening
Favorite Color: Orange
Favorite Restaurant: Morimoto’s
First Car: 1959 Plymouth Fury, black with fins and a push button transmission.
Favorite Travels: Went to Fiji in 1994 and loved the beautiful people, all the islands, the food, learned to snorkel, visited their orchid farms, and learned about their culture and how they were originally cannibals but were eventually converted to Methodism after a long history of Methodists trying to convert them for years.
Favorite Church Memory: Becoming a member of our church about 3 years ago!
What you would tell your younger self:
Probably to take extra time to smell the roses! Seems like I was always so busy with the next project or with work.
Thank you Margaret for all that you do. We are blessed to have you at Napa Methodist Church and as our Treasurer for Napa United Women In Faith!
DAYS FOR GIRLS UPDATE
We need more people to help us make the liners. The next sew date is November 1st at 9:30 am – 11:00 am in the Fellowship Hall. Even if you don’t know how to sew, if you can operate a pair of scissors and cut fabric, you are needed for this wonderful mission opportunity. The following article was sent to all the Days for Girls teams:
Every day, your dedication to sewing, packing, and preparing Days for Girls Kits makes stories of dignity and hope possible. Whether you’re cutting fabric, assembling kits, or leading your Chapter or Team, your efforts are part of a global movement that is changing lives. Today, we’re excited to share one of those stories with you. Thanks to our incredible partnership with Proclaim Cuba!, we were able to send 1,242 Days for Girls Kits into the country. Already, over half of these Kits have been distributed through their youth program Bellas; bringing dignity, health, and hope to teenage girls. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, and the program is truly making a difference. Thank you for the countless hours of sewing, packing, and preparing Kits that make moments like this possible. Every stitch you create is part of a story of dignity and hope for women and girls around the world.
OCTOBER BIRTHDAYS
Oct. 11 – Ruth Jenkins-McIntire
Oct 16 – Bonnie Andersen
Oct. 21 Marlene Haas
Oct. 25 Ellen Patterson
Oct. 27 Christy Soderberg
Oct. 30 Margaret Van Zandt
Oct. 31 Kathryn Tolman
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL OF YOU!
**** ANNUAL FOOD DRIVE ****
Don’t forget to bring your non-perishable food items to the Fellowship Hall at church during the month of October!
Sarah Crosby Circle meets Saturday, Oct. 11th at 9:30 am
Katherine Parker Circle meets Thursday, October 9th at 10:00 a.m.
THELMA’S APPLE PIE RECIPE
Submitted by Joan Feury
(Her mother’s recipe)
Put 1 ½ cups flour in a bowl with ¼ tsp of salt. ½ cup on floured board.
Mix in bowl ⅔ cup And 2 Tbsp shortening.
Mix until crumbly. Pour ½ cup cold water in mix and roll half the dough out on floured board. Put in pie plate.
Peel macintosh apples about 6-7 medium size and slice into bowl. Add 1 cup sugar, 2 Tbsp flour, ½ tsp. Cinnamon, (about 2 Tbsp lemon juice if apples aren’t very tart)
Mix and put in pie shell. Dob with 1 Tbsp butter. Roll other crust out, place on top. Press together and ob with milk. Make holes with a knife and sprinkle with sugar. Bake about 15 minutes at 500 degrees or until brown then turn down to 350 degrees and bake for 30 – 45 minutes. Start baking on top rack and then switch to lower rack when oven is turned down. Bottom crust should be brown and cooking time lengthened depending how fat the pie is. Enjoy!!