Letter to the Editor

Last Sunday, St. Paul UCC honored Rev. Debbie Jo Atkins as she retires from her 17 years of ministry here. In addition to performing her regular pastoral duties at St. Paul, she also devoted a lot of time and energy to community outreach projects such as organizing the monthly Community Café for anyone to share a meal and conversation or the Halloween family fun event of Trunk-or-Treat. Probably the two most significant of these programs are her work with HIS Service Station board and her organizing and directing the Pack-A-Sack program.

Serving on HIS board for most of her 17 years and functioning as Chair for the past six, she brought to the forefront not only the mission of providing a place to offer good, used merchandise for reasonable prices but the opportunity of giving back to the community by using profits to support areas that could benefit from funding.

The Pack-A-Sack program is designed to provide weekend, kid-friendly yet wholesome, food for local students who rely on meals provided by our schools. A dedicated team of adults and students gather once a month to assemble and deliver prepared bags to the schools.

As Pastor Debbie moves on to new territory and new challenges, we thank her for her work in religious and community areas and wish her the best in future projects. We will miss her.

Clarette Michuda