Back to Cattown

Our new life in the North Country has come to a close. We are headed back to New Orleans, to po' boys and Saints games and "Dey putting up da Chrismas star/An' viewin' stands for Mardi Gras."

The adventure continues. Follow my blog, The Daily Cattown News, at:

http://pastorkathy.blogspot.com

Gone but not forgotten

Family Promise of Clinton County closed its doors nearly a year ago after losing its grant funding. For ten years a group of local churches worked together to provide temporary housing in their facilities for families who were seeking permanent housing. Church members would provide meals and fellowship while the families stayed in their church building for a week at a time. Maureen Bradish, the director of Family Promise, worked tirelessly to help these families find permanent housing and assisted them in so many ways.

First Presbyterian Church of Plattsburgh was happy to provide space for the offices of Family Promise for ten years, and many members volunteered their time to be with the families during their weeks to stay at the church.

We all were sad when the board of Family Promise announced last October that they would have to cease operations. The families in need of assistance were referred to Social Services and many of them were placed temporarily in local motels while they waited for permanent housing.

This morning, Frank Baehre, an elder in our church, took down the two Family Promise signs outside the building that had been their office. One sign will go to Maureen Bradish in thanks for all that she did for the families. The other will go to the church's history vault as a treasured reminder of a ministry of this church that will not be forgotten. Thank you to all who helped with Family Promise through the years.

Thanks, guys!

Scott Lupini's crew is finished for the season. With the advent of cooler weather, the work on repointing the stonework on the clock tower of the church has ended for the year. The work went much faster than originally anticipated, which is a good thing. A big part of the cost is the daily rental of the lifts -- so the more that gets done in the time allotted, the less the overall cost will be.

Herb Cottrell gave a big thank-you to the guys by presenting them with Presbyterian mugs before they left. He told them he wasn't trying to convert them or anything, but...

Here he is in the center with two of the crew.

And a big thanks to Herb, Bob Davis, and Jim Fox (with a little help from Ace Electric and Bob Mitchell of Manion Motors): they got the clock working again!