Did you know that every 60 seconds malaria claims the life of someone in Africa? This can be prevented by supporting the Imagine No Malaria initiative. This initiative’s plan is to help in four ways:  Prevention by providing bed nets to families in the villages; Treatment by providing diagnostic access and medicine; Education by reaching out to the communities to teach people how to avoid malaria; and Communication by improving the methods of communication to tell the people about this life saving information. It includes improving radio stations, and providing hand-crank and solar powered radios to villages.

You can help by attending the Ice Cream Social hosted by Pleasant Valley United Methodist Church on Sunday, August 19th from 2-4 PM. This event is free and open to the public. We simply ask for a ‘good will donation’ which will be given to the conference to support the Imagine No Malaria program. Why not plan to come enjoy a nice cold treat, make a generous donation, and save a life.

The first Bean Hole Bean Supper for 2012 will take place on Saturday, May 12th. Seatings are at 5:00 PM, 6:00 PM, and 7:00 PM. Reservations are recommended and can be made by calling Cathy at 860-379-9398. For more information about our suppers and dates for the rest of this year, please see our page tab Bean Hole Suppers at the top of this page.

We’d love to have you come for dinner with us!!

Holy Week is quickly approaching and our church will be a busy place. Here’s a listing of the upcoming events and services.

• April 1st is Palm Sunday with worship at 9:30 AM.
• April 5th will bring a Tenebrae service on Maundy Thursday at 7:00 PM.
• April 6th will be the annual Good Friday Prayer Vigil, beginning at noon and continuing to 3:00 PM. This marks the hours that Christ hung on the cross.
• April 8th will begin the Easter celebration with a Sunrise Service on Beach Rock in Barkhamsted at 6:30 AM. This traditional service will be shared by the pastors of the Barkhamsted Congregational Church, New Hartford Center Congregational Church, and Pleasant Valley United Methodist Church. Following the service atop Beach Rock, a community breakfast will be hosted by the Barkhamsted Congregational Church.
• Easter Worship Service will take place at 9:30 AM at PVUMC.
• Coffee Hour will follow, hosted by volunteers. As an added event, sponsored by the Disciples in Action Committee, there will be an Easter egg hunt around the church grounds for everyone to enjoy…young or old alike.

It’s going to be a busy week around our church and we invite you to all the events as we move toward the celebration of our risen Lord on Easter Sunday.

The men of the church will be hosting their annual Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper on February 21st, 2012 at 6:00 PM in Fellowship Hall. Everyone is welcome to come and share in the feast. A good-will offering will be collected to help with our church missions.

Traditionally Shrove Tuesday, or “Fat Tuesday” (Mardi Gras means ‘Fat Tuesday’), means the last hurrah before the beginning of Lent.

Here’s one explanation as stated on the AmericanCatholic.org website, “What is less known about Mardi Gras is its relation to the Christmas season, through the ordinary-time interlude known in many Catholic cultures as Carnival. (Ordinary time, in the Christian calendar, refers to the normal “ordering” of time outside of the Advent/Christmas or Lent/Easter seasons. Carnival comes from the Latin words carne vale, meaning “farewell to the flesh.” Like many Catholic holidays and seasonal celebrations, it likely has its roots in pre-Christian traditions based on the seasons. Some believe the festival represented the few days added to the lunar calendar to make it coincide with the solar calendar; since these days were outside the calendar, rules and customs were not obeyed. Others see it as a late-winter celebration designed to welcome the coming spring. As early as the middle of the second century, the Romans observed a Fast of 40 Days, which was preceded by a brief season of feasting, costumes and merrymaking.” (AmericanCatholic.org)

In any case, please come join us in our celebration of Shrove Tuesday and then plan to begin your season of Lent the following day, Ash Wednesday, at our worship service at 7PM.

There will be a Bone Marrow/Stem Cell Registry Fundraiser in honor of Karen Civelli on 2/25/12 from 8am to 2pm at the Torrington Armory, 153 South Main Street, Torrington. In addition, the Girl Scouts will host a Bake Sale and have asked our church family for donations of baked goods for their table. Items can be left at the church office on Friday afternoon, 2/24/12, for collection and transport to Torrington early on Saturday morning.

There will also be a Pancake breakfast from 8-11:30 am, sponsored by the Forbes Flyers. Tickets for the breakfast are $6 each. For tickets or more information call:
Lori Young 860-798-7761 or Wayne Civelli 860-309-4833.