You have a dentist. You have a doctor. You probably have a hair dresser or barber. You might have a dog groomer or vet. You have people that you do business with. Those people need to be asked to sponsor the St. Vladimir's Festival so that thousands of people are exposed to their business in a positive way. And those businesses need to be asked to sponsor by you. Yes you. The person that spends money at their business every month, ever week, sometimes every day. And they will be HAPPY to sponsor our festival if you ask them. If you do not ask they are unlikely to hand you a check and ask you to give it to the Festival. So please ask – do not be shy – these folks appreciate your business and they know you. They don't know Fr. Gregory. They don't know Nathan. They don't know other people in our parish – they know YOU! Please leverage that relationship to do them a favor – spending a few hundred dollars to help our festival gives them exposure to thousands of happy people that will spend money at their business in the future. This only works if everyone pitches in and asks. And if we do – we will be in great shape! Help us be in great shape and ask your favorite businesses to sponsor our festival today!

Our annual spring pilgrimage to Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY is set for May 20-22. These pilgrimages always fill up early, so please contact our Parish Council member, Dmitry Knysh at church or email him at info@stvladimiraami.org

Our 9-12 year old and Teen youth groups will have a joint activity on May 15 – Zap Zone! Yes – perhaps shooting each other right after celebrating the Lord's Resurrection is not the most appropriate thing to do, but since this is for fun and no one is to be hurt we're going to do it! The best part: you'll get to shoot Fr. Gregory and you won't even have to go to Confession afterwards for doing it! And it is all FREE! Join us to visiting the sign up here:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090f48aea6292-zapzone

Please join us on Sunday May 15 for our annual Paschal Egg Hunt and our Church School's Paschal play. Come for Liturgy and stay for all the fun! Mark your calendars now!

More information:

http://stvladimiraami.org/flyers/egghuntflyer2016.pdf

Thank you to all who contributed so generously to our collection on Sunday, May 8 for the rebuilding of the Serbian St. Sava Cathedral which burned down on Pascha! We collected just about $750 – very close to our goal of $1,000. Way to go St. Vladimirians! If you were unable to be with us on Sunday but would like to make a donation in this regard please contact our Starosta, Nathan Longan, or our Treasurer, Marina Edwards.

According to our established parish tradition the men of the parish will take over all kitchen duties on Sunday, May 15 – the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women. As evidenced by previous such celebrations, our men do not understand the words “light lunch”, so expect the usual plethora of very tasty food. Please plan to stay with us after Liturgy this coming Sunday to celebrate our hard-working sisters and to enjoy the largess of our brothers' culinary output!

Our 9-12 year old and Teen youth groups will have a joint activity on May 15 – Zap Zone! Yes – perhaps shooting each other right after celebrating the Lord's Resurrection is not the most appropriate thing to do, but since this is for fun and no one is to be hurt we're going to do it! The best part: you'll get to shoot Fr. Gregory and you won't even have to go to Confession afterwards for doing it! And it is all FREE! Join us to visiting the sign up here:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090f48aea6292-zapzone

The first pannykhida after Pascha is served on the second Tuesday after the feast. This is actually 40 days before Pentecost and is the reason for the set date. In any case, most folks work on Tuesdays so we have a tradition to visit the cemeteries on Thomas Sunday and share the Paschal Joy with our departed loved ones on this day and we did so yesterday. On Monday evening at 6:00 p.m. we will serve Vespers & Matins for Radonitsa and on Tuesday morning at 8:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy followed by a pannykhida. Please join us as your schedule allows!

Tomorrow at the end of the Divine Liturgy we will take up the Paschal Artos - the special bread blessed at the Paschal Divine Liturgy and present in the parish church for each of the Divine Services of Bright Week) and process one last time around the church singing the Paschal hymns. Upon re-entering the church a special prayer for the cutting of the Artos is read. The Artos is then distributed to the faithful as a special blessing at the kissing of the cross. Please join us for this special opportunity to bid farewell to Bright Week and to partake of the Artos according to the ancient tradition of the Holy Church!

The Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava was destroyed by a massive fire on Sunday May 1 – the day of the Resurrection of our Lord. On Sunday, May 8 at St. Vladimir's we will take up a special collection to help our brothers and sisters in Christ to rebuild this historic parish church. Please help as you can. If you cannot be there but would like to help please contact our Starosta, Nathaniel Longan or our Treasurer, Marina Edwards. And please keep those who are suffering from the destruction of their temple in your prayers this Bright Week!