Did you know?

Did you know that:
Earthy Blessings was started almost 12 years ago, by Parish member Cindy Lebsack, as a dream to have a religious non-profit retail store that would supply our parish families and our surrounding communities with an outlet to buy sacramental and religious gifts, books and other gift items and home décor that would in turn help to support St James School?

Did you know that:
Over the past 12 years Earthly Blessings has provided funding for numerous St James School improvements, such as but not limited to: ceiling fans, anti-bacterial hand stations, rugs, new lunchroom plates, curriculum, school kitchen upgrades, $15,000 support for the Capital Campaign, and much, much more? 
 
Did you know that:
Earthly Blessings is run completely by a Board of Directors that put in countless hours of organizing, scheduling volunteers, advertising, merchandise buying, financial bill paying and record keeping, reconciling daily deposits, inventory check-in and store room maintenance, cleaning, decorating and store upkeep to name but a few of the countless jobs that go along with the overhead of running a business? 
 
Did you know that:
Earthly Blessings depends on a volunteer workforce of about 60 people? Of these 60, about 45 are active volunteers. Of these 45 regulars, about 10 work SEVERAL times a month. With out ALL of these volunteers, Earthly Blessings would and could not exist. Right now, we are working at about ½ capacity of our normal level of monthly volunteers. Our volunteer coordinator spends countless personal hours on the phone every week trying to fill the various shifts that keep our store open for our customers.
 
Did you know that:
If EACH of our 60 volunteers signed up for just 1 shift (about 4 hours) per month, then our volunteer coordinator would never have to be on the phone? If we could find 20 new volunteers, then each of our volunteers would only have to work about once every 45 days! But we need YOU to sign up!!   
 
As you can tell, Earthly Blessing’s is in dire need of volunteers.  We have to depend on many of the same dear dedicated volunteers to work week after week.  We also do not want them to become burned out! If you have volunteered in the past but it’s been a long time since you’ve worked, we would love to have you back! If you have never volunteered but would like to, we would be thrilled to set up a training day for you! Maybe you are a stay at home mom who would love to be able to get out into the BIG people world for a few hours a day once or twice a month! Maybe you have a child that attends St James School and you’d love a reason to “Give Back” to the school that enriches and educates your own child. Maybe you are a responsible high school student or homeschooled student or teacher that would like to gain some insight and know how of how the retail business works.  Maybe you are a retiree or you know of a friend that would love to work in our delightfully relaxing store environment.  Our volunteer staff is not limited to St James parishioners (as long as all volunteers meet our Board’s criteria for being a kind and trustworthy person!)  We are all called to serve!!
 
Enclosed you will find a calendar for the months of April and May.  Please look them over and sign up by calling our volunteer coordinator, Aimee Reed, at 319- 653-1718 or email her at betterfields@lisco.com or stop into Earthly Blessings, 116 E. Washington St. anytime and sign up on the calendar there. 
 
Thank you so much for your support of Earthly Blessings!  We are continually looking to improve our store!  If you have any questions or suggestions or would like to volunteer, please don’t hesitate to call one of our board members!
 
Blessings to you all! The Earthly Blessings Board of Directors:
Aimee Reed, Christal Quigley, Julie Evans, Lynn Horak, Marge Schrock, Monika Chalupa, Sarah Moeller and Tish Johnson