Join the Holy Cross Chancel Choir!
If you enjoy singing in the car or the shower, consider joining the Holy Cross Chancel Choir. We rehearse on Wednesdays from 7pm-8:30pm in the Skiles Hall Choir Room. Can't read music? No problem. Afraid you can't carry a tune? That's probably false. Afraid of the time commitment? Just talk to Shane. We'd love to have you join this aspect of our music ministry.

Items Missing from VCCC Shop
As you are recovering from the hugely successful Valle Country Fair, cleaning up and putting away for next year, if you've borrowed anything from the Conference Center, please return any items that may have been used for the Fair to the shop in the first floor of the Annex (where the Dining Hall is). Thank you!

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Dewey’s Bakery Holiday Shop Now Open!

Hello Parishioners who have supported SmileOnADG, the Adam Galleher Memorial Fund for many years!

Our Dewey’s Bakery Holiday Shop is now open at Shoppes on the Parkway, Blowing Rock. We are located in Unit #2, open 7 days a week. Our contact phone is 828-572-9679.

Remember, when you purchase cookies & gifts from our shop, you are supporting Adam’s Memorial Fund at 35% and we thank you for that.

This enables us to continue giving grants and scholarships to our local schools in Watauga, Ashe & Avery. --Debbie & Mike Galleher

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Helping the Hungry in the High Country

You’ve seen the changes in funding for the SNAP food program. You’ve generously supported the Summer Food Program for Children through Holy Cross. Thank you for that. There is a great need again to help fill the shelves of local food banks. The need is urgent.

Please bring your canned and boxed goods to Skiles on Sundays (or any day) and place them on the tables in the Welcome Center designated for Hunger and Health Coalition, Hospitality House Kitchen Pantry or Foscoe Hometown Team. Check out store BOGOs, sales flyers, look over your own pantry and ask your clubs and social groups to join in the fight against hunger. Every can or box counts. You count. Someone nearby goes to bed with food in the belly because of you. A child, an older person, someone out of work needs what you do.

We are fortunate to have drivers to carry food to our local food banks. We just need the food. Bring any of these: canned fruits, vegetables, tuna or chicken. Boxes of cereal, milks and juices, baby formula, paper products, jars of peanut butter and jelly, condiments like ketchup, mustard, salt and pepper, hot sauce. New socks, sweatshirts and sweatpants, gloves, scarves, coats, winter work clothes and bottled water are all needed in Foscoe, where there are still homes without running water. Fill your green Simple Gesture bags. Kip Kingree or Judy Bondi will take them to Hunger and Health. Jeff and Angela Williams will tote goods and food to Foscoe Hometown Team. Ron Armstrong will carry food to Hospitality House Kitchen Pantry.

Thank you so much for your response to this food drive. It matters. Things work because of you. Blessings on you and yours for what you do for others.

--Your Church Friends the Williams, Armstrongs, Kip Kingree and Martie Thompson, Judy Bondi and ECW members

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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2025
Parish Annual Meeting and Brunch
One Service ONLY at 10:30 am
Come and celebrate the grace of God that has continued to abound through the ongoing mission and ministry of Holy Cross, hear reports from our leadership, and elect 3 new Vestry Members at the meeting.
The Slate of Vestry Nominees for the Class of 2028 (with pictures and biographical information) is now posted in Skiles Hall. The Nominees (listed in alphabetical order) are:

• John Goodrich

• Randy McDonough

• Nina-Jo Moore

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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2025
Potluck Lunch for Annual Meeting
Parish Friends,
Our Annual Meeting will be a busy one on November 9th. Please bring a dish to share, a main, a vegetable, a salad or a dessert. Remember our gluten free parishioners with sensitivity to  processed foods or foods with flour. Think “lunchtime” sustenance and bring what you would like to eat to share with our church family. Plates and beverages will be provided but forks are always needed. See you week after next.
--Your Hospitality Committee

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2025
Men’s Night Out at St. Mary's in Blowing Rock – 5:15 pm
Our next Men’s Night Out gathering will take place at 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday November 11 in the Parish Hall at St. Mary of the Hills Episcopal Church in Blowing Rock, located at 140 Chestnut Drive at the corner of Chestnut and Main. The Merry Men of St. Mary will provide smoked pork butts with all the fixin’s. There is no charge for this event, but you’re welcome to donate if the spirit moves you. All beverages will also be provided by the men of their parish, so it is not necessary to bring anything but a healthy appetite and a spirit of fellowship and fun. There is on-street parking, in a lot on Chestnut adjacent to the church, and across Main Street at BRAHM, but carpooling is always encouraged.
MNO is a monthly opportunity for men from within our parishes and in our community to enjoy having an evening of fellowship together. We're very flexible and inclusive, so feel free to bring a friend... or three! To let our gracious hosts from St. Mary know how many will be in attendance, please RSVP by noon on Sunday, November 9 via email to KeithTMartin@gmail.com.
If you do not drive at night, need a ride to and/or from MNO, or are without reliable transportation for whatever reason, simply let us know. We have participants from all over the High Country who would welcome your company and be happy to pick you up and deliver you safely home. Come join us!

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2025
Valle Glow – Tree Lighting Event

Help the Valle Crucis Community Council raise funds to re-string the Christmas Tree and throw the biggest holiday party ever! Every dollar counts towards making the lights this year the brightest and best. Valle Glow is more than a tree lighting. It's community, coming together. To make Valle Glow possible, we need your help. We’re raising funds to cover the cost of the lights and installation on the giant Norwegian spruce below Holy Cross Episcopal Church. Visit www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/valle-glow to make a contribution. All donations go through the Valle Crucis Conference Center and are tax deductible.

Together, we’ll make the Valle Glow brighter than ever. Be a shining light and donate today!

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2025
A Quiet Advent Retreat – 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Our annual Advent Retreat will take place on Saturday, November 22, in Johnson Hall, Valle Crucis Conference Center, from 10:00 to 2:00. Everyone is invited, men, women, and young people.
Advent fills us with the thrill of anticipation for the joy that is to come. We will experience this together with those who were present and waiting more than 2000 years ago. Whom were they expecting? What was it they were seeing? How did they greet the mind-opening promises given to them?
We will also look at the promises and follow them in awe, accompanied by angel song, to a humble manger.
Please contact the Valle Crucis Conference Center to register for this program, or follow this link to sign up: https://pci.jotform.com/form/232883990404160.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2025
Drama and Carols – 11:00 am
This year, Lessons and Carols will be performed as Drama and Carols. We will listen to the story of God’s dream for us in the form of drama instead of the traditional readings. The readings will become the drama spoken by the characters we meet in the Biblical stories. The choir will emphasize every part of the great drama with beloved carols. Come to listen and to sing and invite your friends to participate in a new Advent experience.

 

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2025
Annual ECW Pre-Thanksgiving Bake Sale

Holy Cross ECW will be in Skiles Hall after the 11:00 am service selling cakes, pies, and other goodies to help you prepare for your Thanksgiving holiday. Come check out all the goodies you'll need to feed family and friends this Thanksgiving.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2025
Cooperative Thanksgiving Service – 6:00 pm
The Watauga Cooperative Thanksgiving Worship Service will be held on Sunday, November 23rd at 6:00 pm at Henson’s Chapel UMC. As usual, the Offertory for the service will be a bag of canned or boxed food that will be donated to the Western Watauga Food Outreach Program and possibly, the Blessings Bin at Brushy Fork Baptist Church. Additional information will be available as we get closer to the date of the service.

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IT'S ANGEL TREE TIME!!

There are several families at Valle Crucis school, and residents at The Life Care Center in Banner Elk for whom Holy Cross Church is their only Santa Claus. We also are helping out our Valle Crucis Teachers with gift cards this year as well. Thank you all in advance for your generosity!

Follow the link below to access this year’s “Virtual Angel Tree” registry and sign-up for gift donations. Here is how the Angel Tree gift donations will work this year:

• Sign-up for gift(s) donations via this SignUPGenius: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084FADAC23A2FB6-holy1

• Bring your wrapped and tagged gift(s) to Skiles Hall. The Christmas tree will be in place in Skiles Hall after November 28, 2025.

  • Please begin bringing wrapped and tagged gifts starting on Sunday November 30, 2025.

  • All gifts and teacher gift cards need to be delivered to Skiles Hall no later than Sunday December 14, 2025.

  • For those buying gifts Life Care Persons please add a few nice toiletries (lotions, creams, body washes, etc.)

• THANK YOU so much for your help!