Come on out for a traditional Mardi Gras feast at the Methodist Church Rec Hall!

Delicious pancakes cooked by the Methodist Men will be served by the Youth Sunday School class from 5–7pm. For a $5 donation or just $15 for the whole family, you'll enjoy pancakes, breakfast meat, juice, music, trinkets, and fun! To-Go boxes will also be available, if you don't mind missing out on the camaraderie.

Shrove Tuesday is the day before Lent begins, a day to feast and use up rich foods like eggs and sugar (hence the pigging out on pancakes) before you give tasty stuff up for the 40 days of Lent. Let the good times roll!

Ocracoke United Methodist Church will hold its traditional Ash Wednesday service on Wednesday, February 14th at 6pm. 

The proceeds from the Pancake Supper will go toward a youth field trip, and also to help with repairs after the church suffered a water main break. The water break caused a huge leak underground that wasn't detected until the water meter was read on January 16th. Yikes! In just a month, 85,000 gallons of water leaked and the bill was over $1200! The plumbing has been fixed and as soon as the ground dries out, the ditch will get filled back in. Meanwhile, OUMC is trying to pay for repairs (which didn't reach the insurance deductible) and pay the water bill (the water plant is allowing them to pay it over time.)

A special Advent/Christmas fundraiser helped to pay for the new church steeple. Last July, during a wild thunderstorm, the church steeple was struck by lightning, which fried a printer and damaged the organ inside the church. 

Pieces of the true cross from the steeple of OUMC

Dick Jacoby, a member of the congregation, gathered the pieces of the broken steeple cross and crafted them into 54 smaller crosses for Christmas ornaments. The Sunday School classes helped to assemble them, and the church sold them for $20 each. After one Facebook post about them on the OUMC page, the crosses went like hotcakes! (Pun intended; this story started out and wraps up with pancakes.) 

This one's hanging on the Christmas tree of a former OUMC pastor.

The little white church also got a fresh coat of paint last fall to go with its new steeple cross.

If you'd like to make a donation to help OUMC with their recent repair bills, the address is PO Box 278, Ocracoke, NC 27960.