Social Ministry update

Alternative Giving
With the holidays soon upon us, the Social Ministry committee is here to help and has again put together a great selection of gifts that might be perfect for someone on your list.  Gifts will be available for sale at the CEB between worship services starting November 8th through December 6th, including at Advent Parish Night.  Put a dent in your list and help some great causes. Thanks again to Kay Beagle and Robbin Lamo for their craftiness in putting the gifts together.   

$5 – Bell Ornament with paw print - PACT for Animals is a network of passionate people who provide temporary foster care to prevent companion animals from entering shelters due to temporary military or medical crises.  www.PACTforanimals.org

$10 Angel Ornament – Safe in Hunterdon provides many services including a 24 hour hotline, temporary housing, legal advocacy, crisis intervention and community education to support adult and child survivors of domestic and sexual abuse.  www.safeinhunterdon.org

$15 Cookie mix in jar – Feed My Starving Children was founded in 1987 as a Christian non-profit organization committed to feeding God’s children hungry in body and spirit.  Volunteers hand pack meals specially formulated for malnourished children that are then sent to partners around the world including orphanages, schools, clinics and feeding programs.  Donations will be used towards Zion’s packing event in April 2016! www.fmsc.org

$20 Coasters – ELCA disaster response fund helps victims domestically and around the world who are impacted by disasters including recent wildfires in California, the earthquake in Nepal and flooding in Colombia.  www.elca.org.


Senior Baskets
100 gift bags will be assembled and delivered to area food pantries to distribution to seniors in need in the weeks before Christmas.  We need your help to fill the bags with special treats that most seniors would not get at the pantries.  This year we are requesting the following items to include in our bags: stamps, tea, hot cocoa, hard candy, individual snack packs, puzzle books, slipper socks, lotion, and lip balm.  Cash donations are also greatly appreciated! 
**Please leave all non-cash donations at the CEB or in the narthex of the church.  Items are requested by Sunday November 29th and will be packed and delivered the following week. 

The Giving Tree
The Giving Tree will be up by November 22nd with names of 20 children from Family Promise who are in need.  Social ministry is requesting 2 toys and one clothing item for each child.  Gifts should be returned by 12/6.  


Advent Parish Night
This year Social Ministry is hosting Advent Parish Night on Sunday December 6th.   This event is not just for young families, and is loads of fun for all ages.  We will begin with crafts at 4:00, potluck dinner at 5:00 and carols at 6:00.  Come for the whole event just join us for supper and singing.  Signups will be available in the narthex and via our online sign up tool.  Stay tuned. 
 

Feed My Starving Children
Many of you have heard, but we would like to announce that we are officially hosting a Feed My Starving Children packing event at Zion on April 1st and 2nd 2016!  Thanks to the support of a generous anonymous donor, our costs for this year are covered.  All donations gathered during our campaign will go toward payment for 2017 to make this hopefully an annual event.  The generous donation takes the pressure off of the financial burden of raising more than $20,000 so that we can focus on reaching out to recruit the 500 volunteers that we will need for 2 hour shifts over two days.    There will be much more information to come.  Please contact Rebecca Melick if you have any ideas for local groups that we might contact and invite to this exciting opportunity! 


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