Outreach News: Collection Saturday
On Saturday, May 14, a few members of our Outreach Committee will be in the Christ Church parking lot from 11 am until 1 pm, sitting at our umbrella table. Eagerly, we will be awaiting other parishioners (you!) bearing gifts of toilet paper and nonperishable food that we will be sharing with two of our ministry partners–MetMin and The Beth–as well as our own front porch pantry.
In late March, Fr. Will met with our committee to talk about ways Christ Church can become more intentional about outreach. We want to involve more people and make a bigger difference in both our own neighborhood and our larger community. We decided to designate the second Saturday of each month as Collection Saturday. We hope to give you a chance to learn more about the organizations we have chosen to support as we focus on one or two of them at a time. Outreach will be asking our recipients what they need most. We’ll share that information with you ahead of time.
You might be wondering, “Why a Saturday? Can’t I just bring my goods with me to church on Sunday?” Well, yes you can, but the idea here is to take that one time a month to be focused on giving. And this way, we can include people who might not be coming to Christ Church in person, or who don’t attend on Sundays.
You probably know how curbside pick-up works. Think of this as curbside drop-off. We will be glad to take items from your trunk, or you can pass a bag out your window. And yes, you can give money–we specifically need that. You can make a gift to Outreach designated for Collection Saturday.
Meanwhile, have you noticed our Christ Church front porch pantry? It’s under the roof of the Canterbury Building facing Douglas Street. Thank Rebecca Smith for making that happen by remembering to bring food to keep it stocked. We need food that comes packaged to defy humidity and that’s easy to eat on-the-go or in a dorm room. Think about nutritious food in pop-top cans, jars of peanut butter–something you would be happy to find if you were hungry and strapped for cash.
Shopping List for May
MetMin:
Toilet paper
The Beth:
Largest boxes of name-brand cereal: Honey-Nut Cheerios, Frosted Flakes, Lucky Charms, Mini Wheats (no generics please, by The Beth’s request)
Money for buying milk.
Christ Church:
Pop-top stew or soup
Canned meats and beans
Single-serving canned fruit
Jars of peanut butter
MetMin says their most-needed item this month is toilet paper. They usually ask us for high-demand items that are not currently available at the Chattanooga Food Bank. MetMin is seeking volunteers to help out in person at their new location: 4001 Rossville Boulevard. For more information, call them at 423-624-9650.
The Beth, located at 200 W. 38th Street in Alton Park, is gearing up for their limited-enrollment summer day-camp program–six weeks, 60 kids, four days a week, two meals a day. They’ve requested giant boxes of name-brand breakfast cereals they know the kids will eat. They also asked us for milk, but we decided that giving them money to buy milk as needed would be the best option. Chances are good that we’ll be putting together a team to cook lunch for the camp one week. Tell Ray Barney if you’d like to help with that.
Christ Church has a front-porch pantry that is running low on food–evidence that we are meeting a hunger need in our own neighborhood.
We hope to see you Saturday between 11 and 1, and appreciate your support of our Outreach program.