RIFA SNACK-BACK-PACK PROGRAM
This program enables RIFA to provide
school children with kid-friendly food to take home (in a small back-pack) on
each Friday. The school has identified certain children who come to school
on Mondays having had little or nothing to eat during the weekend. These
children will now have something for Saturday and Sunday.
Here's how you can help:
-
Make a monetary contribution.
Simply write on your donation check that it is for the Snack-Back-Pack
program and place in the alms basin on Sunday.
-
Bring the food items suggested
and place them the designated receptacle.
-
Volunteer to go to the RIFA
office periodically to assemble the food snacks.
The list of needed items can be
found in the Parish Notes.
United Thank Offering
What
is the United Thank Offering? It is a program of The Episcopal Church USA for
the mission of the whole Church. It was originally founded in 1889 as the
United Offering and became the United Thank Offering in 1919. The Mission of
The Thank Offering is to invite people to offer daily prayers of thanksgiving to
God and outward and visible signs of those prayers, which will benefit others.
The blue boxes (or envelopes) help to serve as a reminder of our many
blessings. By sharing our blessings with those of others, we help to extend the
mission of the Church in many ways. The monies collected are distributed
throughout the world by means of grants. In the past 2 years, an average of 52%
was used within the United States to further ministries in a variety of ways.
There are specific policies and procedures for applicants and for the
distribution of funds. To learn more details regarding the history or policies
and recent grants provided, please visit the following website:
www.episcopalchurch.org/uto.
Pennies for Hunger
This ministry helps to fight
hunger in the Jackson area. The proceeds have traditionally gone to
the Crossroads Shelter for Men for their kitchen.
Your next
opportunity to give to Pennies for Hunger will be: To be announced
St. Luke's Mission Committee
As a subcommittee of the Outreach
Committee, the purpose of this foreign mission committee is to serve God by ministering to
his people who live beyond our local area in whatever capacity is required.
In April 2005, the decision was made
to support a boy at El Hogar de Amor y Esperanza, (The Home of Love & Hope),
located in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. El Hogar Projects comes under the
auspices of the Episcopal Diocese of Honduras and besides the orphanage
includes the Episcopal Agricultural School and Farm and St. Mary's Technical
Institute in Amarateca.
The purpose of El Hogar is to
provide a loving home and education in a Christian environment for
abandoned, orphaned and hopelessly poor boys, enabling them to fulfill their
ultimate potential as productive human beings in Honduras.
Approximately 200 boys, ages 6 to 20 years old, are cared for by El Hogar in
the three facilities.
We paid the annual sponsorship of
$1,500 and now are the proud "padrinos" or godparents of Kelman Ernesto
Amendares Vásquez, an 11 year old who entered
El Hogar in February 2005.
Our hope is
to develop a real connection with Kelman through the exchange of letters,
provide some items needed by the center, and organize a mission trip one
time per year to El Hogar to work on whatever project is going on at that
time.
The mission
trip is open to any interested person 16 and over. Costs to be covered
by each person will include the flight to Honduras plus room and board of
approximately $10 per day and fee for the liason for our week there.
Before the trip, we will organize some orientation sessions, including
learning a little Spanish although fluency with Spanish is not required to
participate in the trip. We will gather some school supplies and, if
possible, some items specifically requested by El Hogar but our emphasis
will be working on whatever projects the require while we are there.
Check out the El Hogar website at www.elhogar.org.
For further
information please contact the parish office.
Community
Kitchen