The Committee for Mission & Outreach usually meets the third Monday of the month and will meet next at 7 PM in the Fireside Room on Monday, September 21, 2009.
See's Candy Sales to Benefit Local Habitat Builds
Mission & Outreach: Help for New Orleans
International Crafts Sale Help for The Living Room
Shoe Box Ministry and Hat & Mitten Tree
Paper or Plastic? Habitat for Humanity in Sebastopol
Thanks to you, Habitat Pledge Fulfilled Recycle Inkjet & Laser Cartridges
Terra Haute, Indiana Mission Report to the Congregation on September 20
Mission & Outreach will hold their regular meeting on the third Monday of the month, starting again on Monday, September 21 at 7 PM in the Fireside Room. Planning will begin for the next mission trip. Mission & Outreach will also observe the International Day of Peace on that date by holding a peace vigil. They invite you to join them on the lawn closest to Hwy 116 from 5-5:30 PM.
Mission & Outreach will lead worship on Sunday, September 20 with reflections and a slide show on the adult mission trip to Terre Haute, Indiana. Over the summer, Mission & Outreach also held a picnic for the children from Valley of the Moon Children’s Home, complete with hot dogs, roasted marshmallows, homemade ice cream and a nature hike and scavenger hunt.
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY SEE’S CANDY SALES
Mission & Outreach Easter Candy will be available for pre-orders on March 22 and March 30 – order exactly what you want for your Easter Baskets with deliver on March 30 and April 5. The smaller decorative boxed candy will be available for purchase on March 30 and April 5 as well as an assortment of the beautiful chocolate eggs. Your See’s Candy purchases will help support the local Habitat for Humanity builds.
To find out more about the build in Sebastopol, visit their website at http://www.sonomacountyhabitat.org/
Hat & Mitten Tree (scarves & underwear too!)
Thanks to your help we collected 220 items from the tree - hats, socks, gloves and underwear and filled 77 shoeboxes to give to both the Living Room and the Homeless Services Center. Your generosity has helped make Christmas brighter for those struggling this winter.
submitted by Nancy C. Dougherty
Now back from our third mission trip to New Orleans, here is some more work we can all do from afar to speed along the recovery efforts: support and advocate an important piece of legislation, The Gulf Coast Civic Works Act of 2007 (H.R. 4048). This bill would provide a comprehensive plan to create 100,000 jobs for residents and evacuees to rebuild the public infrastructure. The bill empowers residents to realize their right to return with dignity and safety, revitalizes the local workforce and helps create more sustainable communities.
The origins of this bill are to be found in our own state at San Jose University, where in 2006 Professor Scott Myers-Lipton and his students developed the idea for the bill based upon the WPA of the New Deal. Now they lead a national campaign of students, faith-based and human rights organizations and others to support this bill. Here is what you can do to help:
Contact the Obama and McCain campaign offices to create a Gulf Coast Civic Works and ask for the new administration to sign an executive order, and re-direct federal money meant for recovery ($40 billion total, only half has been used) toward the GCCW Project.
Contact our representative, Rep. Lynn Woolsey, and ask her to use her influence on the Education and Labor Committee to hold a FULL Committee for this bill hearing rather than just in her sub-committee. This would expedite its progress, by not having to go through three sub-committees.
Right now is the critical time to be lobbying for this bill. It has to get enough sponsors - around 75 - in order to get Nancy Pelosi's attention. Right now there are 16 sponsors, Rep. Lynn Woolsey is one of them
There may be additional ways our local church can endorse this piece of legislation. On the national level, a number of churches are working together on an interfaith statement in support of Gulf Coast recovery based upon human rights principles. Stay tuned!
The Mission & Outreach Committee is recruiting committed individuals to volunteer at The Living Room program in Santa Rosa. Our goal is to form a team to work on a regular basis over the course of the next year at this daytime shelter for homeless women and children.
Here are a few of the volunteer jobs:
¨ serve breakfast (8 - 10:30) Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays
¨ serve lunch from (11 - 1:30) Tuesdays, Thursdays
¨ kitchen chefs and sous chefs needed on an on-call basis
¨ work at the front desk from (8 - 11:15 or 11 - 1:30 or all day) Mondays or Wednesdays
¨ work with the Mother and Child program (9 - 1 pm) Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays
The Mission & Outreach Committee has chosen to support the Living Room program because of its importance as a resource for the homeless women and children in our community. Besides offering food and a comfortable place to be during the day, The Living Room provides many resources and great support to homeless women; from counseling, to guidance on job hunting, bus tickets, and classes on finances and budgeting.
If you are interested, or have any questions, call Nancy Dougherty at 829-3761 or Joyce Cox at 829-0750.
Collections for the Living Room
Mission & Outreach is asking for your help in their efforts to assist The Living Room, A Daytime Shelter for Homeless Women and Children, collect items from their Urgent Needs List. If you can help with any of these items, please bring them to the church office and Mission & Outreach will make sure they get to The Living Room where they will be greatly appreciated:
Backpacks for women Diapers, all sizes
Cloth grocery bags Baby wipes
Women’s underwear Boys & girls underwear, size 4-8
Sleeping bags Children’s socks, sizes 5 and up
Sanitary supplies
Do you love prowling the aisles at home improvement stores, enjoy fixing things, or just want to help recycle building materials while fueling low-income housing? ReStore needs you! Sales, display, cleanup of donations, merchandising and all other activities rely heavily on volunteer efforts. Be a part of Sonoma County's energetic recycler of new and used building materials, tools and appliances.
Volunteer opportunities abound at ReStore, Habitat for Humanity of Sonoma County’s fundraising home improvement store. With spring on the way, we are looking to ramp up our volunteer program and need your help. We offer professional and weekend warriors a chance to help build a sustainable foundation for Habitat of Sonoma County, and for the environment as a whole.
Volunteer opportunity includes, but are not limited to:
 | Cleaning of the store and new items |
| Organizing/Shelf Stocking |
| Assisting with pick-ups and deliveries |
| Donation screening and receiving |
| Minor repairs |
| Data Entry |
| Promotions |
| Special Events |
We ask our volunteers to commit to a 4 hour shift, with 3 different shifts available each day. Shifts for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are: 9am-1pm, 11am-3pm, and 1pm-5pm; and Saturday shifts are 9am-1pm, 10:30am-2:30pm, and 12pm-4pm. Our pick-ups and deliveries are on Tuesdays, so we also need people able to lift a 50 lb minimum for those shifts. .
If you are interested in volunteering please call the ReStore Manager, Brent Billings, at 568-3228, 24 10th Street in Santa Rosa or visit www.sonomacountyhabitat.org/restore for more information.
A Word to the Wise from Mission & Outreach
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We cannot all equip our homes With brand new energy stars. For some, a hybrid can’t be bought With salaries like ours. |
And paper ones are not too good. They must be strong and so They’re made of mostly new paper – Recycled content’s low. |
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We cannot quit our jobs ‘cause We commute too many miles. And yet we know the earth is going Through many climate trials. |
And they don’t break down in the dump Cause that takes oxygen. And when they’re covered up with dirt It’s anaerobic then. |
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But hark! There is one little thing - A different grocery sack To make our carbon footprints shrink And put us right on track! |
And in the making of both kinds Pollutants must be used. And then our streams and air and earth Are sorrowfully abused. |
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We can supply ourselves with those Reusable bags we see In every store where we buy food So cheap they’re almost free! |
And both must travel many miles From where they’re made and then We’re back in carbon-laden land And using gas again! |
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Because if we use plastic ones Recycling has a catch. Plastic comes in several types - Their resins have to match! |
So when we’re at the check stand and They ask us whether either We want paper or plastic? Our answer can be “neither!” |
Janet Minton
The Sebastopol builds are up and running! Find out how you can work on site at www.sonomacountyhabitat.org. Volunteers are needed for the Faith Build and the Women’s Build, both on Johnson Street in Sebastopol.
Volunteers are invited to help build, assist in the office, work in the ReStore, serve on committees, and help with special projects that benefit the organization. Time commitments vary; some volunteers dedicate every day of the week and others spend just a few hours each month working on projects or in the ReStore. As a volunteer for Habitat, you can choose to volunteer as little or as often as you would like. All of these positions are a tremendous help that directly or indirectly result in the construction of simple, decent homes
Habitat for Humanity
The Family Resource Committee is looking for speakers for our Family Education Program. Habitat offers classes to new Habitat families as they transition into homeownership. Some suggested topics for classes include: yard care gardening/ landscaping, pet care and decorative painting and wall treatments. If you have expertise in one of these areas, or you have an idea and would like to teach a class, please call Darlene at the Habitat office (707) 578-7707 ext. 104.
Our classes are fun, informative, and a wonderful way to give to your community. This is an opportunity to share your experience with others. We hope you will join our team of mentor teachers.
Community Church fulfills $5000 Pledge to Habitat!
Once again, the congregation of the Community Church has stepped up to the plate (or candy dish?) with tremendous support for the Mission & Outreach See’s candy sales to help fund our Habitat for Humanity pledge. The Easter candy was a sell out and we are pleased to announce that with your generous help, the Community Church of Sebastopol has fulfilled our Habitat for Humanity Faith House build pledge of $5000. The faith build Habitat project will begin this summer in Sebastopol and information will be available soon on how you can participate in the actual construction project
Recycle your inkjet cartridges at church! Mission & Outreach is now collecting your empty cartridges to help support Habitat for Humanity and their local build in Sebastopol this summer. Bring your empty inkjet cartridges to the church office and help Mission & Outreach recycle and raise funds at the same time! In just over one year we raised $900 for SOL just by collecting empty cartridges – let’s top that as we collect for the Sonoma County Habitat for Humanity.
Please note: we are no longer able to take laser cartridges - just the smaller inkjet cartridges at this time.