|
Relief for
Haiti If you are looking for a good place to support the
Haitian people following the earthquake disaster, Food for the
Poor is a good place. Pastor Ron Starenko has preached at our
church, and has indicated that all the work they have been doing
in Haiti will continue to be needed—providing for the basic
needs of the Haitian poor. Contribute at www.foodforthepoor.org.
Another opportunity to contribute is through Thrivent Financial.
Members who want to partner with Thrivent in responding to this
disaster may make donations at www.thrivent.com/helpinghaiti or
by calling (800) 236-3736 between 7 A.M. and 6:00 P.M. Central
time, Monday through Friday. When prompted, say "directory" and
enter ext. 83003.
Thrivent Financial will add $1 for every $2 members donate for
“Helping Haiti.” Members may choose which of the four relief
agencies they want their contribution to support, with Thrivent
Financial adding up to $250 per member contribution.
Annual Untree and Community Supper
This year’s Untree
Program benefited our friends who come to the Thursday night
suppers at Calvary. We were able to provide a gift
for every person who attended Christmas Eve supper.
Habitat for Humanity/Apostles Build
Habitat's Apostles Build is modeled
on the idea that many hands make light work. In an Apostles
Build, 12 churches partner together to Adopt a Habitat home,
each contributing money and a day or two of volunteer labor.
An Apostles Build is perfect for smaller churches that may not
have the financial or volunteer capacity to Adopt a Home on
their own. This way more churches are able to participate in the
excitement and joy of Adopting a Home and seeing a family
realize their dreams.
 Calvary
is excited to participate in this ministry. One-half of our
Easter offering will be donated to the project.
Our local project will be a new
construction project of four homes in the Pacific area, where
Habitat for Humanity owns some land. All the homes will be 3-4
bedrooms, 1000-1200 square feet. Each home is estimated to be
built for $82,500. Since 12 churches partner, the cost per
congregation will be $6875. The owners would get interest free
loans, but they will have to make the payments. Five hundred
hours of sweat equity is required of the owners.
If you have any questions or would like more information on
participating in an
Apostles Build, contact the Volunteer Coordinator by e-mail
or at (828) 328-4663 x311.
Mobile Medical Van Helps Calvary’s Guests
If you are homeless, it may be hard to get transportation to
local health care. You may not have insurance. You may not trust
large institutions to serve you.
With this in mind, the South King County Medical Project began a
pilot program for mobile medical service in South King County in
November. The van services several sites, partnering with
programs that attract chronically homeless people to regularly
scheduled events, like the Community Supper at Calvary.
The van serves in Calvary’s parking lot on the third Thursday of
each month. Caring staff provide walk-up access to medical
triage and acute care, in addition to counseling in ways for the
guests to get additional help. They help folks navigate the way
to accessing housing, ongoing primary medical and dental care,
mental health and/or substance abuse treatment, health care
coverage, and other services.
This is a pilot program. There is hope to expand the service to
other sites throughout South King County and rotate among sites
according to a regular and widely-publicized schedule. Public
and private investments in this project will be needed to
sustain it beyond its pilot phase.
For more information, contact
John Gilvar
King County Mobile Medical
Project Coordinator
401 5th Ave., Ste. 1000
Seattle, WA 98104
(206) 369-3489
Haircutting
If you are dealing with unemployment or a related financial
hardship, a local hair salon is offering free or reduced prices
on haircuts.
Pollyanna Woods
Hair & Facial Designs
1720 So. 372nd Place
Federal Way, WA 98003
(253) 569-0554 / (253) 661-6370
Reach Out Program Calvary is
part of a local ministry called Reach Out. We were blessed in providing this ministry during
the cold winter months. Find out more about
Reach Out at
Calvary. We will begin sheltering men again in January of 2010
and will continue through February.
Steel Lake Presbyterian Church was the host church for the
months of November and December of 2009 and will host again in
March.
 Food
for the Poor, Inc.
Pastor Ron Starenko preached at Calvary
on July 5th and shared with us the gospel and information on a
ministry providing direct relief to the poor throughout Latin
America and the Caribbean. Pastor Starenko shared what he has
witnessed about Food For The Poor’s mission to care for the
destitute as a means of living out the Gospel mandate to love
one another. Pastor Starenko was ordained in 1955 for the
Florida-Bahamas Synod. Pastor Starenko with the Food for the
Poor ministry visited Calvary on July 5th. Even though it was a
holiday weekend, your response to this ministry has been good
and much appreciated. Pastor Starenko has notified us that they
have received $1,043 so far from Calvary. For more information contact him at (800)
568-8124 or visit
http://www.foodforthepoor.org.
Calvary Leadership Prepares
Mentoring Project
Did you know that Calvary has a
Mentoring Ministry Team? It’s been working behind the scenes learning and preparing to mentor individuals
who live in poverty. The purpose of the Ministry is to support
self-sufficiency and self-determination for people who are
working to bring permanent change to their lives. By providing
mentoring support, the goal is to help individuals and families
participate in the decisions and actions that effect change in
their lives and empower them to move beyond poverty.
We are very pleased to announce that the Mentoring Ministry has
partnered with the Multi-Service Center’s THRIVE Program. THRIVE
prepares low-income people experiencing homelessness or at risk
of homelessness to enter the workforce with improved skills for
long-term employment.
In one-on-one sessions and in workshops, MSC family development
specialists help with employment, readiness assessment, career
exploration, resume writing, mock interviews, budgeting, time
management skills, communication skills, etc. Then, those who
are eligible are placed in 6-month paid internships in both
non-profit and for-profit businesses. In 20-hour per week jobs,
they build skills, work history, and references while searching
for full-time permanent work.
Once the 6-month paid internship ends, MSC continues with
follow-ups for an additional six month period. It is at this
time that the participant exits the THRIVE program and our
mentoring begins.
To date we have matched three mentors and participants. There is
a need for more mentors. For more information, contact
Sandy
Harley.
Living Stones Ministry
Pastor Wangen-Hoch introduced us to
Living Stones, an ELCA congregation within the walls of the WA
Corrections Center in Shelton.
Pastor Wangen-Hoch was our guest preacher on February 22. We
traveled as a group to worship with this congregation again on
March 14, 2009.
We plan to welcome Pastor Wangen
Hoch to Calvary again on July 25, 2010 and we will go to worship
with the inmates on August 14, 2010.
Red Wagon
The Red Wagon is truly a wagon which is rolled through worship
on the second Sunday of each month.
The Red Wagon rolled on Sunday, February 14th
collecting personal health care items in response to
an urgent request from Lutheran World Relief. The members of Naomi Circle will be meeting on February 20th to
assemble as many kits as possible and forward them on. This is a
wonderful opportunity to respond to need in the aftermath of the
disaster in Haiti.
The Red Wagon will
be pulled on Sunday, March 14 collecting items for the SOS
Program at the Community Supper held weekly at Calvary.
Please bring the following items:
-
Women’s feminine
hygiene products
-
Deodorant
-
Flashlights
-
Small packs of
Kleenex Tissues
-
Lip balm such as “Chapstick”
-
Socks – bundles of
white ones at Costco are good
-
Gloves for warmth
-
Industrial-type
gloves for cleaning up camp sites
-
Candles
-
Very Small Travel
size packs of laundry detergent
-
Batteries of all
sizes (Dollar Store is a good source)
-
Small container of
shampoo
-
Small containers of
hair conditioner
-
Small containers of
body lotion
-
Small containers of
hand sanitizer
(Please do not bring any soap)
-
Money (Please make
your check to Calvary and note “Red Wagon” in the memo line.)
Emergency Food
Calvary serves as a drop-off facility for the Emergency Feeding
Program. People in need can go to several locations (one being
the Federal Way Multi-Service Center) to sign up for the
program. They will receive an order card, which they bring to
Calvary and then receive the food.
Sack Lunch
Ministry
Our neighbors who are hungry can come to
Calvary Monday through
Thursday and receive a free sack lunch between 11:00 a.m.—1:00
p.m.
Read more
information about our
Sack
Lunch Ministry.
Would you help hand out these lunches? Help is especially
needed on Wednesdays or Thursdays. You could help each week,
occasionally, or as a substitute. If you would like to help distribute these lunches, please
contact the
church
office.
Prayer Shawl Ministry
We are a group who lovingly knit or
crochet shawls for those in need of God’s love and comfort in
difficult times as well as times of celebration.
If you have a person on your heart and mind that you feel needs
to be surrounded with God’s peace and love woven into a prayer
shawl, please contact Deanna Kaasa through the
church office.
Watch this site for our next
meeting.
Care Connection
One of the functions of the Calvary Care Connection is to make
personal connections between those with a need and finding help
on a short-term basis. It may be a home maintenance task, a meal
for someone following illness or surgery, transportation, or
making a phone call to check on someone. Care Connection
specializes in creative use of resources within our church and
our community. If you have a need and aren’t sure where to turn
… call us!! We can be contacted through the
church office. If you would like to serve others, this team
would love your help.
Our next meeting is Thursday, April 15 at 10:00 a.m. at church.
Community Supper
Calvary is a host church for the Thursday night Community
Supper. Come and enjoy a hot, home-cooked meal. Volunteers are
also available to direct you to assistance you may need.
If you would like to help with the Community Supper contact
Heather Parker.
How you can help
our guests in need The SOS Program of the Federal Way
Community Caregivers Network has a table at the Community Supper
held weekly at Calvary in which they distribute goods and
information to our guests in need. You may help by donating the
following items:
SOS Table Items Needed
Our SOS table equips our guests at the Community Supper with
necessary items, in addition to providing them with information
on community services. If you can help replenish these supplies,
please label them SOS and leave them in the church
office. Thanks so much!
You Can Make Placemats The
Thursday Community Supper has lost the services of a long time
volunteer group from the Mormon church who have been making
table centerpieces for all of our holiday meals. We are looking
for a creative person(s) who would like to take on this ministry
that brings a lot of joy to our guests. Each holiday requires
12-14 centerpieces delivered to the church by the Thursday the
meal is served. There are some supplies, so it wouldn't be
starting from scratch. The holidays we look for decorations are:
Easter, Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Our
Leaning in Motion students recently made placemats and the
guests enjoyed them immensely. For
more information, contact the
church office.
You Can Help Prepare Meat
What: Cutting and prepping frozen meat
When: Occasional Wednesdays
Where: Calvary’s kitchen
Requirements: Ability to stand to do work
Perks:
You will never be alone, Jan Olson or Phyllis Dirks will be
there with you.
Use your skills for the Community Supper
Contact
Phyllis or Jan for more information.
You Can Donate Socks We are
collecting new men’s socks to give to our Community Supper
guests. Please leave your donation of socks in the church office
and mark it “SOS”. We will collect more items for SOS in
January, but your immediate help with socks will help conserve
funds we have left for this special project.
Do you Shop at Albertson's?
Food Lifeline, the area food distribution center that supports
the Federal Way Community Caregiving Network's Community
Suppers, including the Thursday Supper served at Calvary every
week, is a "Community Partner" with Albertson's grocery stores.
If you shop at Albertson's and use their Preferred Savings card,
the store will send a small percentage of purchase prices to
Food Lifeline! All you have to do is take your card to a store
and have a clerk register it to link to the agency. The Food
Lifeline's Community Partner ID # is 4900010144290. It won't
cost you an extra penny and whatever is contributed helps feed
the poor in our local communities.
Donate Plastic Containers We
like to send our guests home with leftovers on Thursday nights.
If you have pint or quart sized plastic containers that you will
donate, please mark them “Community Supper” and leave them in
the church kitchen.
Clerical Help
Are you a person who likes numbers and clerical work? One who
has at least basic knowledge and access to a computer? One who
has wanted to help out with the Thursday Community Supper but
can't commit to giving time on Thursday afternoon or evening,
but could give a little time working at home? If so, then I have
a wonderful opportunity for you to use your special gifts and
interests to serve. Laurie O'Neall, who has been the Records
Coordinator for the Thursday Supper for many years, is now
looking toward retirement and a move to Arizona. We are seeking
a person to replace her. She would work with and train her
replacement, as well as transfer software programs she has been
using. Interested? Talk to me!
Jan
Olson.
|
