OUTREACH INFO FOR GRACE NOTES OF NOVEMBER 2011

It will be here before you know it! 

 Have you signed up for Grace in Action’s Nov 5^th activities???  From 9:00-noon in Heartland Hall you may decorate tote bags for Children’s Mercy Hospital Totes for Tots and fill them with goodies.  Or you could help cut, sew and trim simple dresses for some needful little girls in Africa – ALL skill levels needed!  All ages welcome; children need adult supervision.  Want something more active?  If you’re at least 16 yrs old, meet at the church at 8:30 a.m. and head for Habitat’s Restore in Waldo to help out there from 9:00-noon.

 REPORT FROM JOPLIN’S WORK DAY ON OCT 14:

Twenty-six caring people, from 4^th grade to high school and including 9 adults, joined together to assist with post-tornado recovery efforts in Joplin.  To quote Miles, “Everyone worked their tails off” in Joplin and at the Abundant Life Christian Center (where they overnighted and were fed) food pantry and clothes closet.  They sorted clothes and food, helped move a displaced resident into a new home, shoveled gravel, organized and stacked pallets, and “unloaded the world’s most tightly packed semi trailer full of donated furniture, clothing and accessories”.  After their work day, they made a sobering self-guided tour of the town; seeing the extreme destruction “put their labors into perspective” and left them all with images they will not forget … the crumbled remains of a school and a hospital, fast food restaurants and barren neighborhoods where hundreds of homes once stood on now empty foundations.  Thanks and blessings to all who made the trip and did the work!  Pictures will be posted in the kitchen hallway.

November 6-13 is our week to host IHN families; if you haven’t signed up to help, do yourself a favor and join us for fun and blessings as you assist some of our neighbors who find themselves in a difficult position.

As you sort through cold weather clothing, please remember the always great need of the Christmas Bureau for coats of all sizes, especially little children and large adult, in good condition.  The JCCB bin will be at the weekday entrance through November.

November is the month for one of our favorite Communion Offering partners – the Red Bag project - which collects Christmas Gifts for foster children throughout the metro area.  This month we will be sharing monetary donations to assist them with expenses throughout the month; just note “Communion Offering” or “Red Bag” on your check or use a Communion Offering envelope.  Watch for the “stockings” to appear in early December.  We will also be supporting the Little Sisters of the Poor with donations of toiletries for the senior citizens they make homes for; you may leave donations in the Communion Offering bin during the month of November.

Kudos to the Deacons who worked at the KCK hot lunch in October.  A record 426 people were served and there were enough servers and cookies for all!

REMINDER:  WANTED:  A volunteer or two to take over Publicity for your Outreach team.  This includes writing these articles for the Bulletins and Grace Notes and arranging the Minutes for Mission.  Our current chair has some new duties and is experiencing a “time crunch” and must surrender this fun “job”, which can be split between two.  Contact Tom Stroud.

Here are the latest numbers for October:  $155 for Pathways/Givewhatyougot plus some items; $394 for PC(USA)Peacemaking; $20 for Pentecost/Children’s Foundation of MidAmerica and $50 for Bread for the World.  CROP numbers to follow.