Outreach/ Acts 29

Missions Programs

Through this “Change for Change” program participants are asked to place their “change” in a can on their Kitchen table or other convenient location and once a month bring it in and place it in the designated “Change for Change” container you will find in the Hallway just outside of the Sanctuary. These funds will be sent to Grace Children’s Hospital and utilized to make improvements needed to better serve and take care of the children. The first project will be to put screens on the windows of the Children’s Ward to keep out the flies and other insects. (The windows have to be kept open because of the heat.) Your change will make a “change” in the quality of life for many children at Grace Children’s Hospital.

Would you like the latest news from Grace Children’s Hospital? Check out the International Child Care Web Link at:

www.intlchildcare.org

Text Box: Calvary Church is a strong, mission-minded congregation. We strive to tithe our budget to Missions. That is to say, we strive to give at least 10% of our Budget to Missions. We provide mission support to 2 Missionaries. We support The WELL, a local food pantry; Habitat for Humanity; the CROP Walk for Hunger; and a Refugee Resettlement Program.

Support is also very good for various special Mission Offerings including Human Relations Day, Peace With Justice, One Great Hour of Sharing, and World Wide Communion.
Calvary also participates in 'hands-on' mission ministries. We have volunteers who work at Mission
Central, at The WELL, Our Daily Bread free lunch program, and York Mission. In addition, some of our members have gone on one or more Work Camps where they volunteer to help build or rebuild a particular home or church facility.

Text Box: OUTREACH MINISTRY VOLUNTEERS TO MISSION CENTRAL Lent is upon us, the season of prayer, penitence, almsgiving, and self-denial. How are you observing Lent? Many believers give up something they enjoy...could you give up a roof over your head or three square meals a day? Could you forego clean drinking water, a running toilet or a hot shower? These aren’t things we typically think of giving up, yet many of our neighbors both near and far away do without these things on a daily basis. We are truly blessed to have so many comforts. May these things that God has given to us will remind us to give freely and wholeheartedly to those who have so little as an expression of our thanks. Some ways to give: *Skip the vending machine and instead collect your spare change and place it in the containers in the church marked Change for Change. These monies will go to help Grace Children’s Hospital in Haiti. *There is still need for Health Kits in Haiti, Items can be placed in the Missions Central basket located at the Information Center. *Give of your time by volunteering at a local non-profit such as Our Daily Bread or the Well March 14 is One Great Hour of Sharing and you’ll find an envelope in your packet marked as such. This is a special offering that underwrites the ongoing operational expenses of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). The funds raised during One Great Hour allow 100% of all the designated gifts given to UMCOR through the Advance (the official designated giving arm of the United Methodist Church) to be used for the cause you intend them to be used for. Funds raised through One Great Hour also help to support underfunded projects. Speaking of the Advance and UMCOR your Outreach & Missions Committee voted to contribute $500. towards UMCOR’s efforts in Haiti through our Emergency Discretionary Fund at our February meeting. UMCOR has begun a 5-year recovery plan for Haiti. The first phase centers on providing basic needs, followed by a transition phase, and then a long-term rehabilitation phase that will assist in rebuilding permanent structures and infrastructures. Whatever way you choose to observe Lent may we reflect on our many blessings and remember that all we have has been given to us by the Lord. Whether you give of yourselves or give something up, view it as an act of thanks to God for not only His many blessings but the blessing that is yet to come, eternal life through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Please continue to pray for all those who are sick, lonely, weak, imprisoned, hungry, and who live in poverty. With Love, Faith and Peace Brandon and Laura Bair, Chairpersons

The needs of our sisters and brothers in Haiti continue to be great. Your prayers and your gifts are greatly appreciated.

So far you have given$1,617.20 To Grace Children’s Hospital; $1,617.20 To the St. Joseph Family and $ 275.00 To UMCOR’s Haiti Earthquake Disaster Relief (Advance #418325). Please note that 100% of your gifts to each one of these Christian missions goes directly to the needs of the children and people of Haiti. You may designate further gifts to any of these (make checks payable to Calvary and designate mission in “memo”)

Additional health kits items are welcomed. We thank you for the many health kit items you have already turned in.

Grace Children’s Hospital Update:

The Hospital itself, including the children’s ward and clinic are damaged beyond repair and will have to be torn down. Th eye clinic and administrative building are still functional.

St. Joseph’s Family

St. Joseph’s Home for boys is totally gone. A temporary facility to house the boys has been found.

Wings of Hope following the last major 6+ aftershock is also unsafe. A temporary facility has also been found for them.