WELCOME BASKETS
FOR
COMMUNITY LINK
Every year, Community Link social workers help at least 200 homeless families move into safe, decent, and affordable housing. Most of these individuals have lost everything due to
eviction, foreclosure, or unfortunate lifestyle choices. Community Link helps them get back on their feet. As they move from the streets, a shelter, or another substandard living arrangement, Community Link tries to provide them with the basics they need to set up a home again.
Sardis is supporting Community Link by helping provide Welcome Baskets. These baskets can be filled with low-cost items that we often take for granted, but that can be a big
expense to someone working one or even two jobs at minimum wage.
Community Link requests five different types of welcome baskets: Cleaning Supplies, Laundry Needs, Household Fix-up, Kitchen Supplies, and Bed & Bath Supplies.
We hope that Sardis can provide at least one Welcome Basket each month. We encourage Mustard Seed Groups, Sunday School classes, choirs, and other groups looking for service
projects to consider this project for one month of the year.
More details about the exact requirements for each basket will be provided soon. In the meantime, if you are interested in this project, please email Tammy Cotton, or call her at 704-366-5058.
__________________________
Tutor at Sardis, Tuesday or Thursday, 2-3 p.m.
One hour a week can make a difference in the lives of 10 Rama Road Elementary School Hispanic children. Every Tuesday and Thursday from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. a team of Sardis volunteers tutor second and third graders in reading, writing and math at the church.
No Spanish speaking skills are necessary, as the students speak English. The parents have limited English speaking skills and have difficulty helping the children with their homework. The students are selected by the school to participate in this program. The Sardis van brings the children to the church and returns them to their apartment complex after tutoring.
Please contact Cora Richards, 704-847-5878 for more details. Tutors and van drivers are needed, orientation and training is provided.
|
Class Matters at Sardis
Learning about Bridges Out of Poverty
February 21 & March 21
Do you volunteer with Room in the Inn? Do you enjoy spending time at the Francis House with Family Promise families? Do you help out at Rama Road Elementary? Or would you like to volunteer in one or more of these programs but want to learn more about working with our low-income neighbors first? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then we hope that you will plan to attend the Class Matters/Bridges Out of Poverty sessions here at Sardis.
On Sunday, February 21and Sunday, March 21, Sardis will host Paul Hanneman (Urban Ministry Center) and Wanda Anderson (Robinson Rehabilitation Services) to present their informative curriculum. In the course, Paul and Wanda explain how people in the survival-based culture of poverty face challenges virtually unknown to people in the middle and upper classes. They illustrate how these challenges can impact learning, work habits, and decision-making – and make it difficult for individuals in poverty to move toward economic stability. Participants will discuss a paradigm for understanding and addressing the differences between economic classes.
If you were able to attend their abbreviated presentations during the Sunday School hour last year, then you know how educational their program is. Wanda and Paul have trained nearly 3,000 people in churches, nonprofits, social service agencies, and schools! Whether or not you attended their presentations last year, we hope that you will plan to be part of this full program. We are all certain to learn a lot about class in our society, which promises to help us in many ways, especially as we work with ourlow-income neighbors.
This two-part presentation and conversation will take place from 12:30 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. on each of the two Sundays. A boxed lunch will be included each Sunday. To help defray the cost of the lunch and the program, a $15 registration fee will be charged.
To reserve your spot, please email Stephanie Vanderford, or call her at 704-301-7789.
You may also submit the form below.
The deadline for registrations is Saturday, February 13.
|
|
|
Register for Class Matters: Bridges Out of Poverty
|
|
|
|
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in everyone. —I Corinthians 12:4-6
_______________________
"Working with the Room in the Inn ministry allowed me to help serve the needy and to fellowship with Sardis church members. The generosity shown by Sardis volunteers in shaing their time and talents was truly a witness to Christ's love for those less fortunate." - Sheila Duyck
_______________________
"Driving the Senior Link bus is a hidden volunteer opportunity. It takes just a small commitment of time. The best part is the appreciation shown by the riders each week. Smiling faces and sincere thanks offer much more in return than what is given." - Greg Aker
_______________________
PUT A JAR IN YOUR CAR...
OF SPAGHETTI SAUCE!
(First Sunday Each Month)
Please donate spaghetti sauce in either cans or unbreakable jars to help stock the Loaves and Fishes pantry.
Leave your jar in the Narthex (parking lot side), the Education Building (under the stairwell), or the Administration Building (in front of the choir room.)
5-CENTS-A-MEAL
(First Sunday Each Month)
5 Cents a Meal • 15 Cents a Day • $1.05 a Week • $4.50 a Month
Wonder where that money the youth collect in the wicker baskets on the first Sunday of each month goes? That is the 5-Cents-A-Meal collection, which has raised over four million dollars to fight hunger in local communities since it began in the 1980s. Every cent donated in the Charlotte Presbytery goes to a local food agency to purchase food.
How can you help?
Next time you see that basket, dig deep and know you are helping in a big way.
Get the whole family involved by designating a jar and having children deposit five cents per meal.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Three Bite-Sized Volunteer Opportunities
Do you have one to three hours a month to serve as a receptionist in the Church Office? You will be trained on how to answer the tele-phone and direct visitors. The most fre-quent days that help is needed are Monday and Wednesday between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Email Glenna Hegenbart in the church office or call her at 704-366-1854.
Join other volunteers the fourth Friday of each month, from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., and help sort and stuff the church newsletter to get it ready for mailing. A team of 4-6 volunteers are needed. Email Glenna Hegenbart or call her at 704-366-1854.
The Church office would like to have five to ten volunteers to be "on call" to help with periodic mailings or photocopying. Email Glenna Hegenbart or call her at 704-366-1854.
One Hour A Week
CAN Make a Difference!
The Shepherd's Center of Charlotte
Would you like to help a senior citizen get to their medical appointments?
The Shepherd’s Center of Charlotte’s Transportation Program has an opening for volunteer drivers. Can you spare a few hours a month to drive an older person to their doctor’s appointment and take them back home? Volunteer drivers may be compensated for gas mileage through a partnership with the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, R.S.V.P. Please contact The Shepherd’s Center of Charlotte, 704-365-1995 for more details.
Friendship Trays Monday-Friday, 11:15 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.
Young children can help deliver meals with a parent and bring a smile to an elderly shut in who may not have grandchildren living nearby. If you prefer not to drive, you can prepare food trays in the kitchen. Children 12 and older may help. Contact Friendship Trays at 704-333-9229 or www.friendshiptrays.org
Labels for Education
Please save labels from the front of Campbell’s products marked with the “Labels for Education” logo shown below.
Leave them in the Community Service cabinet under the back stairway. They will be delivered to the AYN office and exchanged for merchandise or cash to help with their many needs as they work with children battling severe emotional and behavioral illness.
IMPORTANT:
PLEASE MAKE SURE LABELS CONTAIN THE REQUIRED BAR CODES!
For a listing of eligible products, click the logo below.
Thank you for your continuing support.
_______________
|
|